The first book devoted to the composers, instrument makers and amateur players who advanced the great guitar vogue throughout Western Europe during the early decades of the nineteenth century.Contemporary critics viewed the fashion for the guitar with sheer hostility, seeing in it a rejection of true musical value. After all, such trends advanced against the grain of mainstream musical developments of ground-breaking (often Austro-German) repertoire for standard instruments. Yet amateur musicians throughout Europe persisted; many instruments were built to meet the demand, a substantial volume of music was published for amateurs to play, and soloist-composers moved freely between European cities. This book follows these lines of travel venturing as far as Moscow, and visiting all the great musical cities of the period, from London to Vienna, Madrid to Naples. The first section of the book looks at eighteenth-century precedents, the instrument - its makers and owners, amateur and professional musicians, printing and publishing, pedagogy, as well as aspects of repertoire. The second section explores the extensive repertoire for accompanied song and chamber music. A final substantive section assembles chapters on a wide array of the most significant soloist-composers of the time. The chapters evoke the guitar milieu in the various cities where each composer-player worked and offer a discussion of some representative works. This book, bringing together an international tally of contributors and never before examined sources, will be of interest to devotees of the guitar, as well as music historians of the Romantic period.

Foreword - Richard SavinoIntroduction - Christopher Page, Paul Sparks and James WestbrookEighteenth-century precedents: the role of Paris - Damián Martín Gil and Erik StenstadvoldThe Great Vogue for the guitar: an overview - Christopher PageThe instrument and its makers - James WestbrookPrinting and publishing music for the guitar with Appendix: Matteo Carcassi - Erik StenstadvoldAmateurs and professionals - Christopher PageTeaching and learning the guitar - Erik StenstadvoldEarly-nineteenth-century guitars in the saleroom, private hands and public collections - James WestbrookMusic for early-nineteenth-century guitars in the saleroom, private hands and public collections - Kenneth SparrAccompanied song - Jelma van AmersfoortChamber music for the guitar - Jukka SavijokiFerdinando Carulli (1770-1841) - Mario TortaMauro Giuliani (1781-1829) - Gerhard PennFernando Sor (1778-1839) - Erik StenstadvoldDionisio Aguado (1784-1849) - Luis Briso de MontianoEmilia Giuliani (1813-1850) - Nicoletta ConfaloneGiulio Regondi (1822/23-1872) and Catharina Pratten née Pelzer (1824-1895) - Sarah ClarkeAppendix: A note on string-making - Jenny NexBibliography