"THE SPANISH GUITAR HISTORY"
By Mr. Alberto Pérez Professor of Classical Guitar & International Concert Guitarist
1) Introduction A summary argument for the importance of making the Spanish Guitar History available to the scholar and performer will be made based on the following terms. -The guitar is a polyphonic instrument to interpret melodies, accompaniments, or both. - It comes from the lute family and its origins are found in several different countries and cultures: a) In Mesopotamia and Central Anatolia, a region that is found in Turkey, long-neck lutes have been found out, dating from the eighth century BC. The most important civilizations museum of the world is located in Ankara, Turkey, where there are important pieces that allow us to imagine a more coherent guitar history as well as its origins. It is also important to note that exist today in Turkey a large family of long-neck lutes where we can find: "baglama" and "sas". b) Central Asia, here we have the short long-neck lutes. - With the expansion of the Byzantine Empire and the Muslim invasion, the very different forms of the lute got into Europe. - Background-Europeans, are in Greece using the Kithara which is a type of lyre and appearing in some texts of Greek literature. - The word guitar comes from Europe and is found in: a) The thirteenth century French romance, appears as "gitere" b) Florence c) The fourteenth century English literature, appears as "gittern" d) The German Renaissance appears as "Quinterne" d) But It is not until 1330 when the universal Spanish writer Juan Ruiz, Archpriest of Hita distinguish in his texts between Latin and Moorish guitar.
2) Parts of the guitar It is a feature that each part of the guitar corresponds to a different kind of wood: a) Board > fir b) Back> Palo Santo in Brazil c) Neck> Cedar d) Neck-diapason> Ebony A guitar has other parts such as mechanisms of pitch, socket or heel that connects the neck to box, braces that join the board with the hoops and sides, the bridge, the nut and frets. The sides and board along with the back shaped the hoops. The different measurements of the guitar have been changing over time, as well as the innovations of some builders as in the case of Pagés or the modern guitar builder, Mr Don Antonio de Torres Jurado, that established the actual guitar measurements in the late nineteenth century. Thus we can distinguish the modern classical guitar since 1880. We can note some builders: 1) Belchior Dias, Lisbon 1581. 2) Rene voboan, 1641 Paris. 3) Stradivari, Italia 4) Luigi Legnani, 1790-1887 5) Juan Pagès and sons, Cádiz 1750 - 1821 6) Antonio de Torres Jurado, Almería, Spain 1817-1892 7) Ramírez, Madrid 8) Arturo Sanzano, Madrid
3) Relationship among guitar, lute and vihuela. We find basic differences on the following points: 1) Number of double strings (course) on each instrument. 2) Neck, head and body. 3) Repertory. 4) Spanish theorists from the sixteenth century wrote that tuning depends on the very instrument and the county-region as well. In addition, Juan Bermudo at his book ("Declaración de Intrumentos" 1573), notes that there are different techniques as figueta and dedillo among the three instruments. We also found in "Arte de tañer fantasía, Valladolid 1565" by Thomás de Santa Maria, a relationship between plucked instruments and keyboard instruments in terms of interpretation. The "Guitarra Latina" had four course strings. Juan Gil de Zamora and Tinctoris attributed the invention of the guitar to the Catalans towards 1487. The Renaissance guitar in Germany was called Quinterne." Neither the guitar player nor the vihuela's used to play with pick or plectrum but for the lute they could play with or without it. Regarding its construction, there were a variety of ways with various frets, or fretless. The word "guitar" was used in Spain to designate the Renaissance guitar. The construction technique of lutes in the Middle Age was much more stylized in Muslim countries than in Europe.
4) The Four Course Guitar and the Vihuela in Spain. The four course guitar is the same as the Renaissance guitar. This guitar had a length of 76.5 cm. Juan Bermudo distinguish between the new and the old pitch. We can feature the following Spanish vihuelists: Luis Milan, Luis de Narvaez, Enríquez de Valderrábano, Diego Pisador y Alonso Mudarra. Music for guitar, lute or vihuela was written down in tablature up to mid eighteenth century. It is curious how music was represented in different countries such as Spain where the top line corresponds to the first string while in France or Italy was the sixth. Elsewhere in Italy and Spain frets were represented with numbers while in France they did with letters. It was Alonso Mudarra who includes for the first time several pieces for the four course guitar within his book "Tres libros de Musica en cifras / para vihuela "in 1546. Melchor de-Barberie did the same as Mudarra three years later in Italy. Miguel de Fuenllana included nine pieces for guitar in his book for vihuela in 1554. There were some conceptual differences between Spanish guitar and French's, for example while in Spain guitar was less important than vihuela, in France became very popular. There are clear examples in Adrian Le Roy and Guillaume Morlaye. (Performing "Pavana No. 1" by Luys Milan).
5) The Five course Guitar. The five course guitar is the same as the Baroque guitar. -The attribution of the fifth string on the guitar was made in 1550 to Vicente Espinel, among others by Lope de Vega. From here on the five course guitar is known in the rest of Europe as "Spanish Guitar." In this period we find some differences between guitar and batente guitar, for example the batente guitar: a) It is played with plectrum or pick b) has a gap at the board that starts behind the bridge and up the sides. c) It has three course strings. d) Baroque guitar was overshadowed by Baroque lute. e) It is not known written music at the beginning of Baroque guitar period. On the other hand we found that in the middle seventeenth century: - Corvetta, talks about playing on Spanish style. - Robert de Visé is a renowned guitarist in the court of Versailles. - Gaspar Sanz is one of the best guitarists in Europe for his book "Music Instruction" becoming the most important Baroque music book for guitar in Spain in 17th century. - Santiago de Murcia, in 1714 published his book "summary to accompany with the guitar." -Nathanal Diessel, is an important Danish-German Baroque music source. In France, the Baroque guitar became very popular. (Performing "Sarabande with variations" by Hendel ).
6) The six-string guitar. It is in France and Italy where the five course guitar became into single strings during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The German-Jacob Augustus Otto added the 6th string on the guitar nevertheless it was already used in Spain and México. At this stage we found some differences between guitar and lute: - The guitar has twelve-metal frets and flat back - José Pagés, guitar manufacturer, introduces the diapason over the board and the famous fun inside the box as well. - Guitarists still remaining the right hand position resting on the board. - Federico Moretti (Naples, eighteenth century-Madrid, 1838) Establish the difference between accompaniment and melody. He will influence on Sor as well as Aguado. -Fernando Sor (1778-1839), an emblematic figure in the world of the guitar for his life and work did not use nails in his right hand. -Dionisio Aguado (1784-1849) who was an important guitarist, used to play with nails. -Dating from the same period we found many other guitarists like Giuliani and Carulli. (Performing "Les Adieux" by F. Sor.)
7) The modern guitar. At this moment we can find two great figures: A builder and a guitarist. 1) The modern guitar, which embraces from 1850 to today, must be understood since the constructor Antonio Torres Jurado (1817 - 1892) gave up the guitar the shape we know today: a) Established standard forms, 65 cm draft and 96 cm length. b) Established the rectangular shaped modern bridge where the strings are attached. c) Established harmonic and transverse bars d) Use of " contrafajos corridos " instead of pawns e) Implementation of the radial fun system g) Openings bars in the box f) Louder system consisting in a 3 or 4 cm cylinder placed in the mouth, now disused) h) Use of pawns instead of "horquetas." i) Bend floating board. In 1946 gut strings are replaced by those of nylon. 2) Francisco Tárrega (1852 - 1909) pushed up the new guitar up to concert halls, with a large number of transcriptions and numerous works composed by himself. Performing "Recuerdos de la Alhambra" by Francisco Tárrega. In the twentieth century we found performers such as: - Emilio Pujol, does not use nails in his right hand. - Miguel Llobet, uses nails. - Andres Segovia. - Narciso Yepes. - Agustin Barrios-Mangoré. - Carlos Santana. - Jimi Hendrix. Performing "Asturias" by Isaac Albéniz and "Concerto de Aranjuez 2nd mov." By the Maestro J. Rodrigo.
8) Variations from Classical Guitar. Portuguese fado guitar. Jawaiana guitar . Ukelele and machete introduced by the Portugueses. El Tres, Venezuela. Banjo, North America El Cuatro, Puerto Rico. Blues guitar - BB King - Memphis Slim - Charlie Christian - Django Reinhard - Pat Metheny - George Benson " Performing a " Blues "
9) Questions
Please note: This Educational Concert is highly recommended for scholars and students over 10. Length: 60 minutes. Caché depending on conditions apply.