"It was the Castelnuovo guitar concerto that Segovia (or his
biographer)
claimed was the first guitar concerto of the 20th century."
It is probably up for debate as to whether Tedesco or Rodrigo wrote the
first guitar concerto of the 20th century. Both were written in early
1939 but I don't know when either was completed. Segovia indicates to
Ponce in Aug. 1939 that Tedesco wrote him a concerto so it was
presumably done by then. Rodrigo's was premiered in November that year
by it's dedicatee, Regino Sainz de la Maza but Tedesco's was not
performed by Segovia until later (can't find the date at the moment).
Segovia would have had a vested interest in promoting the view that
Tedesco's was first completed. He was bitter that Rodrigo's concerto
was dedicated to Sainz de la Maza, especially after it was such a huge
success.
steve
On Mon, Sep 29, 2008 at 1:32 PM, Arthur Ness
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
----- Original Message -----
From: "howard posner" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: "Lute Net" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Sunday, September 28, 2008 8:18 PM
Subject: [LUTE] Re: Respighi
| On Sep 28, 2008, at 12:24 PM, Arthur Ness wrote:
|
| > He argued that Segovia was lying
| > when he bragged to have commissioned the first guitar concerto
of
| > the 20th
| > century.
|
| What was this concerto Segovia was supposed to have commissioned?
oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
Good morning, Howard!
It was the Castelnuovo guitar concerto that Segovia (or his
biographer)
claimed was the first guitar concerto of the 20th century. It dates
from
1939. The concertino dates from 1930.
And even so, one suspects that surely, some place someone wrote a
guitar
concerto before that. As far as I know the work has never been
recorded,
and I cannot find the composer listed in either the New Grove or
Slonimsky
dictionaries, or Austin (20th century music).
Slonimsky mentions him in his book on music in Latin America (just
four or
five lines, iirc), and if you read between the lines (and Slonimsky
was
very skilled at back-handed compliments), he did not think much of
his
music: "An academic composer," or words like that. So being first
is not
neccessarily best. The guitarist/editor falsely claims Slonimsky
championed the work, remarking that Adame held an honored place at
the
head of his list of Latin American composers. Sure. And he would
be
last if his name was Zebra.<g>
In fact it was Slonimsky who brought the manuscript of the concerto
to the
U.S. He had been commissioned to travel trough Latin America and
collect
music from local composers. Someone thought we should be more
familiar
with music south of the border. All of the _*manuscript*_ music
went to
the Fleischer Collection at that library in Philadelphia, a lending
library of orchestral
music for performance (scores and parts).
Found in: Free Library of Philadelphia
Title: Concertino 3^o [=terzo] : Estilo mariache / Rafael G.
Adame.
Author: Adame, Rafael, 1905-
ms score 29 pp. + parts
Notes: 1. Preludio -- 2. Andantino ; fuga.
solo guitar, 1 fl, 1 ob, 1 cl, 1 bsn and strings
BIB Call Number: 985M ENTIRE WORK
All of the _*printed*_ music that he collected is now in a basement
somewhere. I know where but I'm not saying.<g> Maybe Eugene will
find a
peer-reviewer to test the truthfulness of my statement.
More interesting to my way of thinking would not be "firsts" but
"bests."
My vote for the best guitar concerto of the 20th century would
certainly
include as first place the recently discovered Concerto for Two
Guitars by
Germaine Tailleferre, the female member of "Les Six.". The guitars
tend
to be in the background, so perhaps it might not appeal to some
guitar
types. But the harmonies and orchestral sonorities are so
wonderfully
transparent. Lots of bi-tonal passages. Cross rhythms. A piano
reduction
with two guitars and full score was published about five years ago
(Lagny
sur Marne: Musik Fabrik, 2002 & 2008). It is thought the concerto
was
composed for the Presti/Lagoya duo.
It's on a CD featuring Chris Bilobran, "Compositon Feminine" Verlag
Klaus
Juergen Kompread VKJK 0422. See [4]www.jklk.de
The CD includes a nicely performed concerto-like overture with solo
lute
(played on guitar) by Camilla dei Rossi (d. ca 1710). A delightful
Italianate work. She was active in the Vienna Court, where the
lutenist
Francesco Conti was Kapellmeister. She composed oratorios, often
including prominent parts for lute, and had some contact with
Handel. Many of her scores are published by Clar-Nan Editions in
Arkansas. Apparently (iirc) the original lute parts are in pitch
notation.
The CD also has some virtuoso opera variations composed by Mauro
Giuliani's daughter, Emilia Giuliani-Guglielmi. Now that must be
another
furst of sorts.
=====AJN (Boston, Mass.)=====
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Symphony No. 3 in D, D. 200
performed by the Orchestra della Svizzera Italiana, Alain Lombard,
conductor.
To download, click on the CML link here
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References
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4. http://www.jklk.de/
5. http://mysite.verizon.net/arthurjness/
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