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The Thysius MS is the most extensive source of hand-written lute music known today. The manuscript, fully written in French tabulature, has been compiled around 1600 by the illustrious reverend Adriaen Smout (1580 – 1646). After Smout’s death the Leiden librarian and book collector Johannes Thysius (1622 – 1651) bought the book in an auction of Smout’s possessions. The manuscript, as well as the rest of Thysius’ library, known as the "Bibliotheca Thysiana", is still intact today.
The book contains over 800 pages of music for 5/6/7 course lute and comprises a large variety of pieces collected from all over Europe, including chanson- and madrigal intabulations, dance settings, fantasia’s, and songs. The new NLV/KVNM edition of the book contains three hard-backed volumes, neatly collected in a stylish box. The first volume, written and compiled by Jan Burgers, Louis Grijp, Simon Groot, and John Robinson, gives a thorough introduction into the history and background of the book, as well as an extensive list of concordances. The other two volumes represent the actual facsimile of the manuscript itself. Below, a few exemplary pages form the manuscript are depicted.
p. 25v
p. 355v
p. 401v
p. 411
p. 412
p. 413
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