Pre-classical/"Galante" style music for guitar

[Gregory Moberg]

Hello,

Since I became interested in classical guitar music, I always had the belief that music for Baroque guitar ended with Santiago de Murcia in 1732 and guitar music didn't "return" until guitarists like Carulli or Sor began publishing music in the first decade of the 19th century. I've recently become very interested in what was happening in between, but many sources from this time period are difficult to come by. Does anyone have any knowledge of sources of Pre-classical/Rococo/Galante style guitar music and how I might be able to access them? The only source I am aware of is "Les Dons d' Apollon" by Michel Corrette, which I can't find anywhere. Any assistance is most appreciated.

[Jelma van Amersfoort]

Hello Gregory

The terms 'galante' and 'pre-classical' are a bit problematic here, but apart from that, there is a lot of repertoire for guitar from the time between 1730 and 1800. You could start by going through the scores under the 'scores' tab on this site.

Also, you could check out the music by Giacomo Merchi and Pierre Porro, published by SPES in Florence.

There must be some on IMSLP, where you can browse by year.

Then, one of my favorite online resources is Gallica, the website of the Bibliothèque Nationale de France. They keep on adding material. Use the advanced search option, type in 1730 to 1800, 'guitare' and 'score', but keep in mind that most guitarplaying in the 18th century was song-accompaniment.

You can even find some things using Google books, advanced search.

That should keep you entertained for awhile!

Jelma

(or: http://gallica.bnf.fr/Search?idArk=&n=15&p=1&lang=EN&am...èque+nationale+de+France&sel_source=toutSources&biblioSpecifique=Gallica&sel_provenance_Part=toutPartenaires&sel_provenance_Edist=toutSNE&dateMiseEnLigne=indexDateFrom&firstIndexationDateDebut=&firstIndexationDateFin=&tri=)

[Martyn Hodgson]

In German speaking Lands - essentially the German states and Austria - the mandora (aka gallichon) bridges the gap between baroque and early romantic music and it's tuning is mostly identical with that of the 6 string guitar guitar; tho' often in D rather than E.   The early music is similar to the Dm lute music of the early 18th century and the late stuff uncannily similar to early 19th century guitar music.

MH