Spain

Mompou was strongly influenced by French Impressionists composers. However, instead of simply following the impressionist tradition or joining new trends such as of Stravinsky or Schönberg, Mompou decided to start afresh (Recomençament) from the origin of music history. Mompou called this musical style Primitivism. Mompou's maternal family the Dencausse was a well-known Bell maker for many generations. The sound of the bell Mompou used to observe in his childhood made a huge impact on his aesthetic.

Song and Dance No.10 by Federico Mompou was originally written for piano in 1953 and later transcribed for guitar by the composer himself. Mompou chose two melodies from Canticles of Saint Mary by King Alfonso X of Castile. This essay includes audio samples and images of manuscripts.

Frederic Mompou's unique original work for guitar, Suite Compostelana was written in 1962 and dedicated to Andrés Segovia. Each movement evokes the essence of Santiago de Compostela — a historical Galician city in northwest Spain. The suite beautifully contains a variety of music styles and moods that conjure up images of rainy Galician city or traditional lively dance by imitating the sound of ‘la Gaita (bagpipes)’ and Mompou's distinctive bell-like chords.

María (Gavotte) is another famous piece by Francisco Tárrega. With this María, Tárrega deploys a range of techniques such as arrastres/glissandi, scales, arpeggios, slurs (hammer-ons and pull-offs), harmonics and pizzicato. Features such as the gavotte's lively rhythm combined with the flexible agogic and dynamics in the Romantic idiom result in a colorful, lyrical and entertaining atmosphere. Beautiful sounds of the Neapolitan sixth chords on bars (m.m.) 4, 39, and 45-46 evoke an Italian opera and/or works by Chopin.

Francisco Tárrega composed many pieces that were musical portraits of his sons/daughters or close friends and often dedicated many of such works to his friends/pupils or patrons. Marieta is the nickname that the Tárrega family used for their daughter María Rosalía (born on 13 September 1885 in Barcelona). The piece was dedicated to his dear friend Santiago Gisbert.

Legend has it that "Una Lágrima (A Teardrop)" is Tarrega’s reaction to the death of his daughter “Conchita”. Returning home from a concert tour in Mallorca, Spain in December of 1891, Tarrega’s wife, Maria José Rizo, informed him that Conchita had passed on three days earlier.

Prelude No.2 was composed on 16 March 1896 in Barcelona and dedicated to Miguel Llobet. Often preludes were conceived by Francisco Tárrega for the benefit of his pupils, specifically to improve their artistic and expressive abilities. It has been said that some of the preludes were results of Tárrega's improvisation during the lessons. Legend has it that Tárrega was never tempted to play his preludes at recitals. Nonetheless, I feel that these preludes are actually the epitome of Tárrega's art.

Legend has it that the piece Adelita owes its name to Adela Aymerich, the allegedly illegitimate daughter of the King of Spain Alfonso XII. For Adelita, it seems that Tárrega seeks the inspiration in the kujawiak, a slow Polish folk dance by following the ideas of the stylized mazurka conceived by Chopin.

The Generation of ’27 is a fascinating cultural movement of modern Spain and Maestro Regino Sáinz de la Maza also had an important role in it. This essay is about the Maestro Regino Sáinz de la Maza and Generation of ’27 movement from guitarists' point of view.

The guitarist Regino Sáinz de la Maza and the poet Federico García Lorca met each other at the “Residencia de Estudiantes” in March 1920. Their solid friendship that lasted for 16 years, until the assassination of this brightest poet in 1936, contributed immensely to the development of both music and poetry. Two months later, Sáinz de la Maza gave a recital at the Hotel Palace in Granada and Lorca wrote a passionate review for a local newspaper “Gaceta del Sur”.