A
> The way i understand it, the keyboard idea appeared late in the history of
> the guittar, 1780s? In the music library at Yale they have an instruction
> book for the "Piano-Forte Guittar" written by Ghillini di Asuni(!) and
> published in London, circa 1795, by Longman & Broderip. I haven't seen the
> book yet.
>
> I find this all very interesting.
>
> andy rutherford
>
Quite a few pianoforte guitars survive. I even saw one in Prague. They
come from the 1780s and 1790s when (in terms of number of publications)
the guittar was starting to fall from fashion.
Perhaps the pianoforte was beginning to oust the guittar and the
pianoforte guitar was an attempt to make the guittar more marketable.
The Baines book on instruments shows a French 'cistre ou guithharre
allemande' with one of these attachments (with nine 'keys'). I don't
think the Portuguese or the Scandinavians took up the idea. (And I don't
think the Polish guitar exists!)
I'd really like to hear one of these things played. Maybe it falls to
you to be the first to revive it. It might be a coincidence but the
most published Instructions for the guittar (by Preston which first
appeared in the 1750s and was printed many times and even carried over
to the harp-lute by Edward Light) say that the third finger of the right
hand plays all the notes on the first string ('course'), the second
finger plays the notes on the second string and the first finger plays
notes on the third string. The thumb plays all the other strings. This
technique would easily carry over to a little pianoforte 'keyboard'.
Some commentators have been a bit sniffy about pianoforte guitars -
little contraptions to protect delicate ladies' fingers etc. But the
instrument, as you suggest, must have had a special sound and its own
techniques. (The glass harmonica was popular at this time and Ann Ford
played one.)
Thomas Bolton and Francis Chabran both wrote for the pianoforte guitar
and were teachers of the instrument. The pianoforte guitar music that I
have seen looks just like ordinary guittar music.
Ghillini di Asuni (if that is his real name and not a pseudonym like
Peyrera da Costa) published at least four books for guittar: 'The Lady's
Amusement' (BL says c.1765), 'A Collection of Duets, Songs and Airs'
(1765), 'Twenty four of the Most Elegant and Favourite English Songs
(1786) and 'A Select Collection for One, Two and Three Guitars' (1788).
The music that I have seen of Ghillini's is straightforward English
guitar music. It's not the fancy stuff of the likes of Straube, Marella,
or even Thackray or Schuman. But it's not just simple transpositions of
tunes to C major; it's idiomatic English guitar music.
I have some Chabran pieces for the pianoforte guitar and I always enjoy
playing them on an ordinary guittar. It would be fascinating to hear
them on a pianoforte guitar.
Stuart
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