Lute I’d played in the old festive period (8)
I believe the answer is:
yuletide
'festive period' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'lute i'd played in the old' is the wordplay.
'played' is an anagram indicator (letters playing around).
'in' is an insertion indicator.
'the old' becomes 'ye' (resembles a historical spelling of 'the').
'lute'+'id'='luteid'
'luteid' anagrammed gives 'uletid'.
'uletid' going inside 'ye' is 'YULETIDE'.
(Other definitions for yuletide that I've seen before include "Xmas" , "in depths of winter" , "Christmas period" , "time of year" , "time for feast" .)