Publications

A noted teacher of the guitar, Domingo Prat (1886–1944) published the Diccionario de guitarristas in July 1934 in a limited edition of 1605 copies, all of which he personally signed. He built on a number of earlier lexicons and histories of the guitar, such as Philip J. Bone’s The guitar and mandolin of 1914, and Josef Zuth’s Handbuch der Gitarre und Laute, Maria Rita Brondi's Il liuto e la chitarra, and Fritz Buek’s Die Gitarre und ihre Meister, all three published in 1926, as well as Ricardo Muñoz’s Historia de la guitarra of 1930. Acutely aware of these publications, Prat did not deem them entirely successful in their respective missions and aimed at ameliorating the work of his predecessors by providing a systematic account of his sources. Many entries contain quotations from such valuable source materials as newspapers and treatises. The Diccionario de guitarristas covers a wealth of information on the guitar and related subjects—the recognized masters of the past and present, Prat’s colleagues in Buenos Aires and abroad, obscure amateurs, celebrities, students in whom he saw a promise, mythological figures, and even fictional personalities from general literature—from the earliest times, through the Renaissance, Baroque, and the Classic era up to and including the early 20th century. It covers four main areas of interest: South American guitar music in general and Argentine guitar music in particular; the guitar in Spain; contemporary guitar; and guitar history. Numerous references pertain to individuals from the world of flamenco, or género andaluz as Prat called it. The Diccionario offers separate sections on luthiers, instruments, dance, and terminology. The exhaustive appendix exclusively focuses on guitar makers.