Review: Guitar and Vihuela: An Annotated Bibliography by Meredith Alice McCutcheon

Reviewed by Joseph R. Johnson

Originally published in American Lutherie #9, 1987 and Big Red Book of American Lutherie Volume One, 2000



Guitar and Vihuela: An Annotated Bibliography
Meredith Alice McCutcheon
Pendragon Press, 1985
$64 from amazon.com

In 1978 David B. Lyons published his book, Lute, Vihuela, Guitar to 1800: A Bibliography (Detroit Studies in Music Bibliography, 1978). Although the vihuela and guitar were included, the bulk of his information concerned the lute. There was not enough material in the book to satisfy the ever-growing need for information about the early guitar and vihuela. In 1980 James Tyler’s book, The Early Guitar: A History and Handbook, (London: Oxford University Press, 1980), was published, and it too only partially satisfied the need. What was needed was a bibliography that dealt specifically with the guitar and the vihuela.

Ms. McCutcheon’s annotated bibliography is an attempt to fill that need. In her words, the bibliography “is intended to fill the need for an annotated reference tool for the study of the guitar and vihuela. It contains literature on composers, performers, theorists, music and analysis, iconography, and design and construction in both an historical context and in a technical one.”