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Vihuela is the name of two String Instrument s, one from Spain and one from Mexico . THE SPANISH VIHUELA The Spanish vihuela looks like a small, delicate 12-string Guitar with gut strings. The first mention of the vihuela is in the 15th Century, in the Kingdom of Aragón. In Italy and Portugal it was known as a ''viola'', though that term is only used for An Unrelated Instrument today. The vihuela was in common use in the 15th and 16th centuries, but was replaced by the guitar shortly thereafter. Today is in use only for the performance of Early Music , usually with modern replicas of historical instruments. The first composer to publish a collection of music for the vihuela was the Spanish composer Luis De Milán , with his big book ''Libro de música de vihuela de mano intitulado El maestro'' of 1536 . The notation of the music in this book is Tablature , and all the music is easily performed on the guitar. There were several different types of Viheulas in Spain:
Tunings for the Vihuela de Mano:
The printed books of music for the Vihuela which have survived are, in chronological order:
The four known surviving instruments are the well-known example in the Musée Jacquemart-Andrée, the recently re-discovered 'Chambure' instrument in the Cité de la Musique (both in Paris), the Portuguese 'Dias' vihuela in the Royal College of Music (London), and the rather enigmatic instrument in Quito, Ecuador. The last example was a relic of Saint Mariana de Jesús (1618-1645); it is kept in the Iglesia de la Compañiz de Jesús de Quito, and because of the near-impossibility of its availability for close study by scholars and organologists and its extremely fragile condition, it has not been comprehensively examined until very recently. THE MEXICAN VIHUELA While this instrument shares the same name with the Spanish instrument, they do not have anything to do with each other and are not related to one another. The Mexican Vihuela instead shares more in common with the Timple Canario (see: Tiple ) due to both having 5 strings and both having vaulted (convex) backs. The Mexican vihuela is used by mariachi bands, most notably in central Jalisco, Mexico. It is played with fingers strumming open chords on the fretted part of the neck. Tuning: ADGBE (The ADG are tuned one octave above a guitar) NOTES The words ''vihuela'' and ''viola'' appear to be etymologically related. SEE ALSO Guitar REFERENCES
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