>>I'm afraid I'm going to mention the dreaded 'e' word again: what evidence have you that the male alto ('countertenor') voice was used historically to perform lute songs?
Aw come on Martyn! You'll be telling us next that lute players didn't wear jester outfits or sing 'Hey Nonny Nonny'. Bill -- To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html