2. POWDERED WIGS

During the time of Bach the guitar became a five-course instrument- that is to say, the fifth string (today tuned to A) was added, and all five strings were doubled, giving the guitar a total of ten strings. This instrument appears to have been especially popular among women. Why, you ask, are there no compositions by Bach for the guitar? While the guitar was well-loved, it was considered a folk instrument not worthy of serious compositions. During the classical period (time of Mozart) this attitude persisted, with the result that the only ‘legitimate pieces’ known to us were written by prominent guitarists. Eventually, the six-stringed Spanish Guitar became established as the preferred instrument, and Dionisio Aguado wrote the first comprehensive guitar method, published in 1825. Fernando Sor (who was Aguado’s roommate in Paris) had already popularized the guitar in England and ultimately wrote over 400 compositions for it. Iberian sailors brought the guitar to the Phillipines and other Pacific islands. The Hawai’ian ‘ukulele, for instance, is traced to Portugal. By the middle of the nineteenth century the distribution of the guitar as we know it was virtually world-wide.