Reusner, Esaias (EN)

Reusner, Reussner, Esaias, *29 April 1636 Löwenberg (present-day Lwówek Śląski), †1 May 1679 Berlin, German composer and lutenist. He was taught by his father, the lutenist Esaias Reusner. Between 1651 and 1654, he stayed at the Polish court of Prince Radziwiłł, where he was taught by an unknown French lutenist. From 1655 to 1672, he was a lutenist for the Silesian prince Georg III in Wrocław, after which he taught lute playing at the University of Leipzig. From 1674 until the end of his life, he was a chamber musician for the Brandenburg elector Friedrich Wilhelm in Berlin. Reusner was the first outstanding German Baroque lutenist. His most important works include 28 suites published in Delitiae testudinis and Neue Lauten-Früchte. These are 4–9-part cycles in a single key.

Literature: K. Koletschka Esaias Reussner der Jüngerer und seine Bedeutung für die deutsche Lautenmusik des XVII. Jahrhunderts, “Studien zur Musikwissenschaft”, XV, 1928; K.  Koletschka Esaias Reusner Vater und Sohn und ihre Choralbearb. für die Laute. Eine Parallele, in: Festschrift Adolph  Koczirz, ed. R. Haas, J. Zuth, Vienna 1930; K. Musioł Wkład Śląska do polskiej i europejskiej kultury muzycznej w okresie baroku, in: Wśród zagadnień polskiej literatury barokowej, Part 2, Katowice 1980.