Jacques Bittner: Suite for Viola

Jacques Bittner: (fl 1680). Austro-Bohemian lutenist and composer. The few lines devoted to him in Baron’s Untersuchung (1727) are misleading as regards his publications. His Pieces de lut (1682), engraved by G. de Groos, then residing in Prague, and with a title-page by Karel Skreta, contains 53 technically demanding pieces for 11-course lute. The collection is dedicated to Johann Peter Pedroni, a wealthy citizen and tradesman in Prague. The pieces are grouped into ten suites, generally following the allemande–courante–sarabande–gigue pattern, each (except the second) preceded by a prélude non mesuré. French influence is evident, for example in the ornamentation, but the cantabile style of the music, praised by Baron, reveals the aesthetic approach of the Germanic school initiated by Esaias Reusner.

Profile from The New Grove dictionary of Music and Musicians