History, Part 7
The guitar in Italy
The guitar was of considerable significance in Italian musical life at this time. The great number of composers and guitarists living during the Baroque period in Italy, and the many surviving instruments of this period there than in any other country, prove that this country was the center of the guitar world
The most important factor which led to the popularity of the guitar in Italy and to the enrichment of its literature was the introduction from Spain of the plucked style of playing the instrument. For that reason, the guitar in Italy came to be called chitaria spagñuola. The plucked style of playing the instrument eventually replaced the strumming of chords that dominated the sixteenth century Italian practice. The plucking technique was in turn derived from the vihuela technique that the Spaniards adapted for their guitar. Once the Italians had adopted the term chitarra spagñuola, they seem to have gradually widened its meaning so that for the rest of the seventeenth century it became a general term. The designation "Spanish guitar" persists to the present day as an extension of the seventeenth century usage.
The two essentially different techniques of guitar playing (strumming and plucking) co-existed in seventeenth century Italy. The plucking technique was expressed in tablature notation. The strumming of chords was indicated by a special notation developed by sixteenth and seventeenth century composers. This consisted of a chart of standard chords, each identified by capital letters.
Seventeenth century Italian composers were numerous, can be mentionned: Girolamo Montesardo which work is an illustration of guitar music early in the seventeenth century. Benedetto Sanseverio composed pieces in the form of passacaglias, chaconnes, sarabandes.
The most famous guitarist-composer of the century was Francisco Corbetta (Corbetti). Corbetta traveled through Italy as a concert guitarist and toured the rest of Europe with great success, his travels bringing him to many royal courts. He was a great virtuose. Corbetta used different types of tablatures to notate his music. The forms of his compositions varied - toccatas, passacailles, sinfonias, etc.; but the most significant are his suites, which consisted of the Almanda, Courrente and Sarabande. They were the earliest suites of the Baroque period and Corbetta grouped his pieces and indicated they were to be played as a set.
Giovanni Battista Granata was the most prolific of the seventeenth century masters. His compositions were published in seven volumes each of a substantial size. The pieces for solo guitar include preludes, toccatas, correntes and others, and were complex.
Other important Italian composers: Domenico Pelligrini, Ludovico Roncalli. These composers wrote in tablature systems as the other composers previously in the seventeenth century. Many oh these composers travelled throughout Europe carrying with them the guitar and its music. Aside from composers and their music for the guitar, there were scholarly works written about the instrument and its performers.
The plethora of Italian seventeenth century manuscripts and published works is matched by a large number of surviving guitars found in museums throughout the world. Unlike the guitars from the north with their rather uniform designs and patterns, the Italian guitars displayed a great variety of ornamentation. The distinctive artistry of various makers gave rose to great prominence in the course of the seventeenth century.
Antonio Stradivarius (1644-1737) of Cremona, the most famous Italian instrument maker of the seventeenth century, is best known for his matchless violins, violas and cellos, but he was also known to have built harps, ceteras and guitars (fig.9-10). Two of his guitars are known to us.
