It is not about adding just another colour. By the percussive rhythm of a guitar (with an effect almost like a snare drum, caused by excessive forceful strumming) the whole character of the music can change. Therefore it would be good to be well informed about the existence of such a practice.
The whole discussion is pervaded by ideas about how the guitar was used in the alfabeto era. Today it is often (implicitly) compared to flamenco. Yet, the character of the repertoire of flamenco cantes (to which the percussive style of rasgueado really belongs) is very different from the pastoral villanelle from Italy. These are much more related to the romances from 16c Spain, a repertoire with a gentle touch of melancholy. The guitar has the prime task to provide good harmony, to support the voice in the expression of the poetry. Perhaps it could even be better compared to how Jazz guitarists strum an accompaniment to a ballad. It could well be that the use of the guitar was confined to certain genres of song and dance. Even if there are included ostinato themes like the ciaccona in certain stage works of Monteverdi, this does not say that, within the frame of thought of the rappresentativo style, such references should lead to a literal reproduction of the situation it refers to (of which guitar strumming in a pastoral environment forms part). Imitation with other means sometimes works even stronger. As Montesardo remarked in 1606: To have an elegant hand on the guitar, it is needed to hold it relaxed and strike the strings gently with three or four fingers in the manner of an arpeggio, not all at once, which would create a great noise and sound crude, which is very annoying to the ear. In the battuto-pizzicato solo repertoire strumming is applied over any number of strings, and sometimes it is used for two- or three part textures or even single notes. Meanwhile, it seems that the modern idea of rhythm guitar has affected the performance on the theorbo as well, since more and more that instrument is used for strumming. It would be interesting to find out on what historic information (apart from comparing it to the guitar...) that is based. Today there is a fashion for making an orchestral instrumentation with many different instruments that were there. Maybe the question should rather be if there is any evidence in descriptions, scores or iconography of the guitar participating in the continuo body, as it exists in abundance for the theorbo and the lute. It is true that in many song collections there is alfabeto included, next to a bass line, which could be understood as an indication that the guitar strummed along with the theorbo or harpsichord. Having looked in a number of these books it turns out that there are very often conflicts between the guitar part and the bass (and even sometimes with the melody). It seems as if the harmonic language of alfabeto (the choice of harmonies) was essentially different from (not necessarily always inferior to) the official versions as represented in the bass. It is not self-evident that guitarists were able to read their chords from the bass (which they actually did not play). It is telling that there seem to exist no (or very few) examples of basso continuo with alfabeto written in. Lex -- To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
