The baroque guitar as an accompaniment instrument for song, dance and theatre

Abstract

The five-course ‘baroque’ guitar was regularly employed in the accompaniment of song and dance, and did so predominantly in the rasgueado style, a strummed practice unique to the instrument. Contemporary critics condemned rasgueado as crude and unrefined, and the guitar incited further scorn for its regular use in accompanying the ill-reputed dances of the lower classes. This thesis explores the performance practices associated with the rasgueado tradition, with particular focus on how guitarists accompanied popular dances and the vast repertory of alfabeto songs. The prominent use of the guitar as an instrument of accompaniment in theatrical works is also explored, and a wide cross-section of stage-works are compared to determine the personas, performance contexts and repertoires most commonly associated with the instrument.