Antonio de Torres
Antonio de Torres Jurado , short Antonio Torres (born June 13, 1817 in La Cañada de San Urbano ( today a district of Almería ); † November 19, 1892 ibid), was a Spanish guitar maker of the 19th century. Antonio de Torres is considered to be the innovator of Spanish guitar making .
Life
Antonio de Torres' father, Juan Ramón de Torres García, was a tax collector for the Almería district. Nothing is known about Torres' mother, María del Carmen Jurado. At the time Torres was born, La Cañada was a rural parish with a population of around a hundred families, mostly farmers and shepherds. Nothing is known about Torres' childhood years in La Cañada. When the Carlist Wars broke out in 1833 , he was drafted into the army. After letters from his father that Torres suffered from chronic abdominal pain, he was released from military service on September 11, 1834. Interestingly, however, Torres' file states that he was exonerated because of chest discomfort.
From 1834 Torres lived with his parents in Vera. There he married his first wife in 1835, 13-year-old Juana María López from Vera. Torres learned the carpentry trade in Vera and was approved as a trained carpenter by the local carpenter's guild in 1837. In 1836 the birth of Torres' first child, María Dolores, followed. During this time, Torres had to pay taxes for the war, pay his taxes, make contributions to the carpenter's guild, pay off his house, and help finance the supply of the community with salt and utensils and instruments such as drums and trumpets for the city, which led to his debt. In 1839 the authorities decided to collect the debts by garnishment. Shortly afterwards Torres' second daughter, Josefa María, was born, but she died in 1842; his third daughter, also named Josefa María, died that same year a few months after she was born. In 1845, his wife died of tuberculosis at the age of 23. After his wife's death, Torres left his only surviving daughter with his in-laws and moved to Seville. There was a large choice of jobs there. In addition to six guitar-making workshops, Seville had over seventy carpenters' workshops, several chair makers and other woodworking workshops.
Torres built his first guitar in Granada between 1836 and 1842 . The exact year cannot be determined; In a letter from Juan Martínez Sirvent, a good friend of Torres, to Francísco Rodríguez Torres, it simply says: "[...] soon after he (Antonio de Torres) became a father, he went to Granada and built his first guitar there [...] ] “In 1845 Torres moved to Seville and also worked as a carpenter in Vera. At first he only built guitars occasionally in Seville; after concert artist Julián Arcas played one, he advised Torres to become a full-time luthier. Around 1856 Torres moved into a new workshop in which he only built guitars. He produced guitars for normal sales, but at the same time with great care a guitar with, according to Juan Martínez Sirvent, “back and sides made of cypress wood, the neck made of cedro, an ebony fingerboard, machine heads and a bled top, simple inlays, a wide rosette and Tornavoz. ”Torres called this guitar“ La Leona ”(FE 04) and is still very popular today because of its sound. Between 1856 and 1864 Torres built four masterful guitars: after “La Leona” in 1858, his most beautiful guitar (FE 08), which won the bronze medal at an exhibition in Seville, and in 1859 a guitar for Miguel Llobet , who played it throughout his career and in 1864 the first guitar for Francisco Tárrega .
After almost 25 years in Seville, where he had also married his second wife, Torres moved back to Almería and stopped building guitars there, since after José L. Romanillos the well-known guitarists of this time largely fell victim to the public's disinterest. During a period of economic depression in Spain, Torres ran a household goods store in Almería. Torres hadn't given up guitar making entirely, however, and while his business was going well, he trained a young luthier. As early as 1875 he was building the second guitar of his second guitar making period. When his second wife died in 1883, Torres had to look after their two daughters and therefore took up guitar making again. Meanwhile a new generation of guitarists had grown up who asked for his guitars. After nine more busy years, Torres died in Almería in 1892 at the age of 75.
Guitars in front of Torres
The Biedermeier guitars from before Torres' first epoch are built differently from today's instruments. They are narrow, elongated, have a much tighter waist and a lower frame height. In contrast to today's concert guitars, in which the strings are tied to the bridge, in Biedermeier guitars they are attached with pins in holes that were drilled in the bridge, as is still common today with western guitars .
If a guitar string is struck, its vibrations are transmitted to the top in three ways via the bridge. First, the bridge and thus the ceiling vibrates like a loudspeaker membrane. Second, the bridge swings like a swing around the central axis of the ceiling. Thirdly, the jetty swings around its own axis (comparable to a ship that constantly lurches from port to starboard). With the Biedermeier guitars, the top was only reinforced with cross bars, which was very favorable for resistance to string tension, but was unfavorable for the transmission of string vibrations. In addition, due to their narrow shape, the Biedermeier guitars gave the bass strings too little resonance space , which means that the highs came out more than the basses. That is why a Baroque or Biedermeier guitar sounds quieter than today's concert guitars .
Reasons for a different construction of the guitar
The growing public interest in guitar music and the construction of large concert halls presented guitarists and luthiers with new challenges. What was desired was an instrument with a louder and more stable sound. Antonio de Torres took over a number of innovations from various guitar makers, combined them and determined a new body size.
The Torres guitar
The Torres guitars are now divided into two epochs because Torres took a break in his life during which he did not build guitars. Today the guitars are divided into the first epoch ("FE") and the second epoch ("SE").
material
Most guitar makers limited themselves to the use of native woods. Spruce was mostly used for the top of the body . Antonio de Torres used a wide variety of woods for his guitars. He only used European spruce for the top. He used rosewood , maple or cypress for the sides and back . He used cedro wood for the neck and ebony for the fingerboard . For the bridge rosewood and for the processing again European spruce.
Dimensions
The new, so to speak “revolutionary” thing about Antonio de Torres' guitars was the dimensions. If you calculate the average of the dimensions of the Biedermeier / Baroque guitars that are cataloged, you get the following values: (all values in mm, except for the top surface in cm²)
| Upper bout | 243.20 |
| Frame height (neck) | 79.00 |
| waist | 189.80 |
| Frame height (waist) | 76.00 |
| Lower bout | 302.34 |
| Frame height (below): | 93.52 |
| Body length | 459.32 |
| Sound hole Ø | 86.88 |
| Scale length | 578.00 |
| Ceiling area: | 1085.29 |
If you calculate the average of the dimensions of all Torres guitars cataloged in Romanillo's book, you get the following values: (all values in mm, except for the top surface in cm²)
| Upper bout | 259.11 |
| Frame height (neck) | 87.15 |
| waist | 219.78 |
| Frame height (waist) | 89.25 |
| Lower bout | 339.69 |
| Frame height (below) | 92.49 |
| Body length | 471.33 |
| Sound hole Ø | 83.85 |
| Scale length | 647.80 |
| Ceiling area | 1235.16 |
However, it should be noted that Torres also experimented a lot with different dimensions until he used the dimensions that are still used today as the standard. The scale length is e.g. B. also the specification 65.4 cm. Especially when you compare the average values with the dimensions of the La Leona , which is considered to be the archetype of the modern guitar, there are still differences. In contrast to the differences between Biedermeier and Torres guitars, these do not play a major role.
By comparing the dimensions of Biedermeier and Torres guitars, you can see in which areas Torres changed guitar construction. Guitars built today essentially correspond to the dimensions used by Torres with only minor deviations. (all values in mm, except ceiling area in cm²)
| Torres | Biedermeier (deviation from Torres) | |
|---|---|---|
| Upper bout | 259.11 | 15.91 |
| waist | 219.78 | 30.00 |
| Lower bout | 339.69 | 37.35 |
| Body length | 471.33 | 12.01 |
| Scale length | 647.8 | 69.80 |
| Frame height (neck) | 87.15 | 8.07 |
| Frame height (waist) | 89.25 | 13.25 |
| Frame height (below) | 92.49 | 1.03 |
| Sound hole Ø | 83.85 | 3.03 |
| Ceiling area | 1235.16 | 149.87 |
Construction methods
Since a light instrument is easier to resonate than a heavy one, Torres tried to build guitars that were as light as possible. Although his guitars were larger than those of other luthiers, they were hardly heavier. Torres used very thin wooden boards (on average 2.5 mm at the thickest point) and therefore had to make sure that the top could withstand the string tension. He took over the fan capacity developed by Pagés, but used a larger number, usually seven centered fan strips with two V-shaped end strips. Torres used a "solera" to vault the ceiling. This is a plate in which the bulge is hollowed out. So it is the negative of the ceiling. The ceiling is pressed into the solera together with the fan performance until the glue is dry and the performance holds on to the ceiling. This variant of gluing the performance has two advantages. Firstly, the strips do not have to be adapted to the curvature of the top, as they are pressed at the same time, and secondly, it is the more statically stable solution because the strips counteract the tensile force of the strings in this way. Torres only used seven fan strips on his best guitars. For his simpler guitars, he limited himself to five fan strips.
sound
The sound of Torres guitars can best be described with the help of sources from the time when the guitars were new and unknown. For example, on October 30, 1862, after a concert by Julián Arcas on a Torres guitar, the “ Brighton Gazette ” wrote : “In his hands the guitar is a speaking instrument, full of voices and also a crying instrument. The trembling tones he produces are so pleading that one might think that his instrument is only turning to him out of mercy. "The Brighton Observer" even said in its November 21, 1862 issue that: "... the real devil went into the guitar himself and tried in vain to escape through the sound hole. ”Another very beautiful description of the sound is given by the“ Brighton Guardian ”on October 29, 1862:“ Sometimes the instrument resonated with full sound; then again it had the deep sound of a double bass; in turn, it emitted harmonic tones that appeared transparent in their clarity ... “The Torres guitars sound fuller and clearer than the audience was used to at the time. In addition, the larger body naturally also gave the basses more fullness of sound.
La Leona
“La Leona” (Spanish for “The Lioness”) was the fourth guitar that Torres built and the only one that he himself gave a name, which shows how proud he was of this instrument. The top is made of spruce, the back and sides are made of cypress. As with all Torres guitars, the bridge is made of Rio rosewood ( Dalbergia nigra ), the back is made of three parts with strips of riopalis sand in the joints. The guitar also has a "Tornavoz", a construction that is no longer used today. The Tornavoz is a metal funnel that was placed inside the guitar under the sound hole. It should bundle the sound waves in the body and in this way emit a louder sound.
After Torres 'death, many copies of "La Leona" were made, so José L. Romanillos, Torres' biographer had to check all "Leonas" in order to find out the original, which is now in the collection of Erhard Hannen in Germany.
successor
Antonio de Torres founded an entire school of Spanish guitar makers, including Vicente Arias , Manuel Ramírez , Santos Hernandez , Domingo Esteso and Marcelo Barbero .
German guitar makers such as Hermann Hauser and Richard Jacob (known as “Weißgerber”) were also directly influenced by de Torres' instruments, which came to Germany through concert tours by Miguel Llobet and Andrés Segovia , among others .
literature
- José L. Romanillos: Antonio de Torres. A guitar maker - his life and work. Bochinsky, Frankfurt am Main, 1990, ISBN 9780933224933
- Franz Jahnel: The guitar and its construction. The musical instrument, Frankfurt am Main, 1973, ISBN 9783923639090
- John Morrish: The Classical Guitar. Outline Press, London, 1997, ISBN 9780879307257
- Sheldon Urlik: A Collection of Fine Spanish Guitars. Sunny Knoll Publishing, 1997, ISBN 9780966077100
- Stefano Grondona, Luca Waldner, Massimo Mandelli: La Chitarra di Liuteria. L'officina del libro, Sondrio 2001, ISBN 9788886949187
- Gerd Michael Dausend: The classical guitar: (1750-1850). H. Nogatz, Düsseldorf 2002, ISBN 9783926440150
Web links
- Literature by and about Antonio de Torres in the catalog of the German National Library
- Antonio Torres, 1856, "La Leona"
- Antonio Torres, 1885, 11-string guitar
- Antonio de Torres Jurado and the Spanish guitar
- Antonio de Torres, a modern guitar maker Biography and explanations of the new construction
Individual evidence
- ↑ Torres biography. In: antoniodetorres.es. Retrieved May 15, 2011 (Spanish).
- ↑ Gerd Michael Dausend: The classical guitar: (1750-1850) . H. Nogatz, 2002, ISBN 978-3-926440-15-0 , pp. 11 f .
- ↑ José Ramírez: Open letter in response to the contribution by Giampero de Giorgi. In: Guitar & Laute 5, 1983, issue 2, pp. 137-140; here: p. 141.
- ^ José L. Romanillos: Antonio De Torres: Guitar Maker - His Life and Work . 2nd Edition. Bold Strummer Ltd, 1997, ISBN 978-0-933224-93-3 .
- ↑ The origins of the guitar. (No longer available online.) In: Spanishguitars.ch. Archived from the original on April 23, 2011 ; accessed on June 2, 2019 .
- ^ Franz Jahnel: Manual of Guitar Technology: The History and Technology of Plucked String Instruments . Erwin Bochinsky, The Bold Summer Ltd., 1965, ISBN 0-933224-99-0 , p. 146 ff .
- ↑ Weißgerber biography in the musical instrument collection of the University of Leipzig
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Torres, Antonio de |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Inventor of the modern classical concert guitar |
| DATE OF BIRTH | June 13, 1817 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Cañada de San Urbano de Almería , Spain |
| DATE OF DEATH | November 19, 1892 |
| Place of death | Cañada de San Urbano de Almería , Spain |