Life
Hans Neusidler was a German composer and lutenist of the Renaissance, born around 1508 in Pressburg (now Bratislava, Slovakia). He settled in Nuremberg in 1530, received a residence permit, married, and became a citizen in 1531, buying a house on the Zotenberg. Working as a lute teacher and later a luthier, he published eight books of lute tablature between 1536 and 1549, among the earliest printed German lute methods. He fathered thirteen children with his first wife and endured severe financial hardship, eventually selling his house to cover debts. Widowed in 1556, he remarried and had four more children. He died in Nuremberg in February 1563; his sons Melchior and Konrad Neusidler also became noted lutenists.
Impact
Alongside Hans Judenkünig and Hans Gerle, Hans Neusidler was among the founding figures of printed German lute tablature, and his eight instructional books shaped lute pedagogy for a generation. His arrangements of songs, dances, and preludes preserved a snapshot of early sixteenth-century German instrumental style and established Nuremberg as a center of lute publishing continued by his sons.
Repertoire
Preambel, 1536
An improvisatory prelude from Neusidler’s first lute book, intended as an introductory teaching piece for beginning students.
Neusidler, Hans. Preambel. Ramiro Morales, 6-course lute. — Performed by Ramiro Morales
You Can Play This! | Preambel – Hans Neusidler (1536) — Performed by luteweb
Der Judentanz (The Jewish Dance), c. 1544
A short, deliberately dissonant bitonal dance for solo lute, often cited as an early example of intentional bitonality with satirical intent.
Neusidler: Lute music – Germany: Der Juden Tantz — Performed by Konrad Ragossnig
Der Juden Tanz — Performed by Julian Bream