Narciso Yepes

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Narciso Yepes (1939)

Narciso García Yepes (born November 14, 1927 in Lorca , † May 3, 1997 in Murcia ) was a Spanish classical guitarist , lutenist , arranger and composer . With Andrés Segovia and Miguel Llobet , he is one of the greatest guitarists in Spain. He played on a ten-string guitar that he developed with the guitar maker José Ramírez III . In 1952 he arranged the music for the Oscar-winning film Verbotene Spiele ( Jeux interdits ).

Life

When he was four years old, his father gave him his first guitar . At that time he was heavily influenced by the folk music of Spain. He received his first instruction at the age of six from Jesús Guevara in Lorca . When the Spanish Civil War began in 1936, his parents moved to Valencia . At the age of 12 he began his studies at the Conservatory of Valencia. His teacher Vicente Asencio made high demands on him and made him develop his own style. He also played with various flamenco singers in order to improve his technique and his rhythmic feeling. In addition to Manuel de Falla , he is considered to be one of the Spanish musicians from the field of classical music who had close contact with flamenco. He made his debut at the Teatro Serrano in Valencia.

In Madrid he received lessons from Regino Sáinz de la Maza and Joaquín Rodrigo . In 1947, his performance of the Concierto de Aranjuez by Joaquín Rodrigo with the chamber orchestra under the direction of Ataúlfo Argenta at the Teatro Español in Madrid earned him much recognition from audiences and critics. When this concert was first recorded for vinyl in 1955, Yepes played the solo part.

In 1948 he gave a number of very successful concerts in Switzerland. In Paris, his caregivers were Nadia Boulanger , George Enescu and Walter Gieseking . In 1952 he arranged and played the music for the film Verbotene Spiele ( Jeux interdits ) by René Clement . The film itself was very successful and received numerous awards, including the Venice International Film Festival , Cannes and the Oscar for best foreign language film .

In 1964 Narciso Yepes had a ten-string guitar built and since then has used the extended sound possibilities of this instrument during his performances. He has also published numerous little-known compositions for the guitar from the Renaissance and Baroque periods , for example in the Edition Narciso Yepes series published by Schott-Verlag , as well as some 20th century works composed for him and his own arrangements of Catalan folk songs (cf. Narciso Yepes, The most beautiful pieces from his repertoire, Mainz 2009).

In the 1980s, concert tours took him to many countries, including the Soviet Union and Japan . Many composers dedicated their newly created compositions to him, which he often premiered himself. In 1983 he founded the classical music festival in Andorra .

From 1993 he had to severely limit his concert activities due to an illness. He made his last public appearance in 1996 in the Spanish city of Santander .

Awards

Filmography

  • 1952: Forbidden Games (Jeux interdits)
  • 1961: The girl with the golden eyes (La fille aux yeux d'or)
  • 1967: El amor brujo
  • 1971: Concierto de Aranjuez
  • 1985: La tarde
  • 1991: When the Fire Burns: The Life and Music of Manuel de Falla
  • 1991: La viuda del capitán Estrada
  • 1996: La Celestina
  • 2002: King Rikki
  • 2010: 't Schaep Met De 5 Pooten

reception

“In my youth in the seventies,“ hi-fi stereophony ”was the absolute flagship of upscale music reviews and an important source of information in my classics-oriented environment. […] When I started playing the 12 Etudes by Villa-Lobos, I used my limited pocket money to buy the recording by Narciso Yepes, which in that paper had received the highest rating in all criteria and was hailed as an eternal reference. And what did I hear then? For my completely uneducated perception at the time, it was a wooden uninspired compulsory exercise that was spelled down like a music official [...] "

- Frank Bungarten : Pressto

“Johann Sebastian Bach: Works for Lute ; Narciso Yepes, baroque lute; Archive production 2708 030 (2 plates). For the first time, the cassette contains all seven solo works that Bach wrote for the lute. Narciso Yepes plays it calmly, completely unpretentiously, with a kind of fervent objectivity that sometimes creates the appearance of dryness. The listener does not lose a single detail, not even the fun the player had, but also not his ascetic discipline, which nourishes the hope that one day the music will run away with him - but that is a mistake. "

- Manfred Sack : The time

literature

  • Maurice J. Summerfield: The Classical Guitar. Its Evolution, Players and Personalities Since 1800 . 5th Edition, Ashley Mark Publishing Company, Newcastle upon Tyne 2002, ISBN 1-872639-51-8 , pp. 316-317.

Web links

Commons : Narciso Yepes  - Collection of images, videos and audio files
Wikibooks: Spanish Romance  - Learning and Teaching Materials

Remarks

  1. The classical piece of music "The Spanish Romance" was arranged by Yepes for the film Jeux interdits mentioned above . Its interpretation made the piece so popular again that it was named after the film's title in many countries. Unfortunately, Yepes is also sometimes mentioned as a composer. However, he never claimed to be that. In 1927 the piece was published by Daniel Fortea . He was in possession of a manuscript which was handwritten by Fernando Sor at the beginning of the 19th century. Although the piece was called "Melodia de Sor", Ferdinand Sor does not have to be the composer too, because as a music composer and guitar player, Sor also published and copied other works. The actual composer of this piece is not known.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Narciso Garcia Yepes in the Encyclopædia Britannica
  2. Information on Narciso Yepes ( Memento from August 21, 2010 in the Internet Archive )
  3. Pressto 1/2007 (PDF; 704 kB)
  4. The new record . In: Die Zeit , No. 7/1974