Gittern

"Quinterne" made in 1450 by Hans Oth in Nürnberg, in the collections at Wartburg Castle.. Body, neck and pegbox made from one piece of maple, belly spruce or fir. Rose made of several layers of parchment & wood.

The gittern was a relatively small, quill-plucked, gut strung instrument that originated around the 13th century and came to Europe via Moorish Spain. It was also called the quinterne in Germany, the guitarra in Spain, and the chitarra in Italy. A popular instrument with the minstrels and amateur musicians of the 14th century, the gittern eventually out-competed its rival, the citole. Soon after, its popularity began to fade, giving rise to the larger and more evocative lute and guitar.

Up until 2002, there were only two known surviving medieval gitterns, one in the Metropolitan Museum of Art (see external links), the other in the Wartburg Castle Museum. A third was discovered in a medieval outhouse in Elbing, Poland.

Relationship between Gittern, Lute family, and Guitar family

Illustration from Sebastian Virdung's 1511 book, Musica getuscht und angezogen, which shows a gittern (labeled "quintern".)

The Gittern was a predecessor of the guitar. However, in its early form, it outwardly resembled the mandore, and was a relative of the lute in as much as its back was similarly rounded. In fact the gittern is considered ancestral to the mandore. The instrument developed into both lute forms and guitar forms, or the name was applied to both. In its lute family form, it survived into the 18th century as the mandore in France, and into the 21st century as the mandolin. In its guitar family form, it survived into the 21st century.

Some have pointed out that there has been errors in scholarship (starting in the 19th century) which led to the mandore being called gittern and vice versa. This does not deny the instruments are related, just that they are not the same instruments. Among the differences, gitterns and mandores were tuned differently. Also, the gittern was much smaller, and had no clear division between the body and neck. Generally its body and neck were constructed from a single piece of wood, where lutes/mandores were constructed from staves glued together. There was similar confusion with the citole. As a result of this uncertainty, many modern sources refer to gitterns as mandoras, and to citoles as gitterns.

Etymology

• Names in French: guisterne, guitarre, guiterne, guiterre, quinterne, quitaire, quitarre
• Names in Italian: chitarino, chitarra
• Name in Spanish: guitarra

The Spanish "guitarra", the Italian "chitarra", and the French "guitarre" are derived from the Greek "kithara" via the Arabic "qītārā".

The French "quitaire", became "qui(n)terne" as a result of confusion with the unrelated Latin word "quinterna", meaning fivefold. "Guiterne" was the standard usage until the 16th century. The occurrence of the use of the word "guita(r)e" remained rare. The English and the Germans borrowed their names from the French.Name in German: Quinterne. Names in English: gittern, giterninge, giterne.

Although the common use of the lute shape was displaced by the vihuela (similar to a guitar), the immediate change of name did not follow. Both "guiterne" and "guiterre" fell out of use in the 17th century.

Structure

The gittern was usually carved from one piece of timber. Occurring less rarely later in the 15th century, the back was built up from a number of thin tapered ribs joined at the edges, as was characteristic of the lute. Unlike the sharp corner joining the body to the neck seen in the lute, the gittern's body and neck always joined in a smooth curve or straight line. The sickle, or occasional gentle arc pegbox, made an angle with the neck of between 30-90 degrees. Unlike the lute, most pegboxes on gitterns ended in a carving of a human or animal head.

Most gitterns were depicted as having three or (more commonly) four courses of double strings played with a quill plectrum. Each course of strings was attached to an endpin, which was laterally inserted into the pegbox. Although there is not much direct information concerning gittern tuning, the later versions were quite possibly tuned in fourths and fifths like the mandore a few decades later. Frets were represented in a few depictions (mainly Italian), though absent in French and English depictions. Like nearly all early instruments, the gittern's sound hole was covered with a rosette (a delicate wood carving or parchment cutting).

Role in literature

The gittern was often referenced from the 14th to early 15th century, including the inventory of several courts. Charles V of France's court recorded four, including one of ivory, while the courts of Este and Ferrara recorded the hiring of gittern masters. However, the gittern was also popular with amateur musicians of every class, owing to its portability and ease of playing. Dante, referring to the structure of the gittern, said, "just as it would be blameworthy operation to make a spade of a fine sword or a goblet of a fine gittern." It was frequently recorded as being used in taverns, often for serenading. Chaucer mentions the gittern several times in the Canterbury Tales as being played by people who frequent taverns. During its heyday of popularity, Jean Gerson, in a French sermon, compares the four cardinal virtues to "la guiterne de quatre cordes."

History

The gittern entered Europe in the 13th century from Arab countries. It is referred to originally in French literature. From around 1270 onwards, it was continually mentioned, although it was only commonly depicted after 1300. During the 14th century, the gittern's recognition constantly increased, eventually ousting the similarly popular citole. However, the lute eventually overshadowed even the gittern's popularity in the 15th century. Soon after, the vihuela-shaped guitar began to appear and may have existed alongside the gittern, although the latter was gradually losing ground to the newer instrument. In spite of the gittern's slow fall from favor, it was referred to as late as the 18th century as a small round backed instrument, illustrating its occasional use.

External links

• The Elbing gittern from the early 14th century, found in a medieval-era latrine. Article is in Polish, but Google's translator does a passable job.
• Guide to Early Instruments - The Gittern and Citole discussed. Author writes strongly as to why there is historical confusion over instrument names.
• Guide to Early Instruments - The Guitar and Vihuela.
• The Guitar in England
• Plucked, fretted instruments in Medieval, Renaissance and Baroque Scotland
• Gittern Businesses - Early MusiChicago
• The History of the Guitar in Spain

Museum examples

• 1450s Gittern in the Metropolitan Museum of Arts. Cited by James Tyler in "The Early Mandolin", pages 3 and 4. The museum has labeled this a "mandora."

See also

• Cittern