Giulio Cesare Barbetta was the first lutenist to publish music for the seven-course lute. He specifies the instrument on the title page of his lntabolatura di liuto from 1585 but already in his II libro primo dell'intavolatura of 1569 there is a fantasia requiring notes a tone lower than the sixth course as well as the sixth course open. Whether he had the two strings of the sixth course tuned a tone apart or an actual seventh course is not known. His compositions mainly consist of dances, among which the exotic moresche are particularly striking.
