The 1970 cult LP record "Lute Music of the 16th–17th Centuries" released by the Melodiya, performed by the Leningrad guitarist, lutenist, and composer Vladimir Vavilov, turned out to be a clever hoax. Except for the arrangement of the English folk song "Greensleeves," all the pieces recorded on the album were actually composed by Vavilov himself.
Under the names of Vincenzo Galilei, Francesco da Milano, Jean Antoine Baïf, Niccolò Nigrino, and other real and fictitious composers, Vavilov hid his authorship. This remarkable musician, who came into music as an adult without a formal composer’s diploma, took this approach. “My father was sure that the works of an obscure self-taught musician with the banal surname ‘Vavilov’ would never be published,” his daughter recalled. “But he wanted his music to be known. That was much more important to him than the recognition of his name…”
The history of music knows many mystifiers, but few have managed to achieve such popularity and keep millions of listeners in the dark for so long. Ave Maria, supposedly by an unknown author, was later attributed to Giulio Caccini, one of the creators of the opera genre, and was performed by stars of classical vocals like Irina Arkhipova and Inessa Galante. The album’s opening track, "Canzona by Francesco da Milano," caught the attention of Boris Grebenshchikov and was featured in Sergei Solovyov's film "Assa."
Vladimir Vavilov recorded these "discovered" works with outstanding musicians from Leningrad: organist Mark Shakhin, flutist Lev Perepelykin from the Leningrad Philharmonic Wind Quintet, oboist Vladimir Kurlin, horn player Vitaly Buyanovsky, and young singer Nadezhda Vayner. The composer died shortly after the album's first release but remains remembered as a creator of beautiful and enchanting musical illusions that many still want to believe are genuine.
The LP record was produced at the Ultra Production factory in Moscow in 2022. The matrix was prepared from the original master tapes, which underwent restoration and remastering.
The album cover features the illustration "L'aimable accord" (The Pleasant Harmony), an engraved print after a painting by Jean François de Troy (circa 1750–1770) from the British Museum collection in London.
The annotation for the LP record was written by musicologist Lyalya Kandaurova (Russian only).
