PREFACE to "F. Sor, Twenty Studies for Guitar"
The didactic force of Fernando Sor’s twenty Studies, which Andrés Segovia selected from the famous 1945 edition by <i>Edwards B. Marks Music Corp.</i> (Italian edition: Curci) is still out of discussion, being confirmed by the introduction of these studies in the Ministerial Programme for lower and middle courses at the Italian Conservatories.
<p align="justify"> Sor’s Studies 1 represent on the whole the highest level ever achieved by this type of production for guitar in the 19th century. Despite the existence of good works by musicians contemporary with Sor, the Studies definitely represented a vertex in music composition at that time: a study is marked by dominant recurrence of mechanical models yet it is as proud and noble in character as any very music work, the mere mechanical focusing being surpassed by the artistic contents. </p>
<p align="justify"> Opus 6 and 29 collect the more virtuoso Studies: arpeggios, scales, slurs, harmonics, ribattutas, polyphony and counterpoint are developed in far-reaching excerpts which are sometimes written in obsolete keys. Opus 31 and 35, no lower in quality than the previous ones, are characterised by simpler writing and less advanced technical cues 2 . </p>
In our review we have taken into account the following editions:
- Studies op. 6: William Milhouse, London 1815-1817
- Studies op. 29: Meissonier, Paris 1827
- Studies op. 31: Meissonier, Paris 1828
- Studies op. 35: Pacini, Paris 1828
The present edition, proposes the Segovian selection and emends the original text from several alterations which Segovia himself introduced as a consequence of the habit of not following philological criteria in making music. It is then necessary to underline that our review respects all dynamic, agogic and obviously textual indications present in the sources, yet it does not intend to indicate the original fingering (when present) acritically. Both the changes in the morphology of the guitar and the evolution in the instrumental technique have convinced us to quite often suggest different fingering.
The peculiarity of the present edition is to be found in the different possible choices of execution shown. We have provided different versions of the technically important passages, showing the different ways to perform them and providing numerous cues for an alternative approach to fingering, often by means of unusual techniques for the left hand.
Alternative fingerings appear either in brackets or in the Appendix.
Bruno Giuffredi