Hopkinson Smith: “It’s essential to listen”

A pioneering figure in early music, Hopkinson Smith reflects on over fifty years dedicated to the lute, research, and teaching. 

Hopkinson Smith is a lutenist and early music specialist, born in the United States. He belongs to the pioneering generation of early music. In the 1970s, he moved to Basel, Switzerland, where he taught for many years at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis and still resides today. An interview. 

You are part of the pioneering generation of lutenists. You were born in the United States and came to Basel, in Europe, in the early 1970s. What was it like for someone wanting to become a lutenist in the 1960s and 1970s in the United States? 

Hopkinson Smith: Before coming to Switzerland, I lived in Boston for seven years, where there were mainly very active amateur groups and a few isolated musicians. But at the time, there was nowhere in the United States where one could seriously study the lute. So, in 1973, I went to Basel to study with Eugen Dombois. That’s what first attracted me. At the time, I thought I’d stay for a year… (laughs) and now, nearly 50 years later, I’m still here!

And why did you stay? 

H. S.: Well, because one concert followed another and so on. I started playing with Jordi Savall and Montserrat Figueras, then I was hired as Eugen Dombois’s assistant, I gave more and more lessons, etc. And then, of course, I met my wife, we had three children, and that’s how I gradually put down roots in Switzerland.

What were the most important stages in your journey as a student and young musician? 

H. S.: On one hand, there was my formal training at the Schola Cantorum, and on the other, an informal education that will never end—rather, it will always remain unfinished—with respect to the world of music. One must distinguish between the two. There were three people played a key role in my career: Eugen Dombois, of course, who was the first real lutenist I worked with. I think it’s essential for a lutenist is to listen like a teacher. Once you know how to listen and identify problems, you’ve already done half the work to solve them. At the same time, I attended summer courses in baroque guitar and lute with Emilio Pujol in Spain; I also played with him, and he had a great influence on me. And then, for a few years, I accompanied a singer who was taking lessons with Alfred Deller, which allowed me to discover this absolutely fascinating artist, with an exceptional sense of sound and poetry. That encounter left a strong impression on me. And of course, my collaboration with Jordi Savall was also decisive; he helped me take certain steps and opened new perspectives. But fundamentally, learning never stops; we continue to learn every time we hear something beautiful, when we explore space, depth, the meaning of sound…

There is now an extraordinarily varied repertoire for the lute. What is your favourite repertoire? Are there works you’ve played more often or enjoyed more than others?

H. S.: Yes, we have an embarrassment of riches; plucked string instruments have a broader repertoire than others: guitar, vihuela, baroque guitar, Renaissance guitar, lute, baroque lute, theorbo… I’ve always wanted to explore multiple directions, try different styles, often within the framework of a series of concerts or a recording. Over the years, I’ve made nearly thirty solo recordings, covering very diverse repertoires: 16th-century Italian music, early 17th-century Kapsberger, Attaingnant’s printed scores, two projects around Elizabethan English music (Dowland, Holborne…), then around 17th-century French music (Gallot, Guerau, Mouton…), several discs devoted to Weiss in the 18th century, six albums around Bach, and finally chamber music with lute from the second half of the 18th century—and these are just a few examples of the diversity of repertoire available for plucked string instruments!