Guitarra latina

Guitarra latina (Sp.), on the basis of illustrations of the 13th-c. Cantigas de Santa María, Sachs concluded that this was a plucked instr. with ribs, waisted body, fretted neck, and probably 4 strings. His conclusions are still accepted. Kastner, in his Danse des morts, quotes a 1349 source listing a joueur de la guiterre latine and a joueur de guiterne moresche then in the employ of the Duke of Normandy. Juan Ruiz, in the 14th c., also mentions both kinds of guitarra (169). Sachs, Curt…