Here are a couple of late quotes from Corona's thesis: "Vihuela or lute, they are the same although not in the shape, whether they are of four, five, six or more courses" Mateo Aleman, Ortografia castellana (Mexico City, 1609)
"Vihuela fn. Stringed musical instrument which according to Covarrubias was the lyre of antiquity, but today it commonly means the same as the guitar" Diccionario de Autoridades, Madrid 1726-39 In other words, a vihuela is both a lute and a guitar. Take your pick - or fingers. Seriously, If Alexander is saying (and I may have misunderstood him) that the vihuela and the guitar are one and the same, is Fuenllana's 5c vihuela music (in baroque guitar tuning) the earliest 5c guitar music? And should it therefore be played on a 5c guitar? [I am avoiding using the term 'baroque guitar' as the word 'baroque' is misleading and is of course a modern name, which should be dropped from the nomenclature.] If you were to make a 5c vihuela, Alexander, how might it differ from a 5c guitar? I'm not trying to catch you out - I am still a wee bit confused. Rob To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
