Hi all,
New member here, I play classical guitar but came across some english guitar
related info and was kindly redirected here by Rob McKillop.
What's the evidence on the english guitar being popular in the Netherlands in
the 1770s and/or being used for song accompaniment?
To
explain why I am asking this: Adamantios Korais is considered a key
figure of the modern greek Enlightenment. Some sources on him suggest
that as a young businessman in Amsterdam in the 1770s he had guitar
lessons. I was able to trace this down to one source, letters sent by
his assistant to his business partners complaining about his behaviour .
In those letters , the litteral wording is : " he's got a teacher
teaching him the guitar, an english instrument,and at the same time he
is teaching him french songs [together] with the music". Now the words
"english instrument" in combination with the 1770s date and the
Netherlands proximity to Britain make me think this is more likely to
be the CEGCEG instrument rather than the spanish guitar in either its
baroque or classical incarnation. I will appreciate any info on the
popularity/repertoire of the instrument in the Netherlands .
Regards
Stelios
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