Silvius Leopold Weiss

The prolific German composer and lute player Silvius Leopold Weiss was born in Grotkau near the Silesian capital Breslau (today Wroclaw in Poland) on 12 October 1687. He wrote about six hundred works for lute, and served at courts in Breslau (for Count Karl Philipp of Palatinat-Neuburg), Rome (for exiled Polish prince Alexander Sobieski) and Dresden (for August the Strong, Prince Elector of Saxony, and Frederic August II).

Weiss, who met Wilhelm Friedmann Bach, Johann Sebastian Bach, George Frideric Handel, Alessandro Scarlatti and Domenico Scarlatti, died in Dresden on 16 October 1750.

His father, Johann Jacob Weiss, and one of his seven children, Johann Adolph Faustinus Weiss, were also lutenists.

A selection of articles about Silvius Leopold Weiss

CD Spotlight. Previously Unknown - Music by Silvius Leopold Weiss, heard by Ron Bierman. '... difficult to improve upon ...'

Record box. Push the boat out - Music for trumpets, and music for baroque lute, reviewed by Alice McVeigh