Francisco Bartolomé Sanz Celma (1640 – 1710), better
known as Gaspar Sanz, was a Spanish composer,
guitarist, organist and priest born to a wealthy family
in Calanda in the comarca of Bajo Aragón, Spain. He
studied music, theology and philosophy at the
University of Salamanca, where he was later appointed
Professor of Music. He wrote three volumes of
pedagogical works for the baroque guitar that form an
important part of today's classical guitar repertory
and have informed modern scholars in...(+)
Francisco Bartolomé Sanz Celma (1640 – 1710), better
known as Gaspar Sanz, was a Spanish composer,
guitarist, organist and priest born to a wealthy family
in Calanda in the comarca of Bajo Aragón, Spain. He
studied music, theology and philosophy at the
University of Salamanca, where he was later appointed
Professor of Music. He wrote three volumes of
pedagogical works for the baroque guitar that form an
important part of today's classical guitar repertory
and have informed modern scholars in the techniques of
baroque guitar playing.
Canarios is a work for the five course baroque Spanish
guitar, published as part of Instrucción de música
sobre la guitarra española. The source I used from the
Biblioteca Nacional de España was dated 1697; but the
first volume of the three volume set may have been
published separately in 1674 because I've seen that
date associated with Canarios in several secondary
sources. Although the notes of the five courses of the
baroque guitar are the same as those of the upper five
strings of today's Spanish guitar, the way the courses
were tuned with respect to one another was
inconsistent. A course may have been tuned an octave
apart or in unison. When tuned an octave apart, which
string in a course was higher or lower would vary.
Furthermore, the lower two courses were sometimes tuned
in unison an octave higher (on today's guitar that
would be equivalent to tuning the open A string to A on
the second fret of the open G string).