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Cuatro Puertorriqueño

2002
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 682
Puerto Rico's most popular melodic instrument, used in both secular and religious music, is the cuatro, a violin-shaped guitar. The cuatro originally had four double-strings but at the end of the nineteenth century a fifth was added as its popularity rose in north-central coastal towns. Its tuning, in octaves, except for the first two courses, is B1-E-A-d-g, the same as the 16th-century vihuelas and lutes, and its playing technique is the same as that of the vihuela de peñola. The body of the instrument is made of guaraguao and the top is yagrumo.

The term cuatro is found throughout South America and the West Indies and may refer to various guitar-like instruments.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Cuatro Puertorriqueño
  • Maker: Luis Ángel Colón
  • Date: 2002
  • Geography: Barranquitas, Puerto Rico, United States
  • Culture: Native American (Puerto Rican)
  • Medium: Wood (yagumo & guaraguao), metal, wire
  • Dimensions: 35 1/8 × 11 7/8 × 3 3/8 in. (89.2 × 30.2 × 8.6 cm)
  • Classification: Chordophone-Lute-plucked-fretted
  • Credit Line: Gift of the artist, 2003
  • Object Number: 2003.216.1
  • Curatorial Department: Musical Instruments

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