All Essays
Musical Instruments
This is in fact the repeating story of the Spanish guitar: the innovations of Spain’s virtuosic musicians and ingenious craftsmen disperse to captivate and transform guitar-playing traditions around the world.
Daniel Wheeldon
May 1, 2017
Under the influence of Joannes and Andreas Ruckers I, in the seventeenth century Antwerp reached its peak of production and began producing more uniform instruments.
Benjamin Hebbert
September 1, 2016
The archtop guitar, with its many subtleties of sound, became a dominant instrument in the new bebop and cool jazz styles.
Jayson Kerr Dobney
September 1, 2016
Gainsborough was an avid amateur player, and through his extensive correspondence with composer Carl Friedrich Abel, we learn of his love of the instrument, specifically his desire to “take [my] Viol da Gamba and walk off to some sweet Village when I can print Landskips and enjoy the fag End of Life in quietness and ease.”
Elizabeth Weinfield
June 1, 2014
In the hands of the numerous craftsmen in Tielke’s workshop, these instruments became the decorative equivalents of the virtuosic music for which they were used.
Elizabeth Weinfield
April 1, 2010
It is not until the thirteenth century that the Western lute can be distinguished from the Arab ‘ud in iconography.
Jonathan Santa Maria Bouquet
April 1, 2010
Made and used throughout the Pacific, musical instruments play integral roles in contexts ranging from religious rites to secular entertainment.
Eric Kjellgren
January 1, 2010
Some of the most ancient instruments have been retained, transformed, or revived throughout the ages and many are in common use even today, testifying to a living legacy of a durable art.
J. Kenneth Moore
September 1, 2009
The new musical styles of the time, which we now call “classical music,” were well suited for the Viennese action piano, and composers were beginning to write a great deal of music for the instrument.
Jayson Kerr Dobney
March 1, 2009
Both Hindustani and Karnatak music use the system of ragas—sets of pitches and small motives for melody construction—and tala for rhythm.
Allen Roda
March 1, 2009