Vincenzo Capirola was an Italian nobleman, lutenist, and composer of the High Renaissance, probably born in Brescia in 1474 and active there and in Venice, where he is documented in 1517. His music survives almost entirely in the lavishly illuminated Capirola Lutebook, compiled around 1517–1520 by his pupil Vitale, which preserves ricercars, dance forms, and intabulations of vocal works alongside a detailed preface on lute technique. Some scholars have speculated that Vincenzo Capirola may be the unnamed virtuoso lutenist from Brescia said to have performed at the court of Henry VIII of England, though this remains unconfirmed. He is last documented as alive after 1548.

The Capirola Lutebook is one of the most important surviving sources for early sixteenth-century lute practice, containing the earliest known written indications for legato and non-legato touch and for dynamics, alongside thirteen ricercars blending brilliant toccata-style passages with vocally-inspired counterpoint. Its unusually detailed preface on stringing, tuning, fingering, and ornamentation gives Capirola outsized influence on modern understanding of period performance practice, far beyond what his modest surviving compositional output would otherwise suggest.

Sources:

• http://www.hoasm.org/IVE/Capirola.html
• https://sites.google.com/view/another-lute-website/c/vincenzo-capirola