The German – Spanish Sound
Around the middle of the 19th century, the development of the “Spanish guitar” has found its final form, which is still valid today. The instruments of the Andalusian Antonio de Torres Jurado (1817 – 1892) and – almost 20 years later – of his South Castilian colleague Vicente Árias Castellanos (1833 – 1914) were trend-setting for guitar making in central and north-eastern Spain, which was flourishing at the turn of the century: Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia. While on the Levant coast, simpler instruments already had been produced in series, in Madrid and Barcelona, on the other hand, manufactories were formed with a focus on high-quality individual pieces. In the Castilian metropolis, these were especially the workshops of the brothers José I (1858 – 1923) and Manuel Ramírez (1864 – 1916). In the Catalan capital, Enrique García Castillo (1868 – 1922) and his successors Francisco (1874 – 1932) and Miguel Simplicio (1899 – 1938) produced masterpieces of guitar making. At that time, high-quality flamenco guitars (mostly with back and sides made of local cypress wood) were also constructed in Madrid, in addition to the classical concert instruments, for which expensive imported woods such as rosewood and sometimes maple were mostly used. Barcelona – not a flamenco area – concentrated on the construction of classical guitars. Here, mainly exotic, expensive woods were used, such as Rio rosewood, satinwood, or exclusive mahogany species. Rich decorations (ornamental inlays in rims and rosettes, ornately carved headstocks, etc.) were also significant details of this Art Nouveau-influenced era. And the instruments from the two cities then, at the beginning of the 20th century, began their global triumphal march from there – to the rest of the Old World and the entire New World.
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