The six-string Spanish guitar, the forerunner of the modern instrument, became popular in Germany around 1800 as a portable alternative to the pianoforte; Carl Maria von Weber is known to have played it, and Franz Schubert may have done so as well.  The songs in this concert are chosen from those by Schubert, Weber and Louis Spohr published at the time with guitar parts, presumably with the composers’ approval.  David Miller also plays guitar solos by Johann Kaspar Mertz (1806-1856), a Hungarian guitar virtuoso active in Vienna.

Stephen Varcoe is one of Britain’s most distinguished and versatile baritones, with more than 125 recordings to his name, ranging from Purcell, Bach and Handel to Nigel Osborne and John Tavener.  He is also the author of several books on singing and is in great demand as a teacher and lecturer.  David Miller is one of Britain’s busiest lutenists (he took part in our performance of Monteverdi’s Orfeo in 2007), and also plays a range of other plucked instruments, including the early nineteenth-century guitar.