James Tyler offers a practical manual to aid guitar players and lutenists in transitioning from modern stringed instruments to the baroque guitar. He begins with the physical aspects of the instrument, addressing tuning and stringing arrangements and technique before considering the fundamentals of baroque guitar tablature. In the second part of the book Tyler provides an anthology of representative works from the repertoire. Each piece is introduced with an explanation of the idiosyncrasies of the particular manuscript or source and information regarding any performance practice issues related to the piece itself -- represented in both tablature and staff notation. Tyler's thorough yet practical approach facilitates access to this complex body of work.

A fine selection of Baroque compositions, excellently compiled and edited by the team at EGTA UK. Selected by the Examination Board of the Royal Schools of Music.

Following on from James Tyler's The Early Guitar: A History and Handbook(OUP 1980) tthis collaboration with Paul Sparks (their previous book for OUP, The Early Mandolin, appeared in 1989), presents new ideas and research on the history and development of the guitar and its music from the Renaissance to the dawn of the Classical era. Tyler's systematic study of the two main guitar types found between about 1550 and 1750 focuses principally on what the sources of the music (published and manuscript) and the writings of contemporary theorists reveal about the nature of the instruments and their roles in the music making of the period. The annotated lists of primary sources, previously published in The Early Guitar but now revised and expanded, constitute the most comprehensive bibliography of Baroque guitar music to date. His appendices of performance practice information should also prove indispensable to performers and scholars alike. Paul Sparks also breaks new ground, offering an extensive study of a period in the guitar's history—notably c.1759-c.1800—which the standard histories usually dismiss in a few short paragraphs. Far from being a dormant instrument at this time, the guitar is shown to have been central to music-making in France, Italy, the Iberian Peninsula, and South America. Sparks provides a wealth of information about players, composers, instruments, and surviving compositions from this neglected but important period, and he examines how the five-course guitar gradually gave way to the six-string instrument, a process that occurred in very different ways (and at different times) in France, Italy, Spain, Germany, and Britain.

The Companion to Baroque Music is an illuminating survey of musical life in Europe and the New World from 1600 to 1750. With informative essays on the social, national, geographical, and cultural contexts of the music and musicians of the period by such internationally known scholars as Peter Holman, Louise Stein, Michael Talbot, Julie Anne Sadie, Stanley Sadie, and David Fuller, the Companion offers a fresh perspective on the musical styles and performance practices of the Baroque era. The Companion to Baroque Music is an illuminating survey of musical life in Europe and the New World from 1600 to 1750. With informative essays on the social, national, geographical, and cultural contexts of the music and musicians of the period by such internationally known scholars as Peter Holman, Louise Stein, Michael Talbot, Julie Anne Sadie, Stanley Sadie, and David Fuller, the Companion offers a fresh perspective on the musical styles and performance practices of the Baroque era.

CRITÈRES : Concerne la guitare et les instruments antécédants jusqu'à la fin du 18e siècle : histoire de la vihuela et des guitares (surtout ceux de 4 et 5 rangs de cordes, aussi bien qu'en comprenant un lexique d'autres instruments à cordes pincées), l'accordage de, et dispositions des cordes sur, ces instruments, les divers systèmes de tablature, le technique de toucher à ces instruments, l'ornamentation (i.e. les agréments, les broderies), la guitare comme instrument d'accompagnenemt et de continuo. Comprend des annexes bibliographiques du répertoire : Primary sources = [sources primaires et manuscrites] -- Vocal music accompanied by guitar ±alfabetol = [Musique vocal accompagnée par guitare en employant le système ±alfabetol des accords] -- 18th century vocal music accompanied by guitar = [Musique vocale du 18e siècle accompanée par guitare] -- [Some] facsimile editions of guitar tablatures = [Quelques publications en fac-similé d'éditions en tablature de guitare] -- Bibliography = [Bibliographie sur la guitare et sur des sujets connexes].