HMR Project: History of Music & Modern Recording

The Classical Guitar of Fernando Sor

Fernando Sor 1825

Lithograph: Gottfried Engelmann from painting by Joseph Bordes

Baptized on 14 February 1778 in Barcelona, Fernando Sor was a classical composer with an admiration for Mozart, as well as a romantic distinctly different from Beethoven or Rachmaninoff. Commonly referred to as the father of classical guitar, he is the first Spanish composer to enter these histories since Renaissance musician, Tomás Luis de Victoria (1548-1611). The reason is due to not my neglect alone, but, for one, that the shifting Muslim occupation of portions of Spain from 709 until their final expulsion by the Habsburgs (Holy Roman Empire) in 1614 considerably interfered with Spain's participation in classical music. Not that Spain wasn't culturally hep in its own ways such as during the Renaissance, but Islam had long presented a distraction which didn't make Spain the most popular place to be. Prior to the Habsburgs, while the rest of Europe was producing music much of the Iberian Peninsula had been fraught with relentless battle. The so-called peaceful Caliphates had far less interest in European music than conquest where they might. Battle-torn Spain produced many a composer in the shifting regions it controlled, but it had been much a foreign land to the rest of Europe despite rigid alliances with papal Rome and Venice. Sor arrived too late to have known Domenico Scarlatti of Naples who had died a generation earlier in 1757 after a career during which he'd served Barbara of Portugal and Queen consort of Spain who had played an influential role in the development of the fortepiano via purchasing five of them during her lifetime (1711-58). By Sor's time Spain had exchanged the Ottoman Empire for France as the main threat, occasioning Sor's departure from Spain to Paris well past midway through his career before residing in England for about eight years, then in Russia for three before returning to Paris for the last twelve years of his life.

Sor's place in classical music is cemented due mainly to his works for guitar, though he also composed for piano and voice, ballets, church music, works for chamber and orchestra, and a good number of didactic pieces. Sor composed for classical guitar as distinguished from the Spanish folk guitar of flamenco. As a virtuosic guitarist who had begun composing by age eleven, his only formal training was in the choir at the Santa Maria de Montserrat Abbey in Catalonia as a teenager. He was yet a teenager when his opera, 'Telemaco nell'isola di Calipso', premiered at the Teatre de la Santa Cruz (Creu in Catalan) in Barcelona on 25 August 1797.

'Telemaco nell'isola di Calipso' Opera by Fernando Sor

Premiere 25 August 1797 at the Teatre de la Santa Creu in Barcelona

Libretto by Carlo Sigismondo Capece

Orquestra de Cambra del Garraf / José Lluís Moraleda

Teatre Principal de Vilanova i la Geltrú 1999

Sor began to write nationalistic music upon Napoleon's invasion of Spain in 1808. He became a captain during Spain's resistance, then an administrator in Napoleon's new government in Spain. Having switched allegiances, he fled to Paris upon the Spanish uprising against French domination in 1813, never to see Spain again. He there left his government career and drilled full bore into music. He that year completed both his Op 1 and Op 2 [score], both titled 'Six Divertissements pour la Guitare'. Sor is down for opuses to as far as Op 63.

'March' of 'Six Divertissements pour la Guitare' Op 1:6 Fernando Sor 1813

Guitar: Hiromu Taguchi

Score Score Score

Sor left Paris for London in 1815. As a big fan of Mozart, he there wrote and published 'Variations on a Theme by Mozart' in 1819 [IMSLP] (1821 per Wikipedia). This was based on a piece from Mozart's 1791 opera, 'The Magic Flute'.

'Variations on a Theme by Mozart' E major Op 9 Fernando Sor 1821

Guitar: Evangelos Assimakopoulos

Score Score

In 1823 Sor left England for Moscow for the next three years. While there he wrote 'Marche Funèbre' for harpolyre upon the death of the wife of a friend [Kleemola]. A guitar with two necks is a harp guitar. The harpolyre has three.

'Marche Funebre' Fernando Sor C 1825

Hypolyre: John Doan

Sor left Russia to tour Europe in 1826 before settling in Paris in 1827, he there composed the majority of his pieces for guitar. Among the many works he wrote for study was 'L'Encouragement' Op 34 in 1828, a didactic fantasie for two guitars [Tecla]. His 'Méthode pour la Guitare' was published in 1830. Come his ''Fantaisie Élégiaque' Op 59 in 1836 upon the death of his student, Madame Beslay, during childbirth. Sor's last composition for solo guitar was No.25 of Op 60 titled 'Introduction à l'Étude de la Guitare' published circa 1836/37 [Tecla]. His final opus was a duet in E minor called 'Souvenir de Russie' Op 63 with a publishing date of circa 1837. A couple of sources have that written earlier in 1829, but I've found no others to confirm that. The only thing certain about it is that it was Sor's last opus (publication).

'L'Encouragement' Op 34 'Fantasie pour Deux Guitarres' by Fernando Sor 1828

Guitars: Nicholas Faller & Babak Taghinia

Score Score

No.5 of 'Six Petite Pieces' Op 47:5 Fernando Sor 1832

Guitar: Lawrence Johnson

Score Score Score

No.3 of 'Trois Duos' Op 55:3 Fernando Sor C 1833/34 in Paris

Guitars: Andrzej Olewiński & Aleksander Wilgos

About by Peter Kun Frary Score

'Fantaisie Élégiaque' E minor Op 59 Fernando Sor Pub 1836

Guitar: Thomas Viloteau

About at Bru Zane Score

'Introduction à l'Étude de la Guitare' Op 60:25 of 25 Fernando Sor Pub c 1836/37

Guitar: Patrik Kleemola

Score Score Score Score

'Andantino cantabile' of 'Divertissment pour Deux Guitares' E major

Op 62:1 of 2 Fernando Sor Pub 1837/38

Guitars: Jordi Codina & Josep M. Mangado

Score

'Souvenir de Russie' Op 63 Fernando Sor Pub 1837/38 in Paris

Guitars: Timo Korhonen & Patrik Kleemola

Score Score

Sor's last composition is thought to have been a mass in honor of his daughter who had died in 1837. He himself followed on 10 July 1839 of throat and tongue cancer.

Sources & References for Fernando Sor:

VF History (notes)

Audio of Sor:

Introduction à l'Étude de la Guitare (1839 / guitar by Bradford Werner)

Naxos

Presto

Seven Minuets (guitar by Evangelos Assimakopoulos / YouTube)