The evolution of classical guitars began with the influences of the

vihuela The vihuela () is a 15th-century fretted plucked Spanish string instrument, shaped like a guitar (figure-of-eight form offering strength and portability) but tuned like a lute. It was used in 15th- and 16th-century Spain as the equivalent of t ...

and

gittern The gittern was a relatively small gut-strung, round-backed instrument that first appears in literature and pictorial representation during the 13th century in Western Europe (Iberian Peninsula, Italy, France, England). It is usually depicted pl ...

in the sixteenth century and ended with the

modern classical guitar The classical guitar (also known as the nylon-string guitar or Spanish guitar) is a member of the guitar family used in classical music and other styles. An acoustic wooden string instrument with strings made of gut or nylon, it is a precursor ...

in the mid nineteenth century.

Precursors to the classic guitar

Renaissance stringed instruments

While the precise lineage of the instrument is still unclear, historians believe that the guitar is the descendant of the Greek kithara,

, lyre, European and Middle Eastern lutes, and the Spanish vihuela. The poem ''

The Book of Good Love ''The Book of Good Love'' (''El libro de buen amor''), considered to be one of the masterpieces of Spanish poetry, is a pseudo-biographical account of romantic adventures by Juan Ruiz, the Archpriest of Hita, the earliest version of which dates ...

'' irca 1330describes two early instruments,

guitarra morisca The Guitarra morisca or Mandora medieval is a plucked string instrument. It is a lute that has a bulging belly and a headstock as sickle. Part of that characterization came from a c. 1330 poem, ''Libro de buen amor'' by Juan Ruiz, arcipestre de ...

and

guitarra latina The guitarra latina is a plucked string instrument of the Medieval period in Europe. It has single string courses, and it is normally played with a pick. This gittern or citole with curved sides is illustrated in the medieval musical text the Cant ...

. :''Then came out, with a strident sound, the two-stringed Moor’s gittern,'' :''High-pitched as to its range, as to its tone both harsh and bold;'' :''Big-bellied lute which marks the time for merry, rustic dance,'' :''And Spanish guitar which with the rest was herded in the fold'' Instruments called "guitars" were first mentioned in literature in the 13th century, though many of these medieval records describe instruments that in modern times are classified as

s. The first incarnation of what is now called the guitar first appeared during the

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history The history of Europe is traditionally divided into four time periods: prehistoric Europe (prior to about 800 BC), classical antiquity (800 BC to AD ...

. The Renaissance guitar contained four pairs of strings called courses. The Renaissance guitar shared most similarities with the Spanish

, a six-coursed instrument with similar tuning and construction.

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. ...

in 1555 published ''Declaración de Instrumentos Musicales'', a treatise containing a section on plucked string instruments. This publication examined the relationship between the guitar and vihuela, and also differentiated between four- and five-course guitars. The five-course guitar did not phase out the four-course instrument until the Baroque period. One of the first major methods published for five-course guitar is Joan Carles Amat's Guitarra Española y Vandola en Dos Maneras de Guitarra, Castellana y Cathalana de Cinco Ordenes, published in 1596. The

became popular in Spain and Italy and remained common until the late 16th century. This instrument appears to have had a strong influence in the design and tuning of the early five-course guitars that first appeared in Spain in the middle of the sixteenth century. These five-course guitarras replaced the four-course Renaissance instruments, particularly in Spain. The guitarra set the modern standard tuning – A, D, G, B, E – for the top five strings that continues to this day."We know from literary sources that the five course guitar was immensely popular in Spain in the early seventeenth century and was also widely played in France and Italy...Yet almost all the surviving guitars were built in Italy...This apparent disparity between the documentary and instrumental evidence can be explained by the fact that, in general, only the more expensively made guitars have been kept as collectors' pieces. During the early seventeenth century the guitar was an instrument of the people of Spain, but was widely played by the Italian aristocracy." Tom and Mary Anne Evans. Guitars: From the Renaissance to Rock. Paddington Press Ltd 1977 p. 24 The number of frets on the guitar was increased from eight to ten and eventually to twelve. Later, it was in Italy that a sixth course became commonplace and this was an easily done by replacing or reworking the nut and bridge to plug in another tuning peg hole for the sixth string. An ornate guitar made by a Joakim Thielke (1641–1719) of Germany was altered in this way and became a success. From the mid-18th century through the early 19th century, the guitar evolved into a six-string instrument, phasing out courses by preference to single strings. These six-string guitars were still smaller than the modern classical guitar.

Romantic guitar

Modern classical guitar

The design of the modern classical guitar can be attributed to

Antonio de Torres 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 a ...

. The construction of these guitars has been considered the standard in "traditional" instruments since the mid 19th century. Contemporary classical guitars follow the Smallman design which replaces the fan braces with a much lighter balsa brace attached to the back of the sound board with carbon fiber. The balsa brace has a honeycomb pattern and allows the (now much thinner) sound board to support more vibrational modes. This leads to greater volume and longer sustain.

References

Bibliography

*Wade, Graham, ''Traditions of the Classical bris'', London : Calder, 1980. *Antoni Pizà: ''Francesc Guerau 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)

External links

The guitar in Europe: four centuries of masterpieces
b
Sinier de Ridder
Jayson Kerr Dobney, Wendy Powers (The Metropolitan Museum of Art)

by François Faucher on Classicalguitarmidi.com.
Classical Guitar Museum (UK)Guitarlisty's History of the GuitarGuitarra Española y Vandola en Dos Maneras de Guitarra, Castellana y Cathalana de Cinco Ordenes (Joan Carles Amat)
{{DEFAULTSORT:History Of The Classical Guitar * Acoustic guitars Classical guitar