The Baroque guitar (c. 1600–1750) is a string instrument with five courses of

gut strings Catgut (also known as gut) is a type of cord that is prepared from the natural fiber found in the walls of animal Gut (anatomy), intestines. Catgut makers usually use sheep or goat intestines, but occasionally use the intestines of cattle, Domest ...

and moveable gut frets. The first (highest pitched) course sometimes used only a single string.

History

The Baroque guitar replaced the

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history marking the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and covering the 15th and 16th centuries, characterized by an effort to revive and surpass ideas ...

lute A lute ( or ) is any plucked string instrument with a neck and a deep round back enclosing a hollow cavity, usually with a sound hole or opening in the body. It may be either fretted or unfretted. More specifically, the term "lute" can ref ...

as the most common instrument found when one was at home. The earliest attestation of a five-stringed guitar comes from the mid-sixteenth-century Spanish book ''Declaracion de Instrumentos Musicales'' by

Juan Bermudo Juan Bermudo (1510 in Écija, Province of Seville – 1565) was a Spanish Friar Minor who is best known as a composer, music theorist and mathematician. Life Bermudo entered the Franciscan Order in 1525, belonging to the Province of Andalusia. ...

, published in 1555. The first treatise published for the Baroque guitar was ''Guitarra Española de cinco ordenes'' (The Five-course Spanish Guitar), c. 1590, by Juan Carlos Amat. The baroque guitar in contemporary ensembles took on the role of a

basso continuo Basso continuo parts, almost universal in the Baroque era (1600–1750), provided the harmonic structure of the music by supplying a bassline and a chord progression. The phrase is often shortened to continuo, and the instrumentalists playing th ...

instrument and players would be expected to improvise a chordal

accompaniment Accompaniment is the musical part which provides the rhythmic and/or harmonic support for the melody or main themes of a song or instrumental piece. There are many different styles and types of accompaniment in different genres and styles ...

. Several scholars have assumed that the guitar was used together with another basso continuo instrument playing the

bass line Bassline (also known as a bass line or bass part) is the term used in many styles of music, such as blues, jazz, funk, dub and electronic, traditional, or classical music for the low-pitched instrumental part or line played (in jazz and some f ...

. However, there are good reasons to suppose that the guitar was used as an independent instrument for accompaniment in many situations. Intimately tied to the development of the Baroque guitar is the alfabeto system of

notation In linguistics and semiotics, a notation is a system of graphics or symbols, characters and abbreviated expressions, used (for example) in artistic and scientific disciplines to represent technical facts and quantities by convention. Therefore, ...

Tuning

Three different ways of tuning the guitar are well documented in seventeenth-century sources as set out in the following table. This includes the names of composers who are associated with each method. Very few sources seem to clearly indicate that one method of stringing rather than another should be used and it is often argued that it may have been up to the player to decide what was appropriate. The issue is highly contentious and different theories have been put forward. A very brief list of composers and tunings: Jan Vermeer van Delft 013

Vienna - Double guitar Paris 1690 - 9606

Composers

Giovanni Paolo Foscarini Giovanni Paolo Foscarini ( fl. 1600 – 1647) was an Italian guitarist, lutenist, theorist and composer. A note at the end of the list of contents in his earliest surviving guitar book ''Intavolatura di chitarra spagnola. Libro secondo'' (1629) r ...

(c.1600 - 1650), ''I quattro libri della chitarra spagnola'' (c.1635

*

Francesco Corbetta Francesco Corbetta (ca. 1615 – 1681, in French also Francisque Corbette) was an Italian guitar virtuoso, teacher and composer. Along with his compatriots Giovanni Paolo Foscarini and Angelo Michele Bartolotti, he was a pioneer and exponent of ...

(1615–1681), ''Varii scherzi di sonate, Libro 4'' (c.1648

*

Angelo Michele Bartolotti Angelo Michele Bartolotti (died before 1682) was an Italian guitarist, theorbo player and composer. Bartolotti was probably born in Bologna, Italy, as he describes himself as "Bolognese" on the title page of his first guitar book and "di Bologna" ...

(c.1615-1680) * Giovanni Battista Granata (1620 - 1687) *

Gaspar Sanz Francisco Bartolomé Sanz Celma (April 4, 1640 (baptized) – 1710), better known as Gaspar Sanz, was a Spanish composer, guitarist, and priest born to a wealthy family in Calanda in the comarca of Bajo Aragón, Spain. He studied music, theolo ...

(c.1640–1710), ''Instrucción de música sobre la guitarra española'' (1674

*

Robert de Visée Robert de Visée (c. 1655 – 1732/1733) was a French lutenist, guitarist, theorbist and viol player at the court of the kings Louis XIV and Louis XV, as well as a singer and composer for lute, theorbo and guitar. Biography Robert de Visée's pl ...

(c.1658 – 1725), ''Livre de guittarre dédié au roy'' (1682

''Livre de pièces pour la guitare'' (c.1686

*

Ludovico Roncalli Count Ludovico Giuseppe Antonio Filippo Roncalli, or simply Count Ludovico (1654–1713), was an Italian composer. Roncalli was born in Bergamo on 6 March 1654 and baptized at the church of San Pancrazio in the Città Alta in Bergamo on 8 June 16 ...

(1654 - 1713), ''Capricci armonici sopra la chitarra spagnola'' (1692

*

Francisco Guerau Francisco Guerau (1649 – 1722) was a Spanish Baroque music, Baroque composer. After being born on Majorca, he entered the singing school at the Royal College in Madrid in 1659, becoming a member of the Royal Chapel as an alto singer and composer ...

(1649 - 1722), ''Poema harmonico'' (1694

* Henri Grenerin (fl. mid-17th century) *

Santiago de Murcia Santiago de Murcia (25 July 1673 – 25 April 1739) was a Spanish guitarist and composer. Biography Until new research was published in 2008, few details about the life of Santiago de Murcia were known. However, it is now known that he was born ...

(c. 1673 - 1739), ''Resumen de acompañar la parte con la guitarra'' (1714

''Cifras selectas de guitarra'' (1722

''Códice Saldívar No.4'' (c.1730

and ''Passacalles y Obras'' (1732

Sample of makers

Matteo Salas (1600s).

Antonio Stradivari Antonio Stradivari (, also , ; – 18 December 1737) was an Italian luthier and a craftsman of string instruments such as violins, cellos, guitars, violas and harps. The Latinized form of his surname, ''Stradivarius'', as well as the colloq ...

(1644–1737). Of his five surviving guitars, the 1679 "Sabionari" is the only one in playable condition. It is the solo instrument on more than a dozen videos at YouTube.com. Two other Stradivari guitars are in museums. An instrument of 1688 is in the

Ashmolean Museum The Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology () on Beaumont Street, Oxford, England, is Britain's first public museum. Its first building was erected in 1678–1683 to house the cabinet of curiosities that Elias Ashmole gave to the University of ...

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

, England, and an instrument of 1700 is in the

National Music Museum The National Music Museum: America's Shrine to Music & Center for Study of the History of Musical Instruments (NMM) is a musical instrument museum in Vermillion, South Dakota, United States. It was founded in 1973 on the campus of the University ...

Vermillion, South Dakota Vermillion ( lkt, Waséoyuze; "The Place Where Vermilion is Obtained") is a city in and the county seat of Clay County. It is in the southeastern corner of South Dakota, United States, and is the state's 12th-largest city. According to the 2020 ...

Nicholas Alexandre Voboam II (Nicholas) Alexandre Voboam (1634/46–1692/1704) was a French luthier from a renowned Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more th ...

(c. 1634/46–1692/1704).

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

luthier A luthier ( ; AmE also ) is a craftsperson who builds or repairs string instruments that have a neck and a sound box. The word "luthier" is originally French and comes from the French word for lute. The term was originally used for makers o ...

with three guitars bearing his signature (from a total of 26 attributed to the Voboam Family). The guitars of Alexandre were held in high esteem during his lifetime and a century later were still considered desirable instruments.The Guitar (From The Renaissance To The Present Day) by Harvey Turnbull (Third Impression 1978) - Publisher: Batsford () - p20 ''"Alexandre's reputation lasted long after the seventeenth century. An advertisement in the Journal de Musique for September 1770 offered 'an excellent guitar made in Paris by the celebrated Voboam in 1675'.... "''(Chapter 1 - The Development Of The Instrument)

Performers

David Ryckaert III David Ryckaert III, David Rijckaert III or David Rijckaert the Younger (2 December 1612, Antwerp - 11 November 1661, Antwerp)Lex Eisenhardt *

Eduardo Egüez Eduardo Egüez (born in Buenos Aires, Argentina in 1959) is a lutenist, theorbist, and guitarist acclaimed for his interpretations of music by J.S.Bach. Egüez began by first studying guitar with Miguel Angel Girollet and Eduardo Fernández (guitar ...

Paul O'Dette Paul Raymond O'Dette (born February 2, 1954) is an American lutenist, conductor, and musicologist specializing in early music. Biography O'Dette, who was born in Pittsburgh, began playing the electric guitar in a rock band in Columbus, Ohio, w ...

Hopkinson Smith Hopkinson Smith (born December 7, 1946) is an American lutenist and pedagogue, longtime resident in Basel, Switzerland. Smith was born in New York City, the son of architectural writer and photographer G. E. Kidder Smith. He graduated from Har ...

* Stephen Stubbs * Xavier Díaz-Latorre *

Rolf Lislevand Rolf Lislevand (30 December 1961 in Oslo, Norway), is a Norwegian performer of Early music specialising on lute, vihuela, baroque guitar and theorbo. Biography From 1980 to 1984, Lislevand studied classical guitar at the Norwegian Academy of Mu ...

Nigel North Nigel North (born 5 June 1954) is an English lutenist, musicologist, and pedagogue. Student days He studied guitar on a scholarship to the junior department of the Guildhall School of Music and Drama (1964–70), taking up the lute in 1969, at ...

Jakob Lindberg Jakob Lindberg (born 16 October 1952) is a Sweden, Swedish lutenist, performing solo, in small and large ensembles, and also directing operas, using instruments of the lute and guitar families. He is known for the first ever recording of the Complet ...

Barry Mason John Barry Mason (12 July 1935 – 16 April 2021) was an English singer and songwriter. A leading songwriter of the 1960s, he wrote the bulk of his most successful songs in partnership with Les Reed. Mason gained many gold and platinum awar ...

* Ugo Nastrucci *

Andrea Damiani Andrea Damiani (born 12 February 1985) is a French footballer who currently plays as a defender for Championnat de France amateur club Valence. He started his career in the youth team at Olympique Lyonnais, where he made several appearances fo ...

Massimo Lonardi Massimo Lonardi (born Milan, 1953) is an Italian lutenist who actively performs as soloist as well as in several ensembles all over Europe. He graduated in classical guitar with Ruggero Chiesa at the Milan Conservatory, then specialized in lut ...

* James Tyler * Patrick O'Brien

Gallery

File:M2676 - gitarr - Matteo Seelos - före 1653 - foto Olav Nyhus (clip).jpg, Baroque guitar by Matteo Seelos (before 1653) File:Five-course guitars (c.1695-1699) by Jean-Baptiste Voboam, and Joachim Tielke, National Museum of American History.jpg, Five-course guitars by Jean-Baptiste Voboam (ca.1695) and Joachim Tielke (ca.1695–99) File:Stradavarius Guitar, violin, mandolin and case, National Music Museum, Vermillion.jpg, '' The Rawlins'' guitar (1700), part of the

Stradivarius A Stradivarius is one of the violins, violas, cellos and other string instruments built by members of the Italian family Stradivari, particularly Antonio Stradivari (Latin: Antonius Stradivarius), during the 17th and 18th centuries. They are co ...

collection at the

File:Chitarra battente del Maestro Nicola De Bonis.JPG,

Chitarra battente The chitarra battente (in Italian "strumming guitar", however "battente" literally means "beating" related to the fact that this guitar thumps the rhythm of the music) is a musical instrument, a chordophone of the guitar family. It is similar to ...

File:Baroque guitar copy 001.jpg, Modern copy of Baroque guitar File:Baroque guitar.jpg, Baroque guitar at the Casa Museo Del Timple, Lanzarote, Spain. File:Tielke baroque guitar.jpg, A baroque guitar by Joachim Tielke in the V&A Museum, London, UK.

Bibliography

*Lex Eisenhardt, ''Italian Guitar Music of the Seventeenth Century'', University of Rochester Press, 2015. *Lex Eisenhardt, "Bourdons as Usual". In ''The Lute: The Journal of the Lute Society'', vol. XLVII (2007) *Lex Eisenhardt, "Baroque guitar accompaniment: where is the bass". In ''Early Music'', vol. 42, No 1 (2014) *Lex Eisenhardt,
A String of Confusion
*James Tyler, "The Early Guitar", Oxford University Press, 1980. *James Tyler/Paul Sparks, The Guitar and its Music", Oxford University Press, 2002. *James Tyler, " A guide to playing the Baroque Guitar" Indiana University Press, 2011. *

Monica Hall Monica Hall is an English guitarist, author and musicologist. A reviewer and writer for The Lute Society (UK) and article contributor to the Lute Society of America Quarterly and Classical Guitar magazine. Hall's main field of study is the baroq ...

: ''Baroque Guitar Stringing : a survey of the evidence'' (Guildford: The Lute Society, 2010) *Monica Hall: "Recovering a lost book of guitar music by Corbetta". In ''Consort: The Journal of the Dolmetsch Foundation'', Vol. 61 (2005). *Monica Hall: "The "Guitarra espanola" of Joan Carles Amat". In ''Early Music'', Vol. 6, no. 3, July 1978. *Monica Hall: "Dissonance in the guitar music of Francesco Corbetta". In ''Lute: The Journal of the Lute Society'', Vol. XLVII (2007) *Monica Hall: "Angiol Bartolotti's Lettere tagliate". In ''Lute: The Journal of the Lute Society'', Vol. XLVII (2007) *Monica Hall: "Tuning instructions for the baroque guitar in Bibliotheque Nationale Res. Vmc Ms. 59, f. 108v". In ''Lute: The Journal of the Lute Society'', Vol. XLVII (2007) *

Antoni Pizà Antoni Pizà, born in Felanitx, Mallorca, Spain, in 1962, is a musicologist. After receiving a PhD at the Graduate Center of CUNY in 1994, he taught music history at Hofstra University in Long Island, at various colleges in CUNY, and at the ''Conse ...

: ''

Francesc Guerau Francisco Guerau (1649 – 1722) was a Spanish Baroque composer. After being born on Majorca, he entered the singing school at the Royal College in Madrid in 1659, becoming a member of the Royal Chapel as an alto singer and composer ten years late ...

i el seu temps'' (Palma de Mallorca: Govern de les Illes Balears, Conselleria d'Educació i Cultura, Direcció General de Cultura, Institut d'Estudis Baleàrics, 2000). *Hélène Charnassé, Rafael Andia, Gérard Rebours, ''The Guitar Books of Robert de Visée'', Paris: Editions Musicales Transatlantiques,2000, 235 pages. *Thomas Schmitt: "Sobre la ornamentación en el repertorio para guitarra barroca en España (1600-1750)". In: ''Revista de Musicología'', XV, nº 1, 1992 *Giovanni Accornero, Eraldo Guerci (edited and translated by Davide Rebuffa) - The Guitar: "Four Centuries of Masterpieces", (Italian/English), Edizioni Il Salabue, 2008. *Carlo Alberto Carutti, "Passioni di un collezionista", Catalogue by Giovanni Accornero (edited and translated by Davide Rebuffa), (Italian/English), Edizioni Il Salabue, 2011. (also available on CD rom)

References

External links

Technique
"Baroque guitar for the modern performer - a practical compromise", by Don Rowe and Richard d’A Jensen {{Authority control Baroque instruments Non-Spanish classical guitars Acoustic guitars