Descripción

Armoniosi Concerti sopra la chitarra spagnuola

The Century of the spanish Guitar

Works by Kapsberger, Pellegrini, Negri, Caroso, Corbetta, Castaldi, Bartolotti and Piccinini

Juan Carlos Rivera, guitar

It is known that the French had very little to do with the invention of he «French omelette», just as the Russians with «Russian salad» (known in Spain as a «national salad» in he years after the Spanish Civil War for political reasons). It is also known that the English horn, despite its name, was invented by the French (cor anglais, that is to say, angled, named after the angle that formed the tube in the early versions). So why was he guitar named «spanish» from the end of the XVIth century onwards?. The unsatisfactory explanation given by Gaspar Sanz in his Instrucción de música sobre la guitarra española (Zaragoza, 1674) is frequently repeated: «The Italians, French and other nations bestowed the name «Spanish» to the guitar; the reason being that in the past the guitar did not have more than four strings and the Madrid the Maestro Espinel, a Spaniard, added the fifth».