Nowadays it seems that most people - following Laurence Wright - agree that the (medieval) gittern was a small, lute-like instrument. In Groves, Wright notes that, in the sources, there is nothing to prefer gittern-variant spellings (such as gythron, gitterne etc. I haven't got Groves to hand so I'm improvising here) over guitar-variant spellings. We just call the little instrument the gittern, but it was also sometimes referred to as guitar.
So instruments known as guitars go back a few centuries before the mid 1550s. And so Bill's question still stands: who invented the guitar? (Though it's not likely to get an answer!) I'm fairly sure that Wright's view is that the small, figure-of-eight shaped' guitar' of the mid 16th century is a new form of the old 'guitar' (gittern, quintern etc)...whereas the orthodoxy of the last few decades has been to claim that it is futile to trace the guitar back before the mid16th century. But the (medieval) gittern seems to have a more promising Renaissance (and beyond) descendant in the mandore/mandora - a small lute-like instrument, rather than the figure-of-eight guitar. The way I interpret Wright's position is that the mandore/mandora sort of pops into existence in the late 16th century. But the guitar goes back into medieval times. On the other hand the current orthodoxy is that the guitar pops into existence in the mid 16th century. Neither view seems right. > I am afraid Google has got most of it wrong. > > The term guitarra/quinterne etc, in medieval sources does not necessarily > refer to the figure of eight shaped instrument at all but to a type of small > lute. > > I can't go into all the details but Tinctoris describes the guitar as > follows > > > -a small tortoise shaped instrument invented by the Catalans which some call > ghiterra, others ghiterna > > > > The ghiterra is used most rarely, because of the thinness of its sound. > When I heard it in Catalonia, it was being used much more often by women, to > accompany their love songs, than by men. > > > > In other words the instrument is a small lute or mandora. > > > > The vihuela is described as > > > > -an instrument invented by the Spanish, which both they and the Italians > call the viola, but the French the demi-luth. > > > -this viola differs from the lute in that the lute is much larger and > tortoise-shaped, while the viola is flat, and in most cases curved inwards > on each side. > > > > The relevant article to read is still > > > > Lawrence Wright - The medieval gittern and citole : a case of mistaken > identity > > > > in Galpin Society Journal, Vol. 30, 1977, p.8-42. > > > > Mudarra is indeed the first person known to have published music for the > 4-course guitar. > > > > Only five of the books printed between 1550-1555 are by Leroy & Ballard. > The rest are by Morlaye/Gorlier. They do not include any 5-course music. > > > > There is a lot missing from the rest of it but I haven't time to write a > book on the subject at present.. > > > > Don't believe everything you find on the Internet. > > > > Monica > > > > > > > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "bill kilpatrick" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > To: <vihuela@cs.dartmouth.edu> > Sent: Monday, May 21, 2007 2:23 PM > Subject: [VIHUELA] who invented the guitar > > > >> gleaned the following from a "5c. vihuela" alert on >> google in response to the question of "who invented >> the guitar?" ... anything missing?: >> >> 1265 Juan Gil of Zamora mentions the early guitar in >> "Ars Musica." >> >> 1283-1350 Guitarra Latina & Guitar Moresca are >> mentioned multiple times in the poems of the >> Archpriest of Hita >> >> 1306 A "gitarer" was played at the Feast of >> Westminster in England >> >> 1404 "Der mynnen regein" by Eberhard Von Cersne makes >> reference to a "quinterne." >> >> 1487 Johannes Tinctoris described the guitarra as >> being invented by the Catalans. This refers to the >> four course guitar. Each course represents one pair of >> double strings. >> >> 1546 "Tres Libros de Musica en Cifras para Vihuela" by >> Alonso Mudarra is the first publication to include >> music for guitar. >> >> 1551-1555 Nine books of tablature were published by >> Adrian Le Roy. These include the first pieces for 5 >> course guitar. The addition of the fifth course was >> attributed to Vicente Espinel >> >> 1600-1650 Many publications of tablature for the >> guitar. It's popularity begins to rival the lute. >> >> 1674 Publication of "Guitarre Royal" by F. Corbetta >> increased the guitar's popularity. It was dedicated to >> Louis XIV. >> >> 1770-1800 A sixth string was added to the guitar and >> the courses were replaced by single strings. >> >> 1800-1850 Guitar enjoyed a large popularity both in >> performances and publishing. Fernando Sor, Mauro >> Guiliani, Matteo Carcassi and Dioniso Aguado all >> performed, taught, wrote and had published their >> compositions. >> >> 1850-1892 Guitar maker Antonio de Torres develops the >> larger more resonant instrument we know today. >> >> 1916 Segovia performs at Ateneo, the most important >> concert hall in Madrid. Before this it was thought >> that the guitar did not have the volume for this type >> of venue. >> >> 1946 Nylon replaces gut as a string material >> >> http://earlymusiccharango.blogspot.com/ >> >> >> ___________________________________________________________ >> Yahoo! Answers - Got a question? Someone out there knows the answer. Try >> it >> now. >> http://uk.answers.yahoo.com/ >> >> >> >> To get on or off this list see list information at >> http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html >> > > > > >
