Bakfark, Balint (Valentin Greff) (1507–1576)

Hungarian-born Polish lutenist and composer. He was a great virtuoso, as is reflected by the technical difficulty of his extant works. He published a lute book with Jacques Moderne of Lyon in 1552 (Intabulatura ... transilvani coroniensis liber primus) and a second with Andreae of Kraków (Andrzej z Krakowa) in 1565 (Pannonii harmonicarum musicarum in usum testudinis factarum tomus primus).

He learnt to play the lute while in royal service. He later lived in France, Vienna, and Padua, and was at the Polish court 1549–66.