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 repertoire as changes in musical notation and advances in the way instruments were played also appeared. Baroque music would see an expansion in the size, range and complexity of performance, as well as increasingly complex forms. Main composers for the baroque guitar: Main composers of the early romantic era: The first 'Golden Age' of the classical guitar repertoire was the 19th century. Some notable guitar composers from this period are: Some genres of modern music include atonal music, which rejects the tonal system of nearly all other musical styles, as well as aleatoric, which rejects the absolutism of the composer and