Romance of the Guitar

This article may be read independently of the first part which appeared in the special Spanish issue last month

The story of the guitar is as fascinating as a Dumas romance. Far more people are now playing this instrument than was the case a few years ago. The concerts of Señor Segovia, at which he has played “everything” from Bach to Debussy, have stirred the enthusiasm of the greatest musicians of the time.

Nero’s Prizes

NOT ONLY the guitar but music in general was very little cultivated by the early Romans. As Dr. Burney says, “Most mature study of musical instruments would produce only despair and headache.” Like other arts, music was introduced into Rome by Greek musicians who were forced to go there if they did not willingly go. Nero is responsible for the first mention of the guitar in Rome, but it is doubtful if Diodorus dared to play his instrument there during the life of Nero.

In A.D. 66 Nero went to Greece and proclaimed himself victor in music at all the Olympic games, and, on returning to Rome, carried with him eighteen hundred prizes which he had extorted from the judges at the musical contests. He also brought with him many eminent Greek musicians whom he had “defeated.” Among these was Diodorus, the celebrated guitarist. All these were driven through Rome in the same carriage in which kings who had been vanquished by Roman generals used to be borne in triumph.

That the guitar played no small part in the religious ceremonies of the early Christians, Clemens Alexandrinus and Eusebius prove. ‘Praise the Lord on the lute, and on the psaltery with ten strings’… ‘When the Christians are met, first they confess their sins to the Lord; secondly, they sing to His name, not only with the voice but upon an instrument with ten strings and upon the cithara.’ The latter continued in use in the church up to the seventeenth century. In the Pope’s chapel, when the falsettos of the Spaniards and sopranos of the eunuchs proved unsatisfactory, women singers were introduced, and Della Valle speaks of Signora Leonora ‘who sings to her own accompaniment on the lute which she touches in so fanciful and masterly a manner.’ Prior to this, however, the guitar was flourishing throughout Europe and was much in vogue at the royal courts.

Chaucer was the earliest English writer to mention the lute, and in his ‘Pardoner’s Tale’ these lines occur:
Whereas with harpes, lutes and guiternes
They daunce and plaie at dis bothe day and night.

In Shakespeare’s works we find frequent reference to music, and the following is his ode to ‘the rarest musician that his age did behold.’
Dowland to them is dear, whose heavenly touch
Upon the lute doth ravish human sense.

John Dowland, the most famous lutenist of the short but brilliant period (1597-1622), of the English school of lutenist song writers, was made Bachelor of Music by the University of Oxford, and for a time was lutenist at the court of Denmark, afterward returning to London in the service of Lord Walden. Later he became lutenist at the court of Charles I. The majority of his works are songs with guitar accompaniment, many of these being extant. He also wrote studies and a method.

Royal Lutenists

THE UNFORTUNATE child king, Edward VI, in his diary, on July 20, 1550, wrote: ‘Monsieur le Marechal St. Andre, the French ambassador, came to me in the morning….. He dined with me, heard me play on the lute, saw me ride, came to my study, supped with me and so departed to Richmond.’

One reason why music, like everything else, made such progress during Elizabeth’s reign is that, like all Henry VIII’s children, the Queen was a musician herself and her favorite instrument was the lute.

Just about the same period at which we find mention of Signora Leonora as lutenist in the Pope’s chapel, the guitar was playing an entirely different part in England at the court of the profligate Charles II. In the Memoirs of Count de Garmont by Hamilton, edited by Sir Walter Scott, we read: ‘There was a certain foreigner (Francesco Corbetti) at court, famous for the guitar. He had a genius for music, and he was the only man who could make anything of the guitar. His style of playing was so full of grace and tenderness that he could have given harmony to the most discordant instruments. The truth is, nothing was too difficult for this foreigner to play. The King’s relish for his compositions had brought the instrument so much into vogue that every person played on it, well or ill; and you were as sure to see a guitar on a lady’s toilet as rouge or patches. The Duke of York played upon it tolerably well, and the Earl of Arran like Francesco himself.

All in the Cause of a Saraband

‘THIS FRANCESCO had composed a saraband which either charmed or infatuated every person; for the whole “guitarery” at court were trying at it, and God knows what a universal strumming there was. The Duke of York, pretending not to be perfect in it, desired Lord Arran to play it to him.

‘Lady Chesterfield had the best guitar in England. The Earl of Arran who was desirous at playing his best conducted His Royal Highness to his sister’s apartments; she was lodged at court at her father’s, the Duke of Ormond, and this wonderful guitar was lodged there, too. Whether this visit had been preconcerted or not I do not pretend to say, but it is certain that they found both the lady and the guitar at home; they likewise there found Lord Chesterfield so much surprised at this unexpected visit that it was a considerable time before he thought of rising from his seat to receive them with due respect.

‘Jealousy, like a malignant vapour, now seized upon his brain; a thousand suspicions, blacker than ink, took possession of his imagination and were continually increasing; fo, whilst the brother played upon the guitar to the Duke, the sister ogled and accompanied him with her eyes, as if the coast had been clear and there had been no enemy to observe them. This saraband was repeated at least twenty times. The Duke declared it was played to perfection. Lady Chesterfield found no fault with the composition. But her husband, who clearly perceived he was the person played upon, thought it a most detestable piece.’

Corbetti was born in 1612 in Pavia, Italy, and died in Paris in 1682. He toured all the principal cities of Europe and was guitarist to the Duke of Hanover and court guitarist to Louis Quatorze of France prior to his appointment in the same capacity to Charles II. Carlos Schmidl in his Dizionario Universale dei Musicisti tells us that Robert De Visé, the most famous of Corbetti’s pupils, in his ‘Livre de Guitarre’ which was published immediately after Corbetti’s death included an Allemande with the inscription ‘Tombeau de Monsieur Francisque Corbette’ which, by a curious coincidence, opens with a passage identical with the funeral march from the ‘Symphony Eroica’ of Beethoven.

Some of Corbetti’s compositions have been reissued recently by Max Eschig of Paris, but the famous saraband is not included in the new issue, and it may be that Lord Chesterfield destroyed every trace of it. That Corbetti was indeed a great performer is proved by the following epitaph written by Medard, one of his pupils:

Ci-git l’Amphion de nos jours,
Francisque, cet homme si rare;
Qui fit parler a la guitare
Le vrai language des amours.
a free translation of which is:
Here lies the Amphion of our days,
Francis, a man so rare;
With his guitar he sang the lays
Of love, in language fair.

We gather that the following advertisement which appeared in an Irish newspaper shortly after Corbetti’s time was a result of the fact that some of the guitarists of that period did not live up to the dignity of the instrument which they played. ‘We, the undersigned (25) Gentlemen and Ladies of the counties of Claire, Limerick and Tipperary, do hereby certify that Edmond Morgan, dancing and guitar master, has taught in our families for some years past where he behaved with the greatest discretion and sobriety, and acquitted himself with such extraordinary care and skill in his business that it is but justice to comply with his request in recommending him to any family that may want to employ one of his profession.’

Matteis – Engraver and Guitarist

NICOLA MATTEIS, born during the latter part of the seventeenth century, was the first music engraver in England, and among the first pieces of music printed were several of his compositions for the guitar. According to the historian, North, ‘He was a consummate master of the guitar and had so much force upon it as to be able to contend with the harpsichord in concert.’ (The word ‘contend’ seems to us particularly appropriate in reference to some ‘pianists’ and ‘guitarists’ of today.) Ballard, the first music printer in France, was brother-in-law to the lutenist of Charles IX. Practically all the kings of France maintained lutenists at their courts. Robert De Vizé [sic], a pupil of Corbetti, whose compositions are included in my programs, was a guitarist of Louis XIV, at whose court also served as lutenists Corbetti, Lully and Medard.

The Crusades were partly responsible for the guitar and lute movement in Europe, the crusaders upon their return bringing with them many of these instruments. Toward the end of the eighteenth century the guitar received such an impetus that, about the time of the great romanticists, it reached a stage of the most virulent bacillus citaralis (guitar fever) as Richard Schmid puts it.

Italy, Spain and Germany have given us the greatest exponents of the instrument, although France, England and the other European countries contributed to some extent also. Many contributors to guitar literature came from the ranks of the great orchestral composers. Why historians have neglected to mention this fact is not known, unless it is that, not being acquainted with the guitar, they deemed it advisable to give brief mention or no mention at all to guitar compositions. Among those who played and wrote for the guitar are Handel, Schnabel, Garcia, Spohr, Hauptman (and his pupils Burgmüller, Cowen and Sullivan), Rossini, Marschner, Donizetti, Verdi, Gade, Denza and Mahler.

Bach as a Composer for Guitar

THE GREAT Johann Sebastian Bach was one of the earliest masters to succumb to the charms of the lute, for which instrument he played and wrote. He composed several suites which were later transcribed for the piano, violin and cello and are now again published for guitar. Many movements of these suites are played by me in my concerts. Bach also made use of the lute in the Saint John’s Passion for which he used special tuning.

Luigi Boccherini who, to many, is known only by his charming Minuet, was born in Lucca, Italy, but spent most of his time in Madrid where he died. There he found his knowledge of the guitar very profitable and was patronized by royalty. His works include twelve quintets for two violins, viola, cello and guitar, and nine quintets for two violins, guitar, viola and bass. Of these quintets three are now in print and are of exceptional beauty and interest.

Boccherini was not only a fine guitarist but an excellent cellist and knew how to use both instruments to great advantage. In his quintets the cello has an unusually interesting part owing to the fact that the guitar plays the bass which is generally given to the cello in string quartets. In these works Boccherini employs the guitar very successfully, using all the effects that are characteristic of Spanish music. His Quintet, No. 3, was performed for the first time in this country in New York several years ago, Vahdah Olcott Bickford playing the guitar part and again in Washington, D. C., two years ago by the Elena de Sayn Quartet, I myself playing the guitar.

Had Paganini not played the violin at all, his name would have been immortalized by the guitar, as for a period of three years he abandoned the violin and proved himself as great a guitarist as violinist. A quotation of Schilling in Philip Bone’s “Mandolin and Guitar” reads: ‘The celebrated Nicolo Paganini is such a great master on the guitar that even Lipinski (a famous Polish violin virtuoso who had ventured to seek a public contest with Paganini at Placentia in 1818) could barely decide whether he were greater on the violin or the guitar.’ When Paganini was asked why he gave so much attention to the guitar, he replied, ‘I love it for its harmony. It is my constant companion in all my travels.’ Paganini’s love for the fretted instruments was born with his genius and, when a little boy, the first instrument that he played was the mandolin.

Paganini’s original style of composition for the violin is due to his thorough knowledge of the mandolin and guitar; and those who are well acquainted with these two instruments can recognize their influence on his writings. His works include twelve sonatas for violin and guitar which he played on his tour with Luigi Legnani who was one of the greatest guitarists that Italy produced and who, in addition to playing guitar solos, accompanied the great virtuoso. Paganini also composed trios, quartets and quintets for strings and guitar, solos, studies and a sonata with violin obbligato.

Weber’s Recreation

THE GREAT romanticist, Carl Maria von Weber, like most of his contemporaries, played the guitar. Grove says: ‘He had also acquired considerable skill on the guitar on which he would accompany his own mellow voice in songs, mostly of a numerous character, with inimitable effect. THis talent was often of great use to him in society, and he composed many lieder with guitar accompaniment.’ Eighteen of the songs mentioned are now in print, also a Divertimento for guitar and piano, Op. 38, which consists of an Andante, Valse, Five Variations and a Polacca, and many solos and duets. Weber loved the guitar so much that he found in it the inspiration for all his operatic melodies.

Too poor to possess a piano, Franz Schubert used the guitar to work on his compositions and accompany his light baritone voice. As a little boy he studied the instrument, and, judging from his writings, was as good a virtuoso as many of the celebrated guitarists of his time. The proud possessor of one of his guitars, Richard Schmid, whose father knew Schubert’s brother, Ferdinand, well, edited two volumes of Schubert’s original songs with guitar accompaniment, and, in his sketch of the composer’s life, quotes Umlauf who said: ‘In my morning visits, which I usually paid Schubert before office hours, I found him still in bed. I also found him with his guitar already in his hands in full activity. He generally sang to me newly-composed songs to his guitar.’

Compositions Influenced

THE INFLUENCE of the guitar on Schubert’s compositions is indisputably recognized, especially in his song accompaniments. His immortal serenade marked à la guitarre and the notes marked legato-staccato prove this further.

One of the most beautiful of his works, a Quartet in G for violin or flute, viola, cello and guitar, is particularly interesting as it was not discovered until a hundred and four years after it was written. It was published in 1926 by Drei Masken Verlag of Munich, and in the United States was played for the first time by the Elena de Sayn Quartet at Washington, D. C. This work consists of five movements, Moderato, Minuetto, Lento e patetico, Zingara and Tema con variazioni. How many variations Schubert intended to write is not known as he completed only two and wrote three measures of the third. However, in order that it might be performed in public, this variation was competed by Dr. Georg Kinsky. A facsimile of the first page, dated February 26, 1814, shows Schubert originally intended it as a trio.

Commenting on this Quartet in G the great Wagnerian authority, Kurt Hetzel, now living in Washington, D. C., said: ‘The Quartet in G Major by Franz Schubert is a masterpiece of no less value than his famous “Unfinished Symphony,” and I am sure it will be taken into the repertoire of all leading string quartets, as it fives through the inclusion of the guitar a most welcome amplification of the existing tone colors.’

Hector Berlioz, ‘The father of the orchestra,’ pursued his musical studies on the guitar, that being the only polyphonic instrument which he played. He tells us in his Memoirs that he was born December 11, 1803, and had his first sensation of music at the same time he had that of love, at the age of twelve. Before he had any musical instruction he could play the tambour, an instrument similar to the guitar, and the flageolet. Later he undertook the study of the flute and guitar but had not taken many lessons on the latter when his teacher went to his father and said, ‘Monsieur, it is impossible for me to continue to give lessons to your son.’
‘But why? Has he been impolite, or so lazy that you find him hopeless?’ asked the father.
‘Not at all; but it would be absurd, for he is already as skillful as I am.’

Berlioz, Teacher of Guitar

BERLIOZ became very proficient on the guitar, and, during his adventurous life in Paris, was able to earn money by teaching it. Among his compositions are Variations for Solo Guitar and Little Songs, settings of Moore’s melodies which we are told could rouse his fellow-student, Felix Mendelssohn, out of his moods of despondency. Referring to the evenings spent with his musical companions in the garden portico of the academy at Rome he writes, ‘my poor guitar and had voice were pressed into service and, all sitting around a little fountain, we were singing in the moonlight the dreamy melodies of Freischütz, Oberon, Euryanthe, and so forth, for I must say the musical taste of my classmates was far from low.’

The guitar was Berlioz’ constant companion and, in his frequent trips to the mountains to disperse his melancholy moods, he went chasant ou chantant (hunting or singing); that is, he took with him either his rifle or his guitar on which he improvised melodies on lines from the classic writers. Berlioz, one of the severest of music critics, considered the guitar a most important orchestral instrument, and, in his “Treatise on Instrumentation and Orchestration” devotes several pages to it. One of his guitars which is now in the Nationale Conservatoire de Musique in Paris is of double interest as it was previously used by Paganini, his friend and benefactor.

The fascinating power and subtle charm of the guitar can best be illustrated by mentioning the effect that it had on the composer of ‘Faust,’ Charles Gounod, the great Frenchman. According to Bone, in the Opera Museum of Paris there is a guitar on which Gounod inscribed ‘Nemi, 24 Aprile, 1862, in memory of the happy occasion.’ The incident referred to occurred one evening, when, vacationing by the beautiful lake of Nemi in Italy, he heard a man singing in the distance to the accompaniment of a guitar and was so enraptured by it that he moved in the direction of the music. Upon reaching the singer be spoke to him. In Gounod’s words, ‘I wished I could buy both the singer and the guitar,’ but, as that was not possible, he did the next best thing buying the guitar on which he wrote the inscription just given.

Special mention must be made of Franz Gruber whose name was perpetuated by the immortal Christmas song, Silent Night, which he composed while and organist at the village of Oberndorf. Bone says, ‘On Christmas eve of the year 1818, Joseph Mohr, the pastor of the Oberndorf, visited the school-master, Gruber, showed him a Christmas hymn he had just written, and requested him to set it to music for two solo voices and chorus with guitar accompaniment. Gruber read the poem and composed the desired parts and accompaniment, returning them the same evening to the clergyman. On Christmas night of the same year in a small church on the lonely mountainside, this devotional and inspiring hymn was sung for the first time, with its accompaniment of guitar.’ Gruber was a prolific composer, having written more than a hundred masses and a great number of instrumental pieces, many of which are for guitar.

The Composer’s Instrument

THE COMPOSERS who made a life study of the guitar are so numerous that we shall mention only those who stand preeminent in their art.

Although Ferdinando Carulli (1770-1841) does not rank with the greatest of composers, he nevertheless deserves special mention as the first to depart from the old style of suites. He realized the possibilities of the guitar and wrote in what was then a modern style. One of his earliest works, Overture, Op. 6, No. 1, for guitar solo, is a complete sonata movement. Later he wrote several sonatas for guitar and piano, in three movements. In style his writings are similar to those of Joseph Haydn. He also wrote the first method for the guitar which is still very popular throughout Europe, numerous studies and other works. Carulli’s son, Gustavo, was also a guitarist, but devoted most of his time to teaching voice, harmony and composition, one of his famous pupils being Alexandre Guilmant.

Carulli’s style was improved by Matteo Carcassi (1792-1853) who evolved one both more brilliant and more effective. His compositions are numerous, many of them being operatic arias with variations. He also wrote an exhaustive method which is used widely in the country as well as in Europe and is excelled by few that have since been written.

One of the greatest exponents of the guitar was the Italian master, Mauro Giuliani, (1781-circa1840). It was his playing that Beethoven heard when he said, ‘The guitar is a miniature orchestra in itself.’ Like most guitarists of his period, Giuliani was self-taught, and at the age of eighteen we find him an already-famous virtuoso touring Europe. From 1807 to 1821 he resided in Vienna giving concerts and teaching, and was appointed chamber musician and teacher to the archduchess, Marie Louise. Many members of the Austrian royal family and nobility studied the guitar with him. Moscheles, Hummel and Diabelli, also excellent guitarists, were close friends of Giuliani with whom they frequently appeared in concert. His works range from easy teaching exercises to the most pretentious types of composition. His style is more brilliant than any of his predecessors and full of the sparkling qualities characteristic of his Italian contemporaries.

Solos with Orchestral Accompaniment

AMONG GIULIANI’S major works are several concertos with orchestral accompaniment. The orchestral part of one of these was later transcribed for piano by Hummel who played it with Giuliani in their concerts. Giuliani also wrote several duets for violin or flute and guitar. Of them Bone writes, ‘In Giuliani’s duets for violin or flute and guitar, we find the choicest and rarest compositions for these two instruments ever written, duets which display to every possible advantage the characteristics, capabilities and beauties of both instruments.’ In these compositions the guitar is not treated as a mere accompanying instrument, but has solo and obbligato passages just as complex as the piano part of a violin concerto and requiring a skillful musician to perform them.

Writer, linguist, poet, violinist and guitarist – such was Zani de Ferranti, (1802-1878). At the age of twelve years this genius was not only an accomplished violinist but admired by all Italy for his Latin verse. At sixteen he toured Europe as a violinist and his technic, it is said, was equal to that of Paganini. Later he became private secretary to the Russian prince, C. de Marischkin, during which period he devoted most of his time to studying the guitar and became one of the greatest exponents of that instrument.

It is recorded that Ferranti had a secret method by which he produced sustained tones on the violin, and his playing created a sensation throughout Europe. In the Parisian Chronicle of April 9, 1859, appeared the following vivid description: ‘Between the hands of Ferranti the guitar becomes an orchestra, a military band. If he play the Marseillaise he makes a revolutionary of you; if he sing a love song, there is a seduced woman; if he sing a song of departure, we fly to the frontier.’

That this is true of his playing is further proved by the following anecdote. During the performance of a fantasy of martial songs at the concerts which Ferranti gave at the home of Alexandre Dumas in 1855, the great author rose with enthusiasm and exclaimed “Sebastopol will be taken!” Ferranti toured the United States with the violinist, Sivori, and upon his return to Europe was appointed court guitarist to King Leopold of Belgium.

Had Giulio Regondi (1822-1872) chosen the violin as his solo instrument instead of the guitar undoubtedly there would have been two Paganinis as “The infant Paganini” was the unanimous title given him by the critics. He created a sensation wherever he played and at the same time the whole of Europe was wild with excitement over Paganini’s marvellous performances on the violin. In many instances the itineraries of Paganini and Regondi were the same, and both were reaping the same laurels, the one at the age of eight while the other had reached middle age.

Bone quotes the criticism of Regondi in a Vienese paper of that day: ‘As a virtuoso, Regondi is more conspicuous in his mastership of the guitar than were Giuliani, Legnani and others heard here during the season. Regondi’s mastership of the guitar is nearly incomprehensible and his playing is full of poetry and sweetness. It is the soul of melody, and he plays the guitar in its purity without any musical tricks. He is an artist whom all musical performers might copy, and even singers and actors, for his art is a natural one. Regondi is the very Paganini of the guitar; under his hand the guitar becomes quite another instrument than we have hitherto known it. He imitates by turn the violin, harp, mandolin and even the piano so naturally that you must look at him to convince yourself of the illusion, for you can hear the forte of the piano, the sweet pianissimo of the harp combined in its six simple strings.’

Regondi’s works, technically, might be compared with Paganini’s guitar compositions, and at times remind one of Chopin and Mendelssohn.

The Instrument of Spain

SPAIN, the land of the castanets, mantillas and toreadors, has always played a more important role in the history of the guitar than any other nation. Although it was introduced there by the Moors and later by the troubadours, it is difficult to believe that the guitar is not the natural offspring of this romantic and music-loving nation.

That the Spaniards have always been lovers of music is proved by the fact that Spain was one of the earliest countries to include music in its university curricula. Don Alfonso, King of Castile, who reigned from 1252 to 1284, endowed a professorship of music in the university of Salamanca. He himself was a composer of note, and William C. Stafford, in his History of Music (1830), tells us that one of the manuscripts now exists in the library at Toledo containing his songs with the music written “not only with the points employed by Guido and used in ecclesiastical books, but with the five lines and the clefs.”

Stafford, who made extensive travels in Spain writes: ‘The Spaniards are singers from nature. The have a fine ear and their songs are full of simplicity and feeling, partaking more of intellect and fancy and of romantic and refined sentiment than of bacchanalian or comic expression. It has been well observed that “The natives of Spain, full of intellect and fancy, dream when other Europeans would reflect, and sing when others would speak. Living but in the fantasies of their ever-active imaginations, Spaniards have always been animated with the love of romance and song. From Peagius to Mina, from the conquest of Granada to the last moment of their struggle against French domination, they have intoned the suggestions of their patriotism, and equally vocalized the tender themes of love and the bold effusions of public virtue.

There are very few Spaniards who do not play upon the guitar. At Madrid and the other chief cities and towns of Spain, the young men serenade their mistresses by placing themselves under their windows and singing some amorous ditty to their own accompaniment; and in the provinces there is scarcely an artificer who, when his labor is over, does not go to some of the public places and amuse himself with this instrument.

Take the Andalusian peasant, for instance, who, after a hard day’s labor, instead of resorting to the glass or jug for refreshment and relaxation, tunes his guitar and exercises his voice. Night comes on and the song begins. He and his companions-in-toil form a circle….. Each of the assembly sings a couplet always to the same air. Sometimes they improvise, and if there be among them any who can sing romances (which is not uncommon), he is listened to with religious silence.’

(More of these biographies to appear in later Etudes)