Markus Lutz   Sun, 09 Jan 2000 23:44:08 +0000
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Hello, 

I'm Markus Lutz, 36 years old, married and have two daughters (9 and 7). I live 
in "Bad Buchau am Federsee" in the South of Germany and are an evangelical 
pastor. Music always played a great role in my life. I began playing trumpet in 
an "Posaunenchor" (Choir of posaunes) with about ten years. At the age of 14 I 
began to learn the guitar autodidactically. With the exception of some lessons 
in playing rock guitar and improvising I learned guitar playing on my own.

In the Noad-School for concert guitar I first came in touch with Silvius Weiss. 
This short fantasia impressed me deep and kept me searching for some more Weiss 
music. After some years playing mostly electric guitar and less concert guitar, 
about 6 years ago I began again to play concert guitar  (even dared to play the 
fantasia of Weiss in my 2.theological examina, you could sing or play an
instrument to improve your not in hymology).

I looked for some Weiss-music with CD's. I bought the records of Schneeweiss, 
who had included some pieces of Weiss in his CD's, - and was disappointed, 
because it sounded somewhat like spanish music. I also love the music of Bach,
and therefore I couldn't get this recordings together with my imagination of 
baroque music. So I searched for some more music of Weiss, finally found notes 
of a Suite in A-major, which has helped me throug difficult times.
When I discovered the Zerboni Weiss-Edition, I bought it and played it on my 
concert guitar for some time.
Slowly the wish rose in me, to have an lute to play his music on.
One and a half year ago, I was building my 13-course lute together with an 
Uncle of me, who had build more than two hundreds of viola da gambas and many 
other instruments in his 82 years. He had a plan of a swan-necked lute, and he 
transferred it to a shorter mensur (65,5cm) and into a bassrider-version. He 
was a little bit unwilling to build one with so much courses (and 24 strings) 
but whilst I was insisting on my wishes, he finally gave in and we build the 
instrument in one week (but he had prepared many things before).

So I am playing my baroque-lute since september 1998 and through the lutenet, 
the German lute association (especially Thomas Schall) I got entrance to a 
interesting world of music.

Greetings from Oberschwaben
Markus Lutz