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. He published 170 pieces for lute in Nuremberg in 1682 and 1683. 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. 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.” A second collection of Bittner’s music was published in Nuremberg in 1683 under the German title, Galantheste Methode die Laute zu traktieren. References Sources *Annala, Hannu and Mätlik, Heiki (2007). Handbook of Guitar and Lute Composers. Mel Bay Publications. *Farstad, Per Kjetil (2000). German galant lute music in the 18th century. University of Gothenburg, Dept. of Musicology. *Poulton, Diana (1976). “Lute Facsimiles”, Early Music, Vol. 4, No. 3 (July 1976), pp. 329 and 331 Further reading *B