Quote:
Originally Posted by RJVB
According to Mackillop, people did play classical repertoire on their "plectrum guitars," and if you look at scores written for that instrument there's enough that wouldn't be completely out of place in a programme with light classical music.
I think that says enough about what the instruments could also sound like.
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Elaborating further on the above, most contemporary players are unaware that there was an entire school of "classical archtop" guitar that flourished from about 1925-1940, and upon which Mel Bay based his well-known method; when I was learning in the early-60's the method books bore a statement that they were in fact designed and intended "to place the plectrum guitar in the same class as the violin, piano, and other 'legitimate' instruments" (and if you've never hung around in certain so-called "serious" music circles it's difficult to imagine the pejorative attitude directed toward the guitar, even in its "classical" incarnation)...
By way of background, in its original form the classical-archtop movement drew from the earlier American school of (fingerstyle) classical guitar exemplified by the likes of William Foden, Vahdah Olcott-Bickford,
et al. (rather than that of Segovia and his Spanish contemporaries, which would become the accepted concert style and instrument), as well as the parlor, "light classical," and vaudeville music of late-19th/early 20th century America. In addition to transcriptions of well-known classical repertoire, a number of guitarists of the day produced original compositions in a late-Romantic style - music which, while largely out of fashion today, still retains its technical and artistic merit nine decades later. Bear in mind that
the original L-5 archtop guitar was in fact envisioned as a "classical" instrument both tonally and visually, intended as a part of the mandolin orchestras of the late-vaudeville era and designed for hall-filling acoustic projection in the days before electronic amplification; were it not for Segovia's sensational American debut in 1928, the plectrum-style archtop guitar - with its violin-family looks and construction - may well have become the accepted "classical" guitar...
If you're interested there are a number of recordings of these period pieces on YouTube, either in the original (by the likes of Harry Volpe, Al Hendrickson,
et al.) or re-recorded by contemporary revivalists. Here's a couple of samples of "classical archtop" from back in the day:
- and a few from modern revivalists keeping this historic style alive:
Interesting side note: Although barely visible in the picture, Harry Volpe's guitar is a prewar 18" Gretsch Synchromatic 400 with a triangular center soundhole (Django's playing the cats' eye version) - even through the primitive recording equipment/techniques the sweetness of the trebles and rich, woody bass/midrange one would anticipate in a guitar of this size/type can be clearly heard, and in conjunction with Volpe's technical prowess further substantiates my earlier comments about being a true virtuoso "classical" instrument...
In addition, you might also want to check out in depth some of the players mentioned previously: Eddie Lang (both solo and with Joe Venuti on violin), Carl Kress and Dick McDonough, Tony Mottola (when he was a teenage whiz kid), and George Van Eps, among others. Finally, there's an excellent collection published by Mel Bay, entitled
Masters of the Plectrum Guitar which, should you be intrigued enough to investigate this style further, will
definitely keep you busy for a while -
and give you a taste of what might have been...