History of The Guitar
Although the guitar as we know it today is a relatively young instrument, the history of its predecessors stretches back several thousand years.
The Assyrians, Persians, Chaldeans and Hebrews all had versions of plucked stringed instruments and an instrument called the rebec was brought to Spain with the Moorish invasion in 711.
Many changes took place over the years but by the late 18th century the guitar shape had developed into the 6 stringed instrument we know today, as opposed to the smaller 4 and 5 string versions popular during the 17th century.
It was early in the 19th century that several great figures appeared in Spain and Italy who were to establish the guitar as a respected concert instrument. The greatest of these was Fernando Sor who was born in Barcelona, Spain in 1778, Throughout his lifetime (he died in 1839) Sor played concerts, taught and composed hundreds of works for guitar including studies for beginners through to virtuoso pieces played by most concert guitarists today. Such was his talent and high standing in the musical world that the French music critic Fetis called him the 'Beethoven of the guitar'.
Notable contemporaries of Sor included his friend and duet partner Dionisio Aguado (born Madrid 1784, died 1849) who wrote many short attractive pieces and studies, and the Italians Ferdinand Carulli (1792-1853) Matteo Carcassi (1770-1828) and Mauro Giuliani (1781-1829).
All were great virtuosi who enriched the guitar's repertoire and, most importantly, wrote methods to further its development.
Unfortunately the guitar lost popularity after this period and it wasn't revived until the late 19th century through the efforts of Francisco Tarrega in Spain and Agustin Barrios in South America.
Tarrega (1854-1909), although born into a poor family, overcame great hardship to become a virtuoso player and composer for his beloved instrument, developing along the way the basis of the modern technique which is used by today's guitarists.
Barrios (born in Paraguay 1885, died El Salvador 1944) was a supreme virtuoso who expanded upon the work of Tarrega in both a technical and compositional sense and became known as the ’Paganini of the guitar’ because of his astounding playing ability. Interestingly, Barrios was the first guitarist to make gramophone recordings.
One of Tarrega’s students, Miguel Llobet, carried on the work of his master in the first half of this century and he in turn was a big influence, through inspiration, on the illustrious career of Andres Segovia.
Through his untiring work over more than 70 years, Segovia (1894-1987) has acquired a respectability for the guitar which has assured its place as a serious classical instrument.
The great concert guitarists of today, including Alirio Diaz, John Williams and Julian Bream carry on the tradition of the earlier masters and through their concerts, recordings and teaching, assure a healthy future for the classical guitar.
