I'm sure lots of people on this list will be very grateful for your summary of Cabral's work. Thanks.
ron fernandez wrote: > Greetings all, > > 1. The answer to Stuart's question is that the book Instrumentos > Musicais Populares Portugueses, by Ernesto Veiga de Oliveira published > in 2000 is I only available in Portuguese. If you really want to know > about these Iberian instruments you will have to read Spanish and > Portuguese. The English language sources are very poor... I should say > here that I am not a native Spanish or Portuguese speaker. Although my > father was from Galicia Spain, my mother was American of Polish descent. > I was born in New Jersey, We did not speak Spanish at home. Although I > made my first trip to Spain when I was a teen, I had to learn Spanish > and Portuguese through many years of study in high school, college and > graduate school. > > 2. I do not remember the Portuguese guitarra made by Rosa and Caldiera, > Lisbon, mid 19th century that you mention in Baines 'European and > American Musical Instruments' (1966). I do know the guitarra on the > front the Guitarra Magica book. > > 3. I know of a maker named João Viera da Silva who Cabral states was > active in Lisbon in 1799. His guittar is shown in Cabral's book. His > first name is also given as Jaco. > > 4. Here is Stuart's statement which I wish to comment on: > > Doesn't that beg the question of the origin of the Portuguese guitar? > There simply couldn't have been a method for the Portuguese guitar in > 1796 because it hadn't yet been invented/developed. To a non-Portuguese > person it would seem simpler to say that the Silva Leite method is the > start of the uniquely Portuguese development of the instrument (rather > than take Cabrals' route of surmising a mysterious 'citola' and a prior > but invisible tradition)? > > Your statement raises all kind of issues which I am not really prepared > at this moment to deal with but I will make few comments. > > a) As everyone on this list knows the information about the medieval > cítola is scarce (Let's not get hung up at this time how this term is > supposedly spelled--citole, citolom, citra, cithara). In Cabral's book > (A Guitarra Portuguesa) he starts by showing drawings of medieval > instruments which he variantly calls cítola and cítaras from the > Psaltério de Utrecht, Reims circa 820 located at Biblitheek Der > Rijksuniversiteit, Utretcht, Holland, Salmo 43, fol. 25r, Salmo 92, fol. > 54v. , Salmo 147, fol. 82 r.. Then, he displays paintings with cítaras > in them located in the Bible of Carlos, ) O Calvo, from 830 AD, located > at the Biblioteca Nacional de Paris, Ms. Lat I. I fl. 215 v. . Next, he > shows another cítola from the Psalterio de Estugada, circa 860 AD, > located at Wurtembergische Landesbibliothek, Ms. Bibl., fol. 23, fl. 63. > v and fol. 23, fl. 63 v.. He then shows a sculpture from the Baptisterio > de Parma de Benedetto Antelami (circa 1180 AD). Then he shows various > drawing from the Cancioneiro de Ajuda from the XIII and XIV centuries > (I do not understand where these are located). He also shows a colored > drawing from the Cantigas de Santa Maria (XIV century) located at the > Library of the Escorial, Madrid, fol 29. He goes on to show the 14th > century cítola from Warwick Castle in England ( located at the British > Museum in London)--saying that this is only existing example of this > instrument. He does not show a drawing or a specimen of a distinctively > Portuguese medieval cítola. He is only presenting Western European > evidence of the medieval cítola.It is important to remember that during > medieval times that the Moors were in possession of ost of the Iberican > peninsula. > > b) Cabral proceeds to show a number of nice Italia cítaras dating from > 1550 and after: one from Giovanni Salvatori (Italy), another from > Gasparo da Salo (Brecia), three from Girolamo de Virchis (Brescia), > another from Augustinus Citaraedus (Urbino, Italy), the anonymous > Italian cítara at the Ashmolean in Oxford and an anonymous Flemish cítar > from 1640 in the Museu da Músia in Lisbon. He also show a photo of > sculpture of an angel playing a cítara from 1415 located at the church > of the monastery of Santa Maria da Vitoria located at Batalha, > Portugal. To this point in his text, which was written in the mid > 1980's, he has only be able to show the 1415 sculpture of a Portuguese > cítara. I should mention that since that time I believe that an earlier > sculpture has been located just over the border from Portugal at the > cathedral ofSantiago de Compostela, Spain--I do not remember the date of > that sculpture--it is above a doorway whcih was mentioned to me by Luis > Penedo (President of the Academia da Guitarra Portuguesa e do Fado, in > Lisboa) > > c) Cabral next presents a short section on the Baroque cítara then he > proceeds to the Grand Family of the European Cítaras. This section > includes cítaras (citterns) from Hamburg (1700 by Joachim Tielke), 2 > from Nuremburg (1766 by Andreas Kram and the other anonymous), 1 from > Paris by Georges Cousineau, 1780), 1 from Lille ( byGerard Deleplanque > 1770), 1 from Turingia, Germany (19th century anonymous). The English > Guittars by (John Preston between 1734 and 1770), John Rutherford > (circa 1750), Remerius Liessem (1756), Edward Dickenson (1759), > Frederick Hintz (1760), William Gibson (1765, Dublin), Michael Rauche > 1770 and 1772), Joseph Rudiman (1780, Aberdeen), Jacøo Vieira da Silva > (1790 Lisbon), Chritian Claus (1783), Domingos José de Araujo (Braga. > Portugal 1806, 1807, 1812) Henrique Rufino Ferro Lisbon 1820) > > d) The next chapter Cabral entitles the Portuguese Guitarra. The first > instrument shown is the 12 string instrument with 12 wooden pegs made in > 1764 by Joaquim Pedro dos Reis. I have seen this instrument at the City > Museum in Lisbon. This instrument is distinct from the contemporary > English guitars which have 10 strings and also in the peg head design. > The pegs come through the head like a modern flamenco guitar, not from > the sides like English guittars which have wooden pegs (such the John > Preston Guittar shown in the book). If the date of this instrument is > correct (and many believe it is), then it predates the Silva Leite book > by 30 years. Also, it show that there was a 12 string Portuguese > tradition from at least the last third of the 18th century. Cabral > refers to this instrument as the cítara popular (popular cittern)-- it > seems that the term guitarra comes later (perhaps with Silva Leite's > book). I should note here that the last reference that Cabral could find > for the use of the term cítara in Portugal was in 1858 in a work by > François Joseph Fétis entitled A Música ao alcance de todos. (Cabral > does not mention where this book was published.). The Joaquim Pedro dos > Reis instrument is also interesting because it is claimed to the be > "guitarra" of Maria Severa who was the first great fado singer. > The rest of this chapter includes a variety of Portuguese guitarras > ranging from great instruments by João Pedro Gracio (1925), Joaquim > "Kim" Graçio (1957), alvaro Marciano da Silveira (1961), João pedro > Gracio Junior (1964), Gilberto Gracio (1969 and 1971) Fernando Meireles > (1998), Antonio Victor Vieira (1932) Jose Mendonça (1910), antoio França > Camacho (1912), avelino Coutinho (1915), augusto Viera (1921), antonio > Diogo de Moraes (1922) Antonio Duarte (1900), Arthur de Albuquerque > (1900), and Portuguese Electruc guitarra by Gil Oliveira (1989) and, my > favorite a Portugese guitar made from a large rectangular tin can which > used to hold Estrela da Beira brand coffee. > > O course, all of this is mind boggling. There are so many loose ends, > misunderstandings of terms, poor translations of facts, terminological > difficulties. In the new year when I work on my playng the guitarra DVD > I will review all of the Portuguese literature and maybe I will be able > to give a digested version of the relevant history. > > Ron Fernandez > > -- > > To get on or off this list see list information at > http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html > >
