Francesco Geminiani: The Art of Playing the Guitar or Cittra

Francesco Geminiani’s The Art of Playing the Guitar or Cittra (1760) is remarkable in the 18th-century cittern repertoire for several reasons. One, the music is presented in no fewer than eleven different keys, whereas most of the repertoire is normally in two: C (the key of the most common tuning for the instrument), and to a lesser extent, F. Secondly, the continuo is surprisingly rich and varied. Finally, and uniquely, the cetra part is presented in tablature, thus giving us a graphic representation of Geminiani’s approach to the instrument.