Jacques Bittner

Jacob Büttner, widely known by the French version of his name Jacques Bittner, (floruit 1680s) was a lutenist and composer of Austro-Bohemian origin.[1] He published 170 pieces for lute in Nuremberg in 1682 and 1683.[2] Little is known about his life, although his music continues to be played and recorded in modern times. The German lutenist and conductor Konrad Junghänel recorded many of his works in 1984.[3]

Title page of Bittner's Pièces de lut, published in Nuremberg, 1682

The 18th century lutenist Ernst Gottlieb Baron described Bittner briefly (although with some inaccuracies) in his 1727 Untersuchung des Instruments der Lauten. According to Baron, Bittner's music was composed "according to the latest and most galant method of playing the lute at that time."[4] The Bittner lute music published in Nuremberg in 1682 has a French title: Pièces de lut. It also contains Bittner's dedication to the Prague-based Italian banker Pierre Pedroni de Treyenfels, whom Bittner described as his patron, and two anonymous sonnets in praise of the composer. Both the dedication (signed "Giacomo Bittner") and the sonnets are in Italian.[4] A second collection of Bittner's music was published in Nuremberg in 1683 under the German title, Galantheste Methode die Laute zu traktieren.[5]

References
  1. "Bittner [Bithner, Büttner], Jacob [Jacques]", Grove Music Online (subscription required). See also Library of Congress Authority File n83-174038
  2. Annala and Mätlik (2007) p. 33; Farstad (2000) p. 100
  3. International Music Guide 1984, p. 190. Tantivy Press
  4. Poulton, Diana (1976) p. 31
  5. Annala and Mätlik (2007) p. 33

Sources

  • Annala, Hannu and Mätlik, Heiki (2007). Handbook of Guitar and Lute Composers. Mel Bay Publications. ISBN 0786658444
  • Farstad, Per Kjetil (2000). German galant lute music in the 18th century. Göteborg University, Dept. of Musicology. ISBN 9185974552
  • Poulton, Diana (1976). "Lute Facsimiles", Early Music, Vol. 4, No. 3 (July 1976), pp. 329 and 331

Further reading

  • Beltrami, Cesare (1986). L' opera inedita di Jacob Büttner: un contributo alla cristallizzazione formale della suita barocca. Turin: Il Piccolo Editore (in Italian)
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