Classical Guitar History &
Literature
SOAR
Dr. Douglas Rubio
Session No. 1
The Renaissance
The Baroque, Part 1
The Vihuela
(da mano)
• 1536-1576
• Guitar-shaped
• Flat back
• Straight neck
The Lute
• Pear-shaped
• Curved back
• Tilted tuning peg box
Luis de Milán
Fantasía XVI
1536
Improvisatory
Luis de Narváez
Fantasía XIII
1538
Much more imitative counterpoint than
early fantasías
Luis de Narváez
Guárdame las vacas
1538
The very first published set of
variations
Uses the romanesca bass line
John Dowland
1563-1626
John Dowland
The Earl of Essex’s Galliard
Lively dance in ¾
Form: A A’ B B’ C C’
Uses “divisions” in the repeated
sections
John Dowland
Can She Excuse
Lute song
John Dowland
Goe from My Window
Based on a ballad tune
Variation form
A A1 A2 A3 etc.
The Baroque
Guitar
Flourished 1670 to 1700
Robert de Visée
Suite in A Major: Allemande
Slow dance in 4
Remnants of the strummed style of
playing
Binary form (AABB)
Robert de Visée
Suite in A Major: Courante
Faster dance in 3 (and sometimes 2)
Robert de Visée
Suite in A Major: Sarabande
Slow dance in 3
Emphasizes the second beat
The “Lute” Music
of Johann
Sebastian Bach
1685-1750
J.S. Bach
Lute Suite No. 1 in E Minor:
Prelude
Quasi French overture style
Begins with “passaggio” melody lines
Chordal section with dotted rhythms
Imitative fugal section
Session No. 2
The Baroque, Part 2
The Classical Period
J.S. Bach
Lute Suite No. 4 in E Major:
Prelude
Originally for unaccompanied violin
This theme was also used in a
cantata
J.S. Bach
Lute Suite No. 3:
Gavotte; Gavotte en rondeau
 Upbeat dance in 2
 The first gavotte is followed by another gavotte
with more flowing melodic lines, followed by a
return of the first gavotte.
 Bach’s own arrangement of his Cello Suite No. 5
 Bach adds chords and bass notes that the cello—a
primarily single-line instrument—can’t play.
J.S. Bach
Prelude, Fugue, & Allegro:
II. Fugue
 Starts with a section that has a series of imitative
entries of melody lines (called the “subject”)
 These are followed by sections with no complete
subject entries at all.
 Very unusual da capo fugue
 ABA form
J.S. Bach
Prelude, Fugue, & Allegro:
III. Allegro
 Binary form (AABB)
 Fast “motor” rhythms
The Guitar in the
Classical Period
c. 1780-1830
Changes to the instrument
Single strings instead of courses
Added a 6th string
No more re-entrant tuning
Bigger body
Still smaller than a modern guitar
Fernando Sor (1778-1839)
Introduction and Variations on a
Theme of Mozart, Op. 9
Typical slow introduction
A theme from Mozart’s opera The Magic
Flute, presented in binary form (AABB)
A series of variations on that theme
One is typically contrasting, in this case
slow and in a minor key
Ending coda
Fernando Sor
Sonata in C Major, Op. 15 bis
 In sonata form
 Exposition (statement of themes)
 Development
 Takes material from the themes and plays with it
 Harmonically unstable; many key changes
 Recapitulation
 Restatement of the original themes in the home key
Mauro Giuliani (1781-1829)
Grand Overture, Op. 61
 In sonata form
 Slow introduction
 Exposition
 Themes presented in A major, and then E major
 Development
 C major, D minor, E major
 Includes new material
 Recapitulation
Session No. 3
Spain
Latin America
Spanish Guitar
Music in the
Late-19th and
20th Centuries
Antonio Torres guitar from 1890
With Torres, the size and shape of
the classical guitar becomes
standardized for most of the 20th
century and beyond.
Francisco Tárrega (1852-1909)
Capricho Árabe
 Starts with a slow, improvisatory introduction featuring scales
that sound quite middle-eastern.
 Then the “singer” comes in with a beautiful melody in minor
accompanied by the guitar.
 As is typical in Spanish music, there is a contrasting section
in the middle, in this case in a major key.
Isaac Albéniz (1860-1909)
Sevilla
 Originally a piano piece
 Typical ABA form
 First section is the “dance” part of Spanish folk music
 Contrasting copla middle section full of pathos and cante
jondo
 Return of the dance
Federico Moreno Tórroba (18911982)
Sonatina: I. Allegretto
 Known for his zarzuelas
 Wrote a lot of guitar music for Andrés Segovia
 Mostly miniatures
 Conservative in his musical vocabulary
Joaquín Turina (1882-1949)
Soleares
 Wrote for Andrés Segovia
 More influenced by flamenco guitar playing than the other
composers who wrote for Segovia
 A soleares is a type of flamenco piece, but the tempo and
strict rhythmic pattern don’t fit Turina’s piece.
Joaquín Rodrigo (1901-1999)
Concierto de Aranjuez: II. Adagio
 NOT written for Andrés Segovia
 The opening theme (with guitar and English horn) has been
used by many other musicians, including Miles Davis and
Chick Corea.
 Also prominently used in television commercials for the
Chrysler Cordoba, with its “soft Corinthian leather”
 Written after his wife’s miscarriage
 Musically takes us from profound sadness, to anger, to
acceptance
Latin American Guitar Music in the
20th Century
 Heitor Villa-Lobos
 Agustín Barrios
 Léo Brouwer
Heitor Villa-Lobos (1887-1959)
Etude No. 11 in E Minor
 One of 12 etudes written in the 1920s
 Slow introduction
 Fast section sliding only two fingers up and down the 4th and
5th strings
 “Tremolo” section moving octaves against open strings
 Return of the “two-fingered” section
 Return of the slow introduction
Heitor Villa-Lobos
Prelude No. 1 in E Minor
 One of five preludes written in 1940
 Subtitled “Homage to the Brazilian Country Dweller”
 Begins with singing melody in the cello range
 A fast, dance-like middle section
 A section made up of one big major chord “planed” around to
different positions
 Return of the “cello” melody
Agustín Barrios
(1885-1944)
“Chief Nitsuga Mangoré,
the Paganini of the
guitar from the jungles
of Paraguay”
Agustín Barrios
Concert guitarist
Agustín Barrios (1885-1944)
Cueca
 One of his pieces inspired by Latin American folklore
 A Chilean folk dance
 One section is played with only tamboura in the right hand
Agustín Barrios
La catedral
 Inspired by 19th-century European music and by the music of
J.S. Bach
 Allegedly inspired by a religious experience of walking into a
Catholic cathedral
 Three movements
 I. Preludio
 II. Andante religioso
 III. Allegro solemne
Léo Brouwer (b. 1939)
Drume negrita
 Translated as “Sleep little black girl”
 Known also as Afro-Cuban Lullabye
 An arrangement of a Cuban popular song
 A very free arrangement with added material, altered
melodies, and reharmonized chords
 From his early period when he was most inspired by Latin
American popular and folks music
Léo Brouwer
The Eternal Spiral (1971)
 Written after attending an avant-garde music festival in
Poland
 Section 1: Dense “tone clusters” arpeggiated very quickly in
“cells” that last for an indeterminate length of time
 Section 2: More tone clusters punctuated by individual notes;
ends with indeterminate pitch notated with squiggles
 Section 3: Tapping on the fingerboard with both hands
 Section 4: Improvising on three notes with occasional other
notes interspersed
 Section 5: Fast arpeggios, ending with fast tone clusters
again as in the opening
Léo Brouwer
The Black Decameron (1981):
II. The Flight of the Lovers through
the Valley of the Echoes
 Based on African folk-tales by German ethnologist Leo
Frobenius
 Starts with a four-note figure (“the call”) heard throughout
 Three arpeggiated chords represent “the prophecy”
 The first gallop of the lovers
 “The call” again
 The lovers call each other in imitation
 Through the valley of the echoes
 Final arpeggiated chords
The 20th Century elsewhere in
Europe and America
Benjamin Britten (1913-1976)
Nocturnal (after John Dowland),
Op. 70 (1963)
 Written for British guitarist Julian Bream
 Based on John Dowland’s lute song, “Come Heavy Sleep”
 Not a theme and variations, but a variations and theme
 One of several Britten works from this period that deals with
sleep
Britten Nocturnal
 I. Musingly
 II. Very agitated
 III. Restless
 IV. Uneasy
 V. March-like
 VI. Dreaming
 VII. Gently Rocking
 VIII. Passacaglia
 IX. Theme
Dusan Bogdanovic (b. 1955)
Six Balkan Miniatures (1991)
 One of many modern guitarist-composers
 Nationalism now comes from other countries than just Spain
and Latin America
Steve Reich (b. 1936)
Electric Counterpoint: I. Fast
 Written for jazz guitarist Pat Metheny
 Thirteen guitars and two electric basses
 Often played with tape accompaniment and guitar soloist