"A wealth of information and insight" Hopkinson Smith Today more and more instrumentalists wish to perform baroque music in an expressive manner reflecting stylistic practices of that era. The purpose of the present handbook is to help lute and theorbo players discover the most important tools for achieving this goal. We will never know precisely how baroque music was played, but can come closer to understanding the priorities of the time. A key to performing music of the baroque era is rhetorical expression. While striving to play in a stylistic manner we must keep in mind the purpose of rhetorical performance: to communicate passions and elevate the lives of our listeners. It is with this in mind that Performing Baroque Music on the Lute & Theorbo has been written. Author: Peter Croton, early music performer, and teacher at the world-renowned Schola Cantorum Basiliensis as well as at the Conservatories of Basel and Bern. Cover art and design: Johanna Croton Peter Croton grew up in the USA, lives in Switzerland and is an active performer and recording artist on various lutes and romantic guitar. He teaches lute and continuo at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis, as well as lute, historical performance practice and guitar continuo at the Conservatories of Basel and Bern. At twelve he began classical guitar with Leon Atkinson, and later played guitar in various jazz ensembles. Starting in 1979 he studied lute and classical guitar with Dr. Loris Chobanian (Oberlin Conservatory of Music), and Eugen Dombois and Hopkinson Smith (Schola Cantorum Basiliensis). He won first prize at the Erwin Bodky Competition for Early Music in Cambridge MA (1984) and has also won prizes at other international competitions. He has recorded numerous CDs in various styles (renaissance, baroque, romantic & crossover) and has appeared on television and radio as soloist and chamber musician. His recent book "Performing Baroque Music on the Classical Guitar" is available from Amazon, and his instruction manual "Figured Bass on the Classical Guitar: a practical approach based on historical principles" was published by Amadeus Verlag (2005). Six of his compositions for lute and voice were published by the German Lute Society (1999), and four new settings of texts by William Shakespeare for lute and voice by Tree Edition (2009). Two CDs of his songs ("I'll Sing A Sing For You" & "The Lute Player & Other Songs") have also been released. Homepage: www.peter-croton.com