[toc title=«Contenido» title_tag=«strong»]
(N. del T.: las afinaciones están expresadas de acuerdo al sistema de notación musical de Helmholtz.)
HARVEY TURNBULL/PAUL SPARKS (1, 2, 5, 6, 8(ii)), JAMES TYLER (3, 4), TONY BACON (7), OLEG V. TIMOFEYEV (8(i)), GERHARD KUBIK (8(iii)), THOMAS F. HECK(bibliography)
(Fr. guitare; Ger. Gitarre; It. chitarra; Sp. guitarra; Port. violo; Brazilian Port. violão).
Instrumento de cuerda de la familia del laúd, punteado o rasgueado, normalmente con trastes sobre la tastiera. Es difícil precisar qué características distinguen a las guitarras de otros instrumentos de la familia del laúd, porque el nombre ‘guitarra’ ha sido aplicado a instrumentos exhibiendo una gran variación en morfología y forma de ejecución.
La guitarra clásica moderna tiene seis cuerdas, una cámara de resonancia de madera con lados curvados hacia adentro y fondo plano. Aunque su historia incluye períodos de abandono en lo que se refiere a la música artística, siempre ha sido un instrumento de atracción popular, y se ha transformado en un instrumento de concierto establecido internacionalmente dotado de un repertorio creciente. En el sistema de clasificación de Hornbostel y Sachs la guitarra es un ‘cordófono compuesto’ del tipo laúd.
1. Estructura de la guitarra moderna
La Fig.1 muestra las partes de una guitarra clásica moderna. En instrumentos de la calidad más alta tradicionalmente éstas han sido fabricadas de maderas cuidadosamente seleccionadas: el fondo y los lados de jacarandá de Brasil, el mástil de cedro y la tastiera de ébano; la tapa, acústicamente la parte más importante del instrumento, es de pícea, seleccionada por su resistencia, resonancia y grano (la cercanía de las vetas se considera importante, y una buena tapa tendrá 5 ó 6 vetas por cm). La tapa y el fondo están compuestas cada una de dos secciones simétricas, así como el total de la circunferencia de los aros. La tapa está sostenida por varillas de pícea de Sitka, que contribuyen en gran medida a la calidad del sonido. La extracción excesiva de muchas de estas maderas llevó a una escasez global a fines del siglo XX y los luthiers, habiendo agotado las viejas existencias, se volcaron a maderas alternativas. Jacarandá de la India y arce fueron usados en lugar del jacarandá de Brasil (cuyo comercio fue prohibido en el mundo), la tapa fue realizada a veces de cedro rojo occidental o Canadiense (la lluvia ácida y la guerra en los balcanes habían afectado la oferta de pícea europea), caoba de Honduras y Brasil se usaron ocasionalmente para el mástil, y madera negra africana se consideró un sustituto del ébano.
La distribución tradicional de las varillas es en abanico desde de la boca debajo de la parte baja de la tapa. Los fabricantes han experimentado con otros diseños: algunos usan una tapa mucho más delgada y un entramado de finas varillas longitudinales y un número más reducido de varillas transversales más grandes, creando una membrana sostenida por un delicado pero fuerte entramado; otros prefieren un entramado en diagonal (que puede incluir fibras de carbono para una mayor resistencia). Dado que una alta calidad de sonido ha sido lograda por varios de estos luthiers, está claro que no se puede hablar de un varillaje tipo; cualquiera sea el diseño, a la tapa se le debe permitir vibrar adecuadamente. Las vibraciones de las cuerdas son transmitidas a la tapa por un puente de jacarandá, que a la vez sujeta las cuerdas. El límite inferior de la longitud vibrante de la cuerda está determinado por una selleta (de marfil, hueso o plástico) en el puente y por una cejuela del mismo material como límite superior. Los trastes (usualmente 19) dan un rango de tres octavas y media y son de níquel plateado. Las tres cuerdas más agudas son de nailon, las tres más graves de hilos de nailon entorchados con metal fino. La afinación se realiza a través de clavijas que activan un mecanismo de engranajes que hacen girar los rodillos de hueso o nailon. La afinación estándar es E–A–d–g–b–e’. La música para guitarra se escribe una octava más agudo de lo que suena.
Existen dos métodos para unir el mástil a la caja – el ‘tacón español’ y el ‘cola de pato’. En el primero el mástil se proyecta dentro de la caja y los lados se insertan en el taco del mástil, mientras que en el segundo el cuerpo es completado primero y el mástil se inserta en el bloque superior. El método español es más difícil de lograr pero resulta en una unión más resistente entre el mástil y la caja, y por lo tanto es preferible ya que esta es un área de gran tensión. La decoración moderna de la guitarra está limitada al mosaico que rodea a la boca; el diseño puede estar repetido en el puente, pero más comúnmente el puente tiene incrustaciones de marfil, madera o sintéticas, que también funcionan como protección de la madera de la presión de las cuerdas. Las medidas típicas para una guitarra son: largo total 98 cm; largo de cuerdas 65 or 66 cm; ancho en la curva inferior 37 cm, en la cintura 24 cm, y en la curva superior 28 cm; largo del cuerpo 48,5 cm; cejuela a cuerpo 30 cm; profundidad en la cintura inferior 10 cm, en la superior 9,5 cm.
2. Orígenes
Ha habido mucha especulación con respecto al origen de la guitarra, y varias teorías han sido propuestas para justificar su presencia en Europa. Algunos la han visto como un desarrollo remoto de la kithara de la Grecia antigua –como sugiere la relación etimológica en tre ‘kithara’ y ‘guitarra’; otros han visto a los laúdes de mástil largo de la Mesopotamia y Anatolia tempranas o a los ‘laúdes coptos’ de Egipto como los antepasados de la guitarra. Una materia en la que ha habido desacuerdo es con respecto a si la guitarra fue un desarrollo autóctono europeo o si fue introducida a la Europa medieval por los árabes; pero la aplicación de la palabra ‘guitarra’, con su insinuación de práctica musical europea, a laúdes orientales y antiguos delata un conocimiento superficial de los instrumentos implicados.
Los laúdes de mástil corto, entre los que se clasifica la guitarra europea, aparecieron muchos siglos después que los de cuello largo. Las representaciones más tempranas de la forma de la guitarra en un laúd de mástil corto aparecieron en Asia central en los siglos IV y III A.C.. Desde ese tiempo hasta el siglo IV D.C los laúdes de Asia central fueron de diversos tipos; la guitarra se encuentra en ejemplos que datan desde el siglo I al IV D.C.. Este tipo de instrumento no se encuentra de nuevo hasta su aparición en miniaturas bizantinas del siglo XI como instrumento de arco, y desde allí en adelante la forma de la guitarra fue descrita en forma similar en la iconografía medieval. Los instrumentos punteados aparecieron en una variedad de formas en la Edad Media; algunas cítolas (que eran tocadas con un plectro) se aproximan a la forma de la guitarra y son representadas con trastes.
La historia de la guitarra en Europa puede ser rastreada hasta el Renacimiento. Las guitarras de este período fueron construidas tanto con fondos curvos como planos y su característica saliente es la silueta de su aspecto frontal, una forma que compartió con la vihuela.
Los nombres de instrumentos relacionados a ‘guitarra’ ocurren en la literatura medieval desde el siglo XIII en adelante, pero se cree que muchos de ellos se refieren a la gittern, que se diferencia en varios aspectos de la guitarra renacentista. Sin embargo, la gittern del siglo XV era, según Tinctoris (c. 1487), afinada 4ta–3ra mayor–4ta, una afinación también usada en el laúd de cuatro órdenes contemporáneo y en algunas guitarras de cuatro órdenes.
La evidencia iconográfica sugiere que la extensión del rango del laúd europeo data de los comienzos del siglo XV (las cuerdas en pares habían sido introducidas en el siglo XIV). Un quinto orden se añadió en el agudo y posteriormente un sexto orden se agregó en el bajo, resultando – a juzgar en parte por la evidencia del siglo XVI – en la afinación G/g–c/c’–f/f’–a/a–d’/d’–g’.
Este diseño de intervalos pero con todos los órdenes afinados al unísono, fue compartido por la vihuela de mano, que reemplazó al laúd en España. ‘Vihuela’ fue primero calificada de mano en el siglo XV; anteriormente fue llamada vihuela de peñola y vihuela de arco. Parece claro que la versión punteada con los dedos fue una adaptación del instrumento con forma de guitarra que se tocaba con arco. La forma básica fue retenida pero adoptó algunas características más propicias para un instrumento punteado, principalmente el puente tipo laúd y una roseta central.
También fue durante el siglo XV que apareció la guitarra renacentista de cuatro órdenes, un instrumento que tenía mucho en común con el laúd y la vihuela. La fuerte influencia de estos dos instrumentos es atribuible a su superioridad artística sobre la guitarra: el rango más amplio de las cuerdas adicionales habría permitido que se compusiera o ejecutara música más ambiciosa sobre ellos. Las descripciones de la guitarra de cuatro órdenes en diferentes regiones tienen suficientes elementos en común como para indicar que se había establecido un único instrumento para uso general; la silueta de guitarra, la roseta central, el puente tipo laúd y los trastes son elementos comunes. En el siglo XVI las descripciones de la mano derecha de los guitarristas muestran una aproximación a las cuerdas desde arriba y sin plectro (en razón de que esto no hubiese permitido la ejecución de música polifónica). Una de las afinaciones de la guitarra de cuatro órdenes tenía una de los pares con una cuerda afinada una octava más aguda en el orden más grave. Otas caracterísiticas del laúd que aparecen en la guitarra fueron la roseta, el puente (fijado a la tapa) y el fondo redondeado y en costillas. El fondo plano fue compartido con la vihuela, así como la silueta frontal con cintura.
3. La guitarra de cuatro órdenes
(Fr. guiterre, guiterne; It. chitarrino, chitarra da sette corde, chitarra Napolitana; Sp. guitarra de quatro ordines).
Las guitarras del siglo XVI eran mucho más pequeñas que el instrumento moderno, y los instrumentos de cuatro órdenes bueden describirse como guitarra soprano. Juan Bermudo (El libro llamado Declaración de instrumentos musicales (Osuna, 1555/R, chap. lxv) describió la guitarra como más pequeña («más corto») que la vihuela y esto se corresponde con la iconografía contemporánea y con los requerimientos técnicos para la mano izquierda de mucha de la música que sobrevive. En el siglo XVI aún las guitarras de cinco órdenes (en oposición a las vihuelas de cinco órdenes descriptas por Bermudo) parecen haber sido instrumentos pequeños. La longitud de una guitarra de cinco órdenes realizada por Belchior Dias en 1581 (Royal College of Music, London) es de sólo 76,5cm. Otras características del instrumento del siglo XVI –compartidas por otros instrumentos punteados del período– fueron una roseta, a menudo de construcción intrincada, en lugar de una boca abierta; trastes de tripa atados alrededor del mástil (ocho a diez trastes parece lo más usual); y un puente bajo cerca de la tapa (esto le permite a la guitarra de Dias tener una longitud de cuerda vibrante de 55,4 cm).
La distribución básica de intervalos de las cuerdas de tripa era 4ta-3ra mayor-4ta; sin embargo se utilizaba una variedad de afinaciones. Bermudo describió y dio nombró con letras las afinaciones, lo que resultó en lo siguiente: g’/g–c’/c’–e’/e’–a’ (temple nuevo) y f’/f–c’c’–e’/e’–a’ (temple viejo). Decía que la vieja afinación era mejor para «viejos romances y música rasgueada», y que la nueva afinación debía preferirse para ‘música moderna’. (El temple viejo se encuentra en libros contemporáneos de guitarra como à corde avalée). Ambas afinaciones tienen el cuarto orden en octavas. La más grave se llama bordón (en francés, bourdon). Este particular arreglo del cuarto orden (con la cuerda más grave cerca del tercer orden) se deduce de la evidencia interna del repertorio completo del instrumento, y es corroborada por la evidencia similar de la guitarra de cinco órdenes y la supervivencia de esta práctica en guitarras folclóricas de España, Portugal, Brasil, etc. No todas las fuentes de música requieren esta cuerda grave. Scipione Cerreto (Della prattica musica, Naples 1601/R) presentó una afinación totalmente recurrente sin octava grave en el cuarto orden: g’/g’–d’/d’–f’/f’–b’, esto es, como los intervalos del temple viejo de Bermudo pero un tono más agudo. Esta afinación es corroborada por una impresión anónima de 1645, Conserto vago, una suite de piezas para trío de guitarra, laúd y tiorba, en el que la guitarra debe ser afinada más aguda para estar de acuerdo con la afinación normal de los otros dos instrumentos.
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En la ejecución de música polifónica la técnica de la guitarra era similar a la del laúd y la vihuela; la mano derecha se afirmaba a través de apoyar el meñique sobre el puente o la tapa, y la producción de sonido se lograba a través del pulgar, el índice y el mayor tocando las cuerdas. Esta posición era posible por la baja altura de las cuerdas sobre la tapa, que estaba a la misma altura que la tastiera. La música se escribía en tablatura. Los distintos sistemas utilizaban cuatro líneas para representar los órdenes; en la música impresa en España e Italia la línea de más abajo representa el sonido más agudo (estableciendo una correspondencia física entre el instrumento y la música), mientras que esto se revertía en las fuentes francesas (estableciendo una relación intelectual entre la línea más alta y los sonidos más agudos). Los sistemas español e italiano usan números para indicar los trastes a ser pisados (0, al aire; 1, primer traste, etc); el sistema francés utilizaba letras (a, cuerda al aire; b, primer traste, etc.). El ritmo se indica por valores de notas encima del sistema; estas siguen a la parte que se mueve más rápido, por lo que las notas que deben mantenerse por más tiempo tienen que ser inferidas por el ejecutante. […]
La música más antigua para guitarra de cuatro cuerdas que sobrevive aparece en Tres libros de musica en cifras para vihuela de Alonso de Mudarra (Seville, 1546/R): cuatro fantasías (una en el temple viejo), una ‘pavana’ y una realización de O guardame las vacas, que utiliza el ground de romanesca. La música es de la misma alta calidad que la música para vihuela de Mudarra, que abarca la mayoría de la colección. La fuente italiana más antigua es el libro para laúd Opera intitolata contina … Intabolatura di lauto … libro decimo (154939) de Melchiore de Barberiis, en el que se encuentran cuatro ‘fantasias’ para guitarra. Éstas en realidad son danzas livianas, una de ellas reimpresa por Guillaume Morlaye (155334) como un ‘branle’.
Fue en Francia donde la música para el instrumento de cuatro órdenes floreció. Comenzando con el primer libro (perdido) de Guillaume Morlaye (1550), se publicó una serie de libros a través de los impresores Granjon y Fezandat con música de Morlaye (libro 1, RISM 155232/R, see fig.4; libro 2, 155334/R (Fezandat solo); libro 4, 155233/R (Fezandat solo)) y Simon Gorlier (book 3, 155122/R). Una serie concurrente fue publicada por los impresores Le Roy y Ballard con música de Le Roy (libro 1, 155123/R; libro 2, 1555/R; libro 3, 1552/R; libro 5, 155433/R) y Grégoire Brayssing (libro 4, 1553/R). El repertorio en estas publicaciones comprende un amplio rango de material desde danzas simples e intabulaciones de chansons a muy finas fantasías. Algunas de las danzas tienen divisiones virtuosísticas y las fantasías incluyen cuatro del famoso laudista Alberto da Ripa que se comparan favorablemente a sus mejores fantasías para laúd. Los libros segundo y quinto de Le Roy son dedicados enteramente a voz solista y laúd. Entre las fuentes españolas, la colección para vihuela Orphenica lyra (Seville 1554/R) de Miguel de Fuenllana también contiene música para guitarra, incluyendo Covarde cavallero de Juan Vásquez y un romance, Passavase el rey moro, ambos para voz y guitarra (la línea vocal está indicada con cifras rojas en la tablatura). También hay seis fantasías y una realización de ‘Crucifixus est’. En Inglaterra y otros lugares la guitarra de cuatro cuerdas también disfrutó de alguna popularidad. Además de An Instruction to the Gittern de Rowbotham, hay algunos manuscritos de música para laúd que contienen algunos ejemplos de tablatura para guitarra de cuatro órdenes (GB-Lbl Stowe 389; GB-Lbl Add.30513; US-NH ‘Braye lutebook’ (ed. in Ward, B1992)). Phalèse, que estuvo activo en Leuven, imprimió dos colecciones para el instrumento (157035, 1573, perdida). Mucha de la música en el primer libro fue tomada de publicaciones francesas anteriores. El instrumento fue ampliamente utilizado en Italia, y un número de fuentes manuscritas de fines del siglo XVI y principios del XVII sobreviven en bibliotecas europeas. (Para una lista completa de las fuentes para guitarra, ver Tyler, A1980, pp.123–52).
Aunque el instrumento de cuatro órdenes generalmente es visto como una guitarra renacentista, en razón de su repertorio del siglo XVI, continuó siendo ampliamente utilizada, principalmente para ejecutar música popular, a través de los siglos XVII y XVIII. Agostino Agazzari (Del sonare sopra ’l basso, Siena, 1607) recomendaba su uso en un ensambles de continuo. La colección de 1645, Conserto vago, ya ha sido mencionada. Pietro Millioni (Corona del primo, secondo, e terzo libro, Rome, 1631) provée una cartilla de acordes tanto para la guitarra de cuatro órdenes como para la mayor, de cinco, y así da una pista en relación a su uso en el enorme repertorio de música rasgueada para guitarra. […]
Todas las ediciones de Guitarra española de Joan Carles Amat de 1626 a c.1819 (1ra edición, ?1596, perdida) contienen un capítulo sobre la guitarra de cuatro órdenes, indicando tal vez que el pequeño instrumento siguió siendo utilizado, en forma limitada, hasta el siglo XIX. En las culturas española y portuguesa, tanto en el viejo como en el nuevo mundo, las guitarras agudas pequeñas siguieron y continúan siendo utilizadas hasta el presente. La afinación del ukelele moderno g’–c’–e’–a’ es la misma que la afinación de Bermudo sin el bordón, y la afinación alternativa del ukelele a’—d’–f–b’ es notablemente parecida a la afinación recurrente de Cerreto de 1601.
4. La guitarra de cinco órdenes
(It. chitarra spagnuola). Las fuentes iconográficas confirman que instrumentos similares a la guitarra de cinco órdenes se utilizaron desde por lo menos fines del siglo XIV, especialmente en Italia. El término italiano viola fue aplicado a estas así como a instrumentos de seis y siete ódenes. Los términos viola y viola da mano (y su equivalente español vihuela) fueron utilizados frecuentemente para indicar instrumentos de este tipo y forma general; a veces el pequeño instrumento de cuatro órdenes también fue incluído. Fuenllana (f.IV), por ejemplo, escribió acerca de la «vihuela de Quatro Ordenes, Que Dizen Guitarra». También imprimió la música más temprana que se conoce para un instrumento de cinco órdenes (‘vihuela de cinco ordenes’), que fueron fantasías e intabulaciones vocales que requieren un instrumento afinado a intervalos de guitarra (empezando desde el quinto orden; 4ta-4ta-3ra mayor-4ta), aunque no mencionó las alturas específicas o el tipo de cuerdas. Bermudo se refirió a una ‘guitarra de cinco ordenes’, diciendo que podía hacerse agregando una cuerda una 4ta encima del primer orden presente (f.xxviiiv). También describió afinaciones nuevas e inusuales para ella así como para una ‘guitarra grande’ de seis órdenes y para el instrumento de cuatro órdenes. No sobrevive música para ninguna de estas afinaciones. La guitarra de Dias descripta anteriormente podría ser un ejemplo de lo que Bermudo llama ‘guitarra de cinco ordenes’ (fuentes italianas posteriores llaman a este tipo de instrumento pequeño chitarriglia).
Una fuente francesa, los dibujos de Jacques Cellier (Recherches de plusieurs singularités, c1583–7; F‑Pn fonds fr.9152), muestra un instrumento de cuatro órdenes (siete cuerdas) con una cartilla de afinación para un instrumento de cinco órdenes: g–c/c’–e–a–d’ (el encordado en octavas sólo se muestra para el cuarto orden). Esta afinación recurrente sería, si el tercer orden se subiera un semitono, una afinación típica (con su bordón en el cuarto orden) para la ejecución de mucha de la música ‘artística’ italiana y francesa escrita posteriormente. Un primer orden d’ era bastante común (ver, por ejemplo, Benedetto Sanseverino, Intavolatura facile (Milán, 1620)), aunque un primer orden e’ se transformaría en el estándar. Las fuentes españolas suelen recomendar bordónes tanto en el cuarto como en el quinto orden, especialmente si la guitarra sería utilizada sólo para rasguear. La edición más antiguas que se conoce del librito de Amat (1626) da la siguiente ainación: A/a–d/d’–g/g–b/b–e’; se asume que la primera edición perdida (?1596) proveía la misma información.
Desde el siglo XVII, la información sobre afinación frecuentemente indica no usar bordones en absoluto. Esto producía una afinación totalmente recurrente: a/a–d’/d’–g/g–b/b–e’ con la altura más grave en el tercer orden (ver, por ejemplo, Luis de Briçeño: Método … para aprender a tañer la guitara a lo español (París, 1626/R); Marin Mersenne: Harmonie universelle, ii (París, 1636–7/R); Francesco Valdambrini: Libro primo d’intavolatura di chitarra (Roma, 1646), Libro secondo (Roma, 1647); Antoine Carré: Livre de guitarre (París, 1671/R); Gaspar Sanz: Instruccíon de música sobre la guitarra española (Zaragoza, 3/1674)). Dos fuentes italianas para esta afinación recurrente ofrecen otra variante: a/a–d’/d–g/g’–b/b–e’ con una octava aguda en el tercer orden (I‑MOe Campori 612.X.L.10.21 and I‑Bc AA360). La modificación más común a esta afinación recurrente era a/a–d’/d’–g/g–b/b–e’ que, a juzgar por las exigencias de sus tablaturas, fue la más utilizada por los compositores más importantes de solos para guitarra de la época:
Francesco Corbetta, Angelo Michele Bartolotti, Giovanni Battista Granata, Robert de Visée (ejemplo 1), Ludovico Roncalli, y otros.
La razón para estas afinaciones recurrentes se hace evidente en las tablaturas originales: en mucha de la músita ‘artística’ para guitarra (en oposición a la música exclusivamente rasgueada), el quinto orden, que es recurrente, se utilizaba melódicamente para escalas en conjunción con los otros órdenes agudos; rara vez se utilizaba el quinto orden como bajo. El cuarto orden también era utilizado generalmente de la misma manera que el quinto. El típico efecto es lo que Sanz llamó campanelas (pequeñas campanas): se utilizaban tantas cuerdas al aire como fuera posible para las notas en escalas, para que continuaran vibrando, una fundiéndose con la siguiente a la manera del arpa o de campanas (ver ejemplo 2). Aún cuando un bordón fuese utilizado en el cuarto orden la manera de encordar era técnicamente importante, con la octava aguda del lado del quinto orden y el bordón cerca del tercer orden; esto permitía al ejecutante la elección de tocar la cuerda de más arriba solamente (lo que era necesario más frecuentemente), o incluir el bordón cuando la música requería de la octava grave. Esta manera de encordar fue mencionada por Lucas Ruiz de Ribayaz, Antonio Stradivari y Denis Diderot entre otros y aparece en un número de fuentes iconográficas.
Se dejaba al criterio del ejecutante cuál de toda la variedad de afinaciones posibles era la más adecuada para cada fuente musical; lo que no siempre era fácil. En general, las fuentes para música exclusivamente rasgueada podían utilizarse con cualquier afinación porque las cuestiones de inversiones de acordes apropiadas o sutilezas armónicas rara vez eran tenidas en cuenta en este repertorio. Para mucha de la música de estilo mixto, que utilizaba técnica de punteado, algunos acordes rasgueados (It. Battuto, battente) y recuentes pasajes en campanela (que se encuentran en las fuentes italianas y francesas más importantes), la afinación recurrente, usualmente con un bordón en el cuarto orden, era apropiada. Ocasionalmente las fuentes como el Poema harmónico de Francisco Guerau (Madrid 1694/R) parecen requerir de bordones en los órdenes cuarto y quinto.
Con sus particulares afinaciones y su énfasis en música brillante y en un rango agudo, un lenguaje generalmente bastante diferente al del laúd o de cualquier otro instumento punteado de la época, la guitarra de cinco órdenes era muy diferente de la guitarra moderna. Sólo desde mediados del siglo XVIII el carácter de la guitarra comenzó a aproximarse al del instrumento que conocemos hoy a partir del desarrollo de el registro de graves y su técnica de ejecución. Las medidas promedio de una guitarra barroca de cinco órdenes eran: longitud general 92 cm; longitud de cuerdas 63 a 70 cm; anchos 20 cm, 17 cm, 24 cm; profundidad variada de acuerdo a si el fondo era plano o curvo. La guitarra de cinco órdenes retuvo las características de los instrumentos más pequeños de cuatro órdenes, pero los clavijeros curvos con clavijas insertadas lateralmente dejaron de utilizarse.
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Muchas guitarras barrocas han sobrevivido, particularmente las muy decoradas, que fueron más susceptibles de ser conservadas por coleccionistas que los modelos sencillo. Una relevación de imágnes contemporáneas revela que los instrumentos hechos de maderas sencillas y con relativamente poca decoración eran más comunes. En colecciones de museos hay muchos instrumentos por fabricantes como Matteo y Giorgio Sellas, Giovanni Tessler, René y Alexander Voboam, Joachim Tielke y Antonio Stradivari (fig.9). Los dos instrumentos de Stradivari que sobreviven son hermosamente proporcionados con poca decoración, aunque su sencillez ha sido exacerbada a través de los años por la remoción de detalles decorativos como los tradicionales ‘bigotes’ a los lados del puente.
La notación específica más temprana para la guitarra de cinco órdenes data de la última parte del siglo XVI, cuando se inventó un nuevo sistema para representar acordes completos de cinco notas. Aparentemente apareció por primera vez en un manuscrito (I‑Bu 177 iv), que contiene las partes superiores de madrigales y canzonettas de la década de 1580 por compositores como Marenzio y Vecchi. Allí se utilizaron letras en minúscula del abecedario para representar acordes específicos, ubicadas sobre las palabras en lugares donde cambia la armonía. Otras fuentes italianas (todas de manuscritos de canciones) incluyen una supuesta copiada por Francesco Palumbi c1595 (F‑Pn Español 390), y una fechada en 1599 (I‑Rvat Chigiani L.VI.200). Estas contienen mayormente textos en español, pero usan la notación de letras (alfabeto) italiana. Hay algunas fuentes españolas para el sistema de acordes, por ejemplo el librito (perdido) de Amat de 1596 (y sus reimpresiones del siglo XVII) y Briceño (1626), en que los acordes están representados por números en lugar de letras. La notación con números se encuentra raramente, mientras que el alfabeto italiano se transformó en la notación de acordes más común. Este sistema, radicalmente diferente de todo tipo de notación previo, implicaba que el ejecutante debía pensar en términos de bloques armónicos verticales (como los guitarristas rítmicos modernos), y se desarrolló en conjunción con el auge de la monodia italiana. En efecto, algunos de las fuentes manuscritas más antiguas de monodia por compositores como Peri y Caccini (por ejemplo, I‑Fc Codex Barbera G.F.83) contienen alfabeto. Es, tal vez, también significativo que en los intermedi florentinos de 1589, que fueron un hito en el desarrollo del nuevo estilo monódico, se utilizaron dos guitarras en el famoso Ballo del Gran Duca de Cavallieri, una pieza que continuó siendo popular por lo menos durante otro siglo.
La primera impresión conteniendo alfabeto es Nuova inventione d’intavolatura per sonare li balletti sopra la chitarra spagnuola, senza numeri e note (Florence, 1606), de Girolamo Montesardo. Durante los comienzos del siglo XVII aparecieron una abundante cantidad de libros para guitarra utilizando sólo este sistema para solos sólo rasgueados (muchas de las piezas pueden considerarse también como acompañamiento para uso en ensambles). Los autores importantes de libros de alfabeto fueron: Foriano Pico (1608), G.A. Colonna (1620, 1623, 1637), Sanseverino (1620), Carlo Milanuzzi (1622, 1623, 1625), Millioni (1624, 1627), Millioni y Lodovico Monte (c1627, 1637, 1644, etc.), G.B. Abatessa (1627, 1635, c1650, 1652), G.P. Foscarini (1629), Tomaso Marchetti (1635), Corbetta (1639), Agostino Trombetti (1639), Antonio Carbonchi (1643), Carlo Calvi (1646), Giovanni Bottazzari (1663), Giovanni Pietro Ricci (1677) y Antonio di Michele (1680); para detalles de las segundas y siguientes ediciones de muchas de estas colecciones, ver Tyler, A1980, pp.123–58. El último libro de alfabeto conocido es una edición del libro de Millioni y Monte de 1637 impreso en 1737.
Además de las fuentes de solos para guitarra en alfabeto, también hay un enorme corpus de publicaciones de arias italianas empleando a la guitarra como acompañamiento para la voz. En este repertorio se encuentran publicaciones de muchos de los mayores compositores vocales de la époco, como Stefano Landi (1620, 1627) y Sigismondo d’India (1621, 1623), y varios libros por Andrea Falconieri, G.G. Kapsperger, Milanuzzi, G.B. Vitali, Biagio Marini, Guglielmo Miniscalchi, Allessandro Grandi (i), y otros. En las colecciones con contribuciones de varios compositores se encuentran cinco arias de Monteverdi (Milanuzzi, 1624, RISM 16347) todas exclusivas de esas impresione, así como arias de Frescobaldi (VogelB 16212), Domenico Mazzochi (RISM 162116) y Cavalli (RISM 16347). El tema del acompañamiento en guitarra de este importante repertorio de arias del siglo XVII no ha sido estudiado en profundidad aún, y el rol de la guitarra como un instrumento ampliamente utilizado en continuo no ha sido resaltado suficientemente.
Además de deducir acompañamientos a partir de las indicaciones del alfabeto, los guitarristas del siglo XVII debían aprender a leer e improvisar un acompañamiento en continuo para la línea de bajo (tanto con como sin números). Aunque la guitarra barroca frecuentemente no era capaz de hacer sonar la verdadera nota del bajo por su afinación, se podía realizar un acompañamiento idiomático de continuo para las armonías deseadas. La verdadera línea de bajo era tocada por un instrumento más apropiado como la tiorba o el cello. El prefacio de la mayoría de los libros de arias dan una tabla de cómo leer el bajo para el guitarrista, pero muchos de los libros de solos dan instrucciones mucho más detalladas. Los libros de Corbetta de 1643 y 1648 dan información de cómo tocar continuo, así como el libro de Foscarini de 1640. Sanz dedica una sección completa de su libro a la ejecución de continuo y el libro Resumen de acompañar la parte con la guitarra (Madrid, 1717/R) de Santiago de Murcia estaba, como lo sugiere su título, dedicado en gran parte al continuo en guitarra. Pero las instrucciones más detalladas y exhaustivas aparecen en Le false consonanse della musica (London, c1680) de Nicola Mattei y en la posterior edición inglesa The False Consonances of Musick (1682/R). Este tutor para la ejecución de continuo en guitarra es uno de los tratados más útiles y detallados de todos los tratados de continuo del siglo XVII para cualquier instrumento (incluyendo teclado).
Además del estilo de música rasgueada encontrada en las fuentes de alfabeto de principios del siglo XVII, un nuevo estilo de música para guitarra comenzó a aparecer en impresiones desde alrededor de 1630 con el segundo y el tercer libro de Foscarini (publicados juntos). Aunque una de los fuertes de la guitarra era su habilidad de tocar acordes en bloque en un estilo de rasgueado rítmico (este era considerado el verdadero idioma de la guitarra), Foscarini adaptó la técnica y la tablatura del laúd en combinación con acordes rasgueados para arrivar a un estilo mixto de solo para guitarra. En su prefacio se disculpaba de los elementos laudísticos. Fue este nuevo estilo mixto el que fue usado por los más finos guitarristas compositores del siglo XVII y principios del XVIII. Aunque Corbetta incluyó algunos muy finos solos en su libro de 1639, fue A. M. Bartolotti quien, en 1640, produjo los primeros ejemplos magistrales completamente desarrollados del nuevo estilo, y su segundo libro (c1655) contiene alguna de la más fina música para guitarra del siglo XVII. Fue Corbetta, sin embargo, quien se transformó en el guitarrista compositor italiano más conocido, con sus publicaciones de 1643 y 1648, que contenían música del más alto nivel. Otros autores destacados para la guitarra fueron Granata (1646, c1650, 1651, 1659, 1674, 1680, 1684), Valdambrini (1646, 1647), Domenico Pellegrini (1650), Francesco Asioli (1674, 1676), Matteis (c1680, 1682) y Roncalli (1692). Es irónico que, aunque la guitarra era conocida como un instrumento español, fue en Italia donde su repertorio se desarrolló primero.
En Francia al principio la guitarra de cinco órdenes no fue tenida en muy alta estima. Tanto Mersenne como Pierre Trichet se refirieron a ella en términos despectivos, y la oposición general es mencionada en Método … para aprender a tañer la guitara (1626) de Briçeño, que fue una obra que promovía el estilo acórdico de ejecución. El libro de Briçeño tuvo éxito en popularizar el instrumento, y sólo más tarde en el siglo aparecieron otras publicaciones. Estas reflejan el interés por la guitarra engendrado por Corbetta en círculos cortesanos, cuyo La guitarre royalle de 1674 fue dedicado a Luis XIV. Aunque el estilo rasgueado es importante en las piezas del libro, el alfabeto ha sido abandonado y se ha logrado una mayor libertad a partir de escribir las notas de los acordes individualmente. Corbetta fue sucedido por Robert de Visée (?c1655–1732/3), quien fuera nombrado formalmente como instructor de guitarra del rey en 1719. Su Livre de guittarre dédié au roy fue publicado en 1682, y un segundo libro , Livres de pièces pour la guittarre, apareció en 1686; ambos contienen suites de varias longitudes, con un preludio introductorio seguido de danzas – allemande, courante, saraande, gique, passacaille y otras. Visée también produjo una colección de piezas para tiorba y laúd y dejó un número de obras en manuscrito. Rémy Médard, en sus Pièces de guitarre (1676), reconoce su deuda con Corbetta, que fue su profesor, pero como Visée cultivó un estilo más delicado. Nouvelles découvertes sur la guitare (op.1, 1705), de François Campion (c1685–1747) muestra una preocupación por el movimiento melódico y contrapuntístico.
Corbetta’s first La guitarre royalle (1671; fig.11) was dedicated to Charles II of England, who was an enthusiastic performer. The guitar was extremely fashionable in England; Corbetta, who went to England in the early 1660s and counted many of the nobility among his pupils. However, some distaste for the instrument was expressed, and Pepys, for one, held the guitar in low esteem. (The inclusion in Pepys’s library, which survives intact in Cambridge (GB-Cmc), of a manuscript by guitar tutor Cesare Morelli, and the evidence of his own compositions for guitar and voice (written out for him by Morelli), suggests, however, that he was eventually won over by the instrument.) The distinction drawn by William Turner (i) in 1697 between the ‘brushing way’ and the ‘pinching way’ indicates that, as well as Corbetta’s more complex music, there was no lack of strumming in England. Indeed it is likely that a lost work, Easie Lessons on the Guitar for Young Practitioners, recorded in 1677 as by Seignior Francisco, was by Corbetta himself. In 18th-century England the guitar went out of fashion. It was replaced by the English guitar, which had little in common with the guitar proper, being similar in shape to the cittern and having metal strings tuned c–e–g–c’–e’–g’.
The five-course guitar was first known in Germany as an instrument for strumming. Praetorius so described it, but he also related that ‘it can be used to good effect in other graceful cantiunculae and delightful songs by a good singer’. Later in the century the guitar appeared in consort with the lute, angélique and viol, accompanying a collection of songs by Jakob Kremberg, Musicalische Gemüths-Ergötzung (Dresden, 1689).
Corbetta’s presence in the Netherlands is attested by his Varii scherzi di sonate per la chitara spagnola, published in Brussels in 1648. The interest engendered by Corbetta was maintained through the 17th century, although native sources are lacking until the following century, when François le Cocq’s Recueil des pièces de guitarre appeared (c1729). As well as Le Cocq’s compositions, the collection contains works by Corbetta, Sanz, Visée, Granata and other 17th-century guitarists (added by Jean-Baptiste Castillon, to whom Le Cocq had dedicated the book). A mid-18th-century manuscript collection from the Netherlands is the so-called Princes An’s Lute Book, for five-course guitar (NL-DHgm 4.E.73).
Despite its title, a late 17th-century Spanish source by Antonio de Santa Cruz, Música de vihuela (E‑Mn M.2209), is not to be compared with the 16th-century vihuela books, as its contents consist of 17th-century Spanish dances notated in five-line tablature. It includes the chord alphabet and was obviously intended for the five-course guitar. The most important source of guitar music in 17th-century Spain is the Instrucción by Gaspar Sanz, eight editions of which appeared between 1674 and 1697. Sanz, in his preface, states that he went to Italy to study music and became an organist in Naples. He later went to Rome where he studied the guitar with an important composer of the time, Lelio Colista (some of whose guitar music survives in B‑Bc, littera S no.5615). He also states that he studied the works of Foscarini, Granata and Corbetta. There are many Italian as well as Spanish dance pieces in his publications and he employs a mature and fully integrated style of mixed writing with an equal balance of strummed chords and punteado style, especially in his later passacalles of 1697.
The Luz y norte musical (Madrid, 1677) by Lucas Ruiz de Ribayaz is a work devoted to the guitar and the harp; most of the guitar music was plagiarized from Sanz. Guerau’s book of 1694 is notable for containing music in an almost totally punteado style, quite different from Sanz and the majority of other guitar composers. Other Spanish sources are Santiago de Murcia’s Resumen (1714), his manuscript Passacalles y obras (1732, GB-Lbl Add.31640) and his manuscript collection of dance variations (Archive of Elisa Osorio Bolio de Saldívar, Mexico City, Codice Saldívar, 4), which contains music of a very high standard; Murcia’s own prelidios tend to be both original and masterful, though a study of concordances reveals that the majority of pieces in these two works are actually arrangements of French court music, many of pieces by Lully as well as Le Cocq and Corbetta.
The music for the five-course guitar discussed so far can be regarded as the ‘classical’ repertory for the late Renaissance and Baroque instrument. On the whole, this music calls for the characteristic re-entrant tunings that were so important to the playing style and idioms employed during these periods and which made the guitar unique. But the nature of the guitar changed noticeably in the middle of the 18th century, along with musical styles in general. The change seems to have occurred first in France, where the guitar began to be used primarily to accompany the voice, using an arpeggiated style similar to that of keyboard instruments. The new style required true bass notes and as early as 1764 (Journal de musique, April) instructions for proper accompaniments stressed the use of a bourdon on the fifth course. The appearance of many guitar tutors in France between 1763 and c1800, all for a five-course guitar tuned A/a–d/d’–g/g–b/b–e’, as well as the gradual abandonment of tablature in favour of staff notation, leaves little doubt that the guitar was becoming an instrument much closer in character and playing styles to the modern guitar than to the Baroque instrument. Soon, even the double courses in octaves were abandoned in favour of single strings and, as early as 1785, a sixth string was indicated (Etrennes de Polymnie, Paris, 1785, p.148).
Historical statements referring to the guitar as an easy instrument should be treated with caution. Such a dismissive attitude is valid only when it is directed towards the guitar at its simplest level. The judgment is certainly not true in the context of art music, where textures more complex than a series of chord patterns demand accuracy of fingering and a high degree of coordination. These are of particular importance for the Baroque five-course guitar, which, though first used as a popular instrument, later gave rise to a literature that presents textures similar to those of the lute. Five-course guitar music has yet to be heard widely on the instrument for which it was written. Performance on the modern guitar is only an approximation of the original sound, as modern stringing and tuning does not allow the music to be realized faithfully.
5. La guitarra temprana de seis órdenes
The transition from the Baroque five-course guitar to a recognizably modern instrument with six single strings took place gradually during the second half of the 18th century and the first decades of the 19th century in Spain, France and Italy. A deep-bodied instrument in the Gemeentemuseum (The Hague) labelled ‘Francisco Sanguino, me fecit. En Sevilla año de 1759’ is the earliest known six-course instrument, and is also notable for pioneering the use of fan-strutting to strengthen the table. Documents relating to the sale of musical instruments in Spain show that the six-course guitar became increasingly common from 1760 onwards, steadily superseding the five-course instrument, and was the most common form of guitar through Iberia by the 1790s. In Paris, the Italian-born guitarist Giacomo Merchi was still recommending the traditional five double-course in Le guide des écoliers de guitarre (c1761), but by 1777 (in his Traité des agréments de la musique exécutés sur le guitarre) was advocating ‘my manner of stringing the guitar with single strings … single strings are easier to put in tune, and to pluck cleanly; moreover, they render pure, strong and smooth sounds, approaching those of the harp; above all if one uses slightly thicker strings’. Many of Merchi’s Parisian contemporaries still favoured five double-courses – for example Bailleux (1773) and Baillon (1781) – while six double-courses remained the standard form of stringing in Spain well into the 19th century, and it seems to have been guitarists from Italy and southern France who were primarily responsible for the introduction of single strings, preferring the unambiguous bass notes that they produced, and initially using them on instruments originally intended for double-courses. By 1785, makers in Marseilles and Naples were building guitars specifically intended for six single strings (the often-repeated claim that Naumann, Kapellmeister at Dresden, was responsible for the addition of the lower E string at some point after 1688 can therefore safely be dismissed), and this new design gradually came into general use throughout much of Europe.
Changes in the basic instrument were many, and the guitar lost much that it had in common with the lute, establishing during the early decades of the 19th century the form that was to develop into the modern guitar. Machine heads were used instead of wooden pegs, fixed frets (first ivory or ebony, then metal) instead of gut; an open soundhole replaced the rose; the bridge was raised to a higher position (and a saddle and pins introduced to fasten the strings); and the neck became narrower. The flat back became standard, and proportions of the instrument changed to allow the positioning of the 12th fret at the junction of body and neck. Separate fingerboards were introduced, at first flush with the table, later raised to lie 2 mm or so above it. The rectangular peghead gave way to heads of various designs, often a distinguishing mark of the maker. Generally, lavish decoration disappeared, though some ornate guitars were made in the 19th century and the use of fan-strutting was further developed in six-course guitars made in Cádiz by José Pagés and Josef Benedid (figs.5c and 12). As well as fan-strutting in the lower half of the table, a cross-strutting system appeared in the part of the table above the soundhole. Other important makers of this period were René François Lacôte of Paris and Louis Panormo, active in London.
Instruction books reveal that there was no standard approach to playing technique. Earlier traditions persisted; the right hand was still supported on the table (on some instruments a piece of ebony was let into the table to prevent wear), although Nicario Jauralde (A Complete Preceptor for the Spanish Guitar) warned against resting the little finger on the table as this prevents the hand moving for ‘changes in Piano and Forte’ and inhibits ‘the other fingers acting with Agility’. Right-hand finger movement was still confined mainly to the thumb and first two fingers. The technique for attacking the strings was normally tirando, with the fingertips rising after plucking; apoyando, in which the finger brushes past the string and rests on the string below, was little mentioned and apparently not generally applied. Performers were divided over whether or not to employ the fingernails in the production of sound; Fernando Sor (1778–1839), the leading Spanish player, dispensed with nails, while his compatriot, Dionysio Aguado (1784–1849), employed them. The left-hand thumb was sometimes used to fret notes on the lowest (E) string, a technique made possible by the narrow fingerboard. The instrument was held in a variety of ways, and was often supported by a strap round the player’s neck; Aguado even invented a special stand – the tripodion – on which to rest the instrument.
Tablature was abandoned in the second half of the 18th century, with staff notation superseding it, at first in instruction books and song accompaniments. The earliest staff notation for guitar evolved in France and in Italy, the notational conventions for violin music being evident in early solo pieces for 6‑string – or, as it is now known, classical – guitar. The convention of notating guitar music on one staff headed by the G clef, the actual sounds being an octave below written pitch, is still in use.
The first published music for six-course guitar appeared in Spain in 1780, the date of Obra para guitarra de seis órdenes by Antonio Ballesteros. Further methods appeared in 1799: Fernando Ferandiere’s Arte de tocar la guitarra española and Federico Moretti’s Principios para tocar la guitarra de seis órdenes. In this latter work, Moretti (a Neapolitan in the service of the Spanish court) provides an insight into the difference between the instruments in general use in Spain and Italy at the end of the 18th century:
although I use the guitar of seven single strings, it seemed more appropriate to accommodate these Principles to six courses, that being what is generally played in Spain: this same reason obliged me to publish them in Italian, in 1792, adapted for the guitar with five strings, because at that time the one with six was not known in Italy.
Both Sor and Aguado were indebted to Moretti for making them aware of the possibility of part-writing for the guitar, and the two became very active outside their native Spain. Aguado, whose Escuela de guitarra was published in Madrid in 1825, settled for a while in Paris, but Sor pursued the career of a travelling recitalist, bringing the guitar to a much wider audience. Before leaving Spain, Sor had acquired some reputation as a composer; his opera Telemaco nell’isola di Calipso was successfully staged in Barcelona in 1796. In Madrid, Sor’s patron was the Duchess of Alba. Also living in Madrid was Boccherini, who, inspired by the enthusiasm of his patron, the Marquis of Benavente, made arrangements of several of his quintets to include the guitar.
Sor left Spain in 1813, a move dictated by the political circumstances, and headed for Paris, where he stayed for two years. He visited London, where he gave several recitals, returning to Paris for a production of his ballet Cendrillon. The success of this work enabled him to visit Moscow and St Petersburg, where he played before the court. He then returned to Paris and, except for a further visit to London, resided there until his death in 1839. Paris was one of the main centres of interest in the guitar, and several other virtuoso performers settled there, including Matteo Carcassi (1792–1853) and Ferdinando Carulli (1770–1841). The latter was responsible for L’harmonie appliquée à la guitare(1825), the only known theoretical work for the instrument of the early 19th century. It is limited in scope, offering not much more than chordal and arpeggio accompaniment, typical of much guitar music of the period. Paganini abandoned the violin for a while in favour of the guitar, for which he composed several works. A French guitar made by Grobert bears the signatures of Paganini and Berlioz. The latter, a competent guitarist, mentioned the instrument briefly in his Grand traité d’instrumentation et d’orchestration modernes op.10 (1843), commenting that ‘it is almost impossible to write well for the guitar without being a player on the instrument’.
The most important Italian guitarist was Mauro Giuliani (1781–1829). He first achieved fame in Vienna, where he was established from 1806 to 1819. As well as giving solo recitals, Giuliani appeared with the pianists Hummel and Moscheles and the violinist Mayseder. In 1819 he returned to Italy, settling in Rome and later Naples, where he continued to give recitals. His daughter Emilia was also a talented guitarist, and they performed together in public. Vienna, like Paris, had many enthusiastic guitarists, and much simple music was published to cater for the demand: Leonhard von Call produced many pieces of this kind, as did Diabelli. Although Francesco Chabran was teaching (and composing for) the guitar in London during the late 18th and early 19th centuries, it was not until 1815, with the arrival in London of Sor (and of the Italian virtuoso Guiseppe Anelli) that enthusiasm for the instrument became widespread. Numerous tutors were published during the first third of the 19th century (fig.14), and the Giulianiad(one of the earliest journals devoted to the guitar) appeared in 1833. Although interest waned in the second half of the century, the publications – into the 1890s – of Mme Sidney Pratten (Catharina Josepha Pelzer), the leading English performer, reveal that there was still a public for the guitar used in a facile way. During the final decade of the 19th century and the first decade of the 20th, amateur plucked instrument orchestras enjoyed great popularity throughout Europe and the USA, with dozens of guitars and mandolins (and sometimes banjos) being used to perform original works and transcriptions of light classical music. Britain, France, Germany, Italy and the USA had many hundreds of such orchestras, the best of them competing in national and international festivals.
The majority of 19th-century publications were designed to acquaint the public with what was virtually a new instrument; as such many are didactic, and also limited in scope, as it soon became clear that few amateurs were sufficiently dedicated to master the more demanding works of the guitarist-composers. The popularity of the guitar lay in the ease with which one could manage a simple accompaniment to a song, and many of the practical tutors were limited to expounding the fundamental skills needed to achieve this. The simple pieces that take the performer a stage beyond this elementary level contain many clichés and, as they are the products of guitarists, generally lie easily under the fingers. At a higher level are the studies designed to prepare the performer for recital works; most successful in this context are those by Aguado, Carcassi, Napoléon Coste and Sor, all of which are still of great value to students. It is to the guitarists themselves that one must turn for the best compositions from this period. Although composers of stature were acquainted with the guitar, they wrote nothing for it, and Berlioz’s criticism of non-playing composers, that they ‘give it things to play … of small effect’, is valid. The achievements of Sor and Giuliani in establishing a repertory of large-scale works is the most notable feature of this period. Their output ranges from easy pieces – always in demand by the publishers – to extended works for the solo instrument and diverse combinations of instruments. Giuliani composed many variation sets, three concertos (opp.30, 36 and 70), a number of duos for guitar and violin or flute, a work for guitar, violin and cello (op.19), and a set of three pieces for guitar with string quartet (op.65). Sor’s textures are sometimes more complex than Giuliani’s, and richer in harmonic variety. In his sonatas opp.22 and 25 Sor introduced a larger number of themes than is usual in this form, thereby compensating for the restrictions in development imposed by the limitations of the instrument. His most successful composition was the Variations on a Theme of Mozart op.9, a virtuoso showpiece that neatly summarizes the possibilities of early 19th-century classical guitar technique and remains the most frequently performed piece of guitar music of the period. Although they cannot be classed as works of great stature, the compositions of the early 19th-century guitarists are often charming, elegant and vivacious enough to be heard with pleasure (ex.3).
6. La guitarra clásica moderna
The early 19th-century guitar was further developed in the second half of the century by the Spanish maker Antonio de Torres Jurado (1817–92), whose experiments led to instruments that became models for his successors. The guitar thus achieved a standard size and form for the first time in its history (see fig.5 above). Torres increased the overall dimensions of the instrument and established the vibrating length of the strings at 65 cm; he developed the fan-strutting system introduced by his predecessors in Seville and Cádiz, using a system of seven struts radiating from below the soundhole, with two further struts lying tangentially below the ‘fan’. The modern bridge, with the strings passing over the saddle to be tied to a rectangular block (fig.15) is also attributable to Torres, and has become standard since his time. It is in the strutting that modern makers have experimented most, varying both the number and the pattern of struts, and even extending the system to include the part of the table above the soundhole. Gut strings became obsolete after the introduction of nylon strings in 1946, with players preferring the higher tension and greater durability offered by the man-made material.
For a time the improvements brought about by Torres remained confined to Spain, where a number of distinguished makers succeeded him: Vicente Arias, Manuel Ramirez, Enrique García, Marcelo Barbero and – active in the mid-20th century – José Ramirez, Manuel Contreras, Marcelino Lopez Nieto and others. The revival of interest in the guitar in the 20th century resulted in the appearance of outstanding makers in other countries: Hermann Hauser (Germany), Robert Bouchet (France), David Rubio and Paul Fischer (England), and others in Japan, where the instrument has become extremely popular. Although at the end of the century most makers still built their instruments in the traditional Spanish manner perfected by Torres, leading luthiers in the USA, Australia and Britain had begun in the 1970s to redesign the internal structure of the classical guitar. They aimed primarily to increase the volume of sound a guitar can produce, a consideration of increasing importance as many composers had begun to use the instrument regularly in chamber and orchestral works. For example, the ‘TAUT’ system developed by Paul Fischer used a very light rectangular latticework of spruce struts, running across the grain of the table as well as along its length. This reinforcement permitted the thickness of the table to be greatly reduced (about 1·6 mm, as opposed to about 2·4 mm in a traditional Spanish guitar), resulting in a much greater flexibility. To further increase the effective size of the diaphragm, Fischer also experimented with moving the soundhole to the top of the table, and splitting it into two semicircles. The Australian maker Greg Smallman used a somewhat similar system, although he preferred to place his grid at an angle of 45 degrees to the grain of the table.
Francisco Tárrega (1852–1909), though active in promoting the modern playing technique, did not invent the apoyando stroke – it is a least as old as Dionysio Aguado. When used on a large instrument, such as the Torres guitar, this technique and the unsupported tirando spurred on the development of a rich repertory of original études and transcriptions for the classical guitar (as it was now called). The larger instrument rested more comfortably on the left thigh than the early 19th-century guitar, and it became standard practice to hold it in this way. Tárrega did not use the fingernails in his right-hand technique, and in this he was followed by his pupil Emilio Vilarrubí Pujol (1886–1980), but Miguel Llobet (1878–1938), also a pupil of his, preferred to use them. Segovia adopted a more relaxed right-hand position than that of Tárrega (fig.16) and a technique employing the fingernails, in which he was followed by the majority of other 20th-century recitalists. It is in the right-hand position that one sees most variations among modern performers. The Segovia position entails the strings being sounded by the left side of the nails, whereas the position favoured by the French guitarist Ida Presti (1924–67), adopted by the American recitalist Alice Artzt, brings the right side of the nails into contact with the strings.
It is thus only during the last 100 years that the guitar has been established in its modern form and its technique developed accordingly. At the beginning of this period it lacked a repertory that would have given it a status comparable with that of other instruments. The problem of a meagre literature was first approached by transcribing works from other media, a practice initiated by Tárrega and continued by his successors. Suitable material was obviously to be found in the repertories for instruments closely related to the guitar (i.e. the lute and the vihuela), but works for bowed instruments, and keyboard, were also featured in recitals. Much more important, however, is the extent to which the guitar’s repertory has been enlarged in the 20th century by composers who were not guitarists. Segovia, the leading instigator of this departure from the tradition of guitarist-composers, made it his life-work to raise the guitar’s status to that of an internationally respected concert instrument, and his artistry was a source of inspiration both to players and to composers.
In 1920 Falla wrote Homenaje ‘le tombeau de Claude Debussy’ for Llobet, proof of his belief that the guitar ‘is coming back again, because it is peculiarly adapted for modern music’. Other Spanish composers have favoured a more nationalist idiom: Joaquin Turina (1882–1949), Federico Moreno Torroba (b 1891) and Joaquín Rodrigo (1901–99). All produced works for Segovia, and Rodrigo dedicated compositions to other Spanish recitalists such as Narciso Yepes (1927–97), Manuel Lopez Ramos and the Romero family; his Concierto de Aranjuez (1939) was a tribute to Regino Sainz de la Maza y Ruiz (1896–1981). Many concertos were written in the 20th century, the first of them by Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco (1895–1968) in 1939. Castelnuovo-Tedesco’s prolific output for guitar includes a quintet (op.143, 1950) and Platero y yo (op.190, 1960) for guitar and narrator; and his works are dedicated to many guitarists: the German Siegfried Behrend (1933–90), the American Christopher Parkening (b 1947), the Italian Oscar Ghiglia (b1938), the Venezuelan Alirio Diaz (b 1923), the Japanese Jiro Matsuda and others. He also composed several works for guitar duo, including the Concerto for two guitars and orchestra (op.201, 1962). The combination of two guitars allows more complex writing than is possible for the solo instrument (ex.4). The duo genre was firmly established in the 20th century by Ida Presti and Alexandre Lagoya, and further consolidated by the Brazilian brothers Sergio and Eduardo Abreu, the Athenian Guitar Duo (Liza Zoi and Evangelos Assimakopoulos), and the French-Japanese combination of Henri Dorigny and Ako Ito. At the end of the century guitar duos and trios were commonly encountered forms of music-making, as were guitar quartets (composed either for four standard guitars, or for requinto, two guitars and bass guitar), a form pioneered by Gilbert Biberian (b1944).
Segovia’s influence spread to Central and South America, where the Mexican composer Manuel Ponce (1882–1948) composed sonatas, variation sets and the Concierto del sur (1941). Villa-Lobos (1887–1959) also wrote a concerto, but he is better known for his Douze études (1929) and Cinq préludes (1940). The Etudes evidence some progress from 19th-century stereotypes, but formulae are still present, as they are in the preludes. A more lightweight work is his Chôro no.1 (1920), with its evocations of folk music. The guitar features prominently in South American folk music, which permeates some of the compositions of Antonio Lauro (1917–86) of Venezuela and Agustín Barrios (1885–1944) of Paraguay. The South American repertory was augmented by the Brazilian Francisco Mignone (1897–1986), the Cuban Leo Brouwer (b 1939) and Guido Santórsola (1904–94) from Uruguay. Brouwer’s music has been particularly influential, especially La espiral eterna (1970) and Elogio de la danza (1972), both for solo guitar, and his four concertos, although the Sonata op.47 (1976) by the Argentine composer Alberto Ginastera (1913–83) is widely considered the single most substantial work by a Latin American composer. Significant South American performers have included Carlos Barbosa-Lima and Turibio Santos (Brazil) and Oscar Caceres (Uruguay). The almost-forgotten tradition of the composer-guitarist was revived towards the end of the 20th century: notable figures have included Brouwer, the Russian Nikita Koshkin (b 1956), the Czech Štěpán Rak (b 1945) and the American Stephen Funk Pearson (b 1950).
Although the initial impetus came from Spain, the growth of modern guitar music was maintained elsewhere in Europe, with works by Frank Martin, Krenek, Alexandre Tansman, Malipiero, Petrassi, Milhaud, Daniel-Lesur and Poulenc. Despite its limited volume, the guitar played a small but significant role in many 20th-century operas and symphonies, as well as in chamber works such as Schoenberg’s Serenade op.24 (1920–23), Boulez’s Le marteau sans maître (1952–4, rev. 1957), Gerhard’s Concert for Eight (1962) and Libra (1968), and Henze’s Carillon, Récitatif, Masque (1974). Henze has made frequent use of the guitar and has written several important solo works, including Drei Tentos (from Kammermusik, 1958) and two sonatas (based on Shakespearean characters) entitled Royal Winter Music (1975–7). In England, where the leading performers at the end of the 20th century were Julian Bream (b 1933) and John Williams (b 1941), the guitar did not become established in music colleges until 1961. Nonetheless English composers, or composers resident in England, made a significant contribution to the repertory. Concertos appeared by Malcolm Arnold, Stephen Dodgson, Richard Rodney Bennett and André Previn, and the solo literature was enriched by works from Britten (Nocturnal after John Dowland, 1963), Berkeley (Sonatina op.52/1, 1957, Theme and Variations op.77, 1970), Dodgson (Partita, 1963, Fantasy-Divisions, 1973), Tippett (The Blue Guitar, 1985), Walton (Five Bagatelles, 1970–71) and others. The guitar was also used effectively as an accompaniment to the voice; settings include Songs from the Chinese (Britten, 1957), Cantares (Gerhard, 1956), Five Love Songs (Musgrave, 1955) and Anon. in Love (Walton, 1959). John W. Duarte (b 1919) was a significant influence in the development of the guitar repertory, notably for his transcriptions of the Bach cello suites but also for some attractive original compositions (such as his English Suite op.31 (1967), written for Segovia).
The 20th-century repertory exhibits a wide variety of textures and styles, ranging from the predominantly tonal, romantic works inspired by Segovia to avant-garde compositions. Influences from folk music, flamenco and jazz can be found; and experimenters have introduced unexpected sonorities and extended the instrument’s percussive and idiophonic resources. In Petrassi’s Suoni notturni (1959), for example, the performer is instructed to sound notes by pulling the strings so that they slap against the frets; elsewhere sounds produced by tapping on the table are alternated with normally played sounds. Koshkin’s half-hour epic The Prince’s Toys was composed to include as many unusual effects as possible, and produces a remarkable range of sounds. Atonal writing and serial techniques were given expression on the guitar – evidence of its viability in contemporary music. One of the most interesting aspects of the history of the guitar in the 20th century is the extent to which its literature was vitalized in the transition from music composed by guitarists (or written to the restrictions of a guitarist) to compositions not determined by a conventional conception of the instrument’s possibilities (ex.5). This has led to the appearance of works of considerable stature and the growth of an artistic compositional tradition such as eluded the guitar until the 20th century.
7. Variantes de la guitarra clásica
Instruments departing from the basic form of the guitar first appear in 1690, when Alexandre Voboam constructed a double guitar, which had a small guitar attached to the treble side of a normal instrument. However, the 19th century was a more productive period in this respect. A double-necked guitar – Doppelgitarre – was made by Stauffer in 1807; and in the 1830s Jean-François Solomon constructed a guitar with three necks – the ‘Harpo-lyre’ – which, like a number of 19th-century variant guitars, was designed to improve what was felt to be an unsatisfactory instrument. About 1800 the Lyre guitar enjoyed a brief vogue. Methods and music were published for this instrument, which had two curved arms (recalling the Ancient Greek lyre) in place of the upper bout. In another group of instruments the number of strings was increased, sometimes in the bass, sometimes in the treble, and one instrument – the ‘guitarpa’ – had both extra bass and extra treble strings. The 19th century saw the introduction of guitars that varied in size and hence in pitch. These were the quinte-basse, quarte, terz and octavine guitars; only the terz guitar, tuned G–c–f–b–d’–g’, has a literature. In the 1960s Narciso Yepes introduced a ten-string guitar, the added strings lying in the bass, with the tuning G–A–B–c–E–A–d–g–b–e’. This tuning permits sympathetic bass-string resonances for every note in the upper range of his guitar, according to Yepes. A new ‘harp guitar’ (differing from the early 19th-century instrument combining a short, thick guitar neck with a vaulted-back soundbox and primarily triadic stringing; see Harp-lute (ii)) gained some popularity around 1900. Such instruments, which had an extra body ‘arm’ extension with additional sympathetic bass strings, were made especially in the USA, by makers such as Gibson, Larson Brothers and Knutsen.
Of 20th-century variants, the flamenco guitar is closest to the classical instrument. As the traditional posture of the flamenco guitarist necessitates holding the instrument almost vertically, it is desirable to restrict weight; hence Spanish cypress, a lighter wood than rosewood, is used for the back and sides, and gradually from the 1970s machine heads were used instead of wooden pegs. The string action is often lower than that of the classical guitar, allowing the strings to buzz against the frets. A plate is positioned on the table to protect the wood from the tapping of the right-hand fingers. Although the original function of the flamenco guitar was to provide an accompaniment to singing and dancing (see Flamenco), it has been increasingly featured as a solo instrument.
In the 20th century many changes were made to the basic design of the classical guitar, mostly for the purpose of producing greater volume and penetration. These changes resulted in several distinct types of guitar, each originally designed to meet the specific musical requirements of guitarists playing in popular music forms, principally folk, jazz, blues, dance music and rock and roll.
Some guitarists, especially American country and western players and crooners, began early in the 20th century to demand more volume from the flat-top acoustic guitar of traditional shape. The company that initially did most to accommodate them was c.f. Martin of Nazareth, Pennsylvania, which began during the 1920s to produce steel-strung guitars, altered structurally to bear the tension of heavier strings, and in some cases larger than the standard instrument. Other American companies active in popularizing the use of steel strings for guitars included Larson Brothers (from the 1880s) and Gibson (from the 1890s). Martin is probably best known for the invention of the ‘Dreadnought’ flat-top acoustic guitar, apparently named after the British battleship of the period. It was based on instruments made by Martin for the Ditson company of Boston around 1915, though it was not marketed by Martin itself until 1931, when what would become the D‑18 and D‑28 models were introduced. The Dreadnought was larger than a normal guitar and had a much broader waist and rather narrower, squarer shoulders. Its resulting ‘bassier’ tone ideally suited folk, country and western, blues and other popular music forms where the guitar’s role was to accompany the voice. The design of the Dreadnought has been widely imitated by many guitar makers since its introduction, most notably by companies such as Gibson (from 1934, beginning with the ‘Jumbo’ model) and Guild (from the 1950s) in the USA and, later in the century, by Japanese guitar makers.
The large Dreadnought or Jumbo is not, however, the only type of steel-strung flat-top acoustic guitar; steel-strung versions of the classical guitar of traditional size and shape, with some internal strengthening, abound. Martin was, again, an innovator in this area of so-called ‘folk’ steel-strung acoustics, and many guitar makers in the USA, Europe and East Asia followed them and produced similar instruments.
Flat-top, steel-strung acoustic guitars require a stronger and more complex network of internal bracing than does either the classical or the arched-top guitar. The various styles of bracing that have developed are often referred to by descriptive terms, such as ‘X’-bracing and ‘fan’-bracing. The woods used to construct flat-top guitars vary depending on the degree of excellence required: the top is usually made of spruce (occasionally of cedar); rosewood, mahogany or maple is used for the back, sides and neck; and rosewood or ebony for the fingerboard. Cheaper flat-tops use laminated rather than solid woods. In 1966 the Ovation company in the USA began to produce guitars with a rounded back made of a synthetic material resembling fibreglass, in combination with a wooden top, neck and fingerboard; the aim, once again, was to improve the projectional qualities of an otherwise standard acoustic instrument.
Most flat-top guitars have a fixed bridge, like the classical guitar, to which the lower ends of the strings are secured by pins. The most popular flat-tops are those with six strings, tuned to the standard E–A–d–g–b’–e’ guitar pitches. But a variant, the 12-string flat-top, is also made; it was originally used in blues and folk-based music, and has strings tuned in six courses, some in unison and others an octave apart.
Flat-top, steel-strung acoustic guitars have been widely used in all kinds of popular music since the 1920s, most notably country, bluegrass, folk and singer-songwriter styles, and blues, less so in jazz. In rock, such guitars still find a place in the recording studio as a largely percussive element, as a songwriter’s tool, and onstage as a visual and musical prop for some vocalists. Playing styles and techniques associated with the instrument vary widely, depending on musical idiom. Most often, particularly in folk music and other styles where a chordal accompaniment is required, a plectrum is used to strike the strings. In ensembles the instrument is occasionally used to play melody lines, melodic support, or jazz-like solos, though in the late 20th-century this role was more usually taken by electric instruments. Sometimes the fingernails, or false nails, are used to play finger-style (or finger-picking) patterns, a style also used on the nylon-strung classical guitar.
Some players adapt the standard six-string tunings to suit their own styles and musical requirements, and a number of patterns have evolved, mainly from blues and folk music. The most common adaptations are ‘open’ tunings, so named because the open strings are tuned to form a single chord (e.g. D–G–d–g–b–d’; D–A–d–f–a–d’), which can be played at any pitch by stopping all the strings across the relevant fret. These open tunings probably developed in Hawaiian-style (‘slack key’) playing and country music, in which a slide, a bottleneck worn on one of the fingers of the left hand, or other suitable solid object, is pressed down on the strings, stopping them all at the same point; the strings are not separately fingered, the slide or bottleneck being moved up and down so that parallel chords and single-note runs can be produced. More conventional players stop the strings in the same way but with the finger, using the ‘barré’ technique. The other common type of adapted tuning is the ‘dropped’, tuning, in which the pitch of one or more strings is lowered to allow non-standard fingerings.
The arched-top (‘carved-top’, or, occasionally, ‘cello-bodied’) guitar was developed in the USA. Experiments by Orville H. Gibson in the 1890s produced a small number of avant-garde carved-top guitars and mandolins, but it was not until the 1920s that the arched-top guitar was commercially developed, as a result of the relatively high volume at which dance bands were playing. Ordinary acoustic guitars could not produce the sound levels needed; the arched-top guitar satisfied this requirement and became increasingly popular in the jazz styles which emerged in the 1930s.
Among the earliest such instruments was the Gibson L‑5 (designed by Lloyd Loar), which was first issued in 1922, and which defined the arched-top guitar. Its construction owed more to violin making than traditional methods of guitar building and was influenced by Orville H. Gibson’s mandolins and guitars of the 1890s. The quest for increased volume was at the root of all the alterations to conventional design introduced in the L‑5: it had steel strings instead of gut, the extra tension and weight of which necessitated structural strengthening of the body; the top was strong and thick and carved into a characteristic arched shape; in place of a single soundhole there were two f‑holes, for greater projection of the sound and enhancement of the sympathetic vibrations of the top; the bridge was not fixed but ‘floating’ (or adjustable) and the strings passed over it and were secured to a separate metal tailpiece attached to the end of the body.
The first version of the Gibson L‑5 had an ebony fingerboard on a maple neck, a birch or maple back, a carved spruce top and spruce sides. It was not only the earliest arched-top to feature f‑holes, but it was also one of the first guitars to be fitted with a ‘truss rod’, an adjustable internal metal rod that counteracts warping and minor movements of the neck. The most famous early user of the L‑5 was Eddie Lang. From 1939 the L‑5 and similar models were often constructed with a body cutaway, designed to give the player easier access to the upper frets.
The L‑5 heralded the arrival on the market of many other arched-top acoustic guitars. The makers of these have been principally American, and include the Guild company, which was founded in New York in 1952 by Alfred Dronge and George Mann, moved to New Jersey in 1956 and was later purchased by Avnet Inc.; D’Angelico, set up by John D’Angelico, who had trained as a violin maker, in New York in 1932, and carried on by his protégé Jimmy D’Aquisto after D’Angelico’s death in 1964; Epiphone, established in New York by Anastasios Stathopoulo in the early 1900s, and purchased by Gibson in 1957 after Stathopoulo’s death; and Stromberg, set up in Boston by Charles A. Stromberg in the 1880s and carried on by his son Elmer from the 1930s.
The arched-top acoustic guitar fulfilled a specific role in the heyday of the American jazz and dance band; although it was designed for plectrum playing and produced the greatest possible volume when a plectrum was used, some guitarists played it with the right-hand fingers. The popularity of the arched-top acoustic waned with the widespread use of the Electric guitar, which easily outclassed it in terms of response and increased volume. Those arched-top guitars that survive, do so primarily as collectors’ items, although specialist makers such as Bob Benedetto and John Monteleone emerged in the USA at the end of the 20th century.
Other attempts were made in the 1930s to increase the volume projected by the acoustic guitar. Early in the decade Mario Maccaferri (1900–1993) designed for the French company Selmer a series of guitars that had distinctive D‑shaped soundholes (later oval) and a unique extra sound chamber inside the body (later removed); the resulting clear, piercing tone quality became the hallmark of Django Reinhardt’s playing at that period. A similar idea was exploited from 1927 in the ‘ampliphonic’ or ‘resophonic’ guitar (commonly known by one of its trade names, Dobro), which had one or more metal resonator discs mounted inside the body under the bridge (fig.17). The Dobro was often played across the lap and with a slide, like the Hawaiian guitar, and both types were used at an early stage in experiments with amplification, which led to the development of the electric guitar (see also Resonator guitar).
8. Variaciones regionales
(i) Rusia: la guitarra de siete cuerdas
In the late 18th century, schools associated with the seven-string guitar tuned D–G–B–d–g–b–d’ developed in Russia. Early tutors for the instrument were published there by Ignatz von Held (Methode facil pour apprendre à pincer la guitare à sept cordes sans maître, 1798) and Dmitry Kushenov-Dmitriyevsky (Novaya i polnaya gitarnaya shkola, 1808). Music for the seven-string guitar was developed to a high degree of technical complexity by Andrey Sychra (1773–1850), who taught in St Petersburg from 1813; of his students, Semyon Aksyonov (1784–1853), Vladimir Morkov (1801–64), Nikolaj Aleksandrov (1818–84) and Vasily Sarenko (1814–81) wrote first-rate guitar music. In Moscow, guitar playing activity was centred on the player-improviser Mikhail Vïsotsky (1793–1837), who emphasized left-hand effects (legato up to seven notes, portamento, vibrato). The virtuoso Fyodor Zimmermann (1813–82) was also a composer and improviser. Despite their popularity in Russia, none of these guitarists gained international acclaim. Two guitarists, Nikolay Makarov (1810–90) and the Polish-born M.K. Sokolowski (1818–83) did become known; both, however, played two-necked ‘Spanish’ guitars with extra bass strings.
In the early 19th century, music for the seven-string guitar consisted mostly of variation sets on Russian folksongs and operatic arias, original dance pieces, transcriptions and potpourris; by mid-century ‘cosmopolitan’ forms such as preludes, études, nocturnes and ballades were favoured. A few large-scale independent works also survive, for example Sychra’s Divertissement sur des aires russes (1813) and Practical Rules in Four Exercises(1817), and the Sonata by Vïsotsky’s pupil Aleksandr Vetrov. Although the guitar declined in popularity in Russia in the second half of the century, it experienced a revival around 1900 in association with the writings of Valerian Rusanov (1866–1918) and the magazines Gitarist, Akkord and Muzïka Gitarista. Throughout the 20th century six- and seven-string guitars co-existed in conservatories and music schools.
(ii) Iberia, Latin America and the Pacific.
The small guitars of Renaissance Europe were the prototypes of instruments that have persisted in Spain and Portugal, and which were carried through trade contacts to Central and South America and East Asia. The growth in size of the classical instrument also finds its counterpart in the range in size of folk instruments. Spain has the bajo de uña, a very large, short-necked guitar with eight strings, but the guitarra tuned E–A–d–g–b–e’ is the standard instrument. The guitarra tenor has the tuning G–c–f–b–d’–g’; the guitarra requinto is tuned B–e–a–d’–f–b’; and the smallest is the guitarillo with five strings tuned a’–d»–g’–c»–e» (the term guitarro also refers to a small instrument, with four or 12 strings, played by strumming). Portugal has the normal guitar, which is called violão; the Portuguese guitarra is similar to the Spanish Bandurria, and, in spite of its name, it does not have the waisted outline of the guitar; the Portuguese machete (cavaco, diminutive cavaquinho), has either six or, more commonly, four strings; and the rajão, which sometimes has the body in the form of a fish, has five strings (fig.18).
The guitarillo is also known as the tiple (treble), and in the Canary Islands, where the name has been transformed to timple, it has a vaulted back and either four or five strings; these may be tuned to the upper intervals of the standard guitar tuning, but more traditional tunings are c»–f’–a’–d» and f’–c»–e’–a’–d», which can be raised a tone for an E tuning. The name tiple is also applied to a small bandurria in Cuba, which has five pairs of strings. Cuba also has the small guitar tres, with three pairs of metal strings. The term guitarrilla is found in Bolivia, Guatemala and Peru. In the two last it denotes a small four-string instrument, used to accompany song and dance. In Bolivia, where it is the only known string instrument of the Chipaya people of the Department of Oruro, it has five double courses (tuned d’–a’–f’–c’–g’) and six frets; it has a guitar-like body with ribs, a flat front and a slightly curved back. Guitarrillas are played in pairs for textless wayñus de cordero (songs in praise of sheep) or tornadas del ganado (songs for cattle) at the k’illpa (animal branding) festival. The Chipaya of the village of Ayparavi have three different sizes of guitarrilla: paj, taipi and qolta, all with gut strings. The two largest are tuned as above, the smallest a 4th higher (see Baumann B1981 and B1982).
The jarana (diminutive jaranita) is a small Mexican guitar used in instrumental ensembles and to accompany dances; it is the equivalent of the charango, which is widely distributed in South America (north-west Argentina, Bolivia, Peru and Chile). The charango has five single or five paired strings, tuned g’(g’)–c»(c»)–e»(e’)–a’(a’)–e»(e»); the body consists of an armadillo shell that has been dried in a mould to produce the waisted guitar shape. The name violão has been retained in Brazil for the classical guitar; the Brazilian folk guitar is called viola and has a variety of tunings according to place and function; most examples have five double courses (occasionally four or six). In Mexico the term guitarra de golpe is used as an alternative to vihuela for a small five-course guitar used in folk ensembles. The modern Mexican guitarrón is a large six-string bass guitar (fig.19), tuned A’–D–G–c–e–a (19th-century versions usually had four or five strings), while the Chilean type has up to 25 strings arranged in courses. Puerto Rico also has a five-course instrument, with four double courses and the fifth either single or double. It is played with a plectrum. The Puerto Rican instrument is known as a cuatro, a name more logically identified with the small Venezuelan guitar with four strings; the five-string guitar is called quinto in Venezuela. In the hands of a virtuoso performer, the Venezuelan cuatro, in spite of its seeming limitations, is capable of more complex textures than those it is obliged to provide in its folk setting, and two cuatros can accommodate transcriptions of art music. The machete was introduced by Portuguese sailors to the Hawaiian islands, where it was developed into the ukulele with its re-entrant tuning g’–c’–e’–a’ (for illustrations see Ukulele). Also of Portuguese origin is the small, narrow kroncong of West Java, which has five strings. The Montese of Mindanao in the Philippine Islands have a three-string guitar called tiape. (For discussion of the use of the guitar in Indonesia, see Indonesia, §I, 3(iv).)
In the last few decades of the 20th century the tremendous increase in global travel blurred the traditional regional distinctions among the many hundreds of different guitar-like instruments. Once-obscure South American variants were encountered on street corners in European cities, while Japanese-made classical guitars could be found taking part in music-making in remote Andean villages.
(iii) Africa.
In the 20th century the factory-made Western guitar, first acoustic, then electric, rose to prominence throughout sub-Saharan Africa. It assumed a central position not only in urban cultures but also in some rural areas, where several home-made models were locally developed. It replaced many long-established instruments previously used for personal music, such as lamellophones and a variety of string instruments, absorbing some of their playing techniques, melodic and harmonic patterns and musical concepts. Several distinctive styles and innovative musical forms were developed by now legendary composer-performers such as ‘Sam’ Kwame Asare (Ghana), Ebenezer Calender (Sierra Leone), Antoine Kolosoy Wendo, Mwenda Jean Bosco, Losta Abelo, Edouard Masengo (Democratic Republic of the Congo), Liceu Vieira Dias (Angola), Faustino Okello (Uganda) and Daniel Kachamba (Malawi).
From the early 19th century onwards, sailors from Portugal and other nations are likely to have played guitars or guitar-like instruments on ships that called at African ports. Not surprisingly, therefore, the first Africans to adopt this instrument were crew men – Kru sailors from Liberia. During the second half of the 19th century they seem to have introduced the guitar to ports along the Guinea coast, and at the beginning of the 1920s also to the port of Matadi, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (according to oral testimony by Wendo). But only with the rise of a gramophone industry in the late 1920s and of radio broadcasting from African capitals during the 1930s and 40s did guitar music gain popularity. At first, local guitar music was impregnated with European, Caribbean and North and Latin American styles. In the 1930s and 40s major sources of inspiration were calypso (along the west coast), country music by Jimmie Rodgers and others (for example in some parts of Kenya), and Hawaiian-style guitar music (in Zimbabwe and neighbouring areas); these were soon followed by Cuban orchestral forms and Latin American dance music (Central Africa). Each period of imitation soon gave way to creative reinterpretation, leading to the rise of characteristic African guitar styles based on local musical concepts.
Beginning in the late 1920s record companies realized the potential market for this new music: the legendary Ghanaian guitarist ‘Sam’ Kwame Asare recorded with his Kumasi Trio in London in June 1928. After World War II record companies devoted primarily to the new guitar-based dance music were formed in Kinshasa, Brazzaville and West African cities, and the newly established radio stations spread guitar music to remote villages. One of the first musicologists to record the new traditions was Hugh Tracey, who documented many examples of the Katanga guitar style of the 1950s. In February 1952 he discovered Mwenda Jean Bosco (1930–97) in the streets of Jadotville (Likasi) in what was then the Belgian Congo, and launched him on a full-time career. Bosco’s timeless compositions, Masanga, Bombalaka etc., stimulated David Rycroft (1958–61, 1962–5) to carry out the first scholarly study of an African guitar style.
Most guitars used in Africa during the first half of the 20th century came from Europe or South Africa. The most popular instruments, such as those produced by Gallotone of Johannesburg, had a narrow fingerboard, since African guitarists used the thumb to stop the lowest string. Finger-style guitarists of the period used a pencil, a piece of wood, or a nail, etc. as a capo tasto to raise the overall pitch level to match the singer’s (African Guitar, B1995). Many different tunings were used; often the top five strings were given a standard tuning while the sixth was raised by a semitone to F. The strings were sounded almost exclusively by the thumb and index finger of the right hand. Special techniques such as the ‘pull-off’ and the ‘hammer-on’ were used in the left hand (Low, B1982, pp.23, 58, 115 and African Guitar, B1995). In slide guitar playing, called hauyani (‘Hawaiian’) in Zimbabwe, Zambia and Malawi, the strings were tuned to a triad; Moya Aliya Malamusi plays in this style in African Guitar, B1995. Normally a small bottle serves as a slider. In both finger-style and plectrum playing the melodic patterns heard by the listeners are ‘inherent patterns’, only indirectly related to those of the fingers; in the ‘I.P. [inherent pattern] effect’ a complex succession of notes is split by the ear into several distinct layers (see Africa, §3(v)).
The introduction of the electric guitar at the beginning of the 1960s generated a restructuring of guitar music in Africa. A grouping of lead, rhythm and bass guitar replaced the solo guitarist, dividing the material among them. Congolese groups, such as Franco Luambo Makiadi and his OK Jazz, Tabu Ley Rochereau and his Orchestre African Fiesta, Kiamanguana Verckys and the Orchestre Vèvè, and Jean Bokelo and his Orchestre Conga Succès, took the lead in African electric-guitar based music in the 1960s and 70s. In Nigeria, following the popularity of Ghanaian Highlife music during the 1950s, which led to Yoruba and Igbo versions, Jùjú came to dominate southern urban music. In Zimbabwe, guitar-based chimurenga music by Thomas Mapfumo and others began to dominate the scene in the early 1980s. The music incorporates traits from the mbira dza vadzimu lamellophone, with its harmonic patterns of 4th and 5ths. In South Africa, Isizulu solo guitar styles were transferred to the electric guitar. In 1995 electric guitars were being used in mbaqanga, and Zulu maskandi solo music was experiencing a revival on both acoustic and electric guitars (N. Davies, in Schmidt, B1994; see also South africa, §III).
At the end of the 20th century, in the era of digitally-created sound, the gap had widened between those few African musicians with access to expensive equipment and those without. By the 1990s acoustic guitar music, with the exception of the Zulu maskandi and some forms played on home-made instruments, had almost completely disappeared in Africa. However, electric guitars were often too expensive for musicians in economically deprived areas. In West Africa, ‘drum-matching’ and other sounds created by a synthesizer had replaced almost all instruments except the guitar in recording studios. All across Africa, live music was being replaced in places of entertainment by often pirated cassette recordings transmitted through powerful loudspeakers (Schmidt, B1994).
BIBLIOGRAPHY
y otros recursos
a: bibliographies
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b: general
MGG2 (‘Gitarre’, §A/II: Terminologie und Frühgeschichte; M. Burzik)
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W.P. Maschkewitsch: ‘Zur Geschichte der Gitarre in Russland’, Die Gitarre, x (1929), 25–7, 38–40, 54–5; xi (1930) 52–6, 93–4
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A.P. Sharpe: The Story of the Spanish Guitar (London, 1954, 2/1959)
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B.L. Vol’man: Gitara v Rossii (Leningrad, 1961)
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- Heartz: ‘An Elizabethan Tutor for the Guitar’, GSJ, xvi (1963), 3–21
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- Carfagna and A. Caprani: Profilo storico della chitarra (Ancona,1966)
- Garnsey: ‘The Use of Hand-Plucked Instruments in the Continuo Body: Nicola Matteis’, ML, xlvii (1966), 135–40
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B.L. Vol’man: Gitara i gitaristï (Leningrad, 1968)
- George: The Flamenco Guitar (Madrid, 1969)
F.V. Grunfeld: The Art and Times of the Guitar (New York, 1969/R)
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- Charnassé and F. Vernillat: Les instruments à cordes pincées (Paris, 1970)
T.F. Heck: The Birth of the Classic Guitar and its Cultivation in Vienna, Reflected in the Career and Compositions of Mauro Giuliani (d. 1829) (diss., Yale U., 1970)
- Murphy: ‘The Tuning of the Five-Course Guitar’, GSJ, xxiii (1970), 49–63
T.F. Heck: ‘The Role of Italy in the Early History of the Classic Guitar’, Guitar Review, no.34 (1971), 1–6
- Hudson: ‘The Music in Italian Tablatures for the Five-Course Spanish Guitar’, JLSA, iv (1971), 21–42
- Tonazzi: Liuto, vihuela, chitarra e strumenti similari nelle loro intavolature, con cenni sulle loro letterature (Ancona, 1971, 3/1980)
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- Nickel: Beitrag zur Entwicklung der Gitarre in Europa (Haimhausen, 1972)
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- Fausto Ciurlo: ‘Cenni sulle ricerche delle origini etniche della chitarra e del liuto’,Il ‘Fronimo’, no.2 (1973), 16–24
- Gilardino: ‘Aspetti della musica per chitarra del secolo XX’, Il ‘Fronimo’, no.2 (1973), 7–10
- Gilardino: ‘La musica contemporanea per chitarra in Gran Bretagna’, Il ‘Fronimo’, no.5 (1973), 8–14
- Viglietti: Origen e historia de la guitarra (Buenos Aires, 1973/R)
- de Zayas: ‘The Vihuela: Swoose, Lute, or Guitar’, ‘The Music of the Vihuelists and its Interpretation’, ‘The Vihuelists’, Guitar Review, no.38 (1973), 2–5
- Danner: ‘L’adattamento della musica barocca per chitarra all’esecuzione moderna’, Il ‘Fronimo’, no.7 (1974), 11–20
- Gilardino: ‘La musica italiana per chitarra nel secolo XX’, Il ‘Fronimo’, no.7 (1974), 21–5
- Mauerhofer: Leonhard von Call: Musik des Mittelstandes zur Zeit der Wiener Klassik (diss., U. of Graz, 1974)
- Simoes: A guitarra portuguesa (Evora, 1974)
- Turnbull: The Guitar from the Renaissance to the Present Day (London and New York, 1974)
- Wheeler: The Guitar Book: a Handbook for Electric and Acoustic Guitarists (New York, 1974, 2/1978)
- Cano Tamayo: Un siglo de la guitarra granadina (Granada, 1975)
- dell’Ara: ‘La chitarra nel 1700’, Il ‘Fronimo’, no.12 (1975), 6–14
- Sicca: ‘Note critiche sul problema delle trascrizioni per chitarra’, Il ‘Fronimo’, no.11 (1975), 23–5
- Witoszynskyi: ‘Vihuela und Gitarre im Spiegel neuer Litteratur’, ÖMz, xxx (1975), 186–93
- Duarte: ‘La notazione della musica per chitarra’, Il ‘Fronimo’, no.14 (1976), 14–20
- Ophee: ‘Guitar Chamber Music: Why?’, Soundboard, iii (1976), 47–8, 82–5; iv (1977), 22–5, 35ff
J.W. Tanno: ‘Current Discography’, Soundboard, iii (1976–) [series of articles]
- Witoszynskyi: ‘Die Gitarre in der Kammermusik und der Beitrag Wiens’, ÖMz, xxxi (1976), 640–44
G.J. Bakus: The Spanish Guitar: a Comprehensive Reference to the Classical and Flamenco Guitar (Los Angeles, 1977)
- Danner: ‘Breve storia della musica per chitarra in America’, Il ‘Fronimo’, no.20 (1977), 18–25
- and M.A. Evans: Guitars: Music, History, Construction and Players from the Renaissance to Rock (New York, 1977)
- Ophee: ‘Chamber Music for Terz Guitar: a Look at the Options’, Guitar Review, no.42 (1977), 12–14
- Roberts: Guitar Travels (Valencia, 1977)
- Sclar: ‘Guitar: Consort to the Voice. Chapter One, Benjamin Britten: Songs from the Chinese’, Guitar Review, no.42 (1977), 17–24
- Camos: Reportaje a la guitarra (Buenos Aires, 1978)
- Grunfeld: ‘L’accord parfait en amour: Incidental Notes to the Graphic Music of Balzac’s Paris’, Guitar Review, no.44 (1978), 1–2
T.F. Heck: ‘Computerized Guitar Research: a Report’, Soundboard, v/4 (1978), 104–7; ‘Postscript’, vi (1979), 12
- Ragossnig: Handbuch der Gitarre und Laute (Mainz, 1978)
F.-E. Denis: ‘La guitare en France au XVIIe siècle: son importance, son répertoire’, RBM, xxxii–xxxiii (1978–9), 143–50
- Giertz: Den klassika gitarren: instrumentet, musiken, mästerna (Stockholm, 1979)
- Pinnell: ‘The Theorboed Guitar: its Repertoire in the Guitar Books of Granata and Gallot’, EMc, vii (1979), 323–9
- Powroźniak: ‘Die Gitarre in Russland’, Gitarre und Laute, i/6 (1979), 18–24
- Radole: Liuto, chitarra e vihuela: storia e letteratura (Milan, 1979)
- Schroth: ‘Dem Gesang verschwistert: die Gitarre in der Romantik’, Musica, xxxiii (1979), 23–6
- Sclar: ‘Guitar: Consort to the Voice. Chapter Two, Dominick Argento, Letters from Composers’, Guitar Review, no.45 (1979), 6–11
J.M. Ward: ‘Sprightly & Cheerful Musick: Notes on the Cittern, Gittern and Guitar in 16th- and 17th-Century England’, LSJ, xxi (1979–81) [whole issue]
- Gilardino: ‘La musica per chitarra nel secolo XX’, Il ‘Fronimo’, no.31 (1980), 25–9; no.32 (1980), 21–5; no.33 (1980), 25–9; no.34 (1981), 30–33; no.35 (1981), 47–9; no.36 (1981), 26–8
- Klier and I. Hacker-Klier: Die Gitarre: ein Instrument und seine Geschichte (Bad Schussenried, 1980)
- Leeb: ‘Die Gitarre’, Gitarre und Laute, ii (1980), no.2, 34–40; no.3, 32–41
- Schneider: ‘The Contemporary Guitar’, Soundboard, vii– (1980–) [series of articles]
- Wade: Traditions of the Classical Guitar (London, 1980)
G.M. Dausend: ‘Die Gitarre im Barockzeitalter: Instrumente, Komponisten, Werke, Notationsformen und Spieltechnik’, Zupfmusik, xxxiii (1980), 85–6, 114–18; xxxiv (1981), 16–20, 71–4; xxxv (1982), 17–19, 87
- Duarte: ‘The Guitar in Early Music’, Guitar & Lute, nos.13–18 (1980–81) [series of articles]
- Bacon, ed.: Rock Hardware (Poole, Dorset, 1981)
- dell’Ara: ‘Iconografia della chitarra’, Il ‘Fronimo’, I: no.36 (1981), 28–42; II: no.38 (1982), 33–41; III: no.40 (1982), 12–27; IV: no.42 (1983), 24–33
N.D. Pennington: The Spanish Baroque Guitar, with a Transcription of De Murcia’s Passacalles y Obras (Ann Arbor, 1981)
C.S. Smith: ‘Aristocratic Patronage and the Spanish Guitar in the 17th Century’, Guitar Review, no.49 (1981), 2–21; no.50 (1982), 12–23
M.P. Baumann: ‘Music, Dance, and Song of the Chipayas (Bolivia)’, LAMR, ii (1981), 171–222
- Strizich: ‘L’accompagnamento di basso continuo sulla chitarra barocca’, Il ‘Fronimo’, no.34 (1981), 15–26; no.35 (1981), 8–27
- Strizich: ‘The Baroque Guitar: Then and Now’, Soundboard, viii (1981), 128–36
M.P. Baumann: ‘Music of the Indios in Bolivia’s Andean Highlands (Survey)’, World of Music, xxiv/2 (1982), 80–96
- Denyer: The Guitar Handbook (London, 1982/R)
- Disler: ‘Finding Liturgical Music for Classic Guitar’, Soundboard, ix (1982), 15–17
- Hudson: The Folia, the Sarabande, the Passacaglia, and the Chaconne: the Historical Evolution of Four Forms that Originated in Music for the Five-Course Spanish Guitar (Neuhausen-Stuttgart, 1982)
- Low: ‘A History of Kenyan Guitar Music: 1945–1980’, AfM, vi/2 (1982), 17–39
- Low: Shaba Diary (Vienna, 1982) [discusses Kantanga guitar styles and songs of the 1950s and 60s]
C.H. Russell and A.K. Topp Russell: ‘El arte de recomposición en la música española para la guitarra barroca’, RdMc, v (1982), 5–23
C.H. Russell: ‘Santiago de Murcia: the French Connection in Baroque Spain’, JLSA, xv (1982), 40–51
J.-A. van Hoek: Die Gitarrenmusik im 19. Jahrh.: Geschichte, Technik, Interpretation (Wilhelmshaven, 1983)
- Kozinn and others: The Guitar: the History, the Music, the Players (New York, 1984)
- Schneider: The Contemporary Guitar (Berkeley, 1985)
- Seeger: Gitarre: Geschichte eines Instruments (Berlin, 1986)
- Ophee: ‘La chitarra in Russia: osservazioni dall’Occidente’, Il ‘Fronimo’, no.58 (1987), 8–27
- Wolzien: ‘Early Guitar Literature’, Soundboard, xiv (1987), 57–9, 186–8; xv (1988), 48–51, 218–20
- dell’Ara: ‘La chitarra a Parigi negli anni 1830–1831’, Il ‘Fronimo’, no.63 (1988), 19–25
- Greci: ‘La chitarra: sua origine, storia, evoluzione’, NRMI, xxii (1988), 703–25
- Päffgen: Die Gitarre: Grundzüge ihrer Entwicklung (Mainz, 1988)
- Button: The Guitar in England, 1800–1924 (New York, 1989)
- Egger: Die ‘Schrammeln’ in ihrer Zeit (Vienna, 1989) [discusses the popular Viennese quartet with bass guitar c1900]
- Noel: ‘Grandeur et décadence de la guitare en France au temps de Louis XIV’, Cahiers de la guitare, no.35 (1990), 20–24
C.A. Waterman: Jùjú: a Social History and Ethnography of an African Popular Music (Chicago, 1990)
- Bacon and P. Day: The Ultimate Guitar Book (London and New York, 1991)
- Dunn: ‘Robert de Visées Transkriptionen’, Gitarre und Laute, xiii/6 (1991), 46–54
- Glasenapp: Die Guitarre als Ensemble- und Orchesterinstrument in der Neuen Musik unter besonderer Berücksichtigung der Werke Hans Werner Henzes (Laaber, 1991)
- Huber: The Development of the Modern Guitar (Westport, CT, 1991)
- Christensen: ‘The Spanish Baroque Guitar and Seventeenth-Century Triadic Theory’, JMT, xxxvi (1992), 1–42
G.-M. Dausend: Die Gitarre im 16. bis 18. Jahrhundert (Düsseldorf, 1992)
- Nowotny: Vil Lute hörte ich erschallen: die frühe Geschichte der Fiedeln, Lauten- und Gitarreninstrumente (Essen, 1992)
J.M. Ward: Music for Elizabethan Lutes (Oxford, 1992)
- Esses: Dance and Instrumental ‘Diferencias’ in Spain during the 17th and Early 18th Centuries (Stuyvesant, NY, 1992–4)
E.F. Madriguera: The Hispanization of the Guitar: from the guitarra latina to the guitarra española (diss., U. of Texas, Dallas, 1993)
- Rebours: ‘Le repertoire de la guitare renaissance’, Cahiers de la guitare, no.45 (1993), 24–30
- Schmitt: Untersuchungen zur ausgewählten spanischen Gitarrenlehrwerken vor 1800 (Cologne, 1993)
- Treadwell: ‘Guitar alfabeto in Italian Monody: the Publications of Alessandro Vincenti’, LSJ, xxxiii (1993), 12–22
H.G. Brill: Die Gitarre in der Musik des XX. Jahrhunderts (Cologne, 1994)
- Libbert, ed.: Die Gitarre im Aufbruch: Festschrift Heinz Teuchert (Munich, 1994)
M.A. Malamusi: ‘Rise and Development of a Chileka Guitar Style in the 1950s’, For Gerhard Kubik: Festschrift, ed. A. Schmidhofer and D. Schüller (Frankfurt, 1994), 7–72
- Schmidt, ed.: ‘The Guitar in Africa: the 1950s–1960s’, World of Music, xxxvi/2 (1994)
African Guitar, videotape, dir. G. Kubik (Sparta, NJ, 1995)
G.R. Boye: Giovanni Battista Granata and the Development of Printed Music for the Guitar in Seventeenth-Century Italy (diss., Duke U., 1995)
- Burzik: Quellenstudien zu europäischen Zupfinstrumentenformen: Methodenprobleme kunsthistorische Aspekte und Fragen der Namenszuordnung (Kassel, 1995)
- Eisenhardt: ‘La guitarre royalle: de hoogtijdagen van der gitaar’, Tijdschrift voor oude muziek, x/1 (1995), 9–11
- Heck: ‘Guitar Notation: a Historical Overview’, Mauro Giuliani: Virtuoso Guitarist and Composer (Columbus, OH, 1995), 140–49
- Monno: Die Barockgitarre: Darstellung ihrer Entwicklung und Spielweise (Munich, 1995)
C.H. Russell: Santiago de Murcia’s ‘Codice Saldivar No.4’: a Treasury of Secular Guitar Music from Baroque Mexico (Champaign, IL, 1995)
- Cabrel, M. Ferstenberg and K. Blasquiz: Luthiers & guitares d’en France (Paris, 1996)
- Trynka, ed.: Rock Hardware: 40 Years of Rock Instrumentation (London, 1996)
- Heck: ‘Guitar-Related Research in the Age of the Internet: Current Options, Current Trends’, Soundboard, xxv (1998), 61–8
- Schmitz: Gitarremusik für Dilettantren: Entwicklung und Stellenwert des Gitarrenspiels in der bürglichen Musikpraxis der ersten Hälfte des 19. Jahrhunderts in deutschsprachigen Raum (Frankfurt, 1998)
O.V. Timofeyev: The Golden Age of the Russian Guitar: Repertoire, Performance Practice, and Social Function of Russian Seven-String Guitar Music, 1800–1850 (diss., Duke U., in preparation)
- Tyler and P. Sparks: The Guitar from the Renaissance to the Classical Era (Oxford, forthcoming)
c: the instrument
Arzberger: ‘Vorschlag zu einer wesentlichen Verbesserung im Bau der Guitarre’, AMZ, xi (1808–9), 481–8
J.A. Otto: ‘Über die Guitarre’, Über den Bau der Bogeninstrumente (Jena, 1828), 94–7
- Bathioli: Guitarre-Flageolett-Schule mit Bemerkungen über den Gitarrenbau (Vienna, ?1833)
- Stakhovich: Istoriya semistrunnoy gitarï (Moscow, 1864)
- Famintsyn: Domra i srodnye yey intrumentï russkogo naroda (St Petersburg, 1891)
- Chilesotti: ‘La chitarra francese’, RMI, xiv (1907), 791–802
- Zuth: ‘Die englische und deutsche Gitarre des ausgehenden 18. Jahrh.’, Der Gitarrefreund, xxii (1921), 77–9, 88–90, 99–100
- Geiringer: ‘Der Instrumentenname Quinterne und die mittelalterlichen Bezeichnungen der Gitarre, Mandola und Colascione’, AMw, vi (1924), 103–10
- Koczirz: ‘Die alt-Wiener Gitarre um 1800’, Gitarristische Mitteilung aus Österreich, i (1925), no.3, pp.1–2; no.4, pp.2–3; no.5, pp.2–3
- Schwarz-Reiflingen: ‘Die Torresgitarre’, Die Gitarre, ix (1928), 47–53
- Schuster: ‘Zur Geschichte des Gitarrenbau in Deutschland’, Die Gitarre, x (1929), 83–7
- Chase: ‘Guitar and Vihuela: a Clarification’, BAMS, vi (1942), 13–16
- Ivanov: Russkaya semistrunnaya gitara (Moscow, 1948)
- Lesure: ‘Le traité des instruments de musique de Pierre Trichet: des instruments de musique à chordes’, AnnM, iv (1956), 175–248, esp. 216; also pubd separately (Neuilly-sur-Seine, 1957/R; Eng. trans., 1973)
- Usher: ‘The Spanish Guitar in the 19th and 20th Centuries’, GSJ, ix (1956), 5–36
- Duarte: ‘Variants of the Classic Guitar, an Evaluation’, Guitar Review, no.25 (1961), 22–5
- Jahnel: Die Gitarre und ihr Bau: Technologie von Gitarre, Laute, Mandoline, Sister, Tanbur und Saite (Frankfurt, 1963, 6/1996; Eng. trans., 1981)
J.C. Tanno: ‘A Brief Discussion of the Construction and Assembly of Guitars by Non-Spanish Luthiers’, Guitar Review, no.28 (1965), 28–31
- Sloane: Classic Guitar Construction: Diagrams, Photographs, and Step-by-Step Instructions (New York, 1966/R)
- Hellwig: ‘Makers’ Marks on Plucked Instruments of the 16th and 17th Centuries’, GSJ, xxiv (1971), 22–32
- McLeod: The Classical Guitar: Design and Construction (Woodbridge, NJ, 1971)
- Artzt: ‘The Guitar: Wet or Dry?’, Guitar Review, no.37 (1972), 4–5
- Kasha: Complete Guitar Acoustics (Tallahassee, FL, 1973)
E.F. Ciurlo: ‘La chitarra nella liuteria moderna’, Il ‘Fronimo’, no.6 (1974), 20–31
- Godwin: ‘Eccentric Forms of the Guitar, 1770–1850’, JLSA, vii (1974), 90–102
H.E. Huttig: ‘The Tripodison of Dionisio Aguado’, Guitar Review, no.39 (1974), 23–5
- Kasha: ‘Physics and the Perfect Sound’, Britannica Yearbook of Science and the Future (1974), 128–43
- Meyer: ‘Die Abstimmung der Grundresonanzen von Gitarren’, Das Musikinstrument, xxiii (1974), 179–86
- Meyer: ‘Das Resonanzverhalten von Gitarren bei mittleren Frequenzen’, Das Musikinstrument, xxiii (1974), 1095–1102
A.E. Overholtzer: Classic Guitar Making (Chico, CA, 1974, 2/1983)
- Teeter: The Acoustic Guitar: Adjustment, Care, Maintenance, and Repair (Norman, OK, 1974)
- Brosnac: The Steel String Guitar: its Construction, Origin, and Design (San Francisco, 1973, 2/1975)
E.F. Ciurlo: ‘Chitarra quartitonale’, Il ‘Fronimo’, no.10 (1975), 25–6
T.F. Heck: ‘Stalking the Oldest Six-String Guitar’, Gendai Guitar, no.98 (1975), 64–71 [in Jap.]; Eng. orig. 〈www.uakron.edu/gfaa/stalking/html〉
- Longworth: Martin Guitars: a History (Cedar Knolls, NJ, 1975, enlarged 3/1998 as C.F. Martin & Co., Est. 1833: a History)
- Sloane: Steel-String Guitar Construction: Acoustic Six-String, Twelve-String, and Arched-Top Guitars (New York, 1975/R)
- Tyler: ‘The Renaissance Guitar 1500–1650’, EMc, iii (1975), 341–7
- Witoszynski: ‘Vihuela and Guitar: some Historical Developments’, Guitar, iv/2 (1975), 19–21
D.R. Young: The Steel String Guitar: Construction and Repair (Radnor, PA, 1975, 2/1987)
- Hall: ‘The “guitarra española”’, EMc, iv (1976), 227 [letter]
- Meyer: ‘Die Bestimmung von Qualitätskriterien bei Gitarren: Mitteilung aus der physikalisch-technischen Bundesanstalt’, Das Musikinstrument, xxv (1976), 1211–22
- Poulton: ‘Notes on the Guitarra, Laud and Vihuela’, LSJ, xviii (1976), 46–8
I.J. Schoenberg: ‘On the Location of Frets on the Guitar’, American Mathematical Monthly, 83/7 (1976), 550
- Achard: The Fender Guitar (London, 1977/R)
- Brosnac: An Introduction to Scientific Guitar Design (New York, 1978)
- Elliker: ‘On Gasogenes, Penang Lawyers, Echiquiers and Terz Guitars’, Soundboard, v (1978), 112–13
- Ophee: ‘La chitarra terzina’, Il ‘Fronimo’, no.25 (1978), 8–24
- Schneider: ‘The Well-Tempered Guitar’, Soundboard, v (1978), 108–11 [discusses interchangeable fingerboards]
- Stone: ‘A New Tonal Universe for the Guitar: Interchangeable Fingerboards’, Guitar & Lute, no.6 (1978), 19–21
- Weber: ‘Gitarrenkorpus geometrisch abgeleitet: Instrumentengeschichte aus Spanien’, IZ, xxxii (1978), 774 only
- Achard: The History and Development of the American Guitar (London, 1979)
- Denning: ‘The Vihuela: Royal Guitar of 16th-Century Spain’, Soundboard, vi/2 (1979), 38–41
- Evans and others: Guitares: chefs d’oeuvre des collections de France (Paris, 1980)
- Heck: ‘Mysteries in the History of the Guitar’, La guitarra, nos.37–8, 40–41 (1980) [series of short articles]
- Sorriso: ‘La chitarra battente in Calabria’, Il ‘Fronimo’, no.31 (1980), 29–31
- Gill: ‘Vihuelas, Violas and the Spanish Guitar’, EMc, ix (1981), 455–62
- Heck: ‘The Historic Variety in Guitar Sizes’, La guitarra, no.42 (1981), 2
- Rossing: ‘Physics of Guitars: an Introduction’, Journal of Guitar Acoustics, no.4 (1981), 45–67
- Schneider: ‘The Microtonal Guitar’, Guitar & Lute, no.16 (1981), 42–6; no.17 (1981), 32–4; no.19 (1981), 28–31; no.20 (1982), 20–22; no.21 (1982), 33–4; no.25 (1982), 14–17
Acoustical Society of America Meeting CIII: Guitar Session: Chicago 1982 [Journal of Guitar Acoustics, no.6 (1982)]
- Meyer: ‘Fundamental Resonance Tuning of Guitars’, Journal of Guitar Acoustics, no.5 (1982), 19
- Wheeler: American Guitars: an Illustrated History (New York, 1982, 3/1992)
- Christensen: ‘The Response of Played Guitars at Middle Frequencies’, Acustica, liii (1983), 45–8
R.C. Hartman: Guitars and Mandolins in America, Featuring the Larsons’ Creations (Schaumburg, IL, 1984, 2/1988)
- Nickel: ‘Zur Entwicklungsgeschichte der Gitarre im Mittelalter’, Basler Jb für historische Musikpraxis, viii (1984), 131–46
- Hodgson: ‘The Stringing of a Baroque Guitar’, FoMRHI Quarterly, no.41 (1985), 61–7
- Hopkin: ‘The Bi-Level Guitar’, Experimental Musical Instruments, i/4 (1985), 1 [with three pages of illustrations]
- Meyer: Akustik der Gitarre in Einzeldarstellungen (Frankfurt, 1985)
- Ribouillault: ‘La décacorde de Carulli et Lacote’, Guitare, no.13 (1985), 4–6
- Carlin: ‘The Improbable Evolution of the Arch-Top Guitar’, Frets, viii/10 (1986), 26–32
- Winter: ‘Aspecten van der guitaarbouw’, Jaarboek van het Volksmuziekatelier, iv (1986), 61–84
W.R. Cumpiano and J.D. Natelson: Guitarmaking, Tradition and Technology: a Complete Reference for the Design and Construction of the Steel-String Folk Guitar and the Classical Guitar (Amherst, MA, 1987)
- Forrester: ‘17th-Century Guitar Woodwork’, FoMRHI Quarterly, no.48 (1987), 40–48
- Stradner: ‘Die Instrumente der Wiener Schrammeln’, Studia organologica: Festschrift für John Henry van der Meer, ed. F. Hellwig (Tutzing, 1987), 445–52 [describes the bass guitar of c1900]
- Gétreau: ‘René, Alexandre et Jean Voboam: des facteurs pour “La guitarre royale”’, Instrumentistes et luthiers parisiens: XVIIe–XIXe siècles(Paris, 1988), 50–74
- Huber: ‘Zur Wiederentdeckung der Wappenformgitarre um 1900’, Quaestiones in musica: Festschrift für Franz Krautwurst, ed. F. Brusniak and H. Leuchtmann (Tutzing, 1989), 251–69
I.C. Bishop: The Gibson Guitar (Westport, CT, 1990)
- Corona-Alcalde: ‘The Viheula and the Guitar in Sixteenth-Century Spain: a Critical Appraisal of some of the Existing Evidence’, LSJ, xxx (1990), 3–24
- Gruhn and W. Carter: Gruhn’s Guide to Vintage Guitars (San Francisco, 1991)
- Sandberg: The Acoustic Guitar Guide (Chicago, 1991)
P.W. Schmidt: Acquired of the Angels: the Lives and Works of Master Guitar Makers John D’Angelico and James L. D’Aquisto (Metuchen, NJ, 1991)
- Peterson: ‘Harp Guitar: that Extra String Thing’, American Lutherie, no.29 (1992), 20–35
- Peterson: ‘A New Look at Harp Guitars’, American Lutherie, no.34 (1993), 24–40
- Brozman: The History and Artistry of National Resonator Instruments (Fullerton, CA, 1993) [focusses on ‘Dobro’ guitars]
- Gruhn and W. Carter: Acoustic Guitars and other Fretted Instruments: a Photographic History (San Francisco, 1993)
B.E. Richardson: ‘The Acoustical Development of the Guitar’, Catgut Acoustical Society Journal, ii/5 (1994), 1–10
- Segerman: ‘Stringing 5‑Course Baroque Guitars’, FoMRHI Quarterly, no.75 (1994), 43–5
- Whitford, D. Vinopal and D. Erlewine: Gibson’s Fabulous Flat-Top Guitars: an Illustrated History and Guide (San Francisco, 1994)
- Carter: The Martin Book: a Complete History of Martin Guitars (London, 1995)
- Moust: The Guild Guitar Book 1952–1977 (Breda, Netherlands, 1995)
- Chinery and T. Bacon: The Chinery Collection: 150 Years of American Guitars (London, 1996)
- Fisch and L.B. Fred: Epiphone: the House of Stathopoulo (New York, 1996)
- Morrish, ed.: The Classical Guitar: a Complete History (London, 1997)
d: guitar technique
MGG2 (‘Gitarre’, §B: Repertoire und Spieltechnik, I–II; M. Burzik)
- Guthmann: ‘Über Guitarrenspiel’, AMZ, viii (1805–6), 362–6
- Seyffert: ‘Über das Gitarrespiel mit Ring und Nagelanschlag’, Der Gitarrefreund, viii (1907), 33–5, 41–3
- Just: ‘Die Flageolettöne und ihre Notierung’, Der Gitarrefreund, xx (1919), 11–15, 23–6, 35–7
- Buek: ‘Über den Nagelanschlag’, Der Gitarrefreund, xxii (1921), 5–6
- Laible: ‘Physiologie des Anschlages’, Die Gitarre, ii (1920–21), 95–9
- Laible: ‘Physiologie des Greifens’, Die Gitarre, iv (1923), 45–7
- Schwarz-Reiflingen: ‘Kuppen- oder Nagelanschlag?’, Die Gitarre, vi (1925), 65–8
- Koczirz: ‘Über die Fingernageltechnik bei Saiteninstrumenten’, Studien zur Musikgeschichte: Festschrift für Guido Adler (Vienna, 1930/R), 164–7
- Schwarz-Reiflingen: ‘Die moderne Gitarrentechnik’, Die Gitarre, xi (1930), 17–23, 34–6, 49–52, 81–6
- Usher: ‘The Elements of Technical Proficiency’, Guitar Review, no.15 (1953), 6–8
- Usher: ‘Tone and Tonal Variety’, Guitar Review, no.16 (1954), 23–4
- Rycroft: ‘The Guitar Improvisations of Mwenda Jean Bosco’, AfM, ii/4 (1958–61), 81–98; iii/1 (1962–5), 86–101
- Pujol: El dilema del sonido en la guitarra (Buenos Aires, 1960)
- Huber: Origines et technique de la guitare (Lausanne, 1968)
- Murphy: ‘Seventeenth-Century Guitar Music: Notes on Rasgueado Performance’, GSJ, xxi (1968), 24–32
- Bobri: The Segovia Technique (New York, 1972)
- Sicca: ‘Il vibrato come arricchimento naturale del suono: suo studio sistematico sulla chitarra e sul liuto’, Il ‘Fronimo’, no.5 (1973), 24
- Danner: ‘Giovanni Paolo Foscarini and his “Nuova inventione”’, JLSA, vii (1974), 4–18
- Strizich: ‘A Spanish Guitar Tutor: Ruiz de Ribayaz’s Luz y norte musical (1677)’, JLSA, vii (1974), 51–81
- Gilardino: ‘Il problema della diteggiatura nelle musiche per chitarra’, Il ‘Fronimo’, iii (1975), no.10, pp.5–12; no.13, pp.11–14
- Duncan: ‘Staccato Articulation in Scales’, Soundboard, iv (1977), 65–6
P.W. Cox: Classic Guitar Technique and its Evolution as Reflected in the Method Books, c1770–c1850 (diss., Indiana U., 1978)
- Duncan: ‘About Vibrato’, Soundboard, v (1978), 69–72
- Taylor: Tone Production on the Classical Guitar (London, 1978)
- Weidlich: ‘Battuto Performance Practice in Early Italian Guitar Music (1606–1637)’, JLSA, xi (1978), 63–86
- Duncan: ‘Articulation and Tone: some Principles and Practices’, Guitar Review, no.46 (1979), 7–9
- Duncan: ‘La tensione funzionale e l’attacco preparato’, Il ‘Fronimo’, no.28 (1979), 23–6
- Sicca: ‘Una concezione dinamica di alcuni problemi chitarristici’, Il ‘Fronimo’, no.29 (1979), 18–23
- Danner: ‘Lute Technique and the Guitar: a Further Look at the Historical Background’, Soundboard, vii (1980), 60–67
- Duncan: The Art of Classical Guitar Playing (Princeton, NJ, 1980)
- Jeffery: ‘La technica di unghia e polpastrello secondo Dionisio Aguado’, Il ‘Fronimo’, no.33 (1980), 14–20
- Lind: ‘Haltungsproblematik an der Konzertgitarre’, Gitarre und Laute, ii/6 (1980), 18–27
- Cook: ‘The “Batteries” on the Spanish Baroque Guitar According to Marin Mersenne’, Guitar & Lute, no.19 (1981), 35–7
- Cox: ‘Considerazioni sui primi metodi per chitarra’, Il ‘Fronimo’, no.34 (1981), 5–15
- Ribouillault: La technique de guitare en France dans la première moitié du 19ème siècle (1981)
- Ophee: ‘The History of apoyando: Another View’, Guitar Review, no.51 (1982), 6–13
- Ribouillault: ‘Technique de la guitare: la position de l’instrument à l’époque romantique’, Cahiers de la guitare, no.2 (1982), 28–35
- Ophee: ‘Il tocco appoggiato: precisazioni e argomenti storici’, Il ‘Fronimo’, no.43 (1983), 8–20
- Jordan: ‘The Touch Technique: Two-Handed Tapping’, Guitar Player, xviii/7 (1984), 29–30
- Kienzle: ‘The Evolution of Country Fingerpicking’, Guitar Player, xviii/5 (1984), 38–41
- Lynch: ‘My Technique: Expanding the Boundaries of Finger-Tapped Guitar’, Guitar Player, xix/2 (1985), 14–15
- Schneider: The Contemporary Guitar (Berkeley, 1985) [explains new playing techniques and notations]
- Lehner-Wieternik: Neue Notationsformen, Klangmöglichkeiten und Spieltechniken der klassischen Gitarre (Vienna, 1991)
- Amos: ‘The Suppression, Liberation, and Triumph of the Annular Finger: a Brief Historical View of Right-Hand Guitar Technique’, Soundboard, xxi/4 (1995), 11–15
- Back: ‘William Foden and the Paradigms of his Technique’, Guitar Review, no.102 (1995), 13–17
- Holecek: För musikens skull: studier i interpretativ gitarrspelteknik från tidsperioden c1800–c1930 (Göteborg, 1996)
V.A. Coelho, ed.: Performance on Lute, Guitar and Vihuela: Historical Practice and Modern Interpretation (Cambridge, 1997)
e: guitarists
P.J. Bone: The Guitar and Mandolin: Biographies of Celebrated Players and Composers (London, 1914, 2/1954/R)
- Zuth: Handbuch der Laute und Gitarre (Vienna, 1926–8/R)
S.N. Contreras: La guitarra, sus antecedentes históricos y biografias de ejecutantes célebres (Buenos Aires, 1927)
W.P. Maschkewitsch: ‘Russische Gitarristen’, Die Gitarre, xi (1930), 68–72
- Prat: Diccionario biográfico, bibliográfico, histórico, crítico de guitarras … guitarristas … guitarreros (Buenos Aires, 1934/R)
- Terzi: Dizionario dei chitarristi e liutai italiani (Bologna, 1937)
- Makarov: ‘The Memoires of Makaroff’, Guitar Review, no.1 (1946), 8–10; no.2 (1947), 4–6; no.3 (1947), 6–9; no.5 (1948), 1–5
Guitar Review, no.11 (1950) [portrait issue on contemporary guitarists]
- Simpson: ‘Some Early American Guitarists’, Guitar Review, no.23 (1959), 16 only
Guitar News, no.60 (1961) [portraits]
- Carfagna and M. Gangi: Dizionario chitarristico italiano (Ancona,1968)
- Viglietti: Origien e historia de la guitarra (Buenos Aires, 1973) [esp. guitarists in Argentina and Uruguay]
Jazz Guitarists: Collected Interviews from Guitar Player Magazine (Saratoga, CA, 1975) [with an introduction by L. Feather]
Rock Guitarists: from the Pages of Guitar Player Magazine (Saratoga, CA, 1977)
- Ferguson, ed.: The Guitar Player Book (Saratoga, CA, 1978) [popular contemporary guitarists]
M.J. Summerfield: The Jazz Guitar: its Evolution and its Players (Gateshead, 1978)
- Moser: ‘Spanische Gitarristen zwischen Aguado und Tarrega’, Gitarre und Laute, i/4 (1979), 26–30
- Powroźniak: Leksykon gitary (Kraków, 1979; enlarged Ger. trans., 1979)
- Schneider: ‘Twentieth-Century Guitar: the Second Golden Age’, Guitar & Lute, no.12 (1980), 22–6 [discusses 12 ‘specialist’ composers for the guitar, from Villa-Lobos to Brouwer]
- Charlesworth: A–Z of Rock Guitarists (London, 1982)
- Sallis: The Guitar Players: One Instrument and its Masters in American Music (New York, 1982/R)
- Stropes and P. Lang: 20th-Century Masters of Finger-Style Guitar (Milwaukee, 1982)
M.J. Summerfield: The Classical Guitar: its Evolution and its Players since 1800 (Gateshead, 1982, 3/1992)
- Picart: Guitar héros (Paris, 1983)
- Tobler and S. Grundy: The Guitar Greats (London, 1983)
- Britt: The Jazz Guitarists (Poole, Dorset, 1984)
- Kienzle: Great Guitarists (New York, 1985)
- Christensen: ‘Tage mit Sarenko’, Gitarre & Laute, viii/1 (1986), 13–16
- Colonna: Chitarristi-compositori del XX secolo: le idee e le loro conseguenze (Padua, 1990)
- Guerrero: Los guitarristas clásicos de México (Torreón, 1990)
- Obrecht, ed.: Blues Guitar: the Men who Made the Music: from the Pages of Guitar Player Magazine (San Francisco, 1990, 2/1993)
- Yablokov: Klassicheskaya gitara v Rossii i SSSR: biograficheskiy muzïkal’no-literaturniy slovar’-spravochnik russkikh i sovetskikh deyateley gitary (Tyumen, 1992)
- Gregory: 1000 Great Guitarists (London, 1994)
- Marten: Star Guitars: Guitars and Players that have Helped Shape Modern Music (Fullerton, CA, 1994) [emphasizes rock guitarists]
- Gill: Guitar Legends: the Definitive Guide to the World’s Greatest Guitar Players (London, 1995)
- Pieters: ‘Die Wunderkinder der Gitarre während der ersten Hälfte des 19. Jahrhunderts’, Gitarre & Laute, xvii (1995), no.5, pp.13–21; no.6, pp.55–61