The Guitarists of Spain, their amazing legacy

Spain has produced many outstanding virtuosi and it is unquestionable that guitar music flourished in nineteenth century Spain.

Yet, the Spanish guitar virtuosi and the Spanish exponents of the instrument achieved their great success outside their native country. The likes of Fernando Sor exemplified these emigrant guitarists.

Dionisio Aguado (1784-1849) was an important virtuoso and composer. He was an important pedagogue and his Metodo para guitarra is still considered one of the best methods written in the nineteenth century.  It has been translated into other langages and reprinted several times. He initiated the use of a stand to support the instrument while playing it in a sitting position.

Julian Arcas (1832-1882) was another Spanish guitar virtuoso. After touring Spain, he traveled to England and performed at the Brighton Pavilion before members of the Royal Family.  His playing was highly praised. He returned to Spain, continued to concertise and has been professor at the Royal Conservatory. No less than eighty of his compositions has been published.

Fernando Sor

Francisco Tarrega

Probably the most important contribution to pedagogy and guitar technique from Spain is embodied in the works of Francisco Tarrega (1852-1909). These included his compositions which rank among the best in the late nineteenth century.

Tarrega received his first guitar instruction at the age of eight. This was followed by studies at the Conservatory of Music in Madrid where he later taught guitar. He also taught in the Conservatory of Barcelona and made over 100 transcriptions of works by Bach, Handel, Mozart and Schubert.

In addition, he wrote many compositions of his own: preludes, studies and waltzes that exhibit the increased complexity of harmony and technique made possible by his new approach to guitar playing.

This new approach involved a major change: the holding of the right hand perpendicularly to the strings instead of being hold obliquely to them. 

Tarrega's technique made more convenient the use of the so-called "supported stroke" or "hammer stroke". At any rate, Tarrega's accomplishments were definite and significant aids toward the formulation of modern guitar technique. They helped revitalize the popularity of the guitar, which had declined in previous years.

Isaac Albéniz

Suddenly, there was a new generation of composers who could interpret Spain to the outside world in its own idiom: Isaac Albéniz (1860-1909), Enrique Granados (1967-1916), and Manuel de Falla (1876-1946). 

All of them admired the guitar as aficionados, but only Albéniz grew up playing the guitar as well as the piano. Albéniz went on to become one of the great pianists of the century but he wrote for the keyboard as thought it were a guitar. Many of his works are eminently well suited to guitar transcriptions.

After Tarrega's death in 1909, his work was carried on by a circle of gifted pupils, including Emilio Pujol, Miguel Llobet, Daniel Fortea, and Alberto Obregón.

Antonio Torres

He also standardized the modern pattern of fingerboard - wider and thicker than that on earlier instruments - and a pattern of tied bridge almost identical to that found on all classical guitars today. The Torres guitar was so obviously superior to anything else in its day that its example changed the pattern of guitar building, first of all in Spain and eventually worldwide.

Torres innovations resulted in the foundation of a true Spanish school of guitar making whose membership eventually included the most important luthiers of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century.

Andrés Segovia

In a hurry?  Just leave us your number, and we'll call you back at a date and time of your choice!

Have we just played at your event?  Please get in touch, we'd love to hear from you! 

Pay online by credit/debit card, or by cheque

We only use Verisign-certified secure payment processing services with 128-bit encryption, through Merchants used by Lloyds, Halifax & Barclays Plc

Now Hiring in Europe, USA and Canada

© 1994-2008

The Romantic Guitar Agency Ltd. 

The Classical Guitar Agency Ltd. 

Registered in England & Wales no. 5153742.