Vihuela

The vihuela was Spain's guitar—similar in size and tuning to the lute but with a flat back and guitar-like shape that made it easier to construct and more resonant in Spanish architectural acoustics. For a brief century from roughly 1500 to 1600, it was the premier instrument of the Iberian peninsula, producing a sophisticated solo repertoire before yielding to the baroque guitar.

The instrument emerged from the same roots as the guitar and lute, descending from medieval plucked strings. But where the lute with its rounded back dominated in Italy, France, and Germany, the vihuela flourished in Spain and its colonies. The reasons were partly acoustic—vihuela's flat back projected better in stone buildings—and partly cultural, as Spanish musicians developed distinct performance traditions.

Seven printed books of vihuela music survive, containing some of the earliest solo instrumental music in Western notation. Composers like Luis Milán, Luis de Narváez, and Alonso Mudarra wrote fantasias, variations, and intabulations of vocal music that rival lute repertoire in sophistication. This was music for courtly amateurs and professional virtuosos alike.

The vihuela's decline was rapid. By 1600, the smaller baroque guitar with its percussive strumming style had captured popular imagination. The guitar was cheaper to build, easier to play, and suited the less formal musical aesthetics emerging in the 17th century. Vihuelas became museum pieces; the repertoire was forgotten until 20th-century scholarship recovered it.

Modern performers play vihuela music on reconstructed instruments, on classical guitars (which are tuned similarly), or on lutes (which differ in construction but share much technique). The brief flowering of vihuela culture left a documented repertoire that influenced guitar development and provides a window into Renaissance musical life.

A hundred years of Spanish musical sophistication, preserved in seven printed books, then nearly lost when fashion changed.