History of the classical guitar History of the classical guitar The evolution of classical guitars began with the influences of the vihuela and gittern in the sixteenth century and ended with the modern classical guitar in the mid nineteenth century. While the precise lineage of the instrument is still unclear, historians believe that the guitar is the descendant of the Greek kithara, gittern, lyre, European and Middle Eastern lutes, and the Spanish vihuela. The poem "The Book of Good Love" [circa 1330] describes two early instruments, guitarra morisca and guitarra latina. Instruments called "guitars" were first mentioned in literature in the 13th century, though many
Classical guitar type of repertoire is usually performed by guitarists who have particularly chosen to focus on the avant-garde in their performances. Within the contemporary music scene itself, there are also works which are generally regarded as extreme. These include works such as Brian Ferneyhough's "Kurze Schatten II", Sven-David Sandström's "away from" and Rolf Riehm's "Toccata Orpheus", etc. which are notorious for their extreme difficulty. There are also a variety of databases documenting modern guitar works such as Sheer Pluck and others. The evolution of the classical guitar and its repertoire spans more than four centuries. It has a history that was