Style Periods

RenaissanceEdit

Composers of the Renaissance period who wrote for four course guitar includeAlonso Mudarra, Miguel de Fuenllana,Adrian Le Roy, Gregoire Brayssing,Guillaume de Morlaye, and Simon Golier.

Instrument

Four-course guitar

BaroqueEdit

Some well known composers of the baroque guitar were Gaspar Sanz,Robert de Visée and Francesco Corbetta.

Examples of instruments

• Baroque guitar by Nicolas Alexandre Voboam II: This French instrument has the typical design of the period with five courses of double-strings and a flat back.^[8]
• Baroque guitar attributed to Matteo Sellas : This Italian instrument has five courses and a rounded back.^[9]

Classical and RomanticEdit

From approximately 1780 to 1850, the guitar had numerous composers and performers including:

• Filippo Gragnani (1767–1820)
• Antoine de Lhoyer (1768–1852)
• Ferdinando Carulli (1770–1841)
• Francesco Molino (1774–1847)
• Fernando Sor (1778–1839)
• Luigi Moretti (c. 1780–1850)
• Mauro Giuliani (1781–1829)
• Niccolò Paganini (1782–1840)
• Dionisio Aguado (1784 – 1849)
• Luigi Legnani (1790–1877)
• Matteo Carcassi (1792–1853)
• Napoléon Coste (1805–1883)
• Johann Kaspar Mertz (1806–1856)

Hector Berlioz studied the guitar as a teenager,^[10] Franz Schubert owned at least two and wrote for the instrument,^[11] Ludwig van Beethoven, after hearing Giuliani play, commented the instrument was "a miniature orchestra in itself".^[12] Niccolò Paganiniwas also a guitar virtuoso and composer. He once wrote: "I love the guitar for its harmony; it is my constant companion in all my travels". He also said, on another occasion: "I do not like this instrument, but regard it simply as a way of helping me to think" ^[13]

Francisco TárregaEdit

The guitarist and composer Francisco Tárrega (b. Vilareal, Spain in November 29, 1852-d. December 15, 1909) was one of the great guitar virtuosos and teachers and is considered the father of modern classical guitar playing. As professor of guitar at the conservatories of Madrid and Barcelona, he defined many elements of the modern classical technique and elevated the importance of the guitar in the classical music tradition.

Modern periodEdit

At the beginning of the 1920s, Andrés Segovia popularized the guitar with tours and early phonograph recordings. Segovia collaborated with the composers Federico Moreno Torrobaand Joaquin Turina with the aim of extending the guitar repertoire with new music.^[14] Segovia's tour of South America revitalized public interest in the guitar and helped the guitar music of Manuel Ponce and Heitor Villa-Lobosreach a wider audience.^[15] The composers Alexandre Tansman andMario Castelnuovo-Tedesco were commissioned by Segovia to write new pieces for the guitar.^[16] Luiz Bonfápopularized Brazilian musical styles such as the newly created Bossa Nova, which was well received by audiences in the USA.

"New music" - avant-gardeEdit

The classical guitar repertoire also includes modern contemporary works – sometimes termed "New Music" – such as Elliott Carter's Changes,^[17] Cristóbal Halffter's Codex I,^[18] Luciano Berio'sSequenza XI,^[19] Maurizio Pisati's Sette Studi,^[20] Maurice Ohana's Si Le Jour Paraît,^[21] Sylvano Bussotti's Rara (eco sierologico),^[22] Ernst Krenek's Suite für Guitarre allein, Op. 164,^[23] Franco Donatoni's Algo: Due pezzi per chitarra,^[24] etc.

Performers who are known for including modern repertoire include Jürgen Ruck, Elena Càsoli, Leo Brouwer (when he was still performing), John Schneider,Reinbert Evers, Maria Kämmerling,Siegfried Behrend, David Starobin, Mats Scheidegger, Magnus Andersson, etc.

This type of repertoire is usually performed by guitarists who have particularly chosen to focus on the avant-garde in their performances.

Within the contemporary music scene itself, there are also works which are generally regarded as extreme. These include works such as Brian Ferneyhough's Kurze Schatten II,^[25]Sven-David Sandström's away from^[26]and Rolf Riehm's Toccata Orpheus,^[27]etc. which are notorious for their extreme difficulty.

There are also a variety of databases documenting modern guitar works such as Sheer Pluck^[28] and others.