In a nutshell what Meucci has argued is that the term "chitarra" is derived
from the Greek term "kithara" which refers to any plucked stringed
instrument. In early Italian sources "chitarra" refers to a small member
of the lute family not to the figure of 8 shaped guitar.
The guitar was almost unknown in Italy until the early 17th century and is
almost invariably known as the "chitarra spagnola" to distinguish it from
the "chitarra italiana".
The "chitarrone" is a large lute - not a large guitar. The
inter-relationship between the chitarrone and the Spanish guitar in the
early song repertoire is a complex one but it does seem that the chordal
style of playing associated with the guitar did have some influence on lute
accompaniments.
I am afraid Groves is not a very reliable source of information for a lot of
lute/guitar related topics.
Best
Monica
----- Original Message -----
From: "Bruno Correia" <bruno.l...@gmail.com>
To: "List LUTELIST" <lute@cs.dartmouth.edu>
Sent: Wednesday, October 17, 2012 2:11 AM
Subject: [LUTE] Chitarrone
The Grove Dictionaire says about the chitarrone:
"The type of lute denoted by this humanist, classicizing term
(chitarrone means, literally, a large kithara) was associated
particularly with Jacopo Peri, Giulio Caccini and the other early
writers of monody from the 1590s until about 1630."
Has anybody challenged this etymology? Wouldn't be safe to say it
simply derived from the chitarra (guitar)? Is was developed in the
first place to acompany, playing chordally from a contino line, just as
the 5 course guitar would do, though without the struming technique.
The solo repertoire that came later looks very close to the guitar
writing: chords a little counterpoint, arpeggios, slurs, campanellas
efect e so on...
--
Bruno Correia
Pesquisador autonomo da pratica e interpretac,ao
historicamente informada no alaude e teorba.
Doutor em Praticas Interpretativas pela
Universidade Federal do Estado do Rio de Janeiro.
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