Francisco Tarrega

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Francisco Tárrega on the concert guitar
Francisco Tárrega by Vicent Castell (1904)

Francisco de Asís Tárrega y Eixea ( Catalan Francesc d'Assís Tárrega i Eixea ), known as Francisco Tárrega (born  November 21, 1852 in Villarreal , Spain , † December 15, 1909 in Barcelona ) was a Spanish guitarist , guitar teacher and composer . He is considered to be one of the pioneers of modern guitar playing.

Life

Tárrega with friends (from left to right Tonico Tello, Pascual Roch, José Orellana, Francisco Corell, Baldomero Cateura, Santacruz, Manuel Loscos, Francisco Tárrega and Vicente Puchol) in the Museu de la Ciutat in Valencia, 1906

Francisco Tárrega came from a musical family. He received his first guitar lessons when he was eight. Since the piano was increasingly supplanting the guitar at that time, Tárrega's father recommended that he learn to play the piano, so that Tárrega largely mastered both instruments at a young age. Allegedly, Tárrega became a student of the famous guitarist Julián Arcas (1832-1882) in 1862 .

In 1869 Tárrega bought a guitar from the Spanish guitar maker Antonio de Torres (1817-1892), which differed significantly from previous instruments. This guitar was unusually loud and sonorous and would be decisive for Tárrega's further life as a guitarist.

In 1885 Tárrega moved to Barcelona with his wife María Josefa Rizo and their son Francisco. There he met the national Spanish composers Isaac Albéniz (1860–1909) and Enrique Granados (1867–1916). With them he befriended and worked as the first of many works by Albéniz for guitar.

Three years before his death, Tárrega suffered a stroke that led to paralysis on one side.

Act

The creation and work of Tárrega is a milestone for the development of guitar technology. He is considered the most prominent guitarist and teacher of his era and the founder of a new Spanish guitar school.

The characteristic tonal feature of this new generation of guitarists was the voluminous and stable tone that Tárrega was able to produce using the touch already described by Fernando Sor (1778–1839) and - according to Tárrega - by Julián Arcas (1832–1882) . From 1902 he had to do without the nail game due to a nail bed disease and switch to the stop with the fingertip. His most famous composition, the tremolo piece Recuerdos de la Alhambra , was given a new dimension of sound. His last important student, Emilio Pujol , even raised Tárrega's cup play to the aesthetic norm and preferred it to nail play for reasons of sound.

Tárrega's best-known students: Andrés Segovia (1893–1987), Miguel Llobet (1878–1938), Daniel Fortea (1878–1953) and Emilio Pujol (1886–1980)

Regardless of technical innovations, Tárrega was always concerned with expanding the guitar's artistic expression. His students, above all Emilio Pujol (1886–1980), Miguel Llobet (1878–1938) and Daniel Fortea (1878–1953) passed Tárrega's technical and aesthetic intentions on to the following generations and thus made a significant contribution to the establishment of the guitar Concert instrument in the 20th century.

The city of Benicàssim has organized the Certamen Internacional de Guitarra Francesc Tàrrega competition in his honor every year since 1967 .

Works (selection)

Recuerdos de la Alhambra

His work for solo guitar includes around 78 of his own compositions (not all have been published) and 120 transcriptions of works or work fragments by other composers. There are also 21 transcriptions for 2 guitars.

Some of his works, including transcriptions, have gained particular importance due to their popularity in concert programs and recordings:

  • Gran Vals (Great Waltz , bars 13-16 are used by the mobile phone manufacturer Nokia as the audio logo and ringtone Nokia Tune )
  • Recuerdos de la Alhambra (Tremolo Etude)
  • Sueño [1] ( mazurka )
  • Sueño [2] (tremolo etude)
  • Alborada (Study for Flageolet Tones and Bindings)
  • Lágrima (Preludio)
  • Capricho arabe
  • Danza mora
  • Adelita (Mazurka)
  • Marieta (Mazurka)
  • María (Tango)
  • Oremus (Preludio, written 15 days before his death; arrangement of a fragment of "Phantasietanz" No. 5 op. 124 from the album leaves for piano by Robert Schumann)
  • Ludwig van Beethoven : Adagio and Allegretto from the " Moonlight Sonata " (arrangement for guitar)

literature

  • Wolf Moser : Francisco Tárrega. Becoming and effect. The guitar in Spain between 1830 and 1960. Edition Saint-Georges, Lyon 1996, ISBN 3-00-012750-X .
  • Torge Braemer: Dear Mr. Tárrega! Memories of the family. BoD, Norderstedt 2009, ISBN 978-3-8370-5966-3 .
  • Francisco Tárrega Eixea / Torge Braemer: Francisco Tárrega Eixea. Diary and letters - diario y cartas . BoD, Norderstedt 2011, ISBN 978-3-8448-0033-3 .
  • Emilio Pujol: Tárrega. Ensayo biográfico. Ramos, Afonso & Moita, LDA., Lisbon 1960.
  • Adrián Rius: Francisco Tárrega 1852-2002. Biografía Oficial. Guada Impresores, Vil-real 2002, ISBN 84-88331-82-7 .
  • Matanya Ophee: The Favor of Francisco Tárrega. Part I. In: Guitar & Laute 3, 1981, 6, pp. 22-27.
  • the same: What is the Tárrega School actually made of? In: Guitar & Laute 4, 1982, Issue 1, pp. 38–41, and Issue 3, pp. 160–162.

Web links

Commons : Francisco Tárrega  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Graham Wade: A Concise History of the Classic Guitar. Mel Bay, Pacific 2001, p. 96.
  2. ↑ Wolf Moser : The repertoire second hand. The history of the transmission and its tasks. In: Guitar & Laute 9, 1987, 3, pp. 19-26; here: p. 23
  3. ^ Wolf Moser: The textbooks Aguados. Part 3. In: Guitar & Laute 6, 1984, Heft 4, pp. 43-48; here: p. 45 f.
  4. ↑ Matanya Ophee: The Story of Apoyando. In: Guitar & Laute 4, 1982, 6, pp. 354-365, especially p. 365
  5. ↑ Matanya Ophee: What is the Tárrega School actually made of? In: Guitar & Laute 4, 1982, 1, pp. 38-41; here: p. 40 f.
  6. ^ Mike Eulner: Francisco Tárrega: Selected works for guitar. In: Guitar & Lute. Volume 7, 1985, issue 3, p. 48 f.
  7. ^ A b Stanley Sadie (Ed.): The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians. Macmillan Publisher, London 1980, Volume 18, p. 583.
  8. ↑ Wolf Moser (1987), pp. 22-24
personal data
SURNAME Tárrega, Francisco
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Tàrrega i Eixea, Francesc d'Assís (Catalan); Tárrega y Eixea, Francisco de Asís
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Spanish guitarist and composer
DATE OF BIRTH November 21, 1852
PLACE OF BIRTH Villarreal , Spain
DATE OF DEATH December 15, 1909
Place of death Barcelona , Spain