Matthäus Waissel

Matthäus Waissel (c. 1540–1602) was a German lutenist, editor of music, and writer. Waissel was from 1573 headmaster of a school at Schippenbeil near Königsberg; he published in that year a volume of lute arrangements of vocal pieces, and in 1592 he issued a collection of German dances for lute, which signaled the decline of German lute tablature as it yielded prominence to the so-called French system. Waissel's output comprises three books of solo lute music in all, and one collection of duets.