soundboard - dr. rust;amy houghton bach article

8/10/2019 Soundboard - Dr. Rust;Amy Houghton Bach Article

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The Journal of the Guitar Foundation of America Volume XXXVIII, No. 1, 2012

Segovias Premiere of the Concierto del Sur Engineering a Classical Guitar Kazuhito Yamashita Chen


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News and Personalities

3 R, by Connie Sheu

Feature Articles

6 John Patykula:Ponces Concierto del sur: Te Story o the 1941 Premiere in Montevideo

13 Douglas Pringle: Te Engineering Design o a Classical Guitar

18 Douglas Rust and Amy Houghton:Allegro

(J. S. Bachs Prelude, Fugue, and Allegro, Part 3)

Pedagogy Forum

24 Dimitri van Halderen: A Closer Look at Position Shifs

31 P S: Dale Kavanagh: Are You a Victim o Auto-Pilot Syndrome?

33 E P G: Jack Sanders: Out o Commission

Music

35 R L M G: Vincente Capirola:Padoana belissima & Recerchar undecimo, ed. by Richard M. Long

40 A: Henriette Reni & Alfred Hol: wo Harp Pieces,transc. by Richard Yates

The Journal of the Guitar Foundation of AmericaVol. XXXVIII, No. 1

Soouundndbbooarardd47 R W U N/F F:

Luigi Legnani:Air nouveau (Scherzo, Op. 10), introduced by Robert Coldwell

52 GFA C M S: Michael Knopf:Bamboo & Running Waters,

fromEclectic Fantasies,Set 2

57 G A Domenico Scarlatti: Sonata, K. 1, arranged by Yuri Liberzon

Erik Satie, Gnossienne No. 1,

arranged by Gonzalo Noqu

INTERVIEWs

61 Chen Zhi, interviewed by Greg Byers

65 Kazuhito Yamashita, interviewed by Lawrence Ferrara

68 Xavier Jax & Tomas Pfefer, interviewed by Risa Carlson

EVENTS71 First ianjin International Guitar Festival, ianjin, China, October, 2011

75 Hamilton International Guitar Festival Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, July, 2011

78 La Guitarra California, San Luis Obispo, California, September, 2011

81 34th Guitar Festival, Chteau of Ligoure, Limoges, France, July, 2011

REVIEWS & Recent Studies

84 P, ed. by David Grimes

85 R, ed. by Albert Kunze

90 P R, ed. by David Grimes

94 R R, ed. by Albert Kunze

95 W I P, ed. by Tomas Heck


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2

The Journal of the Guitar Foundation of America

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3Soundboard, Vol. XXXVIII, No. 1

GFA N

G F A 2012C & I CTe international classical guitar communitys premier annualeventthe GFA Convention and Competitionwill be heldJune 26July 1, 2012, in historic Charleston, South Carolina.Our host will be the College o Charleston Department oMusic and liaison Marc Regnier. Te convention will be held

at the Marion and Wayland H. Cato, Jr., Center or the Artson the College o Charleston campus in the heart o the city.Please plan to attend what is certain to be another great GFAConvention in beautiul Charleston. See the GFA website ormore details and registration inormation.

C C

XC I L MTe nals or the XoInternational Competition Luys Milnde Guitarra were held in Valencia, Spain, on December 16,

2011. Awards were presented to the ollowing participants:First Prize was awarded to Ekachai Jearakul, Second Prize toClaire Sananikone, and Tird Prize to Ihar Dzedusenka Sanjay Plohl. Shinichiro okunaga was a Finalist, and Sanja Plohlwas awarded the Public Prize. Albert Rodrguez received theRosa Gil Award or a perormer born or resident in the Valen-cian Community, and Claire Sananikone received the RosaGil Award or Interpretation o Spanish music.

I G CTe 54th okyo International Guitar Competition was heldon November 1920, 2011, at okyos Nikkei Recital Hall.Organized by the okyo Federation o Guitarists, the com-petition included two preliminary rounds and a nal round.Koki Fujimoto (Japan) was awarded First Place, FlorianLarousse (France) received Second Place, Hiroshi Kogure(Japan) received Tird Place, Andrey Parnovich (Russia)received Fourth Place, and Fifh Place went to OegmundurTor Johannesson (Iceland).

REvERBERATIOnSSoundboards News & personalities column

M P G CTe 44th annual Classical Guitar Competition MichelePittaluga was held September 26October 1, 2011. Tewinners were Cecilio Perera o Mexico (First Prize), KyuheePark o South Korea (Second Prize), and Jonathan Bolvar oVenezuela (Tird Prize). Congratulations to the winners othis years historic guitar competition.

I G C

M BWith the nal round on October 16, 2011, at the eatroManzoni o Bologna, the rst edition o the InternationalGuitar Competition Maurizio Biasini came to an end. Be-ore the international jury, each o the three nalists playeda guitar concerto accompanied by an orchestra directed byMaestro Alberto Martelli, President o the Jury and ArtisticDirector o the Competition. Te other members o the jurywere Grard Abiton (Conservatoire rayonnement rgionalde Paris, France), Marco Vinicio Carnicelli (ConservatorioN. Piccinni o Bari, Italy), David anenbaum (Chairman

o the Guitar Department at the San Francisco Conserva-tory) and Walter Zanetti (Conservatorio G. B. Martini oBologna, Italy).

Te rst prize, 12,000 and the opportunity to play twosolo concerts, was awarded to the 24-year-old Petrit ekurom Zagreb, Croatia (born in Kosovo), or his perormance o

Cecilio Perera o Mexico, rst place winner o theClassical Guitar Competition Michele Pittaluga.


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4 Soundboard, Vol. XXXVIII, No. 1

M M , 1936-2011Although the ex-Yugoslav Republic o Montenegro can beconsidered as the country in the region with the youngest clas-sical guitar tradition, it is today an area where the instrumentis very widely accepted. It was slowly introduced to the publicbetween the two world wars, especially starting rom 1930,rst by joining the various tambour and mandolin ensembles.Afer the Second World War, with the rapid expansion o ac-tivity by serious guitarists, the instrument reached high levelso both theory and practice, and emerged with remarkableresults in guitar pedagogy, perormance, and composition.Much o this was accomplished thanks to the great Montene-

the Concerto No. 1 in D, Op. 99, by Mario Castelnuovo-edesco. Te secondand third prizes (5,000 and 3,000) went, respectively, to the 24-year-oldItalian Emanuele Buono, who played Mauro Giulianis Concerto No. 1 in A,Op. 30, and to Srjan Bulat, also 24-years old and rom Zagreb, or playingthe Concierto para un gentilhombreby Joaqun Rodrigo. For more details,visit: http://www.guitarcompetitionbiasini.org/

N A G

R A W P M ASpanish guitarist Raael Aguirre has just been awarded the Pro MusicusAward, a prize which includes engagements at Weill Recital Hall at CarnegieHall, Bostons Longy School o Music, and Salle Cortot in Paris. Aguirre isthe rst guitarist to obtain this prize in the past ten years, as this competitiveaward, with more than sixty entrants this year, is open to all instrumentalists.

S I M

In 2009, Alredo Escande completed hisDon Andrs y Paquita: La vida deSegovia en Montevideo, a very interesting book about Segovias missing years,the decade in which he called Montevideo, Uruguay, his home. An Englishtranslation was recently completed in theUruguayan capital, and the Americanpublisher Amadeus Press has contractedor the worldwide rights to the Englishedition, which is scheduled or releasein the spring o 2012 to commemoratethe 25th anniversary o the passing o theSpanish maestro.

Above, right: Raael Aguirre;Below right: Alfedo Escande (le) with

translators Marisa and Charles Postlewate andPaquita Madrigueras daughter, Mara Rosa

Puig Madriguera (second fom right),in Montevideo, February 24, 2011.

gran classical guitar pioneer Miodrag upi. Unortunately,the end o the past summer brought us sad news: Miodragdied on August 20, about a year afer the unexpected deatho his beloved wie, Branka upi.

Born in the little town o Donji Zagar on March 15,1936, Mijo (as his riends use to call him) belonged to therst generation o Montenegran proessional classical guitarmusicians and teachers. Besides music, he has also studiedart history and literature, and was one o the most brilliantand productive Montenegran authors. Troughout most ohis lie, Mijo taught guitar at the music school in the capital,Podgorica. In 1972, he published his rst two didactic guitar


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Soundboard Vol XXXVIII No 1

of the current generation of luthiers, notably his son, Wilwho carries on the legacy of his fathers approach and de

A more thorough chronicle of John and his workappear in the next issue of Soundboard.

R P M R

Former students, family, and many friends of Ron Pugathered at California State University Northridge (CSat 7:30 p.m. on Sunday, Feb. 12, 2012, to commemoratlife with the guitar. Here is a list of Rons former student

what they played:Cameron OConnor:Hommage to Purcell,Op. 170, N

by Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco;Bryan Fasola:Lachrimae (Flow My Tears), by John DowDavid Schramm: Fandanguillo from Suite castellana,

Moreno Torroba;Jordon Charnofsky: Two Impressions: Reflecting Pool a

makura, andLaguna Breeze, by the performer;

Jeff Miley:Nardis, by Miles Davis (arr. Ralph Towner)Jeff Cogan: Valseana fromAquarelle, by Sergio AssadGregory Newton, with pianist Patricia Hannifan: G

Concerto, first movement, by James Stewart;Grant Geisman and Eddie Arkin: Guitarism (for Ron Pu

by Grant Geisman.

Each performer also shared personal reminiscencRon, and his wife Beth spoke briefly aer the concert.

works, e Classical Guitar,Vols. I-II, together with notablemusician Rudolf Zakrajek, who was in those days directorof the Elementary Music School Vaso Pavi in Podgorica.Four years later, in 1976, Mijo completed his Guitar School,an instructive method, the pioneering work of classical guitar

pedagog y in Montenegro.upis large uvreconsists of more than one hundred

different solo and duo guitar pieces, published in variouseditions in Montenegro, Serbia, and abroad. His music isoen permeated with Mediterranean colors and tradition.For many years, he was president of the Composer Societyof Montenegro. In addition to his musical works, upi

published over thirty books of poetry, prose, essays, musicand literary criticism, etc. Some of these titles were forbiddenduring Titos time because upi was considered a dissidentand a writer who oen stood up against Communism andtotalitarianism. Later, he became one of the most active mem-

bers of the Montenegran Writers Society, which has received alarge number of domestic and foreign awards. Miodrag upiwill be remembered as a good and warm person, who usedto say that, in life, everything can be considered at the sametime as center and margin; he believed that a good writer andartist carefully looking at the margins can better perceive andcomprehend the center. He was a man of refined sensitivityand an absolute believer in beauty.

Not long before his death, Mijo established a specialfoundation Miodrag i Branka upi, which will continue

to assist and promote youthful talent. Uro Dojinoi

J M. G, 1922-2012

With great sadness we report the sudden passing of the emi-nent luthier John Gilbert on February 23, 2012, at his homein Woodside, California. John was recognized by the GuitarFoundation of America with the Industry Leadership Awardat the 2010 GFA Festival in Austin, Texas. John is survivedby his wife of more than sixty years, Alice, daughters Jane,Valerie, Linda, and a son, William. Another daughter, Eileen,

an artist, unfortunately passed away in 2003.As a self-taught luthier who built his first instrument in1965, John retired as the Chief Tool Engineer for Hewlett-Packard in 1974 to build guitars fulltime. Gilbert Guitarsushered in a new era of instruments with their great tonalclarity, ability to project in large halls, and distinctive design.Receiving a U. S. Patent for his tuning-machine design, Johnbegan production of the Gilbert Tuners in 1990; they are nowmade exclusively by his son-in-law, Greg Matonis, who alsotrained as a machinist. In addition, John was a mentor to many

O C

It would probably not occur to the casual observer thacover of the present issue was created by the same pewho made the beautiful collage on the cover of SoundbVol. XXXVII, No. 1. Not only is Marie Stone van Vuan incredibly versatile artist who works in a broad variemedia, but she is also an accomplished classical guitaristteaches the instrument at Guilford College in GreensbNorth Carolina. She is also a partner (with her husban

SV2 Studios (www.sv2studios.com), where she works film and video production, producing music, and ediRegarding this issues cover, she relates: is piece is entGypsy Guitar for its bright festive colors, movement,rhythm. I was listening to Django Reinhardt and wond

what to paint. I took pastel in hand began making rhytstrokes and this image emerged. A faint expression of laughides in the background. I chose oil pastels for this pbecause of their brilliant hues, which express the vibranGypsy guitar music.

Continued on page 32


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he great Mexican composer Manuel M. Ponce (1882-1948) began the earliest sketches o his guitar concertoin 1926 in Paris. Although the Italian Mario Castelnuovo-edesco (1895-1968) was the rst major composer to actuallyproduce a guitar concerto in the twentieth century, PoncesConcierto del surwas nally completed in 1941, the premieretaking place on October 4 in Montevideo with Andrs Segoviaas soloist. Why did it take so long or Ponces guitar concertoto be completed? In many o his letters to Ponce, Segoviabrings up the progress o the concerto: How is the concerto

going? Have you worked on it? (1928); And my concerto,how is it? (1929); Are you continuing with the concerto?When will we be able to work on it? (1930).

In a December, 1929, letter, Segovia even enticed Poncewith the opportunity to have his guitar concerto premiered inBarcelona with the great cellist Pablo Casals as the conductor.Segovia wrote,

I was with Casals, whom I told you were writing a con-certo or guitar and small orchestra or me, and immediatelyhe asked me to reserve the premiere or his orchestra inBarcelona, which I so promised, with supreme pleasure,naturally. I told him that it should be worked up or nextall, and that I would send him the score as soon as you

have nished it.

Te Orquestra Pau Casals, established in 1919, was consid-ered one o the nest orchestras in Europe, with Casals as itsprincipal conductor. Casals made it a point to include workso contemporary composers. Te orchestra also attracted theworlds nest soloists and guest conductors. Unortunately,the orchestra disbanded in 1936 at the outbreak o the Span-ish Civil War. Any possibility o having Ponces concertopremiered in Spain under Casals baton vanished.

Segovia would later explain why Ponce delayed complet-

ing his concerto or guitar.

From the spring o 1926 the principal themes o this workwere germinating in his (Ponces) spirit, but the circum-stances o my errant lie, which separated us or long years,

prevented him rom continuing it and bringing it to a nish.It must be admitted that this delay was also due in part toa certain skepticism in both o us. We eared that the tenu-ous and expressive sound o the guitar would be swallowedup by the orchestra, or that its delicate and poetic timbres

would ade beore the sonorous mass, like small lanterns othe night beore the invasion o day.

In 1937, Segovia lef Spain to escape the ravages o theSpanish Civil War. He relocated to Montevideo, Uruguay.While bringing a high level o sophistication to the guitarcommunity and concert scene o the Rio de la Plata, he con-tinued to maintain some level o touring in Europe or thenext two years. In 1939, Castelnuovo-edesco completedhis guitar concerto. Segovia had initially hoped to have thisnew work premiered in London by the BBC Orchestra in a

P C 1941 M

by John Patykula

Manuel Mara Ponce


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radio broadcast. In an August, 1939, letter to Ponce, Segoviawrote: Trough radio the correction, i it were lacking insonority, would be easy: simply by moving the guitar a littletowards the microphone and moving the orchestra back. Ithat test is good, I have already promised to do it with fifeenorchestras in Europe.

In that same letter to Ponce, Segovia wrote:

While Castelnuovo was writing the first movement, I wasin Florence with Paquita (Segovias wie at that time) andtogether we were remembering, with Castelnuovo andsome other riends, the theme o the one you began. Andbelieve me, we were all deploring the act that you had notcontinued it.

Segovia concluded his letter with these ominous thoughts:I am grieving over the growing menace o the European

war. It will be the destruction o our old world,

dear Manuel. With the outbreak o World WarII, in September o 1939, any hopes o havingCastelnuovo-edescos concerto premiered inEurope were dashed. Segovia decided to utilizethe cultural resources that were available to himin Montevideo.

One may wonder why Montevideo, Uruguay,would be such a major center or music during thisperiod. It is important to look at Uruguays his-tory and culture in order to get the answers. One

musicologist wrote that Uruguay is a white mansland, and its culture has little o either the Indianor the Negro. Because o its location and longcoast line, Europeans were immediately attractedto this new land in the 1500s. As the ethnic In-dian population was driven out, immigrants romSpain, Italy, England, and other European coun-tries populated the land and strongly influencedevery aspect o lie. Uruguay became known asthe Switzerland o South America. Culturally,

educationally, and inancially, Uruguay was aprogressive society, one that was similar to mostEuropean countries. Te concert audiences inMontevideo were considered to be some o themost cultured and sophisticated in the world.

Italian opera became a avorite with thepopulation beginning in the mid-nineteenth cen-tury. Montevideos eatro Sols, originally built in1856 as an opera house, became one o the mostimportant concert halls in South America. Indeed,

Montevideo was considered to be one o the essential stor any South American concert tour. Opera companiechestras, dance companies, ensembles, and soloists all wato perorm there. Te history o this important conceris well-documented in e Teatro Sols: 150 Years of OConcert, and Ballet in Montevideoby Susanna Salgado.beautiully written book provides not only a ascinating

tory o the quantity and quality o perormances that bepart o Montevideos cultural lie, but also contains valuinormation on the various perormers, including when

perormed and, in many instances, what was on the progTe year 1920 was a memorable one or the guitar a

eatro Sols. Segovia made his debut at this historic conhall with a series o three concerts, the first taking plac

June 27. Te program or that first concert included thlowing selections:

La Matriz, the cathedral of Montevideo, which was the inspiration for AguBarrios La Catedral.Barrios lived in Montevideo for a number of years

beginning in 1912, and made his first recordings there. Photo R. M. Lon


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Andante and Allegro SorsCapricho rabe rregaBourre BachAndante BeethovenMinuetto SchubertCanzonetta Mendelssohnwo Dances Granados

Granada, Cdiz,and Sevilla Albniz

Tat same year, Segovia would also give perormances atthe eatro Sols on July 4 and July 25. Tese ground-breakingperormances opened the door or other guitarists to perormat the eatro Sols, including Miguel Llobet, Mara LuisaAnido, Regino Sanz de la Maza, and Emilio Pujol. Segoviawould return to the eatro Sols in 1928 or a series o veconcerts.

In 1929, the government o Uruguay established theradio service Servicio ocial de diusin radio-elctrica, also

known as SODRE, as a cultural tool and resource to promotemusic and art. In 1931, the orchestra o the SODRE, Orquestasinnica del servicio ocial de diusin radio-elctricaOSSODREwas established. Lamberto Baldi (1895-1979),who had emigrated rom Italy to South America, becameits rst offi cial conductor in 1932. He quickly established

the OSSODRE as one o the nest orchestras in all o LatinAmerica. Te orchestra helped Montevideo become a sym-phonic capital o the rst rank. Te OSSODRE would playa vital role in the premiere o Ponces concerto.

In the late 1930s, Segovia and Baldi became acquain-tances, allowing or an historic musical collaboration betweenthe great Spanish guitarist and Baldis orchestra. Te eminentItalian guitarist Angelo Gilardino wrote:

Segovia premiered the Concerto in D by Castelnuovo-edesco on October 28th, 1939, at Montevideo, Uruguay,

with the SODRE (Servicio Ocial de Diusin Radio -Elctrica) Orchestra. Te conductor was, as usual, LambertoBaldi. Te composer did not attend the premiere; at thatepoque he was in the U.S.A., where he had emigrated threemonths earlier. He would listen to his own concerto onlyseveral years later, afer the Second World War.

Segovia would later perorm Castelnuovo-edescos

concerto in Mexico. Segovia wrote, Ponce himsel led theorchestra when I perormed this concerto in Mexico, and theunorgettable experience was just the spur that the Mexicancomposer needed to make him exhume and reawaken hislong-sleeping themes, and work on them with ardor.

With the success o Castelnuovo -edescos concerto,the precedent o a guitar concerto had been set.Tis event helped to dispel any doubts that Poncehad about the easibility o a guitar concerto, inparticular, the balance o the guitar and orchestra.With Segovias constant encouragement, Ponce

renewed his work on his concerto with the idea thatthe premiere, like Castelnuovo-edescos concerto,would take place in Montevideo.

In order or this premiere to become a real-ity, Segovia enlisted the help o the distinguishedmusicologist Francisco Curt Lange (1903-1997)in arranging a cultural visit by Ponce to Uruguay.Te visit would be an offi cial one, sponsored by thegovernment o Uruguay with the assistance o thegovernment o Mexico. Ponce would give a lectureon the history o Mexican music, as well as conducttwo concerts o his orchestral works with the SO-DRE orchestra. One o these concerts would eaturethe premiere o Ponces concerto or guitar. Segoviaalso would arrange another concert in Buenos Aires,which was a short plane or boat trip over the Rio dela Plata rom Montevideo.

One cannot overestimate the importance oFrancisco Curt Lange to Latin American music duringAndrs Segovia


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this period. Lange, who came to Uruguay rom Germany in1923, was the oremost Latin American musicologist o histime. He was known as a great promoter o cultural activities,including advancing the works o Latin American composers.He also had strong to ties to Montevideos SODRE radioservice and its orchestra. Lange was well-known throughoutNorth and South America or hisBoletn latino americano demsica(BLAM), a periodical that was published in Monte-video rom 1935-1941 through the Instituto interamericanode musicologa, which he co-ounded. He also ounded theEditorial cooperativa interamericana de compositores, whichhelped promote and publish the works o Latin Americancomposers. Trough these publications and his work as aneducator and organizer, Lange initiated a movement calledamericanismo musical,which ostered the music o both Northand South America.

Lange was a patient person who knew how to overcome

all o the diffi culties in organizing a big cultural event, in-cluding negotiating with the various government offi cials.While these negotiations were taking place, Ponce workedin earnest on his concerto, sending segments o it writtenon the nest air mail paper to Segovia. Ponce included apiano reduction o the score so that Segovia could work onit with the assistance o his wie, Paquita, who was a brilliantconcert pianist. Te rst portions o the concerto arrived inearly October, 1940. Segovia wrote to Ponce:

Eureka ! Te surprise has been a true outburst o happi-ness. Paquita and I immediately put ourselves to deciphering

your tiny writing and we both congratulate you with all ourheart. At the same time we admire your spiritual ortitudeor extra work reducing the guitar and piano parts to sucha clear miniature.

Segovia would later write that: Every time the postmancame to the house with a bulky envelope, it was a holiday ormy wie and me. We used to suspend our daily study so thatwe could put our whole hearts into the reading and rereadingo the pages which had just come rom the venturesome peno the Maestro.

Segovia was very ortunate to have had the assistance ohis wie Paquita at this time in his career. According to onesource, Paquita Madriguera (19001965) rst met Segoviain 1919. Te two musicians eventually married in 1935; thiswas Segovias second marriage. As a wedding present or the

couple, Ponce added a keyboard part to his Baroque inspiredPrelude in E Majoror guitar, which he had composed yearsearlier. O this gif, Segovia wrote to Ponce stating: It is thebest wedding gif that Paquita and I have received. It benetsboth o us at the same time and the using o it produces ine-able pleasure in us . Many years later, Segovia would recordthis work with the Colombian harpsichordist Raael Puyana.

Guitarist Enric Madriguera, director o guitar studies inthe School o Arts and Humanities at University o exas atDallas, wrote that,

Montevideos celebrated venue eatro Sols, where Andrs Segovia premiered Ponces Concierto del sur. Photo R. M. Long.


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Paquita Madriguera was a pianist and student o Gra-nados in Barcelona. Paquita was my aunt. She hadquite a career as a concert soloist and perormed also

with Maestro Seg ovia in many concerts internationally.Alberto Escande, an Uruguayan journalist, has releaseda book entitledDon Andrs and Paquita.he book dis-cusses their lives together on many levels. It is in Span-ish, and I believe that the book was reviewed recently inSoundboard. Also, a biography o Segovia by AlbertoLopez Poveda, the director o the Segovia Museum andArchive, has a photo and some detail about Segovia andPaquita. he two-volume set is a recent publication othe University o Jaen (Spain). Finally, there is a CD oPaquita Madriguera released by a British company on aseries entitled Great Women Pianists. It is re-masteredrom a piano roll which my aunt made, in the late 1920sI believe. While Paquita did not play the guitar, she didcompose at least one piece, Humorada , published byColumbia Music and recorded by John Williams.

As with other works by Ponce, Segovia did suggestseveral changes to the guitar part o the concerto. In oneletter, Segovia wrote Ponce stating that: I have modiieda ew small things All the essentials are intact. In an-other, Segovia requested several changes to the cadenza othe irst movement. Viewing a copy o the original score,one can immediately see that several modiications to theguitar part were made. However, a thorough comparisono the original score with the published score will be letor another article.

Finally, through Segovias tenacity and hard work, the

plans or Ponces visit to Montevideo were completed. Tecomposer arrived there on August 29, 1941. Te next eve-ning, Lange hosted a reception o the Society o Authors andComposers o Uruguay, with Ponce as the honored guest. OnSeptember 20, Ponce gave a lecture on the history o Mexicanmusic to an audience o about two thousand. Ponce wrote tohis wie, Clema, that: I dont think there could ever have beena more cultured and attentive audience I had to go back onthe stage three times. More than two hundred people cameto congratulate me.

Te ollowing review o Ponces lecture appeared the next

day in the newspaperLa Maana:

Yesterday in the SODRE, beore a large audience, the Mexi-can composer Manuel Ponce gave a lecture, as announced,on the development o the art o music in his country. Hebegan with the Aztecs and all pre-Hispanic music, down toour own day, in the course o this interesting lecture. Onecan say, then, that yesterday we were present at a worthyexpression o Latin-Americanism.

Ponces rst concert took place on Oct. 4, 1941, at theEstudio auditorio del SODRE. Te program eatured some oPonces most important orchestral works and the newly com-posed Concierto del sur. Ponce conducted all o the works ex-cept the Concierto del sur, which was conducted by LambertoBaldi. According to the Uruguayan guitarist Abel Carlevaro(1916-2001), who attended the rehearsals and the premiere,Ponce specically asked Baldi to take over or his own workso that he could listen to its rst public perormance. Teprogram included the ollowing compositions:

Pequea suite en estilo antiguoConcierto del sur(with Andrs Segovia, soloist)

Poema elegacaChapultepec

Tis rst concert was a tremendous success. El Debate,one o the major newspapers in Montevideo, published the

ollowing review the day afer the concert:Te magnicent concert offered yesterday in the OSSO-DRE with music by maestro Ponce, and with the guitaristAndrs Segovia, has lef a very deep impression. We havebeen present at an evening o superior art. Te music o theeminent composer Manuel Ponce is magnicently inspiredand o extraordinary quality. His guitar concerto, a new

work offered in absolutely its rst perormance, gave muchpleasure and drew rom the public a long ovation, so thatthe third movement had to be repeated.

Afer this rst concert, Ponce wrote to his wie, God

be thanked; enormous success last night. I cannot rememberhow ofen I had to go out and thank the audience. Te publicwas delirious.

A second concert o Ponces music took place on October11, 1941, again at the Estudio auditorio del SODRE. Tisconcert eatured the ollowing orchestral works:

Estampas nocturnasConcierto para piano y orquesta (with Paquita Madriguera as

soloist)Ferial

Ponce would later travel to Buenos Aire where a con-cert o his orchestral works was presented on October 20,1941, in the eatro nacional de comedia. Ponce was theconductor or all o the works. Te program included theollowing works:

ChapultepecConcierto del Sur (with Andrs Segovia as soloist)


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Poema elegacaFerial

As part o his tour, Ponce travelled to Santiago, Chile,where he conducted a concert o his works. Te Concierto delsurwas not perormed there, but the program did include theollowing compositions or orchestra:

Pequea suite en estilo antiguoChapultepec

Poema elegacaFerial

Years later, when Segovia gave the New York premiere othe Concierto del surin Carnegie Hall, a reviewer or theNewYork imeswrote that the balance between the guitar andorchestra was not a problem and that the orchestral scoringnever gave the sense o skimpiness it afforded ar betteropportunities or effective solo work on the guitar.

Te reviewer or theHerald ribunewas more laudatory,writing that Ponces concerto:

was a marvelous success and a true musical experience, awork so perectly conceived or guitar and orchestra thatit recreated the Andalucian ambience with variety andsubtlety, by the amplication and development o Andalu-cian themes on which it was based, so appropriate to theguitar. Te guitar has perhaps never reached a higher levelthan was enjoyed by [the] Carnegie Hall [audience] listeningto Segovia in this admirable concerto.

From the earliest sketches in 1926 in Paris to its premierein 1941 in Montevideo, Ponces Concierto del suris also anexcellent example o the creative process, a process that tookmany years with doubts and obstacles to overcome. Segoviasassessment o the importance o this work can be seen in aNovember, 1940, letter to Ponce: It is a delight. I this isnot your best work, I do not know what other one would be I do not know what to tell you about it, only that I wouldnot have wanted to die without having gotten to know yourdelightul music.

Years later, the Mexican guitar virtuoso and pedagogueJess Silva, who studied with Ponce at the Conservatory inMexico City, would comment that Ponces music is strongbecause it is subtle. It has that power. It goes deep into theperormer and the audience.

SAlczar, Miguel, ed., Te Segovia-Ponce Letters.rans. by Peter Segal.

Columbus, Ohio: Editions Orphe, Inc., 1989.

Boletn latino americano de msica (Instituto interamericano de Mu-sicologia, Montevideo). Francisco Curt Lange, ed. Vol. 5 (1941)

Carlevaro, Abel.My Guitar and My World.Heidelberg: Chanterelle,2006.

Casals, Pablo.Joys and Sorrow.New York: ouchstone Books [Simonand Schuster]), 1970.

Corvera, Jorge Barrn.Manuel Mara Ponce: A Bio-Biography. West-port, Connecticut: Praeger Publishers, 2004.

Escande, Alredo,Don Andrs y Paquita: La vida de Segovia en Mon-tevideo(Montevideo: Alredo Escande, 2009).

Lange, Francisco Kurt, ed., Latin-American Art Music or the Pianoby welve Contemporary Composers.Selected and provided with apreace and biographical data by Francisco Curt Lange. New York:G. Schirmer, Inc., 1942.

Otero, Corazn.Manuel M. Ponce y la guitarra.Mexico City: Fondo

nacional para actividades sociales, 1981.

Pinnell, Richard. Te Rioplatense Guitar: Te Early Guitar and ItsContext in Argentina and Uruguay.Westport, Connecticut: TeBold Strummer, Ltd., 1991.

Salgado, Susanna. Te eatro Solis: 150 Years o Opera, Concert, andBallet in Montevideo.Middleton, Connecticut: Wesleyan Univer-sity Press, 2003.

Segovia, Andrs. Manuel M. Ponce: Sketches rom the Heart andMemory, in Guitar Review, Vol. 7 (1948).

Slonimsky, Nicholas.Music o Latin America.New York: W. W. Nortonand Co., Inc., 1945.

O:Angelo Gilardino (personal email communication, February 6, 2011)

Enric Madriguera (personal email communication, January 13, 2011)

Curt Lange Archive web site. Biographical note on Francisco CurtLange. Retrieved September 28, 2011, rom http://www.curtlange.bu.umg.br/iguia_pgs/iguia03.htm

New York imesconcert review. January 14, 1946. Reviewer listed asN. S.

Ponce, Manuel M., Concierto del sur.Copy o autographed score.

A:Shaun McCracken, researcher with literaryresearcher.com, or her helpin editing this article.

John Patykula is Assistant Chair and Coordinator o the Guitar Programor the VCU Department o Music.


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his article will be structured by presenting the design

attributes sought afer in a world-class guitar (see thebox on this page), and how engineering and art are broughtto bear in the development and optimization o these. Teattributes are presented in order o importance as reectedby the opinion o the author; o course, the list is subjectiveand each person can come up with a different list and order.

STis is that quality that makes us say that is a great soundingguitar; it is, o course, very subjective. One o the character-istics o most acoustic instruments is the use o wood in its

construction. Wood has non-linear internal dampening thatcauses a specic ltering o different vibration requencies.In act, each wood species results in a different ltering. Ananalog o this effect can be thought o as different equaliza-tion settings.

Tis results in a timbre that is ofendescribed as a woody tone, and is gen-erally ound to be quite beautiul. Teintroduction o engineered materialssuch as carbon ber composites to theexing areas such as the soundboard

alters the iltering characteristics.Tese result in a different timbre; somepeople claim to be able to hear a plasticovertone. Tis can be desirable to somepeople and not to others. I preer the useo all wood in the soundboard, whichis the principal exing/vibrating area othe instrument.

VVolume can be measured objectively

using a digital sound pressure meterin units o decibels. Te same meter isused to quantiy balance. Te holy grailo guitar construction has been to makethe soundboard as light as possiblewhile respecting the structural demandso string tension. Some approach thechallenge by using Nomax (Kevlar

E D C Gby Douglas Pringle, Engineer and Luthier

honeycomb) as a means o separating two thin soundboard

plates. Others use balsa braces capped with carbon bercomposite in a lattice pattern. Tese approaches lighten thesoundboard considerably and usually result in signicantlyhigher volume, but they still alter the ltering characteristicsand can introduce a different timbre. Wood such as Germanspruce is a natural material that has an amazingly avorablestiffness-to-weight ratio. Using a systematic structural me-chanics approach to the design o the soundboard has yieldedultra light weight in an all wood construction. Te result is athin plate (1.1 mm) supported by a lattice patterned bracing.Te braces that support the torque created by the string ten-

sion are solid spruce while the lateral braces (orthogonal tothe longitudinal dimension) are balsa-capped with Germanspruce. By using a high aspect ratio (2.2:1), the braces main-tain a weight o less than 1 gram each while maintaining the

required moment o inertia (stiffness)to effectively support the string tension.

Another very important actor a-ecting volume is impedance matching.In simple terms, impedance matchingallows an effi cient transer o energ ybetween the string, soundboard, and air.

Tis is somewhat analogous to riding aten-speed bike at the gear position thatbest matches the riders pedal cadence tothe orward speed. Te classical guitarhas a sweet spot or impedance match-ing when the undamental resonanceis in the area o notes between the lowG and A.

Finally, the soundboard is builtwith what I have called intentionalasymmetry. Tis places the nodes o

vibration o the undamental and thehigher modes at optimal positions onthe soundboard with respect to thestring positions at the bridge (Illustra-tion No. 1).

An ofen overlooked part o theweight equation is the bridge. A rose-wood bridge o traditional desi gn

DA

:

imbre, or Quality o SoundVolume

BalanceSustain

ProjectionIntonation

Playability and ActionRange o Color Palette

HarmonicsServiceabilityUpgradability

Physical Balance or Center o GravityWeight

AestheticsValuePrice

ManuacturabilityDurability

OdorInspiration


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weighs about 28 g. Tis adds a considerable amount o weightat the origin o vibrations where it is least wanted. Again,

by using a structural mechanics approach, the bridge is hol-lowed out selectively in areas that have minimal structuralimportance. Te result is a bridge weighing 10 g. shown inIllustration No. 2.

B:Tere is a correlation among balance, timbre, harmonics, andwidth o color palette. Balance results rom an instrument

that produces similarvolume in any o thenotes rendered. imbreis enhanced by allowingthe higher harmonics oeach note to be present,and this results in rich-ness o tone. Harmon-ics is the ability o aninstrument to reproducespeciic harmonics byplucking a string whilestopping it at the naturalnodal points, and is alsorelated to being able toaccess higher vibrationharmonics. It is a well-

known act the sound-board has several modeso vibration. Te trick is to produce a de-sign that provides a smooth and continu-ous access to the higher vibrational modes.Te modes should come in a somewhatregular pattern o requencies which areevenly spaced. I use an approach which Icall soundboard mapping. Te exibilityo the soundboard is measured at strategicpoints, and the bracing pattern and nal

thicknessing support a smooth pattern oexibilities that avoids sharp differences ordiscontinuities (Illustration No. 3).

Te results o a lightweight sound-board and bridge and careul control oexibilities is a guitar that produces 96decibels measured at 38 cm. rom thesoundboard. Te balance is measured bylooking at the standard deviation o the

volumes o all notes and results in 1.4 decibels.

SSustain is the measure o how long a plucked string can sus-tain an audible note. It is a measure o energy effi ciency. Alightweight soundboard has less material to cause internaldampening and the corresponding loss o energy. A rigid back,sides, and neck also reduce the loss o string energy to suracesand structures that are peripheral to the production o sound,allowing more energy to be ocused at the soundboard and

Illustration No. 1 (above): Soundboard and Bracing;llustration No. 2 (below): Pyramidal Bridge Design 10 g


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the production o sound. Also, the choice o wood affectsthe sustain since some wood rings more when tapped. Iuse ringtone in wood selection, but I place more priority onthe relation between density and stiffness. I have developed asimple equation that relates density and stiffness to allow ora more optimal selection o wood. Stiffer is generally better,and so is lighter, but they seldom go hand-in-hand. Usingengineering principles, the ollowing equation was derivedto properly account or each actor: S=E/d3where d is thedensity o the material; E is the modulus o elasticity (stiffness)and S is the predictor number; the higher the S the better.What this equation shows is that lower density is much moreimportant than higher stiffness.

P:Projection is the ability o an instrument to ocus the soundorward, toward the audience. By ocusing the sound produc-

tion on the soundboard and minimizing the vibrations o theback, sides, and neck, the projection is enhanced. One designeature that addresses this is a double back and double sidedesign. wo hardwood sheets such as rosewood are spacedapart by 6.37 mm o structural aircraf oam. Similar designsare being used by other luthiers. Separation o the load bearingsuraces causes a signicant increase in stiffness and a minimi-zation o energy loss to these peripheral structures. Te smalladditional weight in this area is welcome, since it improves thephysical balance o the instrument (seeIllustrations Nos. 4-5).

I, P AIntonation, playability, and action result rom the accuracyo the ret placement and the bridge saddle placement and

Illustration 3 (below): Apparatus Used to Measure Flexibilities

Illustration No. 4 (above): Wood / Foam / Wood Sandwich Back;Ilustration No. 5 (below): Wood / Structural Foam / Wood Sides

shaping. Te bridge saddle is compensated differently at eachstring by the placement o the saddle and individual crowningwhere each o the strings rest. Playability results mostly roma low action and an instrument sensitive enough to producehigh volumes o sound at moderate attack energy. A low ac-tion is enabled when the neck is straight and stable. Te neck


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is reinorced with two 12.7 x 6.35 mm carbon ber beamsplaced internally. Te ex and vibration o such a stiff neck isminimal, and the effect o alterations in ltering by the carbonber material is negligible. Te use o these beams also allowsthe elimination o the heel, as shown inIllustration No. 6.ourther enhance playability, the neck is elevated. Tis allows

easier access to the higher ret positions beyond ret XII, anda very precise ret dressing which results in the lowest actionpossible without string buzzing. Te resulting string heightover the twelfh ret is 2.2 mm at the rst string and 3.3 mmat the sixth string.

R C P H:Smooth access to the higher vibrational modes enhancesthe width o the color palette and the production o thestring harmonics. Tis adds to the ability o the musicianto express the different nuances and phrases required by

the composition and his or her sensibility. Te methods toachieve this are similar to those described above, under B-, but wood selection is also important. Each species andspecimen o wood is unique in the way it lters and allowssome vibrations to go out and others to be attenuated. Anintimate knowledge o these characteristics can be harnessedto good effect.

S U:During my 25 years building and servicing guitars, I havecome across many ne instruments that have a bowed neck

and/or bellied soundboards. Some o them have been totallosses because the cost o repair surpassed the value o theinstrument. Te traditional classical guitar is glued togetherextensively and it is very diffi cult to access the interior orrepairs or replacement o parts. I have incorporated the useo small rare-earth magnets to produce an easily removablesoundboard. Te soundboard is attached magnetically to the

Illustration No. 6: Elevated Neck with No Heel

sides with a cumulative orce o one hundred pounds. Teneck is attached with three bolts to allow removal. A ullyassembled guitar can be taken apart within feen minutes.Tis allows complete access to the inside or adjustments, re-pairs, upgrades, or replacements. Having an easily removablesoundboard also allows or a precise calibration o the map

o exibilities and an optimization o the timbre and volume.Te removable neck allows or a precise adjustment o theneck angle and action. Upgrades and alterations can be madeto the instrument such as a change in neck width, spruce tocedar conversion o the soundboard, and others.

P B C GCenter o gravity should be such that the instrument is nottop- or bottom-heavy. Te player should be able to play witha minimum orce required to maintain the neck at the mostcomortable playing angle. Although this might be considered

a nuance, it does add to the satisaction and playability. Tedouble-back and double-side design acilitates the placemento an optimal center o gravity.

W:Some musicians preer a lightweight instrument; others preerto eel some hef. oo much weight can be atiguing, too littlecan allow the whole instrument to vibrate excessively with acorresponding loss in ocus, sustain, and projection. I designthe instrument to weigh between 1.75 and 2.25 kg.

, V, P, MA guitar made with select woods, high crafsmanship, andgood design is not only beautiul to look at, it is a pleasureto play and should be a good investment. Te price shouldbe affordable and the instrument should appreciate in valueover time. Designing with manuacturability in mind shouldallow an instrument to be affordable.

DA good guitar should be durable andhave an expected lietime o over 25

years. Careul design and execution othe soundboard and bracing should pro-vide not only acoustic responsiveness butlong-term stability against deormationrom string tension. Using carbon bercomposite beams to reinorce the neckis a guarantee against bowing and loss oplayabil ity. Finally, a guitar that can be


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taken apart greatly simplies adjustments, service, upgrades,and repairs.

OTis aspect is not ofen talked about, but a guitar that hasa great odor improves the sthetic experience. Sometimes

this is subliminal, but it is more important than commonlyacknowledged. Te use o unnished Spanish cedar parts inthe interior o the guitar provides a very pleasant olactoryexperience.

IWe normally tend to over-analyze our artistic appreciation,but the guitar is a holon, and should provide a holistic experi-ence. Everything should blend together seamlesslysound,action, projection, visuals, odor, balance, etc. Inspiration re-sults when all the above-mentioned attributes come together

in a well designed and executed instrument that is a joy to play.Douglas Pringles engineering career has spanned work with NASA, Intel,Pzer and MiMedx in the areas o manuacturing, management andresearch and development. As a luthier, he has built 89 classical guitarssince 1987. During the past two years he has worked intensively on thedesign and development o several innovations on the classical guitar. Above: Douglas Pringle at his band saw.


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his article, the last in a series o three about Bachs

Prelude, Fugue, and Allegro,BWV 998, will discuss thekind o perormance decisions that result rom its phrasingand how those decisions could shape the expression o thispiece on the large scale. Te discussion is meant to interestguitarists who either are studying to perorm this piece or whoare developing their approach to teaching it. Te article willdemonstrate that relationships between phrases in this brieand sunny Allegro are surprisingly complex, and that they leadto deeper issues that enrich its interpretation.

Written or lute or lute harpsichord around 1740 (theexact composition date is not known2), the Prelude, Fugue

and Allegroin EMajor has been transcribed or guitar andis now perormed and recorded most ofen by guitarists. Tisarticle will reer to the piece in its transposed key o D Major.

Returning to the topic o phrasing, a good place to beginis with a single clearly-dened phrase such as the one thatoccurs in the last six measures o the A section (the piece isin binary orm with sections A and B). We hear the phrasebeginning when a amiliar melodic idea starts a new ascendingpattern that alternates with a persistent pitch (notated A4, buton the guitar sounding an octave lower) in the implied innervoice. Te ending o this phrase sounds even more convincingas it concludes on a strong cadence six bars laterollowedby a repeat sign that marks the end o the entire A section.Perormers who group together these six measures as onephrase probably will eel justied when they nd that thewhole six-bar phrase repeats (transposed) at the end o the Bsection. Tis phrase is the only one in the composition thatoccurs in both sections.

Once a guitarist has identied this phrase, he or she willhave to decide how to perorm it with a musically expressiveshape. Relying upon their intuition and training, guitarists

will seek a way to impart to these six measures the same kindo natural musicality that one hears in a sung vocal phrase.Te extent to which they succeed will have a strong effect on

the artistic merit o their perormances. Afer all, the way that

each phrase leads on to the next in Bachs Allegro regulatesthe pace o musical development in the piece, builds metricrelationships that are on a larger scale than the notated me-ter, and reveals characteristic patterns o phrasing that aredifferent between the A and B sections o this binary orm.Such a wealth o interpretation hinges upon ones ability tocommunicate phrases.

Our discussion o phrases began with a six-bar phrase atthe end o the A section that is repeated at the end o the Bsection. More commonly ound in the Allegro are phrases thatresult rom a two-bar musical idea that is sequenced.Example

No. 1shows how mm. 7-8 relate sequentially to mm. 9-10 and11-12, respectively, orming a six-bar group. Perormers willofen choose a specic dynamic shape (with accompanyingtimbre, phrasing, and articulations) that can be replicatedor each two-bar unit o this sequence to make the repeatsound more noticeable. Articulations and slurs on ExampleNo. 1approximate the way that David Russell perorms thispassage.3Slurs in the upper voice ollow the rhythms o thelower voice during m. 7; then, the highest three notes in thenext measure receive a more emphatic articulation, one thatdraws attention to these notes through changes in dynamicsand timbre without breaking the continuity o Russells un-derlying legato approach. Certainly, this is only one o manypossible interpretations, yet the important message here is thatcrafing a specic approach to measures 7-8, to be repeatedover the next two pairs o measures, is a rst step toward show-ing sensitivity to a musical context o sequential repetition.

Bringing out the sequential repetition in mm. 7-12achieves a desirable side effect by helping the audience toperceive the measure groupings intended by the composer.Bach careully wrote hal-barlines afer each odd measure

and ull-barlines afer each even-numbered measure o theAllegro, thus implying a metric pairing o accented and unac-cented measures throughout the movement.4Te repetition

BP, F & A,P III:A

by Douglas Rust & Amy Houghton1


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o two-bar musical ideas reinorces the hearing o such ametrical organization, especially since the pattern begins in anodd-numbered measure (m. 7). And the benets do not stopthere. Such a perormance could possibly achieve yet anothermetrical consequence, because the perception o two-barsequential repetitions in mm. 7-12 points to an even deepermetrical structure taking place in this Allegroa groupingo pairs into larger units o six measures.

When the music o mm. 7-8 is twice repeated sequen-tially, the resulting passage subtly acquires its own uniqueidentity within the A section as a separate contrapuntalpattern o six measures length. Te same can be said o thesequential repetition that ollows immediately rom mm. 13-18, or o the last six bars o the A section (mm. 27-32) which,as the reader will recall , prolong a melodic ascent and lead toa strong cadence. Each o these passages groups together sixmeasures into a distinct entity (the unit beginning at m. 7 also

groups together the rst six measures, upon reection) so thatalmost all o the A section ollows a pattern o musical ideaswhich cohere into six-bar groups (seeExample No. 2). Suchrequent use o six-measure entities imposes a stabilizing effectupon the pace o musical events throughout the A section. Yetthere is one small passage that does not ollow this pattern,the eight bars rom mm. 19-26.

Measure 19 begins to repeat the music heard at m. 1and, since m. 19 happens to be the point at which the musicmodulates decisively to A Major, it can sound as i the piecewere beginning again in a new key. Te repeated openingmaterial lasts our complete measures beore the exact musi-cal resemblance begins to ade quickly away; thus, it readilydivides mm. 19-26 into two phrases o our bars eachourbars o repetition ollowed by our bars o new material.Daniel Lippel, in his recorded version o the Allegro,5bringsout the phrase division by beginning anaccelerandoin m. 23(the rst bar o the new phrase) that rushes to reach the high-est note o the A section on the downbeat o m. 25. Otherguitarists use a noticeable rise and all in dynamics to coax theour bars o mm. 23-26 together into a phrase. Such decisionsultimately will be entrusted to the creativity and intuition othe perormer, whose decisions about phrasing will have adramatic effect upon the expressive shape o this A section.

One last phrasing issue to consider in the A section arisesrom the melodic contour o m. 12. Tis is the last o a six-bar grouping and it is a sequential repetition o m. 10 and m.8 beore it, yet it also bears a strong likeness to the melodiccontour o the next measure, m. 13, and also to the measuresthat ollow. In a way, m. 12 can be perceived as simultane-ously the last o one six-bar group and a prototype o the next


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six-bar group. Perhaps it is or this reason that Julian Bream6chooses to change his right-hand position at this momentin the Allegro and begin picking closer to the bridge. Testriking timbral change associates m. 12 more strongly with

the music that ollows and it encourages the perception thatperhaps Bach used the last melodic idea o the old sequenceto inspire the rst idea o the new one.

In contrast with the rst hal o the Allegro, the B sectionbegins not with pairs o measures joined into six-bar groups,but with our-bar musical ideas. Tese groupings o our arereinorced through repetition (see the summary inExampleNo. 3). Te six-bar organization does not return until the endo the piece.

Just as the repetition o two-bar musical ideas held to-gether passages o six measures in the A section, so the our-

bar repetitions within the B section combine to orm units o

eight, or even more than eight, measures. Tus, when listeningcareully to a perormance o the Allegro, one can hear musicalorganization over gradually increasing spans o time. At thebeginning o the B section, or example, the our-bar passage

o mm. 33-36 repeats (transposed down a fh) in mm. 37-40, orming a distinct group o eight measures. Ten, an evenlonger passage starts in m. 41 as the tonality shifs to E minor,elaborated by a descending bass, rst in the upper register(mm. 41-44) and then answered at a lower octave register(mm. 45-48). Yet, there is a consequence to this lower-octaverepetition beyond a mere echoing o the previous our-bars; itwidens the register in preparation or the varied repetition othis same chord progression that ollows immediately (mm.49-52).Example No. 4shows how the two upper voices o theoriginal our-bar idea exchange places to provide the upper

counterpoint or mm. 49-52. Tis varied repetition recalls the


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descending-bass progressions using a voicing that combinesthe registral expanse o both its predecessors. Te breadth othis passage, once it is attained in m. 49, is held until the Eminor cadence ormula conrms the tonality eight bars later.What results is the largest distinct musical structure articu-lated thus ar, a sixteen-measure grouping held together by acommon key center (E minor) and by the double repetition oits rst our bars which expands into wider and wider registersuntil it is answered nally by an extended cadence ormula.

Tis descending-bass progression marks the rst time inthe piece that we hear a musical idea ollowed immediatelyby its octave transposition. Perhaps there is some irony in theway that the simplest, most-audible repetition leads into thelargest single-measure grouping heard thus ar. Nevertheless,there is one measure grouping that extends even longer thanthis one. It begins when the descending-bass idea returns inthe tonic, D Major, and it concludes at the end o the piece,

spanning some thirty-two measures!When the descending bass progression returns in DMajor at m. 65, it begins in exactly the same way as the ear-lier, E minor, version, with a our-bar bass descent repeatedone octave lower. Were it to continue to ollow the patternestablished in the E minor passage, then the two iterationso the descending bass would be ollowed by a revoiced varia-tion o that progression in a wider register that would lead toa convincing cadence in the sixteenth measure. Te expectedcadence does not arrive, however, and the progression restartsat m. 81, delaying the ull tonal closure until the movements

last bar.

Te eight measures leading up to m. 80 contain some othe most intense musical expression in this otherwise cheerulAllegro, as they approach the place where the expected ca-dence is deniedreplaced by a dramatic ascent to the highestpitch in the piece (notated D6, but on the guitar it sounds anoctave lower). Relying upon what has been heard earlier in thepiece, one might expect to hear a variation on the D-Majordescending-bass progression (like the variation that ollowedthe E-minor descending basses around m. 49), but instead othat, Bach wrote a new passage that is a remarkable hybrid omotivic reerencesone passage that relates to our differentplaces in this movement simultaneously (seeExample No. 5).

Te music o mm. 73-80 appears in the center oExampleNo. 5surrounded above and below by our excerpts rom otherplaces in the Allegro. Beginning in m. 73, a two-bar melodicidea is sequenced in a manner reminiscent o the A section asshown at the top lef oExample No. 5by an excerpt rom mm.

7-12. Tis excerpt has a two-bar contour pattern that recurstwice, to make a six-bar sequential repetition (just like the topvoice o mm. 73-78). Descending lines in the implied innervoice recall the stepwise bass descent o m. 69, shown at thebottom lef (with notes o the descending line encircled) whilethe our outer-voice tenths in every other measure ollow thevoice leading outline o the transition passage rom mm. 57-64shown at the bottom right. Te ascent o the uppermost voicerom F5in m. 65 to the D6o m.72 prepares the rapid descento that line rom D6back down to F5itsel a reerence tothe melodic alling sixth that begins the piece. Te opening

motive at m. 1 is shown at the top right oExample No. 5.


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Perormers could choose a variety o approaches to high-light some o the motivic connections shown onExample No.5. Jason Vieaux,7or example, plays two-bar crescendos thatmake the two-bar contour patterns o mm. 73-78 sound morenoticeable. Each two-bar crescendo begins a little louder, andthe last one continues past its second bar and culminates atthe high note in m. 80, so the combined effect o his threecrescendos brings out the upper-voice ascent rom (notated)F5and it grows louder until the D6is attained. Meanwhile,Vieaux plays tenutoupbeats in this passage that lend urgencyto the arrival o each downbeat. Tis practice, along with thetwo-bar crescendos already noted, places extra emphasis onthe outer-voice tenths in mm. 75, 77 and 79. In summary,Vieauxs interpretation brings out at least three differentmotivic eatures o this dense passage: the two-bar contourpatterns, the outer-voice tenths, and the gradual preparationo the Allegros highest pitch. His is just one good example

o how well-chosen perormance techniques can enhance thedrama o this passage and help listeners to notice the conu-ence o musical ideas that shape its expression.

Instead o the tonic resolution that is expected at m. 80,Bach wrote a dominant harmony that stamps the end o thispassage with the stark impression o an anticipated goal lefunullled. Ending with such a disappointing outcome, itseems only appropriate that the passage would start over andtry again or a better solution, so the return o the D Majordescending bass music (heard beore in m. 65) is readilyinterpreted as a renewed beginning, even as the consistent

eighth-notes o the bass line propel that repeated music withmore momentum. Christopher Parkenings recording o thispiece8underscores the effect o restarting at m. 81 throughat least two different methods. First, he applies a tenutoem-phasis on beat two (using a shorter duration or its upbeat)throughout the phrase that begins in the upper voice at m. 65,at its repetition in m. 69, and at its return in m. 81 to make theassociation between descending basses sound more noticeable.Secondly, he uses a reer, more exible time eel during mm.73-80 and then returns to a strict meter as the descending bassrestarts this passage at m. 81. Afer the passage begins again at

m. 81, ollowed by a brie transitional passage, the return othe opening motive at m. 89 (this time over tonic harmony)signals the long-awaited tonic cadential closure.

Guitarists ofen do not play the leading tone to the toniccadence at mm. 90-91, even though its presence is implied inthe organ tablature o the original manuscript and it appearsin theNeue Bach Ausgabe.9Tis practice has some advantages,because the omission o the leading tone rom this cadence,

coupled with the sudden change to the middle register in m.90, leaves some unnished business to be resolved by the nalcadence six bars later. Tat last cadence provides the expectedclosure in the upper register using a chord progression thatcomes ully equipped with a properly-resolved leading tone.

In conclusion, a thoughtul awareness o the phrasingin this piece can unlock important secrets to its musical ex-pression. Recall, or example, how repeated passages in theA section orm groups o six measures to produce a higherlevel o metric organization.10A perormer who recognizesthat organization and who identies those ew passages thatchallenge the six-bar pattern gains the privilege o respondingcreatively to Bachs design (either through intuition, or con-scious planning, or both). Likewise, a deeper understandingo the more intricate B section design and the important roleo repetition in it can help guitarists to consider a broader per-spective when ashioning their own creative approach to this

piece. o the extent that this broad perspective brings musicalconcerns and new technical challenges to ones interpretation,it can add artistic depth to perormance.

It should be noted, at this juncture, that many structures,ideas, and patterns in other domains such as rhythm andvoice leading have not been discussed here, partly or spacelimitations. An interpretation o the voice leading alone couldeasily double the length o this article. For now, may it suffi ceto recognize that other structures exist and their interactionsometimes will coincide with the phrasing and repetition dis-cussed above and sometimes will contradict them. Despite the

act that the Allegro moves aster than its Prelude and Fugue,and despite its shorter duration, it is rich with musical andexpressive ideas that require a lietime to learn and appreciate.It is hoped that this brie article will help inspire guitarists toollow the quest.

Having noted the aster tempo o the Allegro in the pre-ceding paragraph, it seems appropriate to add some commentsabout the guitarists choice o tempo or each movement o thePrelude, Fugue and Allegro. Tere is a wide variety o issues tobe considered, and that probably accounts or the wide varietyo tempos chosen by different perormers (seeExample No. 6

or a table o tempos). Movement titles such as prelude andugue offer less direction than pieces titled menuet or allabrevein terms o the composers tempo intentions. Even thetitle allegro, which places the beat value between 120-168 ona metronome,11is not very prescriptive (less than hal o theperormers inExample No. 6perorm the Allegro at a tempowithin this range) and probably identies the mood o thepiece more than it species a tempo.12As a result, perormers


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follow different inclinations in choosing a tempo. Some favorslower tempos, others tend towards faster tempos, and some

vary their tempo choices from movement to movement moredrastically than others.13Ultimately, guitarist must take intoaccount the context of each performance, the instrumentsthey will use, and their own dispositions and temperaments,combining these factors with their own experience and un-

derstanding of the piece in order to find the tempo that willconvey their artistic visions most clearly. We hope that theanalyses presented in these three articles will help deepenartistic responses to thePrelude, Fugue and Allegro,and thata comparison of the tempo markings inExample No. 6, along

with a careful listening to some of the recordings, will helpperformers to discover the tempos that work best for them.

N1Unlike the earlier two articles in this series, this article is

cowritten. Amy Houghton provided much of the form analysis

presented here (especially the overall design of the B section) andworked together with Douglas Rust on the editing and productionof this article.

2Te approximate composition date of 1740 is suggested by theeditors of the new Bach edition; see Hartwig Eichberg and TomasKohlhase, eds., Johann Sebastian Bach: Neue Ausgabe smtlicherWerke: Kritische Berichte, Series V, Vol. 10 (Kassel: Brenreiter,

A P F A CD D

Barrueco, Manuel 82 Manuel Barrueco Plays Bach and Vise,Angel/EMI CDC 66575

Bream, Julian 82 56 158 Julian Bream Plays Dowland and Bach,Deutsche Grammophon (2008

Galbraith, Paul 100 78 170 J. S. Bach: Lute Music(arranged for guitar), Delos DE3258.

Hackett, Steve 120 Tribute,Camino Records CAMCD39

Leisner, Jacob 70 68 162 J. S. Bach,Azica ACD-71210

Lindberg, Jakob (lute) 76 64 164 Bachs Lute Music,Vol. 2, BIS 588.

Lippel, Daniel 70 62 162 J. S. Bach: BWV 998, 1003, 1010,New Focus Recordings (2005)

Martnez, David 70 64 192 Guitar Recital,Naxos 8.557808.

Ostersjo, Stefan 78 104 202 J. S. Bach: Lute Suites, Prelude, Fugue, and Allegro,dB Productions dBC

Parkening, Christopher 78 206 Parkening Plays Bach,EMI/Angel CDC 47191

Russell, David 68 62 182 David Russell Plays Bach,elarc 80584

Vieaux, Jason 76 64 172 Bach: Works for Lute,Vol. 1, Azica ACD-71250.

Williams, John 70 72 202 John Williams Plays Bach: e Complete Lute Music ,Columbia M2 33

Wolff, Karl 66 72 154 Baroque Music for Guitar,Clear Note CN-BFMG

Yamashita, Kazuhito 66 64 220 Bach: Works for Lute (Guitar Version),brinrinri (2008)

Example No. 6, Approximate tempos for selected recordings of J. S. Bachs Prelude, Fugue & Allegro,BWV 998.

1982), 92.3 David Russell, David Russell Plays Bach,elarc 8058

compact disc. An interesting variation of this idea occurs inWolff s recording of this passage [Baroque Music for Guitar,Note CN-BFMG, compact disk]. Like Russell, Wolff emphthe three notes atop m. 8 with a specific articulation patternWolff uses that same pattern also on the downbeat of m. 7 (hitern emphasizes all three notes but it forges an audible separbetween the second and third note). As a result, Wolff s performcreates a motivic relationship between the first three notes ofand the highest three notes of m. 8).

4Ledbetter writes a detailed account of this metric situthat is well worth reading. He describes the meter of this moveas triple time with a second, lighter downbeat aer the half barDavid Ledbetter, Unaccompanied Bach: Performing the Solo W(New Haven: Yale University Press, 2009), 263.

5Daniel Lippell,J. S. Bach: BWV 998, 1003, 1010,New FRecordings 2005, compact disk. Yamashita also accelerates towthis same high note in his recording, but the accelerando bmuch earlierI first notice it around m. 7 (Kazuhito Yama

Bach: Works for Lute (Guitar Version),brinrinri 2008 [a reissCrown CRCC-12], compact disk).6 Julian Bream, Julian Bream plays Dowland and B

Deutsche Grammophon (reissue of A Bach Recital for GWestminster CLP 1929), compact disk. Te listener will nthat Bream changes the octave register of the F on the dowof m. 12, which further separates this bar from what is heard


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in Schenker Studies 2, edited by Carl Schacher and Hedi Siegel(Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999), 222.

11Te authors recognize that Maelzel did not invent the met-ronome until 1816, too late to inuence the tempo indications o

J. S. Bach.12Tus perormers are advised by musicologists Mary Cyr and

Reinhard Pauly. Concerning theallegrotempo marking specically,they write, Allegro in Baroque music implies cheerully (but notnecessarily ast). Mary Cyr and Reinhard G. Pauly, Perorming

Baroque Music(Portland, Oregon: Amadeus Press, 1992), 31.13Yamashita, or example, has the astest Allegro tempo and is

tied or the slowest Prelude on our table.

11 immediately beore it.7Jason Vieaux,Bach: Works or Lute,Vol. 1, Azica ACD 71250,

compact disk.8Christopher Parkening, Parkening Plays Bach,EMI/Angel

47191, compact disk.9Hartwig Eichberg and Tomas Kohlhase, eds.,Johann Sebas-

tian Bach, Neue Ausgabe smtlicher Werke: Kritische Berichte, SeriesV, Vol. 10 (Kassel: Brenreiter, 1982), 121.

10Tis higher level o metric organization is better known ashypermeter, an organization in which groups o measures are saidto orm hypermeasures; see Frank Samarotto, Strange Dimensions:Regularity and Irregularity in Deep Levels o Rhythmic Reduction,

A C L P S

by Dimitri van Halderen

When I am teaching, it never ceases to surprise me thatsome students dont seem to relate technical diffi cul-ties to the actual work they do on technique. I know thissounds like a rather extravagant statement, so let me elaboratea little. I once had a guitar student who was particularly ap-prehensive about a scale passage in a chamber music piece. Iasked her how she practiced her scales, to which she repliedthat she didnt. It seems completely obvious to me, and to mostteachers, Im sure, that you have to work on scales, arpeggios,

slurs, and other specic techniques to be able to play themwell when they appear in a piece. In act, it seems so obviousthat some o us sometimes orget to mention it!

Im a rm believer in working on the basis o your tech-nique. Its how I cleaned up my own playing, and I am verygrateul to my teachers who showed me the way. More andmore, I have come to realize that technique is knowledgeknowledge o the instrument and o your movements (that is,all your movements, not just hands and ngers). And I believethat this approach is vital when it comes to working on posi-tion shifs. Every so ofen, I exclaim to my students, But thisposition shif is very easy, only to receive a rather hurt kindo look rom them in return. In chamber music, we, moreofen than not, have to learn to play rather diffi cult music ina short period o time. I you are not thoroughly amiliar withthe geography o your instrument, you will be lost. And howmuch time do we spend per day practicing the technique oposition shifs? Right! Very little. So here are some ideas thathave helped me and my students.

PVery basic, but oh so important! I gave a chamber musicconcert the other day and made the classic mistake o notasking the organizers i there were chairs without armrests inthe hall. Tey eventually brought me a oldable chair that wasso old and battered that the seat inclined orward. Tis mademe sit some ten centimeters lower than Im used to and, as aresult, changed completely the relationship o my body to theinstrument. Te result is that I played less securely. Usually,

this kind o problem is easily avoidable.What is more important, however, is practicing with a

good posture. Classical guitarists who play too ofen with-out their ootstools or guitar supports (except Flamencotechnique, o course) tend to be messy players. Youarewhatyou practice, and every time you play sloppily you take a stepbackwards. But even i we play with a correct position, I ofenobserve (not least in mysel ) that we tend to move our bod-ies during the position change. We bend our backs, we moveour entire bodies to the lef, we lif our legs, we make aces .All o this is ne, o course, providing that we know at everymoment how our hand is moving in relation to the retboard.I recommend that you practice your position shifs with yourbody completely still, moving only rom the shoulder, elbow,and wrist joints. Ten, i you still eel the need or an addi-tional movement, either make it beore the position shif, orduring the shif. Focus on your physical awareness and let allyour muscles work together towards a single goal.


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EHere are some exercises that I like to do. Te rst o these

(above) is designed to amiliarize yoursel daily with the mostcommon positions (I, III, V, VII and XI). During this exercise,pay attention to your posture. Do not play ast at rst; it is othe utmost importance that you play it perectly. Strive or arm, clear sound. When changing to the second nger, gentlyshif the weight rom the rst to the second nger. Whenpreparing or the position change, gently lif up the ngers in arelaxed manner, relax your thumb, and make a calm and gentle

Ten you can turn it into the Exercise below, a ratherdiffi cult exercise. Again, this should be done with all thetwo-nger combinations, on all strings, and i you want, you

movement into the next position. Imagine youre moving in

water; slow is the key word here. Make sure that the positionchange brings both ngers above their respective rets, andnot just the one that plays rst. Te whole exercise shouldgive you a pleasant physical sensation. When you speed upthe exercise, keep the eeling o slowness in your movements.

Tis exercise should be done on all strings, with all pos-sible two-nger combinations, until you master it. Here I giveyou all o them on the sixth string:

can apply this exercise to any lef-hand ngering pattern thatyou want to practice. Have un!


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SMost people practice position shifs when they practice their

scales. Separating the two, however, can be helpul or boththe shifs and the scales. Lets take a close look at the shif romsecond to fh position in the basic C-major scale (above).o execute the shif rom second to fh position, we have tolif the third nger, shif the rst nger while keeping it onthe string, play the note C, and then play the note D withthe third nger. Please keep in mind that that last step is anintegral part o the shif, because i we cant press down thethird nger comortably, how can we continue with the resto the scale?

I would like to highlight various important pointshere. First, make sure that the notes A and B are executedperectly, and that your body is as relaxed as possible. ocheck this, make a sighing sound. (It is impossible to sighwith a tense upper body. ry it!) Lif the third nger calmly,keeping everything relaxed (including the thumb), and noweasily slide into the fh position. Imagine that an invisiblestring is sofly and slowly pulling your little nger, instead oorcing the movement, pushing rom your rst nger. I liketo imagine this movement as being akin to sliding into a hotbathtub. Instead o ocusing on where the rst nger ends up,

ocus on the location o the third nger above the note D. Beaware that the movement o the shif is not a movement oyour hand, but o your entire arm. I you move (without theguitar) only rom the elbow, you will see that your hand movesalong a curved line. o make a straight line with the hand, wemust, thereore, move the shoulder, elbow, and wrist jointssimultaneously. Tis sounds a lot more complicated than itis. Just try to move your hand along the neck o an imaginaryguitar. Ten repeat this on your actual guitar, but not touch-ing the strings. Lastly, repeat the shif with this same relaxedeeling. Better?

Tings get more complicated when we play a three-octavescale, or instance, G-major (below). Lets analyze the shifrom seventh to twelfh position (i you use a different n-gering, just bear with me or now, and later apply these ideas

to whatever ngering you use). o me, and I guess to mosto us, the seventh position is one o the most comortable,

because the spacing between the rets is very well adjustedto the spacing between the ngers. But when I shif to thetwelfh position, suddenly my hand is orced into a positionthat it doesnt like at all , and the tension even extends to myarm, shoulder, and neck. Why is this?

Fortunately the answer is very easy. he reason isthat it is physically impossible to play comortably withthe same hand position in the twelth position as in theseventh. he best way to work is to start with the trickybit, the twelth position. First, relax your body, straightenyour back (pushing upward rom the pelvis) and let yourlet arm hang down. Now, position your irst, third andourth inger on the twelth, ourteenth, and iteenthrets, respectively. Move slowly and be aware o all yourmovements. o do this well, all o us have to adjust ourbasic position a little bit, leaning slightly to the let. Keepthis movement to a minimum, and, above all, be aware oit. Now put your let-hand thumb in a comortable posi-tion. When I do this exercise, I end up with my ingers wellcurved, leaning on the ingertips, my wrist slightly curvedorward and my thumb placed very low behind the neck,

more or less behind the tenth ret. Beware o simply copy-ing the hand position o another player, however, becausewe a ll have dierent hand shapes. What eels the same totwo dierent players might look quite dierent.

Once we have ound a comortable position or the n-gers, move the hand slowly to the seventh position. Relax thengers, letting them slide along the string without pressingit down. Imagine that an invisible string is pulling your handrom the side o the rst nger. Dont orget to relax yourthumb, especially as it will have to take up its normal positionagain (more or less behind the second nger). Also, bring

your back into the standard position again. Now repeat theexercise, but playing the notes (top o next page). Once youeel comortable, work on the shif rom seventh to twelfhposition in the same way.


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Now lets look at the whole scale (this page, second romthe top). One problem with a scale like this is accumulated ten-

sion. And we accumulate tension mostly by not executing theshifs correctly. In my opinion, the only way to get rid o thiskind o tension is to be aware o our posture (back, shoulder,upper arm, lower arm, wrist, hand, and ultimately the ngers)at all times. o achieve this awareness, Ive developed anotherexercise. Were going to make all the movements needed orthe lef-hand to execute the notes, except the movements othe ngers themselves. I like to think o it as a choreography.Position the ngers o your lef hand comortably in thesecond position, letting them hover above the sixth string.Now, slowly bring them down to the third string, make the

shif to seventh position, bring the ngers down to the rststring, shif to the twelfh, shif back to seventh, etc., untilyoure back where you started. Practice this exercise veryslowly, again ocusing on the awareness o all your movements.Now, play the whole scale (with the notes), but with the sameawareness. Realize that all o these movements are quite slow,even when playing a ast scale.

When you work on this kind o position shifs, the ol-lowing checklist might be useul:

Am I relaxed beore the shif? And are all my ngers ina good position?

Am I relaxed during the shif (thumb!)? Sigh duringthe shif i this is a problem or you. Tis will relax you au-tomatically.

Am I relaxed afer the shif? Are my posture and handposition such that I can play all the notes that I need to playin this position?

Did I alter my posture? I so, how does this affect myright hand?

Where am I going next? Is my current posture su-ciently relaxed and prepared or the next shif, or am I

blocked in some way? And i I am blocked, when and howdid this happen?

S All guitarists should practice their slurs daily. Most o us usesome variation on the next exercise (above, third rom the


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top). Although I believe this exercise essential or building uplef-hand strength and staminaand it certainly improves ourcoordinationit does not train us or slurs in combinationwith position shifs. Tere are many examples in the

soundboard - dr. rust;amy houghton bach article

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