The guitar in America as reflected in topical periodicals, 1882--1933

In the final decades of the nineteenth century, America witnessed a resurgence in the popularity of the guitar, in conjunction with the banjo and mandolin. These three instruments were united in performing ensembles and in Banjo, Mandolin, and Guitar (BMG) magazines published between 1882 and 1933 by instrument manufacturers and music publishers, which document the shifting role of the guitar in America's popular and elite musical cultures.;This dissertation is based on a close reading of nine extant BMG periodicals from the Library of Congress. The first three chapters introduce the materials, examine the development of American musical journals to 1880, and survey the history and use of the guitar in America up to 1880. Chapters 4–10 offer broad evaluations the guitar in the BMG journals, with a chapter each on organology, guitar technique, music for amateurs, music for professionals, iconological depictions of the guitar (including the role and representation of women), and the late influences of jazz and Spanish guitarists. Chapters 11–17 examine individual magazines in detail, considering personnel, publication history, and other specific features.;This study reinforces other recent research about the influence of commercial interests on the development of American music. It documents that the guitar's popularity in this period was partly the result of a conscious effort by banjo and mandolin manufacturers and enthusiasts to associate their instruments with the guitar by drawing on its refined history, established technical and pedagogical traditions, and elite status to raise the standing of their instruments in America's musical culture. The study examines America's important BMG guitarists, including William Foden, Vahdah Olcott-Bickford, George Krick, and Sophocles Papas.;As the chasm between America's popular and elite cultures widened, BMG guitarists attempted to straddle the gap, claiming a role in America's cultivated art music while participating in the development of popular musics like jazz. By the late 1920s, European virtuosi, led by Spaniard Andres Segovia, re-established Europe's hegemonic claims on the classical guitar while America's BMG guitarists split, one side drawn to America's new popular musics and the other embracing the European school.