Vihuela - History

History

The vihuela, as it was known in Spain, was called the viola da mano in Italy and Portugal. The two names are functionally synonymous and interchangeable. In its most developed form, the vihuela was a guitar-like instrument with six double-strings (paired courses) made of gut. Vihuelas were tuned identically like its contemporary Renaissance lute —4ths and mid-3rd (44344, almost like a modern guitar, with the exception of the third string, which was tuned a semitone lower).

Plucked vihuela, being essentially flat-backed lutes, evolved in the mid-15th century, in the Kingdom of Aragón (located in north-eastern Iberia (Spain), filling the gap that elsewhere in Europe was taken up by the lute; for the Spanish the lute was too close to the oud. In Spain and Italy the vihuela was in common use by the late 15th through to the late 16th centuries. In the second half of the 15th century some vihuela players began using a bow, leading to the development of the viol.

There were several different types of vihuela (or different playing methods at least):

• Vihuela de mano — 6 or 5 courses played with the fingers
• Vihuela de penola — played with a plectrum
• Vihuela de arco — played with a bow (ancestor of the viola da gamba)

Tunings for 6 course vihuela de mano (44344):

• G C F A D G
• C F Bb D G C

The vihuela faded away, along with the complex polyphonic music that was its repertoire, in the late 16th century, along with the other primary instrument of the Spanish Renaissance, the cross-strung harp. The vihuela's descendants that are still played are the violas campaniças of Portugal. Much of the vihuela's place, role, and function was taken up by the subsequent Baroque guitar (also sometimes referred to as vihuela or bigüela). Today, the vihuela is in use primarily for the performance of early music, using modern replicas of historical instruments. Today, instruments like the tiple are descendants of vihuelas brought to America in the 16th century.