Leopold Weiss, who is he?
We as guitarists are constantly looking for new music to play. However, many of our findings lead us to the past. Leopold Weiss is one such composer that those who find can never forget. He was one of the most important and prolific composers of lute music in history. He, unlike most lutenists of the day, was very well known and extremely proficient in his technique.
Weiss hails from Grottkau, Poland. In his time period, Weiss was destined to be a lutenist or maybe it should be said he was expected. Sons grew up and took over the family business. In Leopold’s case, it was to be a lutenist like his father, Johann Jacob Weiss. Leopold took his playing on the road and ended up in the courts of Brelsau, Rome, and Dresden (those are cities with courts to pay for music, if you didn’t know). Eventually he played his last in Dresden.
Before his passing, he left us with around 600 pieces for lute. Most are group into sonatas or suites, which consist mostly of baroque dance pieces. Weiss also wrote chamber pieces and concertos, but only the solo parts have survived.
In later life, Weiss became a friend of Wilhelm Friedemann Bach and met J.S. Bach through him. J.S.Bach and Weiss were said to have competed in improvisation, as the following account by Johann Friedrich Reichardt describes:
“Anyone who knows how difficult it is to play harmonic modulations and good counterpoint on the lute will be surprised and full of disbelief to hear from eyewitnesses that Weiss, the great lutenist, challenged J. S. Bach, the great harpsichordist and organist, at playing fantasies and fugues.”
So there you have it. If you’ve never played Weiss, then it is by far time to locate some of his works. No matter what type of instrument you play (electric, acoustic, nylon) you will be taken to new heights by learning the works of this old master.
