Fernando Sor (1778 - 1839) was probably the most well
known guitarist in what is sometimes called "The First
Golden Age of the Guitar". Every where he played, the
guitar's popularity spread. Although he wrote many
other types of works for different mediums including
piano solos, opera, and ballet, Sor is best remembered
for his guitar studies and works, which have been the
basis of so many guitarist's learning of the classical
guitar
In 1830, Fernando Sor was 52 years old. He had just
p...(+)
Fernando Sor (1778 - 1839) was probably the most well
known guitarist in what is sometimes called "The First
Golden Age of the Guitar". Every where he played, the
guitar's popularity spread. Although he wrote many
other types of works for different mediums including
piano solos, opera, and ballet, Sor is best remembered
for his guitar studies and works, which have been the
basis of so many guitarist's learning of the classical
guitar
In 1830, Fernando Sor was 52 years old. He had just
published his Method for the Guitar, his hit ballet,
Cendrillon, was in production in Paris and he had
decided to settle there, leaving the exhausting life of
a touring virtuoso in favour of a calmer existence,
devoted to private teaching and composition. In this
last decade of his life he produced some of his most
magical works for the guitar and it’s largely to
these neglected miniatures that this recording is
devoted. Guitarists today are ambitious to rival the
piano and violin, and while their efforts are heroic,
and often musically fascinating, it has to be
acknowledged that an instrument sounded by plucking
fingers, whose basic range is lower than a viola will,
by its very nature always excel more naturally in the
realm of the intimate. Although Sor wrote some very
successful larger pieces for the guitar, he seems to
have been happiest creating small perfect miniatures
and it strikes me that criticising these works for a
lack of ambition (as some guitarists have done) is to
misunderstand their essence. We might, with equal
justice, make similar criticisms of a snowflake or a
wildflower.
In addition to his activities as a teacher and
composer, Sor also appeared in public occasionally as a
soloist with musicians such as the tenor Garcia
(Rossini’s original Barber of Seville), Berlioz and
Liszt (who pioneered the first solo recitals from
around 1840, just after Sor’s death). One of his
performances in 1833 holds a special interest for me.
It was a ‘Concert Historique’ devoted to music of
the 17th century, organised by the eminent musicologist
and critic F. J. Fetis who wrote: ‘The famous
guitarist Sor had been patient enough to make a special
study of the lute … Franchomme played the bass viol,
and I, the harpsichord.’ There is also a persistent
rumour that Sor gave a concert or two with Frédéric
Chopin during these years but I haven’t been able to
verify this from any 19th century source. It wouldn’t
be surprising though if it turned out that they had
known one another; they were moving in the same circles
at the same time and Sor composed several mazurkas (one
of which is included on this recording) which are very
obviously intended as complements to his younger
colleague.
With the sort of respect accorded to Sor by his musical
peers and the triumph of his ballet music with the
general public (Cendrillon was in repertory at the
Paris Opera for several years and had been used to open
the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow), one might expect him to
have been universally successful as a guitar teacher
and composer but alas, his music was seemingly often
too complex for amateurs (ironic, in view of his
present neglect for exactly the opposite reason). He
quotes a dissatisfied customer with some bitterness in
the guitar method of 1830: ‘You give us church music
and counterpoint. Give us guitar music … speak to us
in the language we understand …’ Scattered through
the late opus numbers are a series of increasingly
simple works for amateurs with sarcastic titles which
tell their own story.
Sor’s final years were not happy ones: although he
had material security, the death of his wife and only
daughter as well as his own health (he seems to have
died of cancer) meant that his end was rather
tragic.
Source: Wikipedia
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fernando_Sor).
Although originally created for Guitar and Voices
(SATB), I created this Arrangement of the Creation
after Haydn for Classical Guitar & Strings (2 Violins,
Viola & Cello).
PARTITION