 Hans Judenkünig (ca 1445/1450 Schwäbisch Gmünd/Germany - 1526 Vienna) settled in Vienna around 1515 as a Lutenist and perhaps also Lutemaker. His Schone kunstliche underweisung is one of the earliest printed Lutebooks (Vienna: Singrenius 1523) and at the same time is organized as a kind of text-book on playing the lute. It is written in the so-called German lute tabulature, i.e. a kind of shorthand notation showing the fingering of the notes using letters. The rhythmic relations are shown by means of their own symbols placed above the columns. Judenkünig not only treats the fingering of the left hand on all of the frets but also considers questions of tuning, rhythmic relations, modes and the original voices of the vocal models. In his Preludes (Präambeln) at the beginning of his lute school, he demonstrates how to play in the five different registers which is paramount to developing an individual style of playing the lute. The illustration shows a lute player. (E. Stadler)
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