Hans Gerle

Who was Hans Gerle?

Hans Gerle was a German lutenist and arranger of the Renaissance.

Little concrete information is available regarding Gerle's life. His father was probably Conrad Gerle, one of the city's better-known lute makers. Gerle likely spent his entire life in Nuremberg.

Gerle published three volumes of lute music through Hieronymus Formschneider, a Nuremberg publisher. The first two were issued in 1532-33, and the last in 1552; this third volume refers to Gerle as "the elder" on the title page, so it is presumed that Gerle had either a son or another relative with the same name. The first publication contains an introduction to the performance of lute, viola da gamba, and rebec, as well as an explanation of musical notation, and is a significant source of information on performance practice. The book is primarily made up of intabulations of German composers such as Ludwig Senfl, Johann Walter, Heinrich Isaac, Thomas Stoltzer, and Paul Hofhaimer.