Bill, As I type quickly it is easier for me to quote than to think. The very valuable (yet cheap) book I picked up at a Somerset Harp festival booth has its opinions on the topic. (It is a makers gem for those interested in African and Asian primitive instruments, but also is far more comprehensive than anything else I've seen - it is a bit weak on the harps that I know well, but does separate "folk lutes", rennaissance lutes, and Citterns. The Arch lute and theorbo are in the lute group of pages. I'll neither support nor negate their choice of grouping, but on the whole in areas that I know better they are good.
The lead in under "Historic Guitars" says: "The guitar is a plucked string instrument with a flat back and characteristic waisted outline. Probably introduced to Spain by the Arabs, it was established throuout Europe by the late 14th C. During the 17th C., the guitar rose to prominence as an instrument much easier to play than the then fashionable lute. Its appeal has never waned and it remains a favorite portable accompanying instrument". (and most of us would disagree that it is an "accompanying instrument", the classical guitar and the Spanish guitar are leading instruments). Now to Vihuela, as listed under "Historic Guitars": "Vihuela - and important plucked instrument of the Renaissance. The body of the vihuela was guitar-shaped but its strings were tuned like those of a lute. It was confined almost exclusively to Spain, where it was generally associated with the aristocracy". I place no great credance in the above descriptions, they come from an encyclopedia and they are often wrong. But I will say that this encyclopedia of Musical Instruments seems to be quite good. Just as the taxonomy of living beings can never be perfect, so the categorization of instruments must always be debatable. There are always hybrids, and how does one categorize the original stringed instrument (assuming that it was a bow). Is it a harp, a lyre or a lute? (and we can distinguish them at some point - the harp being multiple unstopped strings pulling away from the soundboard, the lyre being the same but pulling across the soundboard over a bridge - and the lute being the same as the lyre, but with a fingerboard to enable the stopping of the strings. (I speak of broad categories, not specific instruments). Back to the good old bow that the hunter strummed. Was the original jam session a bunch of hunters with bows of differing tensions? Just jamming together. Or a hunter that stopped his bow string to make different sounds, or one who used it like a "gut bucket" and bent the bow to change the tension. Each scenario could lead to a different family of instruments when the "artists" took over and found a sinecure to entertain after the hunt and its dangers (and a way to avoid them). Add a sounding board of some sort to enhance the volume and the bow becomes a dedicated musical instrument. Sorry to sound off, but you all know I have the tendency. Is the vihuela a form of guitar or a form of the lute. I don't know and don't care. Both are of the lute (oud) family. The other two stringed familys are the zither and the harp. The psaltery falls in with the zither, even though it is played like a harp (and is a couple of millenia older). I can't think of anything other than a harp that falls together with it, the multiple strings for each note and the direct pull on the sound board, but I'm sure there is. (The piano would fall in with the zither, strings parallel with the sounding box - and the violin family are all lutes). Best, Jon ----- Original Message ----- From: "bill kilpatrick" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Thursday, September 16, 2004 3:50 AM Subject: vihuela as guitar > a little late in the discussion but: > > - wouldn't a definition of vihuela and guitar be > useful? > > - is definition possible? > > - weren't the terms synonymus as used in the 16th > cent.? > > what i understand so far is: > > - 5c. means vihuela and 6c. guitar. > > - the placement of sound hole, bout configuration and > proportion doesn't seem to matter much in making the > distinction. > > please correct me if i wrong. > > cheers - bill > > > > > > > ___________________________________________________________ALL-NEW Yahoo! Messenger - all new features - even more fun! http://uk.messenger.yahoo.com > > > > >
