The early romantic guitar, the guitar of the Classical and Romantic period, shows remarkable consistency from 1790 to 1830.Stalking the Oldest Six String Guitar
/ref> Guitars had six or more single courses of strings while the

Baroque guitar The Baroque guitar (c. 1600–1750) is a string instrument with five courses of gut strings and moveable gut frets. The first (highest pitched) course sometimes used only a single string. History The Baroque guitar replaced the Renaissance lut ...

usually had five double courses (though the highest string might be single). The romantic guitar eventually led to

Antonio de Torres Jurado Antonio de Torres Jurado (13 June 1817 – 19 November 1892) was a Spanish guitarist and luthier, and "the most important Spanish guitar maker of the 19th century." It is with his designs that the first recognisably modern classical guitars are ...

's fan-braced Spanish guitars, the immediate precursors of the modern classical guitar. From the late 18th century the guitar achieved considerable general popularity though, as

Ruggero Chiesa Ruggero Chiesa (1 August 1933 – 14 June 1993) was a prominent Italian classical guitarist, teacher and editor. Life and career Born in Camogli, Chiesa began studying classical guitar privately with Mario Canepa, continuing his studies with Carlo ...

stated, subsequent scholars have largely ignored its place in classical music. It was the era of guitarist-composers such as

Fernando Sor Fernando Sor (bapt. 14 Feb. 1778, died 10 July 1839) was a Spanish classical guitarist and composer of the Romantic music, Early Romantic era. Best known for writing solo classical guitar music, he also composed an opera (at the age of 19), thr ...

Ferdinando Carulli Ferdinando Maria Meinrado Francesco Pascale Rosario Carulli (9 February 1770 – 17 February 1841) was an Italian composer for classical guitar and the author of the influential ''Méthode complète pour guitare ou lyre'', op. 27 (1810), which co ...

Mauro Giuliani Mauro Giuseppe Sergio Pantaleo Giuliani (27 July 1781 – 8 May 1829) was an Italian guitarist, cellist, singer, and composer. He was a leading guitar virtuoso of the early 19th century. Biography Although born in Bisceglie, Giuliani's cent ...

and

Matteo Carcassi Matteo Carcassi (8 April 1796 – 16 January 1853)Raffaele Carpino, Mario dell'Ara: "Matteo Carcassi. Un nuovo aggiornamento biografico", in: ''Il Fronimo'' no. 184 (2018), p. 5–9. was an Italian guitarist and composer. Life Carcassi was born i ...

. In addition several well-known composers not generally linked with the guitar played or wrote for it:

Luigi Boccherini Ridolfo Luigi Boccherini (, also , ; 19 February 1743 – 28 May 1805) was an Italian composer and cellist of the Classical era whose music retained a courtly and ''galante'' style even while he matured somewhat apart from the major European ...

and

Franz Schubert Franz Peter Schubert (; 31 January 179719 November 1828) was an Austrian composer of the late Classical and early Romantic eras. Despite his short lifetime, Schubert left behind a vast ''oeuvre'', including more than 600 secular vocal wor ...

wrote for it in several pieces,

Hector Berlioz In Greek mythology, Hector (; grc, Ἕκτωρ, Hektōr, label=none, ) is a character in Homer's Iliad. He was a Trojan prince and the greatest warrior for Troy during the Trojan War. Hector led the Trojans and their allies in the defense o ...

was a proficient guitarist who neither played keyboards nor received an academic education in music, the violin virtuoso

Niccolò Paganini Niccolò (or Nicolò) Paganini (; 27 October 178227 May 1840) was an Italian violinist and composer. He was the most celebrated violin virtuoso of his time, and left his mark as one of the pillars of modern violin technique. His 24 Caprices f ...

played guitar informally and

Anton Diabelli Anton (or Antonio) Diabelli (5 September 17818 April 1858) was an Austrian music publisher, editor and composer. Best known in his time as a publisher, he is most familiar today as the composer of the waltz on which Ludwig van Beethoven wrote ...

produced a quantity of guitar compositions (''see

List of compositions by Anton Diabelli {{Short description, none This is a list of compositions by Anton Diabelli. __TOC__ Music for piano Two hands # The First Lessons on the Piano, Op. 125 # Le bouquetier, Op. 151 # 100 Cadenzas, Op. 154 # Sonatinas, Op. 168 # Allegretto in C majo ...

'').

History

The first known guitar built to be strung with single strings rather than pairs of strings was built in 1774 by Ferdinando Gagliano in Naples. This guitar, which was displayed in the Heyer Museum, Cologne before that museum was dispersed, showed some important differences from the modern classical guitar. It had 5 single strings, inlaid brass frets, a long neck relative to string length (the fretboard meeting the body at the 11th fret), a pegged bridge and a characteristic figure-8 shaped tuning head. It lacked only a sixth string to make it identical with the early romantic guitar. The earliest extant six-string guitar was built in 1779 by Gaetano Vinaccia (1759 – after 1831) in

Naples, Italy Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...

. The Vinaccia family of luthiers is also known for developing the

mandolin A mandolin ( it, mandolino ; literally "small mandola") is a stringed musical instrument in the lute family and is generally plucked with a pick. It most commonly has four courses of doubled strings tuned in unison, thus giving a total of 8 ...

. This guitar shows no sign of modification from a double-course guitar. The authenticity of guitars before the 1790s is often in question. Moretti's 6-string method appeared in 1792. Around the same time France also began to produce guitars with six single courses and Spain soon followed. Italian, French, and Spanish six-string guitars differed from the baroque guitar in similar ways. In addition to the advances already mentioned the guitar was gradually given more pronounced curves and a larger body while ornamentation was more restrained, remaining mostly around the edges of the body and the sound hole, which lacked a decorative rose to allow more volume. Frets were no longer of tied gut but fixed strips of some harder material, first ebony or ivory then metal. Wooden pegs were later replaced by metal tuning machines.Harvey Turnbull, P. Sparks. "The Early Six String Guitar." from the ''Groves Online Dictionary'' article: "Guitar", last updated December 2009

Technique

The many instructional books of the time show no standard playing technique but rather a reliance upon earlier traditions. For example, they often recommend that the right hand be supported on the guitar's table although the Spanish guitarist Nicario Juaralde took the modern view, warning against a loss of right-hand freedom. The thumb and first two fingers were mainly used for plucking with, in the 19th century, a free stroke (''

tirando Tirando is a method of plucking used in classical guitar and flamenco guitar. ''Tirando'' is Spanish for "pulling" (in English, it is also called a "free stroke"). After plucking, the finger does not touch the string that is next lowest in pitch ...

'') more commonly than the rest stroke (''

apoyando Apoyando ("supporting") is a method of plucking used in both classical guitar and flamenco guitar known in English as 'rest stroke'. Rest stroke gets its name because after plucking the string, the finger rests on the adjacent string after it follo ...

'') that was favoured in the 20th century. Unlike most classical guitarists today, players were divided as to whether or not use fingernails. Fernando Sor, for example, did not use them while his compatriot

Dionisio Aguado Dionisio, a variant of Dionysius, may refer to: People Given name * Dionisio Lazzari (1617-1689), Italian sculptor and architect * Dionisio Aguado y García (1784-1849), Spanish classical guitarist and composer * Papa Isio (1846-1911), Dionisio Ma ...

did. The narrower fretboard of the romantic guitar allowed the left-hand thumb to be used by some guitarists to fret the sixth string although

deprecates this in his

method Method ( grc, μέθοδος, methodos) literally means a pursuit of knowledge, investigation, mode of prosecuting such inquiry, or system. In recent centuries it more often means a prescribed process for completing a task. It may refer to: *Scien ...

, recommending that the left-hand thumb remain at the rear centre of the neck and noting that the "high" thumb position aids neither bass-string fingering nor support of the guitar. Romantic guitars often had a neck-strap around the player's neck while Dionisio Aguado invented a "tripodion" for holding the instrument. Aguado also advocated a relaxed posture, leaning back in a chair with both feet solidly on the ground rather than using a footstool to achieve the later conventional posture, the edge of the chair being used to keep the guitar from sliding down to the right, bringing the neck upward, closer to the player's torso, rather than projecting to the left.Thomas Heck, "A Relaxing Way to Hold the Guitar: Variation on a Theme by Aguado?" from ''Soundboard'' magazine, 2004. Vol. XXX No. 3 2004: 31 – 34.

Composers

Antoine de Lhoyer Antoine de Lhoyer 'Hoyer(6 September 1768 – 15 March 1852) was a French virtuoso classical guitarist and an eminent early romantic composer of mainly chamber music featuring the classical guitar. Lhoyer also had a notable military career; he ...

(1768–1852) *

Francesco Molino Francesco Molino (also known as François Molino) (4 June 1768 – 1847) was an Italian guitarist, violinist, and composer. Biography Molino was born in Ivrea near Turin. He often travelled to Spain to give concerts. He was orchestral conducto ...

(1768–1847) *

(1770–1841) * François de Fossa (1775–1849) *

Joseph Küffner Joseph Küffner (''Kueffner'') (31 March 1776 in Würzburg – 9 September 1856 in Würzburg). was a German musician and composer who, among other achievements, contributed significantly to the guitar repertory, including chamber music. Life ...

(1776–1856) *

(1778–1839) *

(1781–1858) *

(1781–1829) *

(1784–1849) *

Carl Blum Carl Wilhelm August Blum (1786 – 2 July 1844) was a German singer, Libretto, librettist, stage actor, director, guitarist and opera and song composer. Philip J. Bone wrote that Blum was "a universal genius, uniting in one person the poet, the d ...

(1786–1844) *

Charles Michael Alexis Sola Charles Michael Alexis Sola (born as Carlo Michele Alessio Sola, mostly known as "C.M. Sola") (6 June 1786 – 21 January 1857) was an Italian guitarist, flutist and composer, active in England after 1817. Biography Sola was born in Turin, where ...

(1786–1857) *

(1792–1853) *

Josiah Andrew Hudleston Josiah Andrew Hudleston (22 February 1799 – 19 August 1865) was an Anglo-Irish civil servant, guitarist and composer. The Hudleston Collection at the Royal Irish Academy of Music in Dublin, Ireland, is one of the largest collections of early 19 ...

(1799–1865) *

Johann Kaspar Mertz Joseph Kaspar Mertz (in hu, Mertz János Gáspár) (17 August 1806 – 14 October 1856) was an Austro-Hungarian guitarist and composer. Biography Caspar Joseph Mertz (baptised Casparus Josephus Mertz) was born in Pressburg, now Bratislava (S ...

(1806–1856) *

Napoléon Coste Claude Antoine Jean Georges Napoléon Coste (27 June 1805 – 14 January 1883) was a French classical guitarist and composer. Biography Napoléon Coste was born in Amondans (Doubs), near Besançon, France. He was first taught the guitar by his m ...

(1805–1883) *

Adam Darr Adam Darr (29 September 1811 – 2 October 1866) was a German classical guitarist, singer, zither player and composer. Biography Adam Darr was born in Schweinfurt, Germany, and started playing the guitar as a youth. Sometime after the age of 23 ...

(1811–1866) *

Eduard Bayer Johann Gottfried Eduard Bayer (20 March 1822 – 23 March 1908), usually known as Eduard Bayer, was a German composer for the classical guitar and a virtuoso performer on the guitar, harp guitar, mandolin and zither. Biography Bayer was born in ...

(1822–1908) *

Giulio Regondi Giulio Regondi (1822 – 6 May 1872) was a Swiss-born classical guitarist, concertinist and composer active in France and (mainly) the United Kingdom. Regondi was born of a German mother and an Italian father in Geneva, Switzerland. In 1831 Fe ...

(1822–1872) *

Jacques Bosch Jaime Felipe José Bosch (in Catalan: Jaume Bosch i Renard, in France known as Jacques Bosch) (26 May 1825 – 31 March 1895) was a Catalan guitarist and song composer who established himself in Paris. Biography Bosch was born in Barcelona and edu ...

(1825–1895) * Julian Arcas (1832–1882) *

Francisco Tárrega Francisco de Asís Tárrega Eixea (21 November 185215 December 1909) was a Spanish composer and classical guitarist of the late Romantic period. He is known for such pieces as Capricho Árabe and ''Recuerdos de la Alhambra''. He is often called ...

(1852–1909)

Luthiers

Johann Georg Stauffer Johann Georg Stauffer (also Johann Georg Staufer; born January 26, 1778 in Vienna; died 24 January 1853) was an Austrian luthier and the most important Viennese luthier of his time. Life Stauffer was born in the Viennese suburb of Weißgerber, ...

René François Lacôte René François Lacôte (1785–1871) was a Romantic guitar luthier from Paris, France. His guitars were played by guitarists such as Fernando Sor, Ferdinando Carulli, Dionisio Aguado Dionisio, a variant of Dionysius, may refer to: People Giv ...

Jean Nicolas Grobert Jean may refer to: People * Jean (female given name) * Jean (male given name) * Jean (surname) Fictional characters * Jean Grey, a Marvel Comics character * Jean Valjean, fictional character in novel ''Les Misérables'' and its adaptations * Jean ...

Christian Frederick Martin Christian Frederick Martin Sr. (german: Christian Friedrich Martin I.; January 31, 1796 – February 16, 1873) was a German-born American luthier who specialized in guitars and the founder of C. F. Martin & Company. He made the first guitar in ...

Louis Panormo Louis may refer to: * Louis (coin) * Louis (given name), origin and several individuals with this name * Louis (surname) * Louis (singer), Serbian singer * HMS ''Louis'', two ships of the Royal Navy See also Derived or associated terms * Lewis (d ...

* Joseph Pons * Etienne Laprevotte * Gennaro Fabricatore

References

External links