Autograph music manuscripts, a collection of transcriptions and works commissioned by Segovia for the guitar, n.d.

Andrés Segovia (1893-1987)
Autograph music manuscripts, a collection of transcriptions and works commissioned by Segovia for the guitar, n.d.
21 manuscripts, altogether 60 pages, various sizes, 335 x 265mm to 225 x 175mm.

Representing Segovia's significant efforts to develop a substantial classical repertoire for the guitar and to integrate the instrument into the Western art-music tradition. A number of the pieces in the present collection have become core components of standard guitar performing repertoire, including Bach’s Little Prelude and Torroba’s Sonatina. The manuscripts contain distinctive features of Segovia’s work, including characteristic Segovia fingerings, such as the E played on the 14th fret of the 4th string rather than using an open fingering in the opening of Grieg’s Chant National, and the use of harmonics, for example in a transcription of a Beethoven Minuet. They bear witness to Segovia's relationships with contemporary composers who helped him establish a body of works for the instrument, including Manuel Ponce, a major composer within the guitar canon, whose works were often dedicated to Segovia. Particularly significant in this collection is music by Federico Moreno Torroba, whose Sonatina is represented in unpublished versions, evidencing the collaborative process undertaken by the guitarist and composer. There are two editions of the allegretto movement, one which differs substantially from the version which is performed today, and a manuscript containing working sketches for the third movement from the same work. Transcriptions of works by Debussy, Franck and a number by Schumann are also present, as well as a set of voiceleading exercises.

Stephen Goss, 'The guitar and the musical canon: myths of tradition and heritage in concert repertoire and didactic methodology', The Journal of the European Guitar Teachers' Association (EGTA, 2000)