by Carolyn Bednarski

The modern classical guitar may have its ancestry in the Arabic al` ud, from which we get “Lute”, the Gittern, the Vihuela or any of the many other stringed instruments to be found in medieval Europe. What is certain is that Spain was at the center of the guitar’s development, with the instrument having only four and then five sets of strings until the 18th century. With the beginning of a new century, the five-course guitar began its evolution into the six-string guitar, and gradually began to take on the form that we now recognize as the modern guitar. Details remain sketchy as to which country is actually responsible for adding the sixth string. It is known that the first such guitar appeared in France or Italy, although the Germans may also have some claim to adding the sixth string.

There does seem to be more evidence favoring the Italian origin of the six-string guitar, however, with a 1732 publication by J.F.B.K. Majer giving the tuning for a six-string guitar. Additionally, the first six-string German guitar made by Otto, was constructed accordingly to the Italian method. To further confuse the matter, it is also worth recognizing that there were guitars built with six courses, and others built with five single strings earlier, but none that were tuned like the modern instrument, therefore, they cannot truly be considered the first “real” six single string classical guitar. Regardless of the precise origins, the addition of the sixth string is without a doubt the most important factor in the development of the guitar, and an innovation that belongs to the 18th century just as the five-string guitar was a product of the 16th century.

As an instrument emerged that offered the performer an easier means to execute trills and other ornaments, so did a slew of great players and composers. Fernando Sor (1778-1839), was a Spanish composer and guitarist whose first major musical work was an opera called Telemaco en la Isla de Calipso. It was performed in 1797 while Sor was still a teenager. After moving from Barcelona to Madrid in 1799, he went on to compose symphonies, string quartets and his first pieces for guitar. His musical career was interrupted when the French invaded Spain in 1808, but ten years later, Sor moved to Paris, then to London, where he began to produce serious compositions for solo classical guitar. By 1926, he returned to Paris where he quickly established a reputation of being the finest guitarist of the day. His most influential work for the guitar is Methode Pour la Guitare, which is considered one of the most remarkable books on guitar technique ever written.

Other significant guitarists of the day include: Italians Fernado Carulli (1770 - 1841); Matteo Carcassi (1792 - 1853), who produced over 100 guitar works and is best remembered for Studies (Opus 60) and Method (Opus 59); Mauro Guiliani (1780-1840), who initiated the trend toward extensive concert tours for guitarists; and Sor’s fellow countryman Dionysio Aquado (1784 - 1849). These, and many other great guitarists Throughout Europe and Russia contri- buted both to style and composition and throughout the century.

The further emergence of the modern classical guitar is owed almost exclusively to a single designer. In Spain, the work of Antonio de Torres Jurado (1817 - 92) was crucial in turning the guitar into a serious and credible instrument. It was Torres who experimented with the existing construction and dimensions and created the template for the instrument that exists today. He modernized the instrument by improving its tone and at the same time increasing the sheer amount of sound that could be produced on it. This enabled guitarists to be heard as part of larger ensembles and also to play in larger concert halls. A career that began when he was apprenticed as a carpenter at the age of twelve, evolved into making guitars out of a shop in Seville in the 1850’s; several of which were used by leading players of the day. The first prominent player to use Torres’ design was Francisco de Tarrega (1852-1909)—the man in whose hands the guitar was first treated as a serious musical proposition to rival the other orchestral instruments. His contribution to pedagogy and guitar technique is significant, changing the way players held the instrument. Without the work of these two men, the evolution of the classical guitar tradition would have differed greatly.

Terrega had many outstanding pupils who advanced his technique into the 20th century. The most important of these was Miguel Llobet (1878-1937). He performed extensively throughout the Western World, and was acknowledged as a master and a supreme virtuoso of the guitar. He was also close friends with Andres Segovia (1893-1987)—the giant of the 20th century. Segovia established the practice of playing the guitar with a relaxed right hand and striking the strings with the left-hand side of the fingernails. He inspired contemporary composers to write for the instrument including Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco who in 1939 composed the first guitar concerto in the 20th century, Manuel Ponce of Mexico, Joaquim Rodrigo of Spain and Alexander Tansman of Poland. Segovia also directly taught generations of guitarists, including John Williams and Eliot Fisk, and has recorded practically his entire repertoire. He is the guitarist who raised the profile of the instrument to the level of a serious concert instrument, and he continues to be an inspiration to both composers and players. Julian Bream, Andre Previn, Brazil’s Heitor Villa-Lobos, French composer Pierre Boulez, Francis Poulenc, Venezuelan composer Antonio Lauro and countless others have all taken the classical guitar to the place it is today by expanding the available repertoire and performing worldwide.