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Posts Tagged ‘Classical Guitar’

Classical Guitars – A Short History

What makes a guitar “classical”?  The traditional classical guitar is an acoustic (nonelectric) instrument with six strings but there are some models with eight or more.  Both classical guitars and acoustic guitars have the same basic design and shape, have six strings, and are tuned in the same manner.  The main difference is the width of the fret board, which is much wider on classical guitars.  The treble strings (high E, B, and G) are usually made of nylon on classical guitars, while all strings on an acoustic guitar are made of metal.  A classical guitarist uses his fingers to play rather than a pick.

The name classical guitar does not imply that only classical pieces are performed on it, although classical music is an important part of the guitar’s history.  Rather, all kinds of music (folk, alternative, jazz, flamenco, etc.) are played on it today.

In the 19th century, a solo guitarist would usually perform as part of an ensemble in small concert venues.  Eventually, professional soloists would perform recitals to big audiences in larger venues.  Guitar makers began looking for ways to make the concert guitar louder.  This search perhaps started with the Spanish guitar maker Antonio Torres Jurado in the late 19th century.

The classical guitar is sometimes called the “Spanish guitar” because Torres, working with Juilian Arcos, essentially redesigned the material, the shape, and the construction of the guitar.  The changes Torres made modified the tone and increased the volume by increasing the size of the soundbox.  Francisco Tarrega (1852 -1909) pioneered the new techniques employed by concert guitarists, including the positioning of the guitar on the player’s left knee, correct placement of hands, and methods for plucking the guitar (usually with the back of one’s fingernails).

Andres Segovia (1893-1987) took up the cause of the classical, or concert, guitar and established groundbreaking new methods to make the guitar’s sound carry in large areas such as concert halls.  His techniques so beautifully demonstrated the guitar’s astonishing flexibility and its outstanding spectrum of timbre and tone that many composers who previously had ignored the classical guitar began writing music specifically for it.  Far from being possessive of his innovations, Segovia welcomed whatever improvements fellow luthiers could come up with to make the classical guitar a more consistent and more influential instrument.

The tone of classical guitars embodies romance and profound emotion.  The nylon strings produce sounds that are warm and mature in expression.  For example, flamenco, a style of classical guitar playing, is beautifully expressive with its lively rhythms and colorful melodies.  Classical guitar arrangements are often technically complicated but extraordinarily expressive and soulful as a result.

Carcassi was born in Florence, Italy in 1792 and he began his musical career with the piano but at an early age he switched to the guitar; and for much of his life he was a performer of the guitar and an instructor for both the guitar and the piano.

Early in his career he moved to Paris but spent much of his time in the shadow of the older and more famous Ferdinando Carulli who was heralded as the number one performer for the instrument. Over the course of the next two decades Carcassi spent much time traveling various European countries including Italy, England, and Germany.

During this time he refined his skills and techniques and when he returned to Paris he took his place as an equal to the aging Carulli.

It is quite possible that he would have been just a footnote in classical music history if it wasn’t for his meeting with a publisher in Germany who published many of his compositions – two of which are in every guitarist’s repertoire.

His Opus 59 is called a Method for Guitar and it is a standard for learning how to play the instrument that is still used by students today. This work is followed by his Opus 60 Twenty-five Melodic and Progressive Studies which, while beautiful in sound and composition, is also a brilliant series of etudes that progress in technical challenge. And while it is a technical exercise book many of the exercises are valuable stand alone compositions performed to this day.

His body of work consists of 74 compositions with Opus’ 59 and 60 being the most famous. But he had also achieved great fame with popular arrangements of famous arias and overtures such as his William Tell Overture (opus 36).

Around 1840 He retired from public performances and focused on teaching and on publishing his written works. He died in Paris in 1853 and left behind a legacy of beautiful and romantic music.

Almost every professional classical guitarist has used both is method and his progressive studies books and every major performer has performed and produced works written by him. These works are readily available today on CD.