INTERPRETATION OF THE SOUND IMAGE OF THE LUTE IN CONTEMPORARY GUITAR PERFORMANCE (BASED ON GIOVANNI GIROLAMO KAPSBERGER’S “CANARIO”)

Abstract

The article is devoted to the interpretation of the sound image of the lute in contemporary guitar performance, using Giovanni Girolamo Kapsberger’s Canario as a case study. In modern guitar art, the revival of ancient music heritage primarily manifests as a return to the traditions of lute playing and theorbo performance. Kapsberger’s Canario for theorbo vividly illustrates the current tendency among performers to engage with the musical legacy of the past. The purpose of this study is to identify the features of contemporary guitar performance aimed at actualizing early European music through the interpretation of the sound image of the lute, exemplified by Kapsberger’s Canario. The methodology is based on genre-stylistic, historical-cultural, and semantic approaches. Although Canario is a popular piece within both performance practice and audience reception, it has not yet become the object of detailed musicological research, which constitutes one aspect of this study’s novelty. Furthermore, there is a scar- city of sources dedicated either to Kapsberger’s creative output or to the ancient dance genre canario itself, which also requires scholarly attention, adding another dimension of novelty. The conclusions define the genre and stylistic features of Kapsberg- er’s Canario, highlighting its connection with dance traditions and the emancipation of instrumental thinking at the boundary between the Renaissance and Baroque eras. The architectonic structure of the piece is analyzed, with special attention given to interpretative challenges related to tablature transcription, ornamentation, and texture reconstruction. It is emphasized that the contemporary performer acts not merely as a reconstructor, but as a co-creator of the sound image. The transformed sound image of the lute within the guitar environment emerges as a musical form of cultural memory, renewing the connection between the past and the present within a new acoustic space. The interpretation of Kapsberger’s Canario demonstrates that the return to early repertoire is not only an act of historical reconstruction but also a living form of artistic experience.