La Chitarra, Quattro secoli di Capolavori

An exhibition dedicated entirely to the guitar and the catalogue that documents the rich material presented.

This is the first time that an exhibition has proposed such a wealth of masterpieces: seventy instruments, covering the period from the early seventeenth century to the second half of the twentieth century, that illustrate the development of one of the instruments that, throughout the history of music, has been most loved, appreciated and played.

An extraordinary collection of guitars by means of which to analyse the transformations of an instrument that, through four centuries, has evolved considerably, adapting to the needs and changes occurring in classical music. With the contribution of prestigious international museums and enthusiastic private collectors, the rarest and most valuable guitars surviving today have been brought together to illustrate this process.

A significant number of guitars were needed to illustrate such a long time-span as that from the 1600s to the mid-1900s. They take us from Baroque guitars, magnificently decorated and inlaid with rich and sought-after materials, among which the vary rare instrument by the great violin maker Antonio Stradivari must be mentioned, to classical guitars, which emancipated the six strings from the role of simple folk instrument. The historical progression that we propose also includes experimental and transition instruments, such as the seven-string guitar, the ten-string guitar, the harp-guitar, the lyre-guitar and the lute-guitar.

Both exhibition and catalogue contain refined
instruments, unique for the quality of their construction, as well as guitars that once belonged to famous people: from musicians, Niccolò Paganini first and foremost, but also virtuoso guitarist par excellence Mauro Giuliani, to royalty, in the person of Queen Margaret of Savoy.

The catalogue is subdivided into two sections: the first, the text, discusses the history of the guitar chronologically. Detailed descriptions of each instrument provide the opportunity for a complete technical analysis, with all the necessary historical references for a complete and historically-rigorous picture. The second part, the illustrations, contains images of the instruments and detailed views of significant parts. The work concludes with comparative tables of the measurements of all the instruments exhibited.

Characteristics:
272 pages, format 24 x 34 cm, bound with hard cover
Edition in two languages: English and Italian

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