There was a beautiful and magical legend about the origin of the guitar: Apollo was chasing a beautiful girl. He kept shouting to him to please: "Don't be tired! Don't be tired! I promise I won't chase you!" Finally, he caught up with the girl and held her in his arms. The girl desperately cried out to her father for help, and he immediately turned her into a laurel tree. So Apollo used the wood of this tree to make his first guitar, and made the guitar into a graceful curve like a woman's body. No wonder the guitar, an instrument, has a special charm: sometimes it is passionate and unrestrained, sometimes it is soft and sweet, and sometimes it is lingering and melancholy, which makes people dream and be fascinated.
Of course, this is just a beautiful legend. It is not easy to discover the origin of guitar from ancient civilizations.
It is still unclear when people began to use the word "guitar" to define this musical instrument with a unique sound and shape. Guitar is called "KITARA" in Arabic, and the name in Arabic comes from the Greek "KITHARA", which is "Hitara" (guitar). The Chinese word "guitar" was originally the transliteration of the English "GUITAR", which is A name commonly used in modern countries. "TAR" comes from Sanskrit and means "string" in Persia (now Iran) and North India. "4" in Sanskrit is called "CHATUR" and modern Persian is called "CHAR", so the combination of the word "CHARTAR" means "four-string instrument". QUITARRA (guitar pull) is an ancient Spanish word. Today, guitar is also called GUITARRA in Spain; it is GUITARE in French, GITARRE in German, CHITARRA in Italian, and RIOLAO in Portuguese.
There has been a lot of speculation about the origin of the guitar, and various theories have been put forward to prove its existence in Europe. There are two general opinions. One theory is that the guitar originated from the ancient Greek KITHARA - the reason is that "guitar" and "guitar" have the same etymological relationship, and later evolved into VIHUELA, which became popular in Europe. . The vivela is a flat-backed plucked instrument played with the fingers. The performance style is elegant and graceful, similar to today's classical guitar. It is commonly known as the Latin style and has a calm artistic effect. Some scholars claim to have found guitars in long-necked lutes from early Mesopotamia and Anatolia. The so-called COPTIC lutes of a later period were also discovered in Egypt. Their carved trumpet boxes often had flat backs and side panels, and are therefore considered the ancestors of the guitar. . This kind of lute was later introduced to Europe by the Arab Moors (MOOR).
A long-standing controversial question is: Did the guitar develop from local European instruments, or did it develop from those instruments that were introduced to medieval Europe from Arabia?
The lute information obtained from archeology in later generations comes from Persia, India and Central Asia. For example, scholars have discovered two types of lutes from the first to second centuries BC on the stone carvings of Kendala. The first type is similar in appearance to the European lute and the Chinese pipa, which is the so-called pear-shaped instrument; the second type of lute has a narrower trunk in the center, which is very similar to a modern guitar, with the only difference That is, the distinction between its bell and handle is not obvious. For the lute, instead of using a pick, the strings are plucked directly with the fingers of the right hand. This stone carving became valuable information for later generations to study the origin of the guitar. In addition, the lute, which is more similar to the European guitar than the lute of this Khandala, was also found in the ancient house of Silkurodo and depicted on a stone wall called Milan in Pakistan. This mural is clearly influenced by Kendala art and has been dated to the third century AD. Therefore, we can be sure that from the first to the third century, guitar-type lutes were already being used in Khandala and Pakistan; and the age of their production does not imply that this guitar-type lute was Did it come to Milan from Kendala?
These lutes are closer to guitars than the Egyptian lutes mentioned above. Therefore, we can infer that if European guitars and lutes were also introduced to Europe from Arabs, then the prototype instrument of this guitar should belong to the Egyptian lute. Therefore, we can infer that it was introduced into Europe through the area from India to Persia. However, compared with European guitars, these lutes are very different both in age and region, so more effective information needs to be unearthed.
On the other hand, the ancestor of the lute that appeared in Kendala in the first century AD was also a very primitive type of lute, which was discovered in the Sisha culture of ancient Persia in the eighth century BC and in AD The Michene culture of the late tenth century BC. Based on these discoveries, we can understand that there will not be much conflict between the lutes of ancient civilizations and their origins, and those found in these areas.
However, a clearer study should be a comprehensive examination of the form and performance practice of these instruments based on relevant ethnomusicological research results.
In the musical instrument classification system of HORNBOSTEL and SACHS, the guitar is a lute-type "hybrid stringed instrument" (COMPOSITECHORDOPHONE). A priori research on these issues is often not convincing, and applying the name "guitar", which is colored by European music practice, to the Eastern Lute musical instrument also shows a lack of practical understanding of the instrument under study. Still don’t know much about it. It is only recently that some scholars have begun to study ancient musical culture with a fully scientific attitude. As a result, they have encountered many difficulties in the connection between names and musical instruments. It is also more confusing to the extent to which cross-cultural communication and contact is an influential factor in the spread of musical instruments. The jury is still out on the condition of lutes in antiquity, as they show great diversity in both shape and size.
In any case, there is no great difficulty in tracing the history of the guitar in Europe to the Renaissance. Since guitars of this period had both curved and flat backs, it would be incorrect to focus solely on guitars with flat backs to determine its evolution. The main feature that identifies Renaissance guitars morphologically is the characteristic outline of its top, which is also unique to VIHUELA; therefore, based on this, it can be considered that this feature comes from ancient times Originated from the lute. There are different opinions about the origin of the guitar. It can be traced back to ancient Persia and Egypt in the second and third millennium BC.
There are two theories spread in the West: one is that it originated from the Lyra (ancient stringed instrument) in ancient Greece, and later evolved into the Vivela (also translated as Vivela) and spread in Europe. It has a flat-backed shape and uses gut strings to play with the fingertips. Its elegant style is similar to the current classical guitar. It is said that the lute (also known as the lute) originated in ancient Egypt and was played by the Arab Moors. (Moor) penetrated into Europe, so it is also called "Moor guitar". It has a curved back shape, with metal strings strummed with fingernails, and a rough style similar to today's folk guitars and flamenco guitars.
Vivera and lute spread quickly after being introduced to Europe through Spain and Italy. From the early 16th century to the mid-18th century, their shape gradually evolved and became closer to the modern guitar.