The vihuela (Spanish pronunciation: [viˈwela]) is a 15th-century fretted plucked Spanish string instrument, shaped like a guitar (figure-of-eight form offering strength and portability) but tuned like a lute. It was used in 15th- and 16th-century Spain as the equivalent of the lute in Italy and has a large resultant repertory.

The Mexican vihuela ([biˈwe.la]) is a guitar-like string instrument from 19th-century Mexico with five strings and typically played in mariachi groups. Although the Mexican vihuela has the same name as the historical Spanish plucked string instrument, the two are distinct.

Mar 8, 2024 · The Style of Vihuela Music. The vihuela books of the mid-sixteenth century contain complex contrapuntal works combining the style of Catholic vocal music and the Italianate fantasia of the lute. An established tradition of composition existed in the minds of the vihuelistas, and this determined the content of the music. The present-day musician ...

There were seven significant collections of music for the vihuela published during the sixteenth century containing fantasias, sonetos, and sacred & secular choral music presented as vocal solos with accompaniment, as well as purely instrumental transcriptions (intabulations) of polyphonic vocal music, both sacred and secular.

Vihuela, stringed musical instrument that in Spanish Renaissance art music held the popularity accorded the lute elsewhere in Europe. Built like a large guitar, it had six, sometimes seven, double courses of strings tuned like the lute: G–c–f–a–d′–g′.

Jun 29, 2022 · Pronounced bi’wela, a vihuela is a stringed wooden instrument that is somewhat like a cross between a classic guitar and a lute. You can see the influence of the guitar in the figure-eight shape of the vihuela’s body, while it remains very much in line with a lute in terms of both its flat back and how it’s tuned.

Vihuela is a guitar shaped stringed instrument that became one of the most popular instruments of 15th and 16th century Europe, especially in its Eastern and southern parts (Italy, Portugal and Spain).

Feb 22, 2023 · This article traces the vihuela/viola da mano through its medieval origins; explains its relationship to the lute; illustrates the connection between the bowed vihuela/viola and the plucked vihuela/viola; describes the three surviving instruments; shows, through iconography, the difference in plucking style between the Spanish vihuela and the ...

Mar 3, 2023 · Home page for Vihuela, Lute and Guitar player John Griffiths. Performance profile, Research, Vihuela teaching method, Tañer vihuela, Tablature Encyclopaedia, Renaissance music, Architecture and Rhetoric, Vihuela Bibliography.

Sep 5, 2024 · Details of each of the c. 700 known piece of vihuela music, with notes about sources, concordances, musical structure, song texts, and other technical characteristics. A searchable database of the approximately 1200 themes that are used within the 219 surviving Fantasias for the vihuela.