Thank you. That's all fascinating. What a lot I never knew!
Monica
----- Original Message -----
From: "Braig, Eugene" <brai...@osu.edu>
To: "Monica Hall" <mjlh...@tiscali.co.uk>; "Stuart Walsh"
<s.wa...@ntlworld.com>
Cc: "Vihuelalist" <vihuela@cs.dartmouth.edu>
Sent: Wednesday, February 29, 2012 6:26 PM
Subject: [VIHUELA] Re: Adjustable 19th-century guitar necks [was: Russian
'romance' for 7-string guitar]
Again, sorry for MS Outlook's default reply. (if I reply at the bottom,
Outlook does not insert extra >-s, so my reply would become
indistinguishable from the last note without manual insertions at each
line. I so miss Eudora.)
The detachable-neck thing largely came of Austrian/Germanic guitars in the
early 1820s and is sometimes attributed to the virtuoso Legnani's
(1790-1877) commissions from the Staufer/Stauffer shop in Vienna. Such
guitars (at least the 6-string, mainstream European varieties) are even
often referred to as "Legnani model," and some of them from the Stauffer
shop are so labeled. The style was even carried to early production of
classical guitars in the US via C.F. Martin's shop (a protégé of Stauffer)
starting in 1833.
As much as anything, the clock-key mechanism installed in the heel of such
guitars is to allow easy adjustments to action/neck angle without needing
to perform minor surgery to the bridge or major surgery to the head block.
The fact that the neck is also thus removable is convenient byproduct
(e.g., I've never seen a travel case built to accommodate such a guitar
with neck detached, and I've seen a lot of such guitars in cases). You
wouldn't pop the neck off when under tension or fully strung.
Coincidence and unrelated to the adjustable neck, but many such guitars
also had a "scroll-in-profile" headstock with all tuners arrayed along one
side. You can see one of my own such pieces here:
http://earlyguitar.ning.com/photo/photo/search?q=placht (this a guitar by
the Placht Brothers--Gebrüder Placht--of Pest before the city's
unification into Budapest). Here is a piece by Glaesel of Markneukirchen
(currently owned by a friend of mine) with a more "universal"-type peghead
of the time, but with the adjustable neck and clock-key port in the heel
visible from a couple angles:
http://www.demosguitars.com/index.php/Guitars/vintage/karl_august_glaesel/.
You can see a slew of such things here:
http://www.earlyromanticguitar.com/erg/builders.htm#Staufer (all this
paragraph's links to the more mainstream European, 6-string variety).
Regarding the history of the 7-string guitar in Russia, here is a brief
excerpt from Timofeyev's site (previously linked) regarding his
dissertation (note that Oleg label's the early half of the 19th-c. as the
"Golden Era" for this repertoire):
Dr. Oleg Timofeyev: Dissertation abstract
The Golden Age of the Russian Guitar: Repertoire, Performance Practice,
and Social Function of the Russian Seven-String Guitar Music, 1800-1850,
PhD diss., Duke U., 1999. 584 p.
Order from UMI: UMI AAI9928880
Abstract: This dissertation is the first scholarly attempt in any language
to address the all-but-forgotten Russian seven-string guitar tradition.
The most distinctive feature of this instrument is its "open-chord" tuning
(D G B d g b d'). In chapter one, a number of organological links are
discussed that shed light on the origin of the instrument, arguing that
the Russian guitar was the result of a cross-fertilization between the
Spanish guitar and the 18th-century cittern. Numerous examples from
literature, personal diaries, and visual arts collected in chapter two
document the important role this guitar played for the Russian noble and
middle class during the first half of the nineteenth century. Chapter
three presents in detail the lives and works of the three
guitarists-composers who founded the unique musical style for the
instrument: Andrei Sychra, Semion Aksionov, and Mikhail Vysotsky. The
variety of ways in which Russian folk songs were incorporated into their
works!
presents the special focus of chapter four, since it is precisely this
inclusion of folk material that gives the repertoire its particularly
Russian sound. Finally, in chapter five the musical climate among the
guitarists of the 1840s (Morkov, Liakhov, Sarenko, Vetrov, Zimmerman) is
discussed, with emphasis on their connection to the works of the previous
generation. A translation of the entire text of Mikhail Stakhovich's 1854
"Essay on the History of the Seven-String Guitar" is appended, since this
text is a unique testimony of an active participant and first historian of
the tradition. On the accompanying CD, twenty short compositions from this
tradition are recorded.
..And I don't believe I've remembered to say so yet, but thanks for
sharing another lovely performance, Stuart.
Best,
Eugene
-----Original Message-----
From: lute-...@cs.dartmouth.edu [mailto:lute-...@cs.dartmouth.edu] On
Behalf Of Monica Hall
Sent: Wednesday, February 29, 2012 11:44 AM
To: Stuart Walsh
Cc: Vihuelalist
Subject: [VIHUELA] Re: 19th century Russian 'romance' for 7-string guitar
Here is an attempt at a mid 19th century Russian guitar
arrangement of a song (a 'romance') - on a mid 19th century
Russian guitar. The arranger is N. Alexandrov and the title is
'Heart' and the composer is A.L.
Guriljev.
Many thanks to Alexander Batov for the the translations, the link
to information on Guriljev and a link to a modern performance of
this song.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=96YN_zXi-hg
The strings on Russian guitars (and still on modern, factory made
guitars) are very close together! Do Russians have especially
small hands?
Stuart
Quite pleasant to listen to but it sound just like the dreaded
classical guitar. Excuse my ignorance but in what way are Russian
guitars different from ordinary ones?
I think that that small 19th century guitars sound quite a bit
different
from big modern classical guitars (and especially when the 19th century
instruments are gut-string and played without nails).
Russian guitars have seven-strings and are tuned to a G major chord (a
bit
like the Foscarini scordatura pieces!). There is an extensive
repertoire
in a range of keys using fancy techniques like campanella. Hardly
any
of it can be described as technically easy.
Very interesting...what does it look like? Is it guitar shaped?
Monica
Yes, the typical Russian guitar looks like a typical 19th century
guitar -
but with seven strings. The neck is detachable (and still is on modern
factory made instruments) but detachable necks are not unique to Russian
guitars.
Well - how do you detach the neck - with the strings attached? Do you
mean
it kind of folds away?
How did such a monstrosity come in to being in the middle of the 18th
century when we miserable Europeans were still making do with five
courses?
Oleg Timofeyev is the modern champion of the the 19th century Russian
guitar. I don't know how far it will ever catch on though. You have to
learn to read music in G tuning and the music is often - usually -
technically very demanding.
A good case for using tablature.
Modern Russian guitar seems just like modern classical guitar: big, loud,
fast... plus a ton of gypsy kitschery.
Not sure that it's really my thing. Five courses good, six strings bad,
seven strings worse and then there are the open diapasons. Did they have
them in the 18th century as well.
Monica
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