Biography
Hume pursued a military career that took him through the officer ranks in both the Swedish and Russian forces. In his parallel role as a viol player he brought out two collections devoted to music for the lyra viol. Because most of his pieces were notated in tablature, they remain largely unplayable by present-day performers. In his own estimation he was first and foremost a soldier; he regarded his musical skill as the weaker, more feminine side of his nature. The collections appeared under the titles “The First Part of Ayres” and “Captaine Humes Poeticall Musicke.” The opening volume offered an extensive body of solo lyra-viol works—larger than the output of any other single composer active in the early seventeenth century—and ranged across dance movements as well as pieces bearing evocative, descriptive titles.