AOUG Will Swann Award for Innovation and Knowledge Development

Awarded to Sarah Clarke.

The Reputation of the Guitar in Victorian Britain

I first learnt Classical Guitar while at school. Having taught the instrument for many years I now concentrate on research and my interests focus on the guitar in nineteenth-century England. In my PhD thesis I challenge the statement in the ninth edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica (1880) that the instrument had, after its great popularity in the early part of that century, lapsed into near oblivion. I aim to demonstrate that this was not so and that amateur interest in the guitar was maintained throughout the Victorian era. I am delighted to receive an award from the AOUG.