The popular and resourceful Leupold Trio have produced a CD which recreates what they believe would have been regular practice in the smaller performance venues between the early renaissance and baroque periods. This involves the incorporation of a chittarrone rather than the more usual harpsichord as the accompanying instrument. The music ranges from Frescobaldi and Dowland to Corelli and Vivaldi.

The Leupold Trio made its debut in 2003 at the International Guitar Festival ‘SaitenSprünge’ in Bad Aibling (Germany) and was an immediate hit. The trio is made up of members from the Combattimento Consort Amsterdam. The trio believe that it has discovered a gaping hole in harpsichord-dominated early music practice, in the performance of sonatas for violin or cello incorporating a chitarrone accompaniment.

It is likely that at noble courts and in the wealthier estates there would have been an excellent harpsichord. It would therefore seem just as likely that at the coffeehouses and hostelries of the time, where there was either no keyboard or it was in disrepair, an alternative would have been needed for the purpose. Obviously the chitarrone or the lute may well have been the instrument of choice.