La Guitare Baroque Part I

Angelo Michele Bartolotti, sa vie, ses oeuvres et l'adaptation de ses oeuvres choisies en ré majeur pour la guitare moderne

Université de Montréal

Par Amir Houshangi
Présenté à l'examen général de doctorat
Novembre 2021

Acknowledgment
I would like to thank the following people who have helped me during this
research:
Professor Sylvain Bergeron, from whom I learned so much and whom this
research would not have been possible without his presence
My Director and Co-director, Professors Mathieu Lussier and Andre Rodrigues,
for their consistent support and guidance during this research
And My family for their love and support throughout my life

Introduction
As an ancestor of the modern classical guitar, baroque guitar music has a significant role in developing this instrument throughout history.¹
Although in recent decades, with the help of scholars such as Richard Pinel, James Tyler, Monica Hall, Gary Boye, and many others, various obscure points in the history of guitar music, such as interpretive issues, neglected figures, and the instrument's process throughout history, has become apparent.
However, their achievements seem to be more prevalent among historically informed performers rather than modern instrumentalists.
In addition, various reasons, such as the little attention paid to the history of the baroque guitar and its repertoire, the differences between historical and modern notation systems, and the characteristics of these two instruments, made the search path more difficult for modern instrumentalists.
As a classical guitarist, knowing the roots of this instrument, getting acquainted with its performing traditions in different eras, discovering historical repertoires and arranging it for a modern instrument has always been part of my interests and this interest multiplied as I became acquainted with the works of an Italian composer, Angelo Michele Bartolotti.
Initially, this study was intended to adapt several of Bartolotti's works for modern guitar by explaining how to interpret the Italian notation system (Italian tablature) into modern notation. But as the research progressed, it became clear that this research could not achieve the desired results without providing sufficient information on history, schools, and other important content on baroque guitar features.

_{1 . Tyler, James, A Brief Tutor for Baroque Guitar, Chorus Publication, Helsinki, (p-6) 1984}

Rationale and motivation
There is not much research on the history of the baroque guitar and its school, and this has left even some of its influential figures less well known Among the many influential figures in this instrument's history, perhaps only two or three, such as Robert de Visée and Gaspar Sanz, are known, and still, names like Bartolotti, Corbetta, Granata, Campion & many others are not known, except to those who are involved.
Among the names above, Bartolotti may have been more overlooked than his influence.
Here I ought to mention some of Bartolotti's music characteristics that led his selection for the portion of this study. Bartolotti's works are of great historical and musical value, as many scholars and specialists have praised his importance and music.
Musicologist James Tyler believed that Bartolotti displays a level of artistic skill and creativity not previously encountered and researcher Jeffrey Lawrence George about his position in the history of the guitar, stated: "There is much in evidence to conclude that Angelo Michele Bartolotti was among the most influential composers of early guitar music and one of the leading Italian guitarists of his time." ²

However, his music seems to have been neglected compared to his contemporaries; perhaps one of the reasons is the complexity of his style; as Jeffrey Lawrence George explains: "The complexity of Bartolotti's music may partially account for his relative obscurity. Much of it is so complicated that it is unlikely that many players had the technical ability to perform his works adequately.” ³
Probably another reason for this lack of attention is his harsh handwriting described by researchers as rough-looking tablatures.!⁴ Moreover, there is no official recording of his works by classical guitarists, and the number of albums recorded by historical performers is little. Therefore, putting the above together plus my interest in baroque music history maximized my motivation for research on the era in which Bartolotti lived, his instrument, his life and his works.

_{2 . George, Jeffrey Lawrence, "ANGELO MICHELE BARTOLOTTI ": A Performance edition of his 13suites from the publication of Secondo Libro di Chitarra of 1655 ", Arizona State University, 2005(p-39)
3 . Ibid} 

_{4 . George, Jeffrey Lawrence, "ANGELO MICHELE BARTOLOTTI ": A Performance edition of his 13suites from the publication of Secondo Libro di Chitarra of 1655 ", Arizona State University, 2005(p-25)}

Research Objectives
The present study consists of two main parts. In the initial section of the first part, to better understand the guitar music atmosphere in the baroque period, this research gives a brief description of the history of this instrument, its schools, and the figures who influenced it.
In the second section of the first part, to acquaint the reader with the instrument, we will examine the baroque guitar characteristics, its feature, types of tunings and notation.
In the initial section of the second part, this essay examines the life and the legacy of one of the influential but neglected figures of the baroque guitar, Angelo Michele Bartolotti (1615-1682), And in the last part, by examining the style of his work, studying his performance instructions and explaining the challenges of the adaptation process.
As a result, as an example, in the conclusion part, this study would provide a rewritten tablature version of Bartolotti's Passacaglia and a final version of the same piece in modern notation interpretation notes of some other pieces.
 

According to the above, the objectives of the research can be summarized as follows:

1- Giving the reader an overview of the history of the baroque guitar, its schools and influential figures.
2- Presenting the reader to the different notation and tuning systems of the baroque guitar along with their functions 
3- Introducing the life and works of Bartolotti and most importantly, examine his compositional style, executive instructions and inform the reader of the challenges of the adaptation process
4- Present a sample of rewritten tablature and a modern notation as a result.

Part I: Historical review

1. Concise History of the Baroque Guitar
1.1. The Rise of the Baroque Guitar
To understand the position of the baroque guitar in music history, one must first start from the middle of the sixteenth century; in that era, the first signs of the guitar presence were seen in Spain as the renaissance lute vihuela music began to decline.
As the music scholar Stanley Yates states: "The earliest notated music for the guitar is to be found as an adjunct to the vihuela repertory in mid-sixteenth-century Spain. This small group of pieces, consisting of a few fantasias, intabulated mass movements and a setting of the Romanesca ground ( Guardame las vacas), is cast in the same polyphonic style as the vihuela music proper, around the same time, music for the guitar began to appear in France and Italy.⁵"
The guitars from that era had four courses (double strings) known as Renaissance guitars.
Apart from the mentioned set of pieces by Yates, there are other collections all published between 1550 and 1560 in France consisting of twelve works by four composers such as French Adrian le Roy (c.1520-1598) & Guillaume Morlaye (1510-1558), the Bavarian Gregoire Brayssing (fl, 1547-1560) and the Italian Simon Gorlier (fl, 1550-1584).
Nevertheless, these Lute-Vihuela music repertoires for the guitar were short-lived. The guitar now had five courses and was becoming widespread. At the same time, the renaissance lute and vihuela were about to fall out of fashion a6s the last publication of vihuela music was published in 1576 by Esteban Daza.

_{5 . Yates, Stanley “THE BAROQUE GUITAR: LATE SPANISH STYLE AS REPRESENTED BY SANTIAGO DE MURCIA IN THE
SALDIVAR MANUSCRIPT (1732)”, Doctoral dissertation, University of north Texas, 1993, (p-2)
6 . Ibid}

Initially, the practice of baroque guitar seems to have been opposed by the elite in that era as in his Tesoro of 1611, the Spanish Lexicographer Sebastian de Covarrubias states: "Guitar: An instrument well known and practiced much to the detriment of the music.
Vihuela: Up to the present, this instrument had been most esteemed ...but after guitars were invented, there are, but few who dedicate themselves to the study of it ...and now the guitar is no more than a cowbell, especially in the strummed style, that there is
no stable-boy who is not a musician on the guitar." ⁷
Nevertheless, comments such as the one above indicate that the popularity of the baroque guitar was increasing significantly in that era.
The first known printed work for the baroque guitar is a collection of pieces by the Spanish composer Joan Carles Amato (1572-1642), is from 1596. Although Amato was a medical practitioner who also held many government posts, with the publication of this book, his service to the art of music, especially guitar music, seems to be more enduring than any of his other services.
The book title is "GUITARRA ESPAÑOLA, Y VÁNDOLA," and it consists of various Spanish songs accompaniment along with the twenty-four Paseos in all the major and minor keys. To explain the notation technique of this book, Yates states: "The notational system employed consists only of a series of numbers, each representing a particular chordal disposition of the left-hand fingers on the fingerboard of the guitar.⁸"_(Fig.1)

^{(Fig.1. Amato's Chords table, this system was known as "Catalan Cirfras" by that time)}

_{7 . Covarrubia,Sebastián de , “Tesoro del lengua Castellana o Española” (Madrid, 1611),
http://fondosdigitales.us.es/fondos/ libros/765/16/tesoro-de-la-lengua-castellana-o-espanola.
8 . Yates, Stanley “THE BAROQUE GUITAR: LATE SPANISH STYLE ASREPRESENTED BY SANTIAGO DE MURCIA IN THE
SALDIVAR MANUSCRIPT (1732)”, Doctoral dissertation, University of north Texas,1993, (p-3)}

As can be seen from the contents of these mentioned works, albeit there are few, it is evident that the primary function of the guitar was to employ it as an accompaniment instrument; this tradition grew further in Italy in the early seventeenth century.

1.2 The spread of the Baroque Guitar in Europe:
Primary "Battuto" (strumming) style Sources in Italy and France
Since, except for one source published in France and written by a Spanish musician, which we will discuss in the next section, there is not much substantial evidence of guitar music from the other countries in Europe; Italy was the first country to become the baroque guitar's cradle in the first half of the seventeenth century.
Guitar music in Italy emerged in Florence in the early seventeenth century with the publication of "Nouva Inventione." by Girolamo Montesardo (active in Florence 1606-1620) in 1606.
It seems that his intention in publishing this book was to facilitate playing the guitar as an accompanying instrument, as the complete translation of the title of his book shows:
Newly invented tablature for playing balletti on the Spanish guitar, without numbers or notes: by means of which anyone will be able to learn without a master.⁹

The notation system Montesardo has used is somewhat similar to Amato's approach, except that alphabet letters are used instead of numbers. Each letter presents a particular chord indicated by the Italian tablature. _(Fig.2)
In terms of chord durations, the upper case stands for half-notes, and the lower case stands for quarter notes; the dot beside each letter means the performer must add half of the current valuation to the chord.
. Montesardo also has instructions on "Battuto Style" (strumming the chords) as he explains: "when you see letters which are placed below [the line], the stroke is given downwards with the right hand, and when you see letters which are placed above [the line], the stroke is given upwards."¹⁰
 

_{9 . Hall, Monica, “3-Girolamo Montesardo”, (p-1) 
10 . Hall, Monica, “3- Girolamo Montesardo”, (p-4)} 

^{(Fig.2, Montesardo's Chords table, later known as Alfabeto System)}

Scholars are still not sure if Montesardo was the inventor of this system, as he did not claim in the book the invention of this method; however, this version is the first and oldest available source in which this system has been used.
At the beginning of the 1620s, three other sources were published that contributed to the development and completion of Montesardo's style:
Intavolatura facile… per la chitarra alla espangnuola…opera terza (1620), Il primo libro d’intavolatura per la chitarra spagnuola (1622) by Benedetto Sanseverino and Intavolatura di chitarra spagnuola (1620) by Giovanni Ambrosip Collona.
The modifications that Sanseverino and Collona made to Montesardo's method led to the completion of this structure. It can almost be claimed that it did not change significantly afterwards and was used by the next generations. This method of notation, later known as the "Alfabeto," would play an essential role in solo and accompaniment music of the baroque guitar.
By any means, the only non-Italian source from that era is a printed work by Luis de Briceno (fl. 1610-1630). Luis de Briceño introduced the Spanish guitar style in France by publishing his method “Metodo mui facilissimo para aprender a tañer la guitarra a lo español” (Very Easy method to learn to play the guitar in the Spanish style) in Paris 1626.

This method includes accompanied dance songs villano, sarabanda, folias, chacona as well as
some instrumental pieces “pasacalle, gallarda romanesca and espanoleta. ¹¹
The interesting point about this method is that, unlike Montesardo's system, Luis de Briceño has used numbers and a few symbols and letters such as +, P, I and G instead of the alphabets to represent the chords. He has also used French tablature to indicate the fingers placed on the fingerboard. According to Monica Hall & June Yakeley, this system was known as "Castilian Cirfras," a similar version to the "Catalan Cifras" system, which Amato previously used.¹² _(Fig.3)

^{(Fig.3: Briceño's Chords table, this system was known as "Castilian Cirfra" s by that time}

In the chapter on the notation system, we will discuss how to accurately read and interpret the
Italian and French tablature styles besides the Alfabeto system.

_{11 . Wade, Graham “The Concise History of the Classical Guitar”, Mel Bay Publications, 2001, (p-33)
12 . Hall, Monica & Yakely, M. June, “an introduction to Spanish guitar chord notation in Lute”, Lute Society, Vol. 35, 1995. (p-28/29)}

1.3. The emergence and development of the Baroque Guitar in Italy
Apart from many cultural factors that can not be covered in this study, the popularity of the guitar in Italy in the first half of the seventeenth century is due to two main factors:

1. The role of guitar in the shows, plays and theatre performances of that era.
2. The skilled lute and theorbo players noticed the instrument.

On the popularity of the guitar and its relationship with theatre performances scholar, Lex
Eisenhardt in his book "Italian Guitar Music of the Seventeenth Century" states:
"Singing to guitar accompaniment was one of the ingredients of the game of truth and illusion of the Commedia dell Arte and also of the annual masquerade of Carnival, which had a great
influence on artistic developments; this fame of guitar-playing actor-singers certainly added to the instrument's popularity in Italy and abroad."¹³

With the popularity of Commedia Dell' Arte in other European countries, the role of the guitar as an inseparable element of this type of theatre is also considered later by other European, as
Eisenhardt adds:
"Several characters from the commedia dell'arte are always portrayed guitar in hand (Fig.4), like Buffetto, a creation of Carlo Cantù (ca. 1607–76) (Fig 5), for instance, the former boy soprano, was one of the stars in the Italian cast of the epoch-making Parisian premiere of Francesco Sacrati's Venetian opera (La finta pazza) in 1645.¹⁴"

_{13 . Eisenhardt, Lex, “Italian Guitar Music of the Seventeenth Century: Battuto and Pizzicato, University of Rochester Press, 2015, (p-35)
14 . Ibid}

On the other hand, as mentioned, the guitar attracted the attention of lute and theorbo players; this attraction made these musicians not content with playing in just battuto (strumming style), so they thought to apply their instrument's techniques to the guitar.
This attitude led to the style in which the performers use pizzicato stroking-plucking style) as well as battuto (strumming style); this style is also known as mixed style.
The first creator of the mixed style was Giovanni Paolo Foscarini (fl. Before 1621-1649), the Italian lutenist, guitarist, and theorbo player who, at various times, served at the courts of Venice, Rome, Brussels and Paris.

In the book "The Guitar from the Baroque period to the 1950s," the authors describe his role as below:
"In the l630's, there was a fundamental innovation in art of guitar playing, thanks to the Italian Giovanni Paolo Foscarini: the mixing of strummed and plucked styles. Foscarini played theorbo and lute, composed, and was a musical theorist: naturally, he played the guitar and introduced this mixed style into his strumming books as a novelty. In imitation of lute music, probably without suspecting that his invention became the fundamental characteristic of guitar music. From then on, solo guitar books can be divided into three groups: the great majority in mixed style, some in an exclusively plucked style, extremely rare and of exceptional musical quality ... and finally, those given over solely to the strummed style."¹⁵

The first printed work left by Foscarini date back to 1629, a book entitled “Il primo,secondo e terzo libro dell chitarra spagnuola” in which both Pizzicato and Alfabeto are used.
Foscarini's compositions that combined these two styles became a source of inspiration for other Italian musicians; therefore, many works in the mixed style were published during the 1640s, which finally led to a decline in the use of the Battuto style alone among serious musicians.
The following section observes Angelo Michele Bartolotti's contemporaries composers, their influence, and their work of the mentioned era

1.4. The Golden age of Italian Baroque Guitar and its prominent figures
As mentioned, the 1640s were a considerable period in the history of the baroque guitar; as many composers who later became leading characters of the instrument published their first works in this period, we examine the most significant of them as follows:

^{15 . Bordas, Christina & Arriaga, Gerardo “The guitar from the Baroque period to the 1950’s./ la guitarra Española”, Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1991, (p-83)}

Giovani Paolo Foscarini (fl 1629–49):
Apart from the earlier stated information about him, there are a few other important points about Foscarini's career, as in the Oxford Music Dictionary, Gary Boye writes:
"Foscarini was a member of the Accademia di Caliginosi at Ancona; he used the society's name together with his academic name, 'Il furioso,' as a pseudonym in his earliest publications.
His first book for guitar is no longer extant, but its contents, and those of the second book, were reprinted partially in his later collections. "Il Primo, Secondo e Terzo Libro "was the earliest engraved Italian guitar tablature; it contains selections from Foscarini's first two books in the battuto style and an additional third book, which introduces the pizzicato technique. Foscarini's fourth and fifth books were published together with the earlier material, using the original plates but with some changes to the dedications. He also published a philosophical discourse (Dell'armonia del mondo, lettione due) in 1647."¹⁶

It is not clear whether Bartolotti was a direct disciple of Foscarini. Still, his influence on Bartolotti's works is so apparent that Bartolotti's imitation of him, especially in his first book, can not be ignored. In chapter two, we will discuss this in detail. Foscarini probably died around the end of the 1640s since there is no evidence of his activities afterwards. However, he has left the following works as his legacy:
I. Intavolatura di chitarra spagnola, libro secondo (Macerata, 1629)
II. Il primo, secondo e terzo libro della chitarra spagnola (n.p., n.d.) [incl. contents of 1629 book]
III. Li 4 libri della chitarra spagnola (n.p., n.d.) [incl. contents of Il primo, secondo e terzo libro]
IV. Li 5 libri della chitarra alla spagnola (Rome, 1640) [incl. contents of Il primo, secondo e terzo libro and I 4 libri]
V. Inventione di toccate sopra la chitarra spagnuola (Rome, 1640) [contents as Li 5 libri]
VI. Dell’armonia del mondo, lettione due (Paris, 1647)
VII. Inventione di toccate sopra la chitarra spagnuola (Venice, 1649)

_{16. Boye, Gary R. "Foscarini, Giovanni Paolo." Grove Music Online. . Oxford University Press. Date of access 19 Oct. 2021,} 

Francesco Corbetta (1615-1681) :
Among the figures of the golden age of the Baroque guitar in Italy, Corbetta was probably the most famous one of his time both in his homeland and abroad.
Corbetta led the adoption and acceptance of the baroque guitar since he served as a guitarist in various courts such as courts of Philip IV of Spain, Archduke Leopold William of the Netherlands, Louis XIV of France and Charles II of England.¹⁷

He was a self-taught guitarist who, unlike his contemporaries, never played lute or theorbo, as he claims in the preface of his book La Guitarre Royalle.
However, only by playing the guitar was he able to serve in the court of various nobles and kings as Richard Pinnell explains:
"His first court position was for Charles II of Mantua, and the book published for him in 1643 contained Corbetta's portrait 'at the age of 28'. Subsequently, Corbetta served Philip IV of Spain, Archduke Leopold William of the Low Countries, Christian Louis and his brothers of Hanover, Louis XIV of France, and Charles II of England, and he published a collection of music for each sovereign (that of Hanover is lost). Corbetta thus became a high-ranking diplomat, even better known and travelled than the Dutch statesman Constanjin Huygens. This lutenist became a guitar aficionado and Corbetta's advocate in his letters."¹⁸

He was one of the first to give instructions in his books on how to play the basso continue on the guitar, specifically in his books of 1643, 1648, and 1671, in which the guitar must supply only triadic harmony. There is also two "novel sinfonia" with figured bass that appeared at the end of his second book, yet his last began with 14 duets in which Louis XIV played the second part.¹⁹
During the last 20 years of his life, Corbetta divided his time between Paris & London.
Corbetta died in 1681 and it is likely that the French guitar virtuoso Robert de Visée composed a Tombeau de Monsieur Francisque as an elegy for him.²⁰

_{17 . Pinnell, Richard. "Corbetta, Francesco." Grove Music Online. 29. Oxford University Press. Date of access 20 Oct. 2021, 
18.Ibid
19.Ibid
20 Pinnell, Richard, “The Role of Francesco Corbetta (1615-1681) in the History of Music for the Baroque Guitar, Including a Transcription of his Complete Works (PhD. diss., University of California,1976(p-259)}

The following are the works he left for the guitar:
I. De gli scherzi armonici…sopra la chitarra spagnuola (Bologna, 1639)
II. Varii capricii per la ghittara spagnuola [‘il mio secondo libro’] (Milan, 1643)
III. Varii scherzi di sonate per la chitara spagnola…. Libro quarto (Brussels, 1648)
IV. La guitarre royalle, dediée au Roy de la Grande Bretagne [Charles II] (Paris, 1671)
V. La guitarre royalle, dediée av Roy [Louis XIV] (Paris, 1674) [the first reprint's 14 duets lack Guitar II parts]
VI. Pièces pour deux guitares da ‘La Guitarre royalle’ (Paris, 1674,) [supplies the fascicle containing the ‘contre-parties’, the Guitar II parts]

Giovanni Battista Granata (1620/1621 – 1687):
Granata was an Italian composer, guitarist, lutenist, theorbo player, barber and surgeon. He was born in Turin but moved to Bologna before 1646. Unlike all his contemporaries, Granata didn't emigrate anywhere and stayed in Bologna for the rest of his life.
Granata's style changed and developed considerably during his career between 1648-1684, and the result of this career was seven books published between 1648 and 1684.
Although he was a surgeon and barber, he maintained his career as a guitar teacher as he invited those interested in his music to come and study with him in Bologna.²¹
Granata was the most prolific guitarist of the 17th century, with seven published books. Giacomo Monti, the only printer of the period issued five, used movable type instead of engraving for the battuto and pizzicato tyles. The complexity of the notation led to numerous typographical errors. Still, after a reversion to engraving for the Nuove suonate and the Nuova science di capriccio, Granata's final four tablatures were all printed with movable type, often handwritten corrections made at the print shop.²¹

_{21 . Granata, Giovanni " Nuovi soavi concenti di sonate musicali, gui, et altre sonate concertate, 2 vn, b viol, op. 6" Balogna, 1680, préface}

His op.4, with 168 pages, is one of the longest guitar tablatures of the period and also one of the most varied: it includes pieces for five different scordaturas, a sonata for violin, guitar, and continuo, works for chitarra attiorbata (a guitar with extended bass strings), and a continuo treatise. Granata's later style, from op.5 onwards, includes extensive use of campanelas, the upper registers of the instrument, violinistic figuration, and complex rhythms. ²²
Below is the list of his works:
I. Capricci armonici sopra la chittarriglia spagnuola, [op.1] (Bologna, 1646/R
II. Nuove suonate di chitarriglia spagnuola, [op.2] (n.p., n.d.)
III. Nuova scielta di capricci armonici e suonate musicali in vari tuoni, gui, bc, op.3 (Bologna,1651),
IV. Soavi concenti di sonate musicali, gui, vn, bc, op.4 (Bologna, 1659) [with continuo treatise]
V. Novi capricci armonici musicali in vari toni, gui, vn, bc, et altre sonate per la chitarra sola, op.5 (Bologna, 1674/R)
VI. Nuovi soavi concenti di sonate musicali, gui, et altre sonate concertate, 2 vn, b viol, op.6 (Bologna, 1680),
VII, Armoniosi toni di varie suonate musicali, gui, et altre suonate concertate, 2 vn, b viol, op.7 (Bologna, 1684)

Apart from these three composers and Bartolotti, who played a vital role in the flourishing of the baroque guitar in Italy and abroad, it is essential to refer to another composer named Ferdinando Valdambrini.
Ferdinando Valdambrini (fl 1646–7) was another Italian composer and guitarist from the golden age of the Italian baroque guitar era. He published two engraved tablatures of music for the fivecourse guitar, Libro primo d’intavolatura di chitarra a cinque ordini (Rome, 1646) and Libro secondo d’intavolatura di chitarra a cinque ordini (Rome, 1647), both using battute/pizzicato style. The first book contains a wide selection of pieces, including toccatas, correntes, partitas, ballettos and other Italian songs and dances. The second has 12 passacaglias, 12 capone and six chaconnes (some with variations). He wrote these books in a highly ornamented, thin-textured style with slurs, campanelas and passages of battuto chords. The second book also contains explanations of slurs, ornaments, and an arpeggio similar to that recommended by Kapsberger for the theorbo and a five-page treatise on playing continuo part. Valdambrini's stringing-tuning separates his style from other north Italian guitarists of the period, such as Foscarini, Bartolotti and Granata. This stringing-tuning style is important since the Spanish guitarist Gaspar Sanz (1640-1701) also recommends the same method thirty years later. This research will discuss various stringing-tuning types later in the section of the same title.²³

_{22 . Boye, Gary R. "Granata, Giovanni Battista." Grove Music Online. . Oxford University Press. Date of access 20 Oct. 2021,}

As mentioned, from the beginning of the 1640s, with the change that Foscarini made by using the Battuto/Pizzicato style and his followers' efforts, especially Bartolotti and Corbetta, this style became widespread throughout Europe. This expansion led to the emergence of two other schools in Spain and France.
In France, as most of the music written during Italian school included the early forms of French suites in the beginning and more complete forms (like Bartolotti's) in later periods, the French school was a continuation of the Italian school, which reached its peak in there.
In Spain, on the other hand, the Italian School was more a reference for technical and performance concerns than the music style.
In the following sections, this research briefly discusses the status of these two schools in the history of the baroque guitar.

1.5. The French School
With the advent of the golden age of Baroque guitar in Italy, the instrument became popular in many European countries, one of the most important being France, a country that became an influential center of guitar music in the late seventeenth century.
Apart from the presence of actor/singer-guitarists who contributed to the instrument's popularity in theatrical performances, perhaps the most crucial reason for the public's attention to the guitar was the King at that time, Louis XIV.
Although the lute was very popular among the aristocracy and the royal family, Louis XIV, unlike his father, chose the guitar instead of the lute as his main instrument.24This choice made the guitar fashionable among the courtiers and nobles.
Interestingly, the first works published in France were written by one of the leading figures of the Italian golden age, Francesco Corbetta.

_{23 . Coelho, Victor/Boye, Gary R. "Performing on Lute, Guitar and Vihuela, Cambridge University Press,1997. (p-192)
24 . Bennett, Peter /Cowart, Georgia, Music under Louis XIII and XIV, 1610–1715, Cambridge University Press, 2015. (p-9)}

In the 1670s, under his French name Francisque Corbet, Francesco Corbetta published his two famous books, La Guitarre Royalle, dedicated to the kings of Great Britain (1671), _(fig.6) and France (1674). The music of this book is one of the first works written in the Mixed-style (It. Battuto/Pizzicato-Fr. Battre et pinser) with the French tablature.²⁵
From then on, music for the Baroque Guitar was flourished by French composers, who were Corbetta's pupils, such as Antoine Carré, Rémy Médard and Robert de Visée.
Antoine Carré (fl late 17th century) was a guitarist and composer. He published two books for the guitar: Livre de guitarre contenant plusieurs pieces (Paris, 1671) and Livre de pieces de guitarre et de musique (Paris, n.d._(fig.7).. The first book contains 16 pieces, mainly preludes, passacailles, chaconnes, allemandes and sarabandes grouped roughly by key and a treatise for playing continuo on the guitar.²⁶

^{Fig.6 Corbetta’s La Guitare Royalle (1671)}

_{25 . Rebours, Gérard,” The baroque guitar in France, and its two main figures: Robert de Visée & François Campion © Gérard Rebours 2013, (p-4)
26 . Rebours, Gérard,” The baroque guitar in France, and its two main figures: Robert de Visée & François Campion © Gérard Rebours 2013 (p-5)}

^{Fig.7. Carre's Livre De Pieces De Guitarre (n.d)}

Rémy Médard (fl late 17th century), his collection of music for 5-course guitar entitled Pièces de Guitarre was printed in Paris in 1676. It comprises 43 miscellaneous movements grouped by key.
Each group begins with a Prelude and includes some of the standard suite movements. Several appear to be arrangements of movements from theatre pieces; at least one piece is from Lully's opera Thésée There are also two sarabandes for two guitars.
In the preface, Médard claims that his music is a simpler version of Corbetta's music. This collection is in French tablature. _(Fig,8)²⁷

^{Fig.8. Example of Médard's music in French tablature, Minuet from Page 3}

_{27 . Ibid}

The composer who probably played the most vital role in the thriving of the French school baroque guitar was Robert de Visée (1655-1732-3). Robert de Visée was a guitarist, theorbo, lutenist, viol player and composer. He was first mentioned (as theorbist and guitarist) by Le Gallois in 1680, and about that time, he became a chamber musician to Louis XIV. In the preface of his first guitar book (1682, fig.9), he mentions that the King often called upon him to amuse the Dauphin. Gérard Rebours, in his article "The baroque Guitar in France, and its two main figures: Robert de Visée & François Campion," states:
"We know that de Visée was a high-ranking musician who taught the King and was called to play privately for him. He used to perform at the court with the best musicians such as François Couperin, Jean Féry Rebel, Marin Marais or Jean-Baptiste Antoine Forqueray. But his music was also quite successful outside the royal circle."²⁸

Between 1694 and 1705, Visée frequently performed at the French court, particularly at the evening gatherings of Mme de Maintenon, with the flautists Descoteaux and Philibert, the harpsichordist Jean-Baptiste Buterne and the viol player Antoine Forqueray. In 1719 he was
formally appointed guitar teacher to the King, although he had been the King's instructor since 1695; his son François succeeded him in this post in 1721. A letter from Jean Rousseau of 1688 indicates that Visée was a respected musician at Versailles and played many instruments.
Robert de Visée wrote two guitar books, published in 1682 and 1686, both of which were dedicated to Louis XIV. As in that period of time, the music of Louis's court was influenced by the great Lully; in his 1686 book _(fig.8), he acknowledges Lully's influence on his style as below:
"So many people have applied themselves to the guitar and offered their pieces to the public that I do not know if, by pulling mine into print, I can present something new to the liking of those interested. However, I have worked only with this in mind, and to succeed, I have applied myself to the melody to make my compositions natural as much as possible, knowing only too well that I could not claim to excel on the structural side of the composition. I have endeavoured to conform, as far as my inadequacy will allow, to skilled players' tastes by giving my compositions the same style as those of the inimitable Monsieur de Lully. Because I have followed his example, even if from afar, I am persuaded that I have had the good fortune to receive my pieces favourably by His Majesty and all his court."²⁹

_{28.. Rebours, Gérard,” The baroque guitar in France, and its two main figures: Robert de Visée & François Campion © Gérard Rebours 2013 (p-6)
29 . Company, Alvardo & Saldarelli, Vincenzo, “Robert de Visée, Suite in Sol minore, Zerboni Edition, 1975 (Preface)}

It is no exaggeration to say that the style invented by Italian guitarists-composers, in the works of Robert de Visée has reached its climax; as in the Grove Dictionary, Robert Strizich states: "By exploiting the instrument's resources to the fullest extent, Robert de Visée's works constitute the apex of the Baroque guitar literature."³⁰

^{Fig.9. Robert De Visée’s Livre de pieces pour la Guitarre dedié au Roy (1686)}

The last examinable figure of the French school is guitarist, composer, and theorist François Campion (1685-1747). In 1704, he was the guitarist and theorbo player in the orchestra of the Académie Royale de Musique. He held this position until 1719, also teaching the guitar and theorbo in Paris. He left several works for the guitar, the most important of which are Nouvelles découvertes contenantes plusieurs suittes de pièces sur 8 manières différentes d’accorder, guitare, op.1 (Paris, 1705),Livre de guitare, incl. op.1,Avantures pastorales meslées de vers, op.3 (Paris, 1719) [54 airs] and Second recueil d’airs, op.5 (Paris, 1734) which is the last published work on the five-course baroque guitar in the eighteenth century in France.31
Probably, one of the reasons for his reputation in the history of guitar was his fruitless efforts to create and innovate this instrument's repertoire and capabilities as a theorist.
In Grove dictionary explaining these efforts, Philippe Vendrix writes:" Campion was well known as a composer before he turned to writing theoretical and polemical works. He composed pieces for five-course guitar; although he provided the instrument with a new repertory, he unwittingly left it obscured by complex tablatures that make use of up to eight different tunings. His Nouvelles découvertes(fig.9) illustrated the limitations of the baroque guitar rather than its possible adaptation to a new genre."³²

_{30. Strizich, Robert, and David Ledbetter. "Visée, Robert de." Grove Music Online. Oxford University Press. Date of access 22 Oct. 2021,
31 . Vendrix, Philippe. "Campion, François." Grove Music Online. . Oxford University Press. Date of access 22 Oct. 2021,} 

^{Fig.9. Campion’s Nouvelle Découvertes Sur La Guitarre (1705, Paris)}

Unfortunately, five-course baroque guitar music declined in the early 18th century, after the death of Louis XIV. Belgian bishop Jean-Baptiste de Castillion who was interested in collecting guitar music in his "Recueil des pièces de guitarre" 's preface, gives a saddening explanation of the solitary position of the guitarist: "As in this world all is subject to changes fortune, it seems that the great King, Louis XIV, was the last who learned to play it, at present, it is the turn of the guitar to languish.
heaven allow this book after my death to fall into the hands of some amateur, able to play from my efforts."³³

_{32 . Vendrix, Philippe. "Campion, François." Grove Music Online. . Oxford University Press. Date of access 22 Oct. 2021,
33 . Castillion, Jean baptiste, Recueil des pièces de guitarre, c 1730, préface}

1.6. The Spanish School:
Although we know that Corbetta visited Spain and dedicated a guitar collection to Phillip IV during the 1640s, there is no sign of his influence on guitar music in Spain. Still, it seems that this influence was later realized with the trip of a Spaniard named Gaspar Sanz to Italy. ³⁴ 
Francisco Bartolomé Sanz Celma (1640– 1710), better known as Gaspar Sanz, was a Spanish composer, organist, guitarist, and priest. He studied music, theology and philosophy at the University of Salamanca, where he was later appointed professor of music.
At the same year of the publication of Corbetta's second book La Guitarre Royalle, in 1674 in France and the emergence of the French school, Spanish school began to come to life with the publication of Sanz's Instrucción de música Sobre la Guitarra Española (fig.10) by Gaspar Sanz.
Prior to the Publication of Gaspar Sanz's Instrucción in 1674, the only published work was the same Amato's book described earlier, which had been reprinted in Italy.³⁵
After graduating from the University of Salamanca, Sanz travelled to Italy, where he studied under musicians such as Cristoforo Caresana and Lelio Colista; he was also appointed as an organist in the Royal Chapel of Naples.³⁶
In the preface to the first volume of the Instruccion, Sanz mentions Foscarini, Granata and Corbetta as guitarists whom he had met and whose music he had studied while in Italy.³⁷

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