History Of The Birth Of The Six-String Guitar
This video explores the earlier history of the six-string guitar from its origin in the late 18th century, featuring a performance on a guitar from the period.
The common six-string guitar that we are familiar with today has a long history dating back many centuries. From the Renaissance to the Baroque guitar, and eventually with the so-called Romantic guitar in the late 18th century, we see the emergence of the six-string guitar that is most commonly used to this day. To follow the history and development of any instrument is a long and complicated matter, with many details and nuances; this video is a brief introduction to the early history of the guitar and aims to elucidate some of the main features of its evolution.
Presented and performed by:
Polivios
The common six-string guitar that we are familiar with today has a long history dating back many centuries. From the Renaissance to the Baroque guitar, and eventually with the so-called Romantic guitar in the late 18th century, we see the emergence of the six-string guitar that is most commonly used to this day. To follow the history and development of any instrument is a long and complicated matter, with many details and nuances; this video is a brief introduction to the early history of the guitar and aims to elucidate some of the main features of its evolution.
Presented and performed by:
Polivios
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MusicTranscript
00:00The guitar is one of the most popular and widely played instruments in the world.
00:12It has gone through many developments over the course of several hundred years to arrive
00:15at the standard six-string instrument that we know today.
00:22This video will look at the early history of the guitar while featuring one of the first
00:27six-string guitars ever built.
00:50Some of the most impressive feats of guitar virtuosity were performed over 200 years ago.
00:56Indeed the 19th century was a golden age of the guitar, with guitarist-composers producing
01:02a vast repertoire of outstanding music.
01:07This guitar was built at the end of the 18th century and is attributed to the Italian luthier
01:13Giuseppe Filano.
01:16I have played many historical guitars, but this is perhaps the oldest that I've laid
01:21hands on, and in fact very well may be one of the first six-string guitars ever constructed.
01:46When referring to this as the first guitar, I mean more precisely that it is a first generation
01:52six-string guitar, now commonly called the Romantic guitar or early Romantic guitar.
02:08There were of course instruments called guitars before this, namely that which we refer to
02:13as the Renaissance guitar and the immediate predecessor to the Romantic guitar, the Baroque
02:18guitar.
02:32Although the Baroque guitar was prominent across all of Europe, it seems that the innovations
02:37that led to the creation of the six-string Romantic guitar first took place in Italy,
02:43particularly in Naples, which was a center for luthiers and instrument builders of all
02:48types – violins, mandolins, and guitars.
02:53There are a few families whose names are closely connected with the pioneering of the six-string
02:58Romantic guitar – Fabricatore, Venatia, Filano, and Guadagnini, one of the most famous
03:08names in violin building next to Stradivarius.
03:12Other European countries were quick to follow the trend, particularly in France, where we
03:17also find some very early guitars.
03:20It should also be mentioned that in Spain, around the same time there was an exploration
03:25of the double-strung six-string guitar.
03:31Not only were innovations taking place in a technical sense related to the construction
03:36of the instrument, but it's clear that a major shift in taste had occurred.
03:41From instruments with a bright sound, double-strung in octaves, with prominent harmonics, to something
03:48more resembling the sonorities of a harp or perhaps the pianoforte, which was gaining
03:53prominence at that time.
03:55Individual notes, with a fuller sound and central core rich in lower partials.
04:01New developments in string manufacturing also contributed to the new sound.
04:07Although the development and eventual hegemony of the Romantic guitar happened quite rapidly
04:12and in a short space of time, there was a period of overlap when both the Romantic and
04:18Baroque guitar were being built simultaneously.
04:21Let's take a closer look at some of the idiosyncrasies, developments and differences between earlier
04:26guitars and the Romantic guitar.
04:29I have here an original Baroque guitar from the late 18th century.
04:53Firstly, we see that it is a five-course instrument.
04:57A single course has two strings.
05:00The top string, called the chanterelle, is often a single string.
05:16The Romantic guitar does away with the double-stringing and adds a sixth bass string to the instrument.
05:23Another distinct development is that with the Romantic guitar we see the first use of
05:28fixed frets, as opposed to the commonly tied-on gut frets that were used in earlier guitars.
05:38Presumably with the desire for a new sound, combined with recent developments in string
05:43manufacturing, particularly thicker wound basses would wear out the gut frets more quickly,
05:50necessitating the use of a stronger and more resilient material.
05:55Bone or ivory as well as metal frets were used.
06:00Other developments in construction took place.
06:03The sides of the body became noticeably thinner and the bridge began to move up the soundboard,
06:10shortening the string length.
06:13Romantic guitars would eventually have a much shorter string length than the Baroque guitar.
06:18The inner rose of the Baroque guitar is removed, yet a beautiful rosette is maintained.
06:24There are some unique features of the very early guitar found in this instrument from
06:28Fellano.
06:30The standardization that we would see in later guitars had not yet taken place.
06:34For example, the neck and body meet here at the 11th fret, with the range only going to
06:4014 frets, quite limited at a G.
06:43With later developments, primarily of the Viennese luthier Stauffer, we would see the
06:49floating fingerboard go up to 22 frets.
06:55There are some beautiful details, with a gorgeous ebony fretboard lined with bone inlay that
07:02connects to a bone purfling of remarkable construction going along the entire circumference
07:08of the soundboard.
07:11Seven inlaid bone strips along the back of the neck add to its elegance.
07:18We also see the common friction tuning pegs that were used at that time prior to mechanical
07:23tuners.
07:25This guitar indeed is so early that we still see the use of a tie-on bridge, which was
07:30almost universally replaced with pegs, the Spanish tradition aside.
07:42Another feature of this guitar and the early Italian guitars is, of course, the mother
07:47of pearl inlay.
07:49The mandolin was one of the most popular instruments in Italy at that time, and many of the first
07:55guitar builders were also making mandolins.
07:58This type of inlay is typical to the mandolin tradition, in which the family of filano is
08:03well-regarded.
08:04A sense-defying featherlight instrument, it seems almost lighter than the material from
08:10which it is constructed.
08:14Now let's look at some aspects of technique and playing the Romantic guitar.
08:19Although it has become commonplace to perform the great works of the 19th century on modern
08:25instruments with the en vogue modern technique, 19th century guitar technique was actually
08:31very different.
08:33Although it is the standard now to play with nails, it was not so in the 19th century.
08:3919th century guitars were strung with gut, a rather coarse and rough material that does
08:45not work well with nails at all.
08:49In general, it seems that the standard for an ideal sound was a preference for that which
08:55was achieved without nails.
09:00Although Romantic guitars varied greatly, it seems that there was a standard of a 62cm
09:07string length with a 4.4cm nut, significantly smaller than modern instruments.
09:14A lower tension, perhaps with gut strings tuned to an even lower pitch, permits a different
09:20approach to articulation and ornaments.
09:24More importantly, the timbre, the tone, the projection of a Romantic guitar is very, very
09:33different than a modern guitar.
09:35In many ways, the ideal of sound was the opposite from what we seek to achieve with a modern
09:44guitar.
09:45With the emergence of the six-string Romantic guitar, the 19th century gave birth to a golden
09:50age for the instrument, with prodigious, virtuosic player-composers producing a prolific and
09:58seemingly endless repertory.
10:00Mauro Giuliani is said to have been the first to master the six-string instrument.
10:05Fernando Carulli's opus numbers extend well into the 300s, Fernando Sor, Dionisio Aguado,
10:12Napoleon Costa, Luigi Legnani.
10:16But there are so many great guitarist-composers of that period, many whom until recently have
10:21been forgotten.
10:23Indeed, with each passing year, new music is being discovered.
10:29In recent years, performing on original instruments has become quite popular.
10:33Historical guitars are now intensely sought after with the hope of attaining something
10:38closer to the ethos of the period.
10:43But moreover, there are very real technical aspects which bring the modern guitarist closer
10:50to the performance of the repertoire of the period and perhaps the intentions of the composer.
11:14All that having been said, it is no easy task to find an original instrument truly worthy
11:21of concert performance at the highest level.
11:25Often such instruments will require extensive and costly restoration.
11:30This guitar has been beautifully restored by Luthier Eric-Pierre Hoffmann, one of the
11:35leading historians and specialists working with the construction and restoration of historical
11:42instruments.
11:43Although this guitar is a beauty and true treasure, I have decided to pass this instrument
11:49on and it can now be seen in the Canto Mano Guitar Museum in Berlin alongside hundreds
11:58of other unique specimens of guitar history.