Sparks Paul

Following on from James Tyler's The Early Guitar: A History and Handbook(OUP 1980) tthis collaboration with Paul Sparks (their previous book for OUP, The Early Mandolin, appeared in 1989), presents new ideas and research on the history and development of the guitar and its music from the Renaissance to the dawn of the Classical era. Tyler's systematic study of the two main guitar types found between about 1550 and 1750 focuses principally on what the sources of the music (published and manuscript) and the writings of contemporary theorists reveal about the nature of the instruments and their roles in the music making of the period. The annotated lists of primary sources, previously published in The Early Guitar but now revised and expanded, constitute the most comprehensive bibliography of Baroque guitar music to date. His appendices of performance practice information should also prove indispensable to performers and scholars alike. Paul Sparks also breaks new ground, offering an extensive study of a period in the guitar's history—notably c.1759-c.1800—which the standard histories usually dismiss in a few short paragraphs. Far from being a dormant instrument at this time, the guitar is shown to have been central to music-making in France, Italy, the Iberian Peninsula, and South America. Sparks provides a wealth of information about players, composers, instruments, and surviving compositions from this neglected but important period, and he examines how the five-course guitar gradually gave way to the six-string instrument, a process that occurred in very different ways (and at different times) in France, Italy, Spain, Germany, and Britain.

A "hidden" instrument in the classical music world, the mandolin's repertoire of original music remains largely unknown. This book examines the lives and works of the mandolin's great composers and, together with Sparks's earlier The Early Mandolin (OUP 1989), provides the first comprehensive survey of the instrument's history. The book also explores aspects of technique and looks at present-day orchestras and soloists.

More than twenty years ago James Tyler wrote a modest introduction to the history, repertory, and playing techniques of the four- and five-course guitar. Entitled The Early Guitar: A History and Handbook (OUP 1980), this work proved valuable and enlightening not only to performers and scholars of Renaissance and Baroque guitar and lute music but also to classical guitarists. This new book, written in collaboration with Paul Sparks (their previous book for OUP, The Early Mandolin, appeared in 1989), presents new ideas and research on the history and development of the guitar and its music from the Renaissance to the dawn of the Classical era. Tyler's systematic study of the two main guitar types found between about 1550 and 1750 focuses principally on what the sources of the music (published and manuscript) and the writings of contemporary theorists reveal about the nature of the instruments and their roles in the music making of the period. The annotated lists of primary sources, previously published in The Early Guitar but now revised and expanded, constitute the most comprehensive bibliography of Baroque guitar music to date. His appendices of performance practice information should also prove indispensable to performers and scholars alike. Paul Sparks also breaks new ground, offering an extensive study of a period in the guitar's history—notably c.1759-c.1800—which the standard histories usually dismiss in a few short paragraphs. Far from being a dormant instrument at this time, the guitar is shown to have been central to music-making in France, Italy, the Iberian Peninsula, and South America. Sparks provides a wealth of information about players, composers, instruments, and surviving compositions from this neglected but important period, and he examines how the five-course guitar gradually gave way to the six-string instrument, a process that occurred in very different ways (and at different times) in France, Italy, Spain, Germany, and Britain.

Although the mandolin is now regarded as a marginal instrument in the classical world, a century ago it was one of the most widely played musical instruments in Europe and North America. Regularly used in operas and symphonies, and forming the basis of plucked instrument orchestras, the mandolin could also be heard in recitals at major concert halls. The Classical Mandolin traces the rise of the modern Neapolitan mandolin, examines the lives and worlds of leading specialist composers (such as Raffaele Calace and Carlo Munier), and looks at its use by mainstream composers from Verdi and Mahler to Schoenberg and Boulez. The mandolin's enduring popularity in folk music is also discussed. The book looks finally at present-day orchestras and soloists, examines aspects of technique, and offers guidance on contacting specialist organisations worldwide.

This study identifies and describes the two early types of mandolin and presents the full extent of their repertoires, including works by Handel, Scarlatti, Vivaldi, Hummel, Beethoven and Sammartini, whose recently-discovered sonata is published here for the first time.