Editing Classical guitar (section)

===Early guitars===
[[File:Musee-de-la-musique-6.jpg|thumb|alt=Guitars from the Museum Cité de la Musique in Paris|Guitars from the Museum [[Cité de la Musique]] in Paris (which houses almost 200 classical guitars)<ref name=cite>Cité de la Musique: [http://mediatheque.cite-musique.fr/MediaComposite/CMDM/CMDM000000700/guitare_musee_00.htm Les guitares classiques du Musée de la musique (almost 200 classical guitars)] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100313073529/http://mediatheque.cite-musique.fr/mediacomposite/cmdm/cmdm000000700/guitare_musee_00.htm |date=2010-03-13 }};&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[http://mediatheque.cite-musique.fr/masc/?INSTANCE=CITEMUSIQUE&URL=/clientbooklineCIMU/toolkit/p_requests/FSFormulaire.asp?GRILLE=CIMUINSTRUMENTAVANCEE_0&TYPEMENU=catalogue-instrumentoeuvre-bandeau.asp?TYPESOUSMENU=2 Catalog: Instruments et oeuvres d'art]  {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090725002715/http://mediatheque.cite-musique.fr/masc/?INSTANCE=CITEMUSIQUE&URL=%2FclientbooklineCIMU%2Ftoolkit%2Fp_requests%2FFSFormulaire.asp%3FGRILLE%3DCIMUINSTRUMENTAVANCEE_0&TYPEMENU=catalogue-instrumentoeuvre-bandeau.asp%3FTYPESOUSMENU%3D2 |date=July 25, 2009 }} – use search-phrase: Mot-clé(s) : ''guitare''</ref>]]

While "classical guitar" is today mainly associated with the modern classical guitar design, there is an increasing interest in early guitars; and understanding the link between historical repertoire and the particular period guitar that was originally used to perform this repertoire. The musicologist and author Graham Wade writes:

<blockquote>Nowadays it is customary to play this repertoire on reproductions of instruments authentically modelled on concepts of musicological research with appropriate adjustments to techniques and overall interpretation. Thus over recent decades we have become accustomed to specialist artists with expertise in the art of vihuela (a 16th-century type of guitar popular in Spain), lute, Baroque guitar, 19th-century guitar, etc.<ref name="visee">{{cite web|url=http://www.naxos.com/mainsite/blurbs_reviews.asp?item_code=8.111092&catNum=8111092&filetype=About%20this%20Recording&language=English|title=SEGOVIA, Andres: 1950s American Recordings, Vol. 4|publisher=Graham Wade|access-date=2010-05-30|archive-date=2018-01-25|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180125134511/https://www.naxos.com/mainsite/blurbs_reviews.asp?item_code=8.111092&catNum=8111092&filetype=About%20this%20Recording&language=English|url-status=dead}}</ref></blockquote>

Different types of guitars have different sound aesthetics, e.g. different colour-spectrum characteristics (the way the sound energy is spread in the fundamental frequency and the [[overtones]]), different response, etc. These differences are due to differences in construction; for example, modern classical guitars usually use a different bracing (fan-bracing) from that used in earlier guitars (they had ladder-bracing); and a different voicing was used by the luthier.

There is a historical parallel between musical styles (baroque, classical, romantic, flamenco, jazz) and the style of "sound aesthetic" of the musical instruments used, for example: [[Robert de Visée]] played a baroque guitar with a very different sound aesthetic from the guitars used by [[Mauro Giuliani]] and [[Luigi Legnani]] – they used 19th-century guitars. These guitars in turn sound different from the Torres models used by Segovia that are suited for interpretations of romantic-modern works such as [[Federico Moreno Torroba|Moreno Torroba]].

When considering the guitar from a historical perspective, the musical instrument used is as important as the musical language and style of the particular period. As an example: It is impossible to play a historically informed de Visee or Corbetta (baroque guitarist-composers) on a modern classical guitar. The reason is that the baroque guitar used courses, which are two strings close together (in unison), that are plucked together. This gives baroque guitars an unmistakable sound characteristic and tonal texture that is an integral part of an interpretation. Additionally, the sound aesthetic of the baroque guitar (with its strong overtone presence) is very different from modern classical type guitars, as is shown below.

Today's use of Torres and post-Torres type guitars for repertoire of all periods is sometimes critically viewed: Torres and post-Torres style modern guitars (with their fan-bracing and design) have a thick and strong tone, very suitable for modern-era repertoire. However, they are considered to emphasize the fundamental too heavily (at the expense of overtone partials) for earlier repertoire (Classical/Romantic: Carulli, Sor, Giuliani, Mertz,&nbsp;...; Baroque: de Visee,&nbsp;...; etc.). "Andrés Segovia presented the Spanish guitar as a versatile model for all playing styles"<ref name="earlyromanticguitar.com"/> to the extent, that still today, "many guitarists have tunnel-vision of the world of the guitar, coming from the modern Segovia tradition".<ref>[http://www.earlyromanticguitar.com/erg/periodtechnique.htm Early Romantic Guitar Period Technique] by earlyromanticguitar.com</ref>

[[File:Septiembre 08 275.jpg|thumb|19th century guitar made by Manuel de Soto y Solares, held by Spanish guitarist [[Rafael Serrallet]]]]

While fan-braced modern classical Torres and post-Torres style instruments coexisted with traditional ladder-braced guitars at the beginning of the 20th century, the older forms eventually fell away. Some attribute this to the popularity of [[Andrés Segovia|Segovia]], considering him "the catalyst for change toward the Spanish design and the so-called 'modern' school in the 1920s and beyond."<ref name="earlyromanticguitar.com">[http://www.earlyromanticguitar.com/erg/timeperiod.htm Early Classical Guitar and Early Romantic Guitar Time Period] by earlyromanticguitar.com</ref> The styles of music performed on ladder-braced guitars were becoming unfashionable—and, e.g., in Germany, more musicians were turning towards folk music (Schrammel-music and the [[Contraguitar]]). This was localized in Germany and Austria and became unfashionable again. On the other hand, Segovia was playing concerts around the world, popularizing modern classical guitar—and, in the 1920s, Spanish romantic-modern style with guitar works by Moreno Torroba, de Falla, etc.

The 19th-century classical guitarist [[Francisco Tárrega]] first popularized the Torres design as a classical solo instrument. However, some maintain that Segovia's influence led to its domination over other designs. Factories around the world began producing them in large numbers.

====Characteristics====
*Vihuela, renaissance guitars and baroque guitars have a bright sound, rich in overtones, and their courses (double strings) give the sound a very particular texture.
*Early guitars of the classical and romantic period (early romantic guitars) have single strings, but their design and voicing are still such that they have their tonal energy more in the overtones (but without starved fundamental), giving a bright intimate tone.
*Later in Spain a style of music emerged that favoured a stronger fundamental:<br />"With the change of music a stronger fundamental was demanded and the fan bracing system was approached.&nbsp;... the guitar tone has been changed from a transparent tone, rich in higher partials to a more 'broad' tone with a strong fundamental."<ref>[http://www.speech.kth.se/music/publications/kma/papers/kma38-ocr.pdf Function, Construction and Quality of the Guitar]; 1983</ref>
*Thus modern guitars with fan bracing (fan strutting) have a design and voicing that gives them a thick, heavy sound, with far more tonal energy found in the fundamental.