The German lutenists known as "Lautenschläger" or "Lautenzwicker" were renowned throughout Europe for their complex compositions and high level of playing technique.

One of them is Hans Judenkönig - a pioneer of German Renaissance music, in which the lute played an important role. The repertoire of the German "Lautenschläger" is rarely played because it is written in German lute tablature, a notation in fingerings instead of notes. This notation was particularly suitable for learning to play the lute through self-study and for playing polyphonic compositions in the private sphere. In 1523, Hans Judenkönig published Ein schöne künstliche Underweisung, an early school in German lute tablature with many sample pieces, which forms the core of this CD programme. In addition, Max Hattwich has selected works by the following generation of German lutenists who were influenced by Judenkönig: first and foremost Hans and Melchior Neusidler, but also pieces by Matthäus Waissel, Leonhard Lechner and Sebastian Ochsenkun.

With his selection, Max Hattwich creates a wonderful sound painting of the art of the lute in the 16th century and takes the listener into the private chambers of the bourgeois and aristocratic houses of the German Renaissance.