Treatise on the guitar by Joan Carles i Amat. The seventeenth-century edition of the ACHB (Historical Archives of the City of Barcelona)
Publication date of the document: 12/07/2022
Year of the original document: 1750
In 1596, Joan Carles i Amat (Monistrol de Montserrat, 1572-1642) first published his treatise on guitar and bandola, a pioneering work in Europe, which in later centuries would continue to be reprinted and even translated into Catalan. This is the case of this example exhibited here, from the Bro family of 18th century printers of Girona. The Catalan edition is entitled Brief treatise and explanation of the points of the guitar, in the Catalan language, adjusted in this latest printing of the present work. The versatile Carles i Amat was also the author of the famous Quatre-cents aforismes catalans [Four hundred Catalan aphorisms], from 1636, also reprinted many times, even in the 20th century, and of which the Library of the Historical Archive of the City of Barcelona conserves several editions.
Although the first edition of the treatise, originally published in 1596, is now lost, the work of Joan Carles i Amat was widely reprinted over the following decades and centuries. This treatise is considered by musicology specialists to be the first known treatise on the guitar in Europe. The oldest preserved edition of Joan Carles i Amat's tractat de guitarra, printed in Lleida in 1626, is preserved in the United States in the collections of The Newberry Library in Chicago, in an acquired collection. And in the National Library of Spain, in Madrid, another edition of the same characteristics is also preserved, dating from a later year. In addition to the editions housed in the library of the Historical Archive of the City of Barcelona, others have also been conserved in the Library of Catalonia, the Documentation Centre of the Orfeó Català and various private collections.
The initiative of the document of the month dedicated to the treatise on the guitar by Joan Carles i Amat is part of the celebration of two unique programmes. Firstly, the 2022 Catalan Guitar Conference, dedicated to the guitar and the historical relationship of this instrument with the Catalan region and its musicians. Conceived and promoted by the guitarist Maria Ribera Gibal, they include projects by the guitarist herself and other artists who share the same ideology. As part of the conference, Dr. Ribera Gibal will give the lecture " The guitar in Catalonia: from Joan Carles i Amat to the present day" (Casa de l'Ardiaca, home of the Historical Archive of the City of Barcelona, 12 July 2022), followed by a recital by guitarist Jordi Sabata, with works by Pujol, Grau, Gerhard and Cassadó.
And secondly, and most notably, in the Year of Joan Carles i Amat, commissioned by the cultural activist through music Joan Puigdellívol and promoted jointly by the Joan Carles i Amat Association and the Department of Culture of the Generalitat on the occasion of the 450th anniversary of the birth of Joan Carles i Amat. The design of the institutional image of the commemoration is based on an " Allegory of music", which illustrates this treatise on the guitar.
The main event of the Joan Carles i Amat Year will take place in the church of Sant Pere de Monistrol, on 24 September 2022, with a tribute concert featuring the North American lutenist Hopkinson Smith. For the organisers, the commemoration of the 450th anniversary of Joan Carles i Amat represents the culmination of a series of initiatives, the forerunner of which dates back to 1918, when the secretary of Monistrol Town Council, Josep Vilar i Cots, decided to dignify the figure of the illustrious Monistrol native by dedicating a square in the town to him. Many years later, in the 1980s, several local scholars published numerous studies on their historic countryman. And taking another leap forward, in 2014 the current City Council published the book L'empremta del monistrolenc Joan Carles Amat [The printing of Joan Carles Amat, of Monistrol], which led to the inauguration, the following year, of the Espai Joan Carles Amat multi-purpose hall.
Download the guitar treatise
Further information:
News "Concert and conference: The guitar in Catalonia: from Joan Carles i Amat to the present day":
click here
Website of the third edition of the Catalan Guitar Conference:
https://www.jornadesdeguitarra.cat/
Website of the Year of Joan Carles i Amat:
https://cultura.gencat.cat/ca/temes/commemoracions/2022/anyjoancarlesiam...
Website of the Joan Carles i Amat Association:
https://www.associaciojca.org/
Web de l'Any Joan Carles i Amat:
Web de l'Associació Joan Carles i Amat: