Biblioteca de la Guitarra y Cuerda Pulsada

The Music Collection Department of Wrocław University Library is in possession of an old print that contains the following inscription: ‘Esaias Reusner | fürste Brigischer | Lautenist’. This explicitly indicates the lutenist Esaias Reusner junior (1636–1679), who was born in Lwówek Śląski (Ger. Löwenberg). A comparative analysis of the duct of the handwriting in this inscription and in signatures on letters from 1667 and 1668 shows some convergences between the main elements of the script. However, there are also elements that could exclude the possibility that all the autographs were made by the same person. Consequently, it cannot be confirmed or unequivocally refuted that the inscription is an autograph signature of the lutenist to the court in Brzeg (Ger. Brieg). The old print itself contains a great deal of interesting information, which, in the context of Silesian musical culture of the second half of the seventeenth century and biographical information relating to the lutenist, enable us to become better acquainted with the specific character of this region, including the functioning of music in general, and lute music in...