Panormo Guitars and Vihuelas by Clive Titmuss

This is a guest post by luthier Clive Titmuss

Website: clivetitmuss.com

Classical period Guitar by Clive Titmuss modelled on Panormo c.1809 built in 2011

This instrument is a near copy of a guitar whose maker was declared by Fernando Sor, the father of the classical guitar, to be his favorite. I created it after playing the original for a number of months and making an accurate drawing and a number of copies. I also included some interior details, especially the barring and timber dimensions from a contemporary guitar by Grobert, made for Paganini, later owned by Berlioz.

For this guitar there are accurate details including fossil ivory frets and ebony pegs, an ebony fingerboard, bindings and head veneer. The neck is pear wood, the head is apple, both stained black and French Polished. The guitar has a pin bridge and gut strings. The principal timber is German figured maple for the sides and back. The rosette is made from holly, ebony and pearwood purfling.

It is perfect for playing any composer of the period, and there are many: Carcassi, Carulli, Giuliani, Sor himself, Legnani, Molino and a long list of others. This instrument has a cognate feel in the hands for a classical guitar player, but there are distinct differences in the sound and articulation. The speech is shorter but more emphatic in the upper partials and the bass is amazingly penetrating and clear for such a small instrument. The early 19th century makers were very clever in their use of minimal material to do the work required and preferred thinly-worked maple over rosewood, which dominated in the Iberian guitar making tradition.

The classical period guitar is a development of two schools of guitar making, the Spanish school of Cadiz and Madrid makers who mainly made six-course guitars, and the northern guitar makers of France and England. Many fine guitars were also made in Italy, but they were mainly in the Spanish style. The Panormo guitar is interesting because the centre of guitar making shifted north when the Napoleonic wars made life difficult for the middle class in Spain. This is one reason that Aguado and Sor moved to Paris. Sor later lived in London, where Panormo was active. Panormo used the profile and size of the six-course guitars and converted it for use in a six-single string configuration. Both Sor and Aguado would have learned their skills on six-course instruments from their teacher, Padre Basilio, whose works are completely lost. His legacy lives on in the six Boccherini quintets, inspired by Basilio’s brilliant Fandango improvisations.

In creating my Panormo-style guitars, I did not make strict copies, but tried to incorporate features of the period. These instruments are in no way inferior to the modern guitar. When they are played with a technique such as that detailed in Sor’s method book, the player will find these instruments are astonishing in their ease of play, their responsive character, bass and treble balance, and their capacity to produce a cantabile line. If you like to play Sor and his contemporaries, the players and composers who define the “Classical” guitar, you enjoy a revelation when playing a period instrument with a sympathetic technique.

For more period instruments, my recordings, photos and information, as well as free guitar, vihuela and lute tablatures, visit me on the web: clivetitmus.com. My vihuela and lute recordings are also available on iTunes.

The guitar comes with a heavy-duty fitted and upholstered custom case with brass hardware. $8500 CAD

Gallery

Click on photos to enlarge image. Displayed are both the above mentioned Panormo guitar and new vihuelas as well.

More Articles by Clive Titmuss

• Bach’s Lute Suites: This Myth is Busted – Part I
• Bach’s Lute Suites: This Myth is Busted – Part II
• The Vihuela: History and Style – Part One
• The Vihuela: History and Style – Part Two
• The Vihuela: History and Style – Part Three
• An overview of the six-course guitar
• Panormo Guitars and Vihuelas by Clive Titmuss
• Vihuelas in G by Clive Titmuss