Guitars, music, and culture in the Netherlands, 1750-1810

Abstract

Various types of guitars, both wire-strung and gut-strung, were played in the Netherlands between 1750 and 1810. This thesis explores, through a broad variety of source material such as newspapers, treatises, images, instruments, fiction, and scores, what music was played on these guitars and by whom; who made the instruments, and who taught them. It examines the place of guitars and guitar players within 18th century Dutch music, culture, and cosmopolitanism. Guitars were used in both domestic and public music making, by women, men, and children, mostly to accompany singing, but also for solo repertoire or instrumental chamber music. Playing a guitar would help against boredom, make the player look attractive, it would serve as a form of respectable sociability, as a form of worship, and would connect the player to other musical genres such as opera. One could learn the instrument from a music master, often a Frenchman, and learning it would involve singing as well. There would have been foreign-made instruments available from France, German-speaking countries, or England, but local violin makers were also producing good instruments, adding their own features to foreign designs. There were occasional public performances by virtuoso players from Italy or France in inns, shooting ranges, riding schools and (increasingly) in dedicated concert halls, and sometimes the amateur guitarist could buy the virtuoso’s scores afterwards at a music merchants. Playing guitar meant performing and participating in cosmopolitanism in a practical way.

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ORCID for Jeltine Marijke Van Amersfoort: orcid.org/0000-0002-4768-0352

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