The Guitar and Its Riddles

Writing these chapters, I discovered that unearthing the history of the guitar in the seventeenth century was akin to compiling the biography of a personage who never was a prominent figure in politics, warfare, arts or science, someone who shone only in the ephemeral domain of unwritten, popular culture. In pictures often disguised as a character of the commedia, our subject made music in the company of ordinary people—and of the nobility behaving like them. If it happened to be present, the instrument had to be heard. Gentlemen carried the guitar with them to play where and when they felt like it, following the example of Corbetta. Everyone knew the chitarra spagnuola's role in the sphere of popular song and dance, and as a symbol of an exotic or pastoral world; but at the same time evidence is scarce that would prove conclusively that the music from the guitar books was actually performed in public. Up to the present day, the bulk of this repertoire has remained unknown, even among many who have a replica of a chitarra spagnuola at home. Such neglect seems to be the lot of this unpretentious, seemingly ageless instrument, and wholly in keeping with this, millions of people play the classical (“Spanish”) guitar today without much awareness of its history and repertoire.

Of all the hand-plucked instruments, the guitar was perhaps the easiest to manage, and certainly one of the cheapest. Despite its imperfections, it was treated much the same as a lute to play “complete” music on, with a melody and a bass. Educated music lovers like Samuel Pepys and Constantijn Huygens overcame their aversion and learned to play the instrument. In a letter to Utricia Ogle (Lady Swann), Huygens tells that he has composed more than thirty pieces for this “miserable instrument,” works that are no longer extant. That fate may have befallen many other compositions, and we can hazard a guess that even printed works were primarily used for personal enjoyment (if they were played at all). Besides, guitarists invented their own little pieces or they assembled sets of variations on the immensely popular ciaccona (to be compared to what is usual in toque flamenco today, in genres like soleares or alegrías), music that was not put on paper.