Sor Fantasie in Dm
Transcript of Sor Fantasie in Dm
8/10/2019 Sor Fantasie in Dm
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/sor-fantasie-in-dm 1/17
8/10/2019 Sor Fantasie in Dm
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/sor-fantasie-in-dm 2/17
8/10/2019 Sor Fantasie in Dm
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/sor-fantasie-in-dm 3/17
INTRODU TION
ernando Sor (1778-1839) was one
of
the first great composers to write for the guitar in its modern configuration. H e wa,
-'
Catalan, born in Barcelona, and received his early musical training at the legendary monastery of Montserrat, where he
ar
. ;
in the boys' choir. His opera Il Telemaco neff isola di Calipso was produced in 1797, when he was only nineteen. Although t
was a commissioned officer in the Spanish army, he seems to have had few military responsibilities, and was able to pursue £:.: ,
as
a composer. Sor was briefly a
pr
oNge
of
the Duchess
of
Alba,
but
this relationship was ended by her death in 1802. After
th
e Fren
.::::
n, Sor remained loyal to the Borb6n dynasty for a while,
but
eventually joined many other liberal officers in supporting the Bonapar::-: ,
1813, the defeat of the French drove Sor into a permanent exile from his native land.
His
career took him to Paris, London , and on 0 :.0'
as
far
as
St. Petersburg and Moscow. Sor left over sixty works for one or two guitars, plu s several dozen songs, a few ball
e;:;
.
a
le
works and the studies, composed in the international
c l a s s i . : : ~
of the guitar repertory, works
of
consummate craftsmanship which compare favorably with virtually any
of
l : ~
of
his age.
In
the last few years, several lost works of Sor have
reappeared-two
ballets, the funeral march Sor was commissioned to write
tc:
of Tsar
Alexander I, and, most significantly, the previously unknown solo work which
is
published here for the first time. : : ~
of
the work is
Fantaisie pour Cuitare Seule Composee et didiee
a
Son Eleve Madamoiselle H ouze.
t is a demanding work created
b::
of his creative abilities, a work
of
gaiety, spontaneity, and virtuosity. The autograph manuscript, now in the possession
of
P
eF
at
Sotheby's as part of a collection, said to be
ofItalian
origin, which also included a number of autographed
f i . ~
of
works by Sor; the collection was probably assembled
in
Sor's lifetime, perhaps by the dedicatee Mlle
Houze
herself. The pre,·io:.::
of
the collection have preferred to remain anonymous, so its provenance
is
uncertain.
Natalie Houze was a pupil
of
Sor in Paris, and the dedicatee
of
several other
of
his works, the Six Waltzes, Op. 39 (1830?) , and
::.c
Op
. 54
bis
(1833), both for two guitars. She was also the dedicatee
of
the
Gr
ande Sonate, Op. 51
of
Francesco Molino (1775-18
4;-
.
is known
of
her, but her association with two of the best guitarists in Paris, and the q u a l i ~ :::'
music
that
they composed for her, together imply that she was a talented guitarist. Molino's
Grande Methode,
Op. 46, contains a picture
:
:'
le N.
H.
who is
"eleve la plus orte
de
MI
MO
,
demonstrating the proper posture for playing
the
guitar.
Dr.
Peter
Dann
er
l
L ,
out that
Madelle N.
H. is
very likely to have been Mlle Natali e Houze. Although the dating
of
Molino's works is problematic, it s
ee::-.:
that
Mlle Houze was a pupil
of
Molino for several years in the 1820s, and then (assuming
that
she would not have two such teach,,:,
The date of the Fantaisie was probably about 1833, since it requires at least the ,a::-.t
as Op. 54
bis
, and because it
is
unlikely in that era that a talented, attractive, and apparently well-to-do yo, ::;
married indefinitely.
By 1827, Sor had returned to live in Paris after his extended visit to Russia.
In
St. Petersburg and Moscow Sor had achieved
mc.:-.::
of
the new
tsaritsa.
His ballerina wife, Felicite Hullin, returned to Russia to purs
ue
:,t:
but
in spite
of
conjecture, there
is
no evidence that this plunged Sor into a great melancholy.
On
the contrary, his internatio
:,.o..:
s music was in demand across the continent.
The
next ten years saw his ballets perform ed in the capit?':; .: :'
as a performer extolled in the international press. Sor lived quietly in Paris, for a while in the
Hotel
Favart on the R
.:
::
in
1832 he moved to the
March
e S a i n t - H o r .
e Vendome.
His
frequent concerts, many
of
them documented in the
Revue music
ale, sometimes included duets
" , ~
: ::.
but
his principal income was increasingly derived from teaching fashionable young
as
Mlle Houze.2
There
is
nothing to indicate that Mlle
Hou
ze ever used the manuscript as a performing copy; it contains no fingering indication,: :.:..:.
the fingering in this edition has been provided by Pepe Romero. Sor's musical notation indicates a great deal about his intentions ; it
:-.>
3
with a few exceptions. Slurs not included in the original manuscript are indicated here by dotted slur
s:
: '.-.::
of
accidentals has been modernized and occasionally corrected; the one flat in the key signature
of
the minor section of the An
dl
1 :.
- ': :
7)
was omitted
in
the original; the thematic phrase
of
the
Allegretto vivace
movement, notated by Sor
as
in example A below, has bee:: :
::
-
tated throughout
as
in example
B. -Richard
M.
~ n g ,
1
yy :
A B
i _
i _
f
f
1 Dr. Danner used the picture
of
Madej
e
N. H. on the cover
of Soundboard, XIX
,
No.3
(FalllWinter 1992); his identification is on
? ~ ; =
5.
2 For most of these biographical details I am indebted, as is anyone who wishes to learn about Sor, to Brian Jeffery, Femandr &r:
C > i ; .
:.
:
uitarist (London: Tecla Editions, 1977; 2nd edition, 1995). '
3 Although every effort has been made to preserve the artistic and hi storical authenticity of this edition, it contains new and original
ected by international copyright. This mus
ic
is
not in
the public domain.
G;vIE 010
8/10/2019 Sor Fantasie in Dm
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/sor-fantasie-in-dm 4/17
8/10/2019 Sor Fantasie in Dm
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/sor-fantasie-in-dm 5/17
8/10/2019 Sor Fantasie in Dm
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/sor-fantasie-in-dm 6/17
8/10/2019 Sor Fantasie in Dm
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/sor-fantasie-in-dm 7/17
8/10/2019 Sor Fantasie in Dm
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/sor-fantasie-in-dm 8/17
8/10/2019 Sor Fantasie in Dm
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/sor-fantasie-in-dm 9/17
8/10/2019 Sor Fantasie in Dm
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/sor-fantasie-in-dm 10/17
8/10/2019 Sor Fantasie in Dm
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/sor-fantasie-in-dm 11/17
8/10/2019 Sor Fantasie in Dm
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/sor-fantasie-in-dm 12/17
8/10/2019 Sor Fantasie in Dm
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/sor-fantasie-in-dm 13/17
8/10/2019 Sor Fantasie in Dm
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/sor-fantasie-in-dm 14/17
8/10/2019 Sor Fantasie in Dm
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/sor-fantasie-in-dm 15/17
8/10/2019 Sor Fantasie in Dm
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/sor-fantasie-in-dm 16/17
8/10/2019 Sor Fantasie in Dm
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/sor-fantasie-in-dm 17/17