# Jakob Lindberg

Jakob Lindberg (born 16 October 1952) is a Swedish lutenist, performing solo, in small and large ensembles, and also directing operas, using instruments of the lute and guitar families. He is known for the first ever recording of the Complete Solo Lute Music of John Dowland as well as for recording music never before recorded, with repertoire dating back to the Renaissance period.

## Biography

Jakob Lindberg was born in Djursholm, Sweden on 16 October 1952 and began his studies on the guitar with his first inspirations being the music of The Beatles. At the age of fourteen, he started studying the guitar with Jörgen Rörby; it was Rörby who first introduced Lindberg to the lute.
Lindberg studied music at Stockholm University before going on to study at the Royal College of Music in London. He combined his studies with Diana Poulton on lute and classical guitar with Carlos Bonell at the RCM and began to focus his attention on performing Renaissance and Baroque music on period instruments. Lindberg's solo Wigmore Hall recital debut took place in 1978, and he has subsequently toured internationally throughout Europe, the United States and Canada, Japan, Mexico, Russia, and Australia, as a soloist, accompanist, continuo player, and ensemble/consort player.

## Teaching

Lindberg started teaching as a professor of lute at the Royal College of Music in London in 1979, taking over the position from Diana Poulton, together with taking part in lecture recitals (as for example Gresham College, London).

## Performing

Lindberg has recorded lute music that had never before been recorded, largely under the BIS label. Recorded works include Italian chitarrone collections, music by Scottish composers, the first ever recording of the complete solo lute music by John Dowland, and solo lute works of Johann Sebastian Bach, together with chamber music by Vivaldi, Boccherini, and Haydn.
He founded the Dowland Consort in 1985, which specialized in performing music from Elizabethan and Jacobean times, most notably John Dowland and Sylvius Leopold Weiss. As a continuo player (theorbo, chitarrone, and archlute), he has performed with many period instrument ensembles, such as the English Concert, the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, the Academy of Ancient Music, the Taverner Choir, the Monteverdi Choir, the Purcell Quartet, and the Chiaroscuro Quartet. He is a frequent accompanist for singers such as Nigel Rogers, Ian Partridge, Emma Kirkby, and Anne Sofie von Otter. Lindberg has directed several Baroque operas from the chitarrone at the Drottningholm Palace Theatre as a production staged by the Royal Swedish Opera. His opera performances include Purcell's Dido and Aeneas in 1995 in which he collaborated with Andrew Parrot, and Jacopo Peri's Euridice in 1997. On 3 July 2013, Lindberg gave a concert of the music of John Dowland at The Queen's Gallery, Buckingham Palace to coincide with the 350th anniversary of John Dowland's birth.
Lindberg appears in and plays the lute in the 1983 Doctor Who episode "The King's Demons".

## Instruments

* Rauwolf Lute: made by Sixtus Rauwolf, Augsburg c. 1590, one of the few extant, "possibly the world's oldest lute in playing condition." Originally a 7-8 course instrument, modified in 1715 to incorporate an extended neck, with the work labelled "Leonhard Mausiel of Nüremberg 1715" inside the lute body. The restoration has been made for this instrument to accommodate 11-course d minor, or 10-course Renaissance tuning/stringing.
* 6-course lute: made by Michael Lowe, Oxford 1985, based on European lutes used c.1500-1550.
* 8-course lute: made by Michael Lowe, Oxford 1980, based on an Italian 1580 model, employing yew wood for the back ribs, each strip containing both sapwood and heartwood rendering a stunning natural striped effect.
* 10-course lute: made by Michael Lowe, Oxford 1977, with a yew wood back of 31 ribs.
* 13-course lute: made by Michael Lowe, Oxford 1981, based on models from c.1720 Germany, with a rosewood back, and a lower pegbox extended to an upper pegbox, supporting longer bass strings, lending a rich strength of sound to the lower tessitura.

## Compositions dedicated to Jakob Lindberg

Composer: Richard Popplewell; Title: Variations on Brigg Fair; Scoring: solo lute; Date: 1988.

## Discography

| BIS no. | Title | Collaborating Artists | Release Date | Other label info |
| BIS 201 | Lute Music from Scotland and France | | 1982/3 | |
| BIS 211 | Virtuoso Lute Music from Italy and England | | 1982 | |
| BIS 257 | Faire, Sweet & Cruell | Lute songs with Christina Högman | 1983 | |
| BIS 266 | Italian and English Music for Recorder and Lute | with Clas Pehrsson | 1984 | |
| BIS 267 | English Lute Duets | with Paul O'Dette | 1984 | |
| BIS 290 | Antonio Vivaldi: The Complete Works for the Italian Lute of his Period | with members of the Drottningholm Baroque Ensemble | 1985 | |
| BIS 293 | Songs for the Guitar | with Christina Högman | 1985 | |
| BIS 315 | Lachrimae | directing the Dowland Consort | 1985 | |
| BIS 327 | Baroque Music for Lute and Guitar | | 1986 | |
| BIS 341 | Three, Four and Twenty Lutes | with nineteen other lutenists | 1985 | |
| BIS 360 | Joseph Haydn: Complete Works for Lute and Strings | with members of the Drottningholm Baroque Ensemble | 1987 | |
| BIS 390 | Music from the time of Christian IV | includes lute solos and directing the Dowland Consort | 1987 | |
| BIS 391 | Music from the time of Christian IV | includes songs with Rogers Covey-Crump | 1987 | |
| BIS 399 | Serenissima I Lute Music in Venice 1500-1550 | | 1988 | |
| BIS 430 | John Dowland: First Booke of Songes | with Rogers Covey-Crump | 1988 | |
| BIS 451 | Heavenly Noyse | directing the Dowland Consort | 1989/90 | |
| BIS 469 | Anthony Holborne | directing the Dowland Consort | 1989/90 | |
| BIS 587-588 | Bach's Lute Music | | 1992 | |
| BIS 597-598 | Luigi Boccherini: Quintets with Guitar 1-6 | with members of the Drottningholm Baroque Ensemble | 1992 | |
| BIS 599 | Serenissima II Lute Music in Venice 1500-1550 | | 1991 | |
| BIS 722-724 | John Dowland: The Complete Solo Lute Music | | 1994 | |
| BIS 799 | Francesco Corbetta: Guitar Music | | 1996 | |
| BIS 824 | John Dowland: Selected Lute Music | | 1994 | |
| BIS 899 | Spanish Guitar Music | | 1999 | |
| BIS 1199 | Seven Suites of Swedish Folk Tunes | | 2000 | |
| BIS 1415 | Cataldo Amodei | with Emma Kirkby and Lars Ulrik Mortensen | | |
| BIS 1505 | Musique and Sweet Poetrie | With Emma Kirkby | | |
| BIS 1524 | Weiss: Lute Music | | | |
| BIS 1534 | Weiss: Lute Music 2 | | | |
| BIS 1725 | Orpheus in England - Dowland and Purcell | With Emma Kirkby | | |
| BIS 1899 | Italian Virtuosi of the Chitarrone | | | |
| BIS 2055 | Jacobean Lute Music | | | |
| BIS 2265 | A Lute by Sixtus Rauwolf - French and German Baroque Music | | | |
| | Dowland | Consort of Musicke | 1977 | DSLO533 |
| | Handel's Watermusic | Academy of Ancient Music - Christopher Hogwood | 1978 | Decca Florilegium |
| | Monteverdi's Ulysses | London Philharmonic Orchestra - Raymond Leppard | 1979 | CBS Masterworks |
| | Dowland - A Miscellany | Consort of Musicke | 1979 | DSLO556 |
| | Biagio Marini - Le Lagrime d'Erminia and Violin Sonatas | Consort of Musicke | 1979 | DSLO570 |
| | Dowland - Mr Henry Noell Lamentations - Psalmes & Sacred Songs | Consort of Musicke | 1978/1979 | DSLO551 |
| | John Dowland - The Complete Solo Lute Music (one of five) | | 1980 | Decca Florilegium |
| | John Danyel - Lute Songs | Consort of Musicke | 1981 | DSLO568 |
| | William Lawes - Royal Consorts | Consort of Musicke | 1981 | Decca Florilegium |
| | Handel: La Riserrectione | Academy of Ancient Music - Christopher Hogwood | 1980 | Decca Florilegium |
| | John Blow: "Cupid and Death" | Consort of Musicke | 1983 | Deutsche Harmonia Mundi |
| | Monteverdi: Balli et Balletti | English Baroque Soloists and Monteverdi Choir - J E Gardiner | 1983 | Archiv |
| | Monteverdi: Orfeo | Nigel Rogers - London Baroque | 1984 | EMI |
| | The Florentine Intermedi 1589 | Parrott, Taverner Choir, Consort and Players | 1986 | EMI |
| | Bach: St John Passion | English Baroque Soloists, Monteverdi Choir - J E Gardiner | 1986 | Archiv |
| | Monteverdi: Orfeo | English Baroque Soloists, Monteverdi Choir - J E Gardiner | 1987 | Archiv |
| | Monteverdi: Vespers 1610 | English Baroque Soloists, Monteverdi Choir - J E Gardiner | 1989 | Archiv |
| | The Carol Album: Seven Centuries of Christmas Music | Taverner Consort, Choir and Players | 1989 | |
| | Monteverdi's Poppea | English Baroque Soloists, Monteverdi Choir - J E Gardiner | 1993 | Archiv |
| | Walter Porter: Madrigals and Airs | Consort of Musicke | 1993, rec. 80s | Musica Oscura |
| | The Genteel Companion | Richard Harvey, Mark Caudle, Sarah Cunningham, Moniga Huggett, Timothy Roberts, Philip Thorby | 1986 | ASV DCA 558 / Harmonia mundi GAU 117 |
| | Vivaldi: Gloria; Handel: Gloria, Dixit Dominus | English Baroque Soloists, Monteverdi Choir - J E Gardiner | Nov 1998/Jun 2001 | Philips 4625972 |
| | A Baroque Festival - Bach, Handel et al | Parrott | 17/10/2000 | EMI - Virgin Classics [All429] UPC: 724356130425 |
| | Capriccio Stravagante - Vol. 2 | | 2001 | Chandos 9511506702 |
| | Gaudeamus - Early Music Sampler | | 1996 | Asv Living Era 1115849 |
| | Lamenti | Anne Sofie von Otter | 1999 | Deutsche Grammophon |
| | Home for Christmas | Anne Sofie von Otter | 1997 | Deutsche Grammophon - Archiv - 457-617-2 |
| | Mad About Angels | | 1995 | Polygram Records, Deutsche Grammophon 028944911329 |
| | Mad About Vivaldi | | 1993 | Deutsche Grammophon 2894395162 |
| | The Pocket Purcell | Parrott, Taverner Consort | 2000, rec. 80s | Virgin Classics 2435451162 |
| | Purcell: Te Deum & Jubilate, etc | Parrott, Taverner Players | 2000, rec. 80s | Virgin Classics 2435450612 |
| | Purcell: Odes for Saint Cecilia, etc | Parrott, Taverner Consort, Choir and Players | 1988 | Virgin Veritas 724356158221 |
| | JS Bach: Heart's Solace | Parrott, Taverner Consort and Players | 1997 | Sony 01-060155-10 |
| | Monteverdi: Madrigali guerrieri et amorosi | Parrott, Taverner Consort and Players | 1991 | EMI 7543332 |
| | Vivaldi: Four Seasons / Gloria | The English Concert - Trevor Pinnock | 2000, rec: 80s | Deutsche Grammophon 2894692202 |
| | Vivaldi Concertos | The English Concert - Trevor Pinnock | 2001, rec: 80s | Deutsche Grammophon 2894713172 |
| | It Fell on a Summers Day | Ian Partridge | 1983 | Hyperion - CDH 88011 |
| | Romantic Songs for Tenor and Guitar | Ian Partridge | | Pavilion Records- SHECD 9608 |
| | Monteverdi & d'India: Mannerist Madrigals | Nigel Rogers, Chiaroscuro, London Baroque | 1981 | EMI Virgin Classics 7243 5 61165 2 8 |
| | Corelli Sonatas for Strings | Purcell Quartet | | Chandos 0694 (4) |
| | Johannes-Passion BWV 245 | Choir of New College, Oxford - Edward Higginbottom | 2001 | Naxos |
| | The Top Ten of Sweden's Great Power Period | Skaraborg Vocal Ensemble | 1993 | Proprius - PRCD 9083 |
| | Återspeglingar - Svenska Sånger | Anna Emilsson | 2007 | Todo Production - TOP01 |

## Family

His younger brother is the trombonist Christian Lindberg.