Martina, Please thank Pedro for his input on the subject - I found it most enlightening and illuminating. So, it seems, that both the English Guittar and the Portugese Guitarra both evolved independantly as local variations on the general Cittern theme ? I have no problem accepting this - in fact, it makes more sense prima facea than other explanations put forward. Judging by the derrived definitions, it appears that there is essentially not so much difference to the two instruments other than the tuning, the bridge - flat on the cittern and curved on the English Guittar, the fretboard - flat on the Cittern but curved on the English Guittar, and the back - flat on the Cittern but curved on the English Guittar.. The wood used for most of the construction being the same as that used in many instruments, including Violin, of the same family as Maple and known in Europe as 'Sycamore'. The one detail which does concern me is the identity of the wood used for the tops of English Guittars. Sequoia (redwood) is not native to any part of Europe so is it being suggested that during the 17th and 18th centuries this wood was being imported from the West of America for instrument construction ? I would have thought it far more likely that, if a wood even lighter and softer than pine or spruce was required, then a more locally available choice of Cedar would have been used ? It doesn't really mater what century we are considering, it still takes a lot of trouble and fair expense to move timber about a quarter of the way around the globe ! (California is about 6000 miles from England). This, the use if redwood for the tops of English Guittars, is the only thing in what Pedro has written that I feel uncomfortable with. Kevin. Martina Rosenberger <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: Dear all, Eventually I could reach Pedro to speak for himself:
---Ursprungliche Nachricht--- From: "Pedro Caldeira Cabral" To: "Martina Rosenberger" Subject: Re: portuguese Renaissance cittern Dear Martina, Thank you so much for your mails. I have been too busy lately to reply or come into this somehow useless discussion. I really admire your efforts , together with such respected authorities ( towards whom I feel indebted and grateful) as , Peter Forrester , Ron Fernandez and a very few others, to bring to ligth some pieces of the puzzle that become the history (I am referring to facts) of the european cittern (I use this term in a precise sense, please see definition). So far I could not find a way of entering in the discussion, so I ask you to send this message to the interested people in the list, if you please. I will start with my short version of the history: The instrument we now call a Portuguese guitar was known until the nineteenth century throughout Europe as Citra or C=EDtara (Portugal and Spain), Cetra, Citra or Cetera( Italy and Corsica), Cistre ( France), Cittern (British Isles), Zither,Zithern, Sitra and Zitharen (Germany, Sweden and Low Countries). Directly descended from the Renaissance European Cittern derived in turn from the medieval Citole, The Portuguese guitar as we know it underwent considerable technical modifications in the last century (dimensions, mechanical tuning system, etc.) althoug it has kept the same number of courses, the string tuning and the finger technique characteristic of this type of instrument. There is evidence of its use in Portugal since the thirteenth century (C=EDtole) amongst troubadour and minstrel circles and in the Renaissance period, although initially it was restricted to noblemen in court circles.Later its use became popular and references have been found to citterns being played in the theater, in taverns and barbershops in the seventeenth and eighteenth century in particular. The earliest evidence of the use of the cittern in Portugal come from a report by Garcia de Resende (Singer, Lutenist, Poet, Politician and author of the royal chronicles of kings John II and Manuel I, compiler of the celebrated Cancioneiro Geral),who referred a cittern being carried to the royal ship, togheter with with 3 viols to enternain the princess .Beatriz during her journey to meet his future husband the Duke of Savoy in 1521. In 1543, the famous poet and humanist Jorge Ferreira de Vasconcelos include in his play Eufrosina a popular saying: "Words without actions are like Citterns without strings" In 1582, Friar Phillipe de Caverell visited Lisbon and discribed its customs; he mentions the Portuguese people's love for the cittern and other musical instruments. In 1649 was published the catalogue of the Royal Music Library of King John IV of Portugal containing the best known books of cittern music from foreign composers of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, in wich the complexity and technical difficulty of the pieces allow us to believe thet we had highly skilled players in Portugal. The angel playing the cittern (c.1680), a sculpture of big dimensions in the Alcoba=E7a monatery, depicts in detail the direct ancestor of our portuguese guitar. In the first half of the eighteenth century (between 1712-15), Ribeiro Sanches (1699-1783) had cittern lessons in the town of Guarda as himself mentions in a letter from St.Petersbirg, where he stayed as the private physician of the tzars in 1735. In the same period there are other evidence to the use of the cittern alluding to a repertoire of sonatas, minuets, etc. shared with other instruments such as the harpsicord or the guitar. Later in the century (ca. 1750), the so-called "English"guitar made its appearence in Portugal.It was a type of cittern locally modified by German, English, Scottish and Duth makers and enthusiastically greeted by the new mercantile burgeoisie of the cities of Lisbon and Oporto who used it in the domestic context of Hausmusik practice.This consisted of the "languid Modinhas", the"lingering Minuets" and the "risque Lunduns",as they were then called. The use of this type of Guitar never became socially widespread.It disappeared in the second half of the nineteenth century when the popular version of the cittern reemerged into fashion again by its association with the Lisbon song (Fado) accompaniment. We find the last detailed reference to the C=EDtara in 1858 in the book of J.F.F=E8tis "The Music Made Easy".The Portuguese translation includes a glossary describing the various characteristics (tunings, social status, repertoire, etc.) of both cittern and "English" guitar of the time. Nowadays, the portuguese guitar became fashionable for solo music as well as acompainiment and its wide repertoire is often presented in concert halls and in the context of classical and worldmusic festivals all around the world. Apart from these notes included in my double CD "Mem=F3rias da Guitarra Portuguesa" and dedicated to the repertoire of both 18th century"english" Guittar and modern P.Guitarra, I have collected many other references to the use and presence of the former cittern model in Portugal long before the "introduction" of the "english" model. Here are some: In the 1649 Royal Library catalogue is listed a manuscript for Cittern (lost in the earthquake of Lisboa in 1755) wich presumably contained works from portuguese authors , in 1652, on the inventory of Francisco de Le=E3o is mentioned a cittern bought in Lisboa for 480 reis and taken to Brazil for the Governor of S.Paulo. In the BN ms.B.16.23 in our National Library I found de reference to Father Jo=E3o de Lima, whose knowledge of many instruments listed, included in the second place the C=EDthara all along with the organ, the theorbo the arp, etc. The portuguese language diccionaries of Rafael Bluteau (1719), Morais e Silva (1789), Fonseca e Roquete (1848), Eduardo Faria (1849) all published in Lisboa, refer the Cithara and the Guitarra as two different instruments, sometimes giving details of number of strings, size, etc. Some instruments survived and are kept in reserve in the Music Museum, Lisbon and in private collections. With time and pacience I could add a greater amount of evidence but I think this is enough to credit my opinion on the presence of citterns in Portugal long before the invention of the "english" instrument. Defining a Cittern: Cordophone, strung with metal (iron and brass) double or triple stringing per course, with a pyriform body profile , either carved or bilt in pieces with a arched belly with 1 to 3 bars inside, very often a flat back, a movable flat bridge, a comb or end pin tailpiece and a head with movable pegs placed in frontal, lateral or back position. It as also a flat fingerboard with fixed metal frets (nailed in early models with intarsia hard woods such as box and ebony) some being complete and others incomplete (in many citterns up to the 19th century) The most common woods use in citterns were the maple (Acer pseudoplatanus) for the body, the spruce (Picea abies) or pine (Pinus sylvestris) for the top, but we can see instruments from the late 17th c.with tropical woods such as palissander, ebony, etc. The general type in the best models was of light construction (as in Virchi's instruments, followed by folk versions in Portugal, Germany and Swiss) and very good resonance and power. The playing technique is always with a plectrum (made of a goose quill, refer the best sources in 16th and 17th centuries) or thumb and finger, sometimes the 2nd finger, as suggested by Playford. The tuning (since the 15th century, on a 4 course instrument) starts (from top to bottom) with a major second, a fifth, and another second, forming an quart to the first, exactly the same basic tune as the actual P.Guitarra. The "english" Guittar: Cordophone, strung with metal (iron and brass) double and single stringing per course, with a pyriform body profile , bilt in pieces with a arched belly with 4 to 7 bars, the back being usually bent over 2 or 3 bars a movable curved bridge, a pin tailpiece and a head with movable pegs placed in lateral position or, more often, the so-called Preston tuning machines. It as an arched fingerboard with fixed metal frets (in many citterns up to the 19th century this is a composite piece, with light wood, covered with a hard wood veneer). The most common woods use in Guittars were the maple (Acer pseudoplatanus) for the body, the belly being very rarely made from spruce (Picea abies) or pine (Pinus sylvestris), instead a very soft and light wood was used whose identification as been very difficult, perhaps a variety of redwood (Sequoia wellingtonia), or sequoia (Sequoia sempervirens). The playing technique was guitar or lute based , with the flesh and short nail plucking, using thumb and 2 fingers, sometimes the 3nd finger, as suggested by Silva Leite (1759-1833). His Estudo de Guitarra (1795) is a masterpiece, dedicated to the newly introduced "english" Guittar, whose qualities he tryied to promote in the best society of his town, Oporto, using such fantastic coments as this: "The Guitarra is such a wonderful musical instrument that avoids the trouble to engage an orchestra, whenever you need it..." and later "the Guitarra is as good as a Theorbo, a Citara (Cittern), an Harpsicord or a Harp for the accompaniment of voices"... This comment is a revealing one: Silva Leite confirms the common practice of using the C=EDtara for the accompaniment, and places it in second, after the Theorbo. The "english" Guittar as an open tuning in C or less often in G based in intervals of thirds. This type of tuning is first mentioned by Juan Bermudo, applied to a seven course vihuela. This is the same tuning of the 6 course German Zither of Majer whose music was published in 1650. The tunings used by german musicians and makers such as , Joachim Tielke, Johann Gottfried Klemm and Andreas Ernst Kram were basically the same with small adjustements due to the distribution of the double and single courses and the bass strings (usually single and diatonic). That all for now.I beg you to send this message to the members of the list as I could not find a way to do it myself. Best regards, Pedro Caldeira Cabral ------ -- To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html --
