[1] Hans Neeman, ed., Lautenmusik des 17./18. Jahrhunderts, Das Erbe deutscher Musik xii (Braunschweig: H. Litolff, 1939) includes six sonatas and three single movements by Weiss; Ruggiero Chiesa, ed., Silvius Leopold Weiss, Intavolatura di Liuto (Milan: S. Zerboni, 1967), 2 vols, is a complete edition of the London MS; R. Manabe, ed, Music for the Lute: S.L. Weiss (Tokyo: Zenongakufu Shuppansha, 1976) is a transcription, with a reduced facsimile, of the Moscow MS.

[2] See Kurt Rottman, `The Resurrection of the Lute in Twentieth-Century Germany', in Journal of the Lute Society of America (JLSA) xii, 1979, p. 72; see also Josef Klima, `The D minor Lute in Central Europe after the Second World War', JLSA xii, 1979, p. 74.

[3] Josef Klima and Hans Radke, `Sylvius Leopold Weiss', in Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart, xiv (1968); Josef Klima, Sylvius Leopold Weiss, 1686-1750. Kompositionen für die Laute. Quellen- und Themenverzeichnis als Ergänzung zur Arbeit von Hans Neeman Weiner Lautenarchiv, Themenverzeichnis No. 6 (Maria-Enzersdorf-bei-Wien: Wiener Lautenarchiv, 1976)

[4] Wolfgang Reich, ed., Silvius Leopold Weiss: 34 Suiten für Laute Solo ... Mit quellenkundlichen Bemerkungen ... (Leipzig: Zentralantiquariat der DDR, 1977)

[5] See Douglas Alton Smith, `Editing XVIIIth Century Lute Music: The Works of Silvius Leopold Weiss', in Le Luth et sa Musique, II (Paris: CNRS, 1984), pp. 253-60.

[6] Douglas Alton Smith, ed., Silvius Leopold Weiss, Sämtliche Werke für Laute, Bände 1-4, (Frankfurt: C.F. Peters, 1983-90)

[7] The project continues to enjoy the help and encouragement of Dr. Wolfgang Reich, as well as that of the leading Bach scholars, Prof. Hans-Joachim Schulze and Prof. Christoph Wolff. Mention should be made here of the special contribution of the organiser of this Congress, André Burguete, who founded the Akademie Weiss at Colmar in 1989, and whose own researches have added greatly to our understanding of Weiss's music.

[8] D.A. Smith, `Editing XVIIIth Century Lute Music ...', op. cit.

[9] In different sources, some sonatas appear more than once with different inner movements. Occasionally these are interchanged between sonatas in a manner which is somewhat confusing, especially when one attempts to establish a comprehensive numbering scheme for Weiss's oeuvre.

[10] I should mention that it is not at all unusual -- rather the reverse -- for lute manuscripts to contain a very high proportion of anonymous music, which raises the question of the urgency of a general comprehensive catalogue of Baroque lute sources, a matter far beyond the scope of this Congress, but of vital concern to us all.

[11] The manuscript is catalogued in detail, with a complete list of the contents, in A. Hughes-Hughes, Catalogue of Music Manuscripts in the British Museum (London, 1909), iii, pp. 72ff; a summary description appears in W. Boetticher, Handschriftlich überlieferte Lauten- und Gitarrentabulaturen (Répertoire Internationale des Sources Musicales, BVII, Munich, 1978), p. 179.

[12] Catalogue of a large collection of Ancient & Modern Music, ... also of Musical Instruments ... which will be sold by Auction (London: Puttick and Simpson, July 27th, 1877), p. 3, lot 45:

`Weis (Silvius Leopold) né à Breslau vers, 1680, mourut vers, 1748 - Original, and probably unique, Collection of his Fugues, Allemandes, Bourées, Sarabands, Gigues, Gavottes, Minuets, Preludes, Capriccios, also Le sans soucie, L'infidéle, Le fameux Corsair, Le belle Tiroloise, Comment scavez vous, etc. etc. 317 pages (folio) beautifully written on 6-line paper, in curious notation of the period (1717) vellum binding, with coat of arms, etc. on the side',

`Weis (Silvio Leopold) Lutist to the King of Poland, An extensive Collection of Preludes, Courants, Bourées, Minuets, Gavots, Jiggs, Sarabands, Chaconnes, Fugues, etc. for a Lute or Flute, a very curious MS. The Music in peculiar Notation, apparently Autograph, and executed at Prague from 1717 to 1719 on 317 pages, unpublished, vellum, gilt edges, arms painted on the sides / oblong folio.

M. Fetis does not seem to have been aware of the existence of this curious volume.',

[13] In almost every case written as `Weis', a form of spelling often found in sources of Bohemian origin such as Po (source abbreviations given here are from Douglas Alton Smith's list, `Corpus of Music by Silvius Leopold Weiss: Sources', elsewhere in this volume, p. 000) and the Gelinek MS (Pnm), or from Silesia, such as W2004. The form `Weiss' appears in London only four times out of a total of 51 occurrences, at the end of pieces on ff. 141r and 142r, and in two titles, the Losy tombeau, f. 150v, and a prelude on f. 151v.

[14] Paul Nettl, `Zur Geschichte des Konzertwesens in Prag', in Zeitschrift für Musikwissenschaft, v (1922-3), pp. 159-164. Baron Hartig (without mention of forenames) is cited by both Stölzel and Quantz as one of the finest keyboard players in Prague, and as a well-known connoisseur and collector of music. Baron Ludwig Joseph von Hartig (1685-1736) was granted the title of Count (Graf) on 20 February 1719 for public service; the enobling document mentions that he had been entrusted by the Emperor with the directorium of his district of Bohemia.

Johann Hubert Freiherr (Baron) von Hartig-Berens witnessed Losy's will and a codicil in 1721 (Adolf Koczirz, `Österreichische Lautenmusik zwischen 1650 und 1720', Studien zur Musikwissenschaft, V, pp. 49-96); I have been unable to trace the `Berens' branch of the Hartig family with the reference books at my disposal.

[15] According to Smith (S.L. Weiss, Sämtliche Werke i, p. vii, fn. 5), the arms resemble those `of the Kauffman family listed as number 371 in the Perthe'sche Wappensammlung, Serie IV.' I have been unable to check this reference.

[16] Rudolf Johann Graf Meraviglia-Crivelli, ed., Der böhmische Adel, Sibmacher's Wappenbuch IV. Band, 9. Abt. (1886), p. 126, and plate 63. Meraviglia-Crivelli describes the Scherbvogel as `der mehr natürlich als heraldisch dargestellte affliegende Adler, diese Bemerkung für Nichtheraldiker'.

[17] ff. 6r (Menuet); 7r (Gavotte); 7v (Prelude); 11v-12r (piece without title; Prelude); 16v (written-out arpeggiation exercises); 41r (Prelude); 99r (Menuet); 100r (Gavotte and Men[uet]); 114r (Bourée); 115r (Gavotte); 116r (Menuet); 125v ([Prelude]: autograph); 129r (Comment Sçavez Vous); 129v (Praelude: autograph); 142r (Prelude); 153r (Fantasie in C major: added in the space left for a prelude in D major, the key of the following pieces)

[18] ff. 19v (Allegro); 20v-21r (Courente Royale); 46v (piece without title); 121v (Menuet); 146v ([Menuet] and Trio)

[19] ff. 7v, 12r, 41r, 125v (autograph), 129v (autograph), 142r

[20] A letter to Prince Lobkowitz, dated 17 November 1728, formerly in the Lobkowitz archives at Raudnitz (Roudnice) is currently inaccessible; it is reprinted in Hans Volkmann, `Sylvius Leopold Weiss, der letzte grosse Lautenist. Biographische Skizze', in Die Musik, Jahrg. vi, Heft 7 (1906/7), pp. 281ff). A letter from September 1741 to Luise Adelgunde Victoria Gottsched, the lute-playing wife of the Leipzig poet J.C. Gottsched, is reprinted in Hans-Joachim Schulze, `Ein unbekannter Brief von Silvius Leopold Weiss', in Die Musikforschung xxi (1968), pp. 203ff; it is reproduced in Douglas Alton Smith, `The Late Sonatas of Silvius Leopold Weiss', unpublished PhD dissertation, Stanford University, 1977, pp. 19-21.

[21] In August 1742, Weiss contributed a passage in tablature and a poem to the Stammbuch of Conrad Arnold Schmid. (Christoph Wolff, `Ein Gelehren-Stammbuch aus dem 18. Jahrhudert ...' in Die Musikforschung xxvi (1973), p. 217)

[22] Such changes of hand occur inside a piece between the following pairs of folios: 8v-9; 9v-10; 25v-6; 28v-9; 32v-3; 33v-4; 35v-6; 36v-7; 59v-60; 63v-4; 80v-81.

[23] As Wolgang Reich implies in his suggestion: `[London] in einem kurzen Zeitraum (vor etwa 1735) fort laufend geschreiben wurde, wobei zwischen dem Komponisten und dem Kopisten eine Arbeitsteilung bestand, die bis ins Einzelwerk hinein zu verfolgen ist.' (Wolfgang Reich, Silvius Leopold Weiss: 34 Suiten, `Quellenkundlich Bemerkungen ...', p. vi)

[24] Fortunately, the remaining 33 bars of missing tablature can be restored with confidence since the piece is almost identical to the single surviving lute part of a duet for two lutes in Dresden. (Vol. vi, pp. 19-23) However, like all Weiss's chamber and ensemble music, the work remains incomplete since all the accompanying non-tablature parts are lost.

[25] Versteigerung der Musikbibliothek des Herrn Dr. Werner Wolffheim, vol. 2 (Berlin: M. Breslauer and L. Liepmannsohn, 1929) (hereinafter Wolffheim Sale), pp. 39-40, lot 68

[26] Reich, 34 Suiten, `Quellenkundlich Bemerkungen', passim. For the solo sonatas in Dresden, I have adopted Reich's numbering scheme, prefixing his number with a D; page numbers given refer to those in the facsimile, which run on continuously through vols 1 to 5.

[27] H. Neeman, `Die Lautenhandschriften von Silvius Leopold Weiss in der Bibliothek Dr. Werner Wolffheim, Berlin' in Zeitschrift für Musikwissenschaft, Jg. 10 1927/8, p. 400

[28] Unfortunately, no trace of this note remains visible today, even under ultra-violet light. Dresden was seriously damaged by water from fire-hoses during the wartime bombardment of the city in 1945. Another note in red ink, to D18, has also been washed out in similar fashion; in this case, however, impressions of the letters given here in italics can still be seen in the paper of the MS: `Sounata del Sig. Weiß composta a Roma'

[29] Both Duke (Prince) Phillip Hyacinth Lobkowitz and his wife Wilhelmina were expert lutenists and apparently composers for the instrument. There is a suite for lute ascribed to the `Prince de lobkowitz' in a Vienna manuscript (V1078, ff. 23v-27; anonymous concordance in Eb1740, ff. 11v-16). The Duchess was praised for her skill on the instrument in a poem written in 1727 (see Jiri Tichota, `Francouzská loutnová hudba Cechách', in Miscellanea Musicologica 25-6 (Prague, 1973), pp. 41-2); a sarabande by `C[omtesse?] W[ilhelmina?]' in a Brno manuscript has been plausibly ascribed to her by Jiri Tichota (op cit, pp. 39-40) For a matched pair of lutes made by Edlinger in Prague and probably formerly owned by the couple, see the Catalogue, nos. 00 and 00.

[30] Some pages from this piece are reproduced in facsimile in D.A. Smith, `Sylvius Leopold Weiss: Master Lutenist of the German Baroque', Early Music viii (January, 1980), pp. 47-58.

[31] See footnote 21.

[32] Based on a cursory examination of the theorbo parts at the Sächsische Landesbibliothek. My thanks are due to André Burguete and Dr Wolgang Reich for drawing attention to the existence of these parts. Timothy Burris (The Hague) is currently engaged on a systematic study of these and other theorbo parts at Dresden.

[33] Hans Neeman, `Die Lautenistenfamilie Weiss' in Archiv für Musikwissenschaft, Jhrg. 4, Heft 2 (1939), p. 179. This identification, apparently based on earlier research by Adolf Koczirz (who is not named in the 1939 article, possibly for political reasons) rests on the existence of pieces credited to `Raschke' and `R' in another Wolffheim MS (Wolffheim Sale, lot 66; now Krakow, Biblioteka Jagiellonska, ex-Berlin, MS 40633) also copied by the compiler of Dresden, and the fact that one of the two volumes of Hasse arrangements in the hand of Dresden's compiler (Wolffheim Sale, lot 69; now Leipzig, Musikbibliothek der Stadt, MS III.11.46a) carries the note `versezet Ao. 1755. di R'. (See Adolf Koczirz, `Verschollene neudeutsche Lautenisten (Weichmanberg, Pasch, de Bronikowsky, Raschke)', in Archiv für Musikwissenschaft iii (1921), pp. 272-8; see also Neeman, `Die Lautenhandschriften von Silvius Leopold Weiss ...', pp. 398-9.

[34] Reich, facsimile intro, pp. iii-iv

[35] Transcribed in Neeman, `Die Lautenhandschriften von Silvius Leopold Weiss ...', pp. 396-7.

[36] The compiler carefully reproduces Weiss's dating on the tablature of a partita in F major: `S.L. Weiss Ao 1731' (Dresden, vol VI, f. 6).

[37] Smith, `The Late Sonatas ...', pp. 50-51

[38] Barry Brook, ed., The Breitkopf Thematic Catalogue ... 1762-1787 (New York: Dover, 1966), p. 371, No. 18; also Verzeichniss Musicalischer Werke, ... welche in richtigen Abschriften ... zu bekommen sind (Leipzig: J. G. I. Breitkopf, 1761), `Die Laute' pp.56-9, section 6 `Praeludia und dergleichen Lautenstücke':

Weiss, Sylvio Leopold, Musico di Camera di Ré di Polonia, Preludio, nel quale sono contenuti tutti i Tuoni musicali. a 1 thl. 8 gl.

[39] Breitkopf, Verzeichniss 1761, loc. cit:

Falkenhagen, Adam, Mus. di Cam di Marggr. di Bareuth, Preludio, nel quale sono contenuti tutti i Tuoni musicali. a 1 thl. 8 gl.

[40] Augsburg, Staats- und Stadtbibliothek, Ms. Tonkunst 2deg.. fasc. III, Nr. 51. It is possible that such dismantling of a multi-tonal prelude was normal in the Baroque period: Hinterleithner provides a single modulating prelude for solo lute at the opening of his chamber-music collection Lautenkonzerte (Vienna, 1699) with verbal key- and page-cues for the suites in his collection at the appropriate cadential points in the prelude. (See Adolf Koczirz, ed., Österreichische Lautenmusik zwischen 1650 und 1720, Denkmäler der Tonkunst in Österreich 50, facsimile on p.[v]; transcription on pp. 4-6) Exactly how Hinterleithner's prelude was to be used as an introduction to a performance of one of the Lautenkonzerte is not clear.