Gavotte
Bach: Chaconne
Andrés Segovia, Guitar
And Other Works by Bach, Sort, Mendelssohn, Villa-Lobos & Rodrigo
Decca Gold Label Series DL 79751 & 9751 (1955)
From the back cover: (A Letter Written by Marc Pincherle for a Recital at Paris, June 4, 1935, by Andrés Segovia)
You ask, my dear Andrés, that I should present to the public your transcription of the Chaconne. It seems absurd, in reality, that a musician of your standing should be defended against a possible suspicion of disrespect to J. S. Bach. Grim zealots may rise to pro- test in the name of the old cantor – and seek to prohibit precisely what he, himself, would have been the first to approve.
I admire the Chaconne profoundly, yet I have seldom heard it played without a sense of discomfort. This dissatisfaction was wholly unrelated to the musical splendor of the composition itself, to its nobility and pathetic content which reveals itself, to its rich variety, its marvelous balance as well as its ingenuity in the treatment of the violin. In spite of all this, it is rare that a performance corresponds to our expectation, so great is the contrast between the frail resources of those four strings and the intensity of the truth which they must express, between the mondonic character of the violin-a pure soprano voice- and the orchestral fullness demanded by the composition.
A Joachim or an Ysaye, and a few other privileged artists since their day, could succeed in reconciling these contradictions but each time the impression given was that of a success permitted only to genius from which the ordinary honest interpreter of repertoire was necessarily excluded.
Something of this sort must have been in the minds of those fervent admirers of Bach: Mendelssohn, Ferdinand David, and Schumann, for when David played for the first time the recently discovered Chaconne in the winter of 1840-Mendelssohn rushed to the piano to lend it the support of an accompaniment which, later, he edited and published in London, 1847. Schumann followed suit in 1854, publishing accompaniments to the six Sonatas or Suites, while the piano accompaniments were enlarged by Wilhelm into orchestral scores.
Many other experiments were made in the desire to make the execution of the Chaconne accessible. F. Herman split the difficulties between the two violins without bass. Brahms made an arrangement for piano (left hand), the fifth of his Etudes pub- lished by Breitkopf. Raff made another arrangement, this time for two hands. Finally, we are familiar with the all-too-sumptuous arrangement of Busoni. It remained, however, for that master of the bow, Jena de Hubay, to dispossess his own instrument by giving us a transcription for full orchestra in which the various instru- ments divide among themselves the polyphony originally assigned to a single violin.
Those readers who may consider such liberties illegitimate, need only to be reminded of the practices customary among musicians at the time of Bach, and, indeed, of the casual way in which the master himself modified the destination of his works – changing an adagio in legato style from violin to harpsichord, transferring a prelude for solo violin to an organ accompanied by orchestra.
Among the instruments to which Bach devoted particular atten- tion was the lute, close relative to the guitar. Scholars (among whom N. D. Bruger and H. Neeman) have inventoried the works that exist in several instrumental versions, for violin solo with lute, for lute and violoncello but, in most cases, these researches have failed to reveal which of these versions was the original and which the transcription. Is it inconceivable that the Chaconne, perhaps, might turn out to be among the compositions with a double version and that further research might bring this fact to our knowledge?
Who can say that a direct connection with the guitar may not be brought to light? The very Key of D, in which the Chaconne is written, is the perfect tonality for the guitar; the entire harmonic "schema" is based on progressions that are typical of Andalusian popular music, a thing which is characteristic throughout the com- position but most striking in the whole of the last page. This Andalusian music is expressed traditionally on the guitar.
It is not unlikely, moreover, that the Iberian origin of the Chaconne might have suggested to Bach the idea of assigning it to a Spanish instrument, one which his universal curiosity could not ignore, since it had become the fashion in every country of Europe. Obviously, it is not on so frail a hypothesis that we can form a conviction. What really counts in the balance, the sole argument of weight likely to influence our opinion as to whether or not the Chaconne was composed originally for the guitar, is the clear evidence that the composer wrote as though he had no other instrument in mind. No rearrangement is required; everything springs out with amazing spontaneity. The chords, so laboriously sawed out out by the violin in arpeggio or closed present themselves here with a single stroke; the imitations retain their independence of line and color; the arpeggios provide a harmony of an even weave above which the melodic designs appear in full relief. Perhaps the violin can affirm its superiority in a few legato variations, in certain high passages where the strokes of the bow give vigor and poignancy to the phrase. Almost all the rest is better suited to the guitar which (in addition to its other advantages) can claim that of add- ing the lower octave under the written note, thus providing a deep bass capable of sustaining the majestic structure.
Enough said. The whole question is one of ear, or musical sensi bility, and your hearers will form their own judgment. My object has been simply to reassure those among them who have not studied these questions and who, not yet knowing you, might, in their distrust, be patient enough to read to the end what I have written. To these, I would say that the delight they will experience in listening to you is a legitimate delight...
1. PRELUDE
Side One
MARC PINCHERLE
J. S. Bach
Originally composed for the lute, this piece is published today in a collection of "Twelve Little Preludes" for piano. Mr. Segovia plays his own transcription of the work.
2. GAVOTTE
J. S. Bach
The "Gavotte" recorded here was originally part of a suite for lute. Bach then incorporated it into the E major suite for unaccom- panied violin. The so-called "purists" who object to the transcribing of pieces from one instrument to another have only to look to Bach for flagrancy in this respect! Vivaldi and Handel also wrote the same works for a variety of instruments.
3. CHACONNE
(See the letter by Marc Pincherle above.)
4. LOURE
J. S. Bach
J. S. Bach
The "Loure" which Mr. Segovia plays here was transcribed by him from the Unaccompanied Cello Suite in C Major.
1. MINUET IN C
Side Two
Sors
Ferdinand Sors is noted as both/guitarist and composer. Born in Barcelona in 1780, Sors was active in Paris, and from 1809, in London, where he made the guitar fashionable, appearing as solo- ist with the Philharmonic Society. His compositions include many valuable studies and pieces for the guitar. This Minuet is from a sonata with "a very un-sonata like form," which may have been the work to move the famous French musicologist Fétis to call Sors "the Beethoven of the guitar."
2. ANDANTINO
Sors
This is a very charming little work of Sors'. One notes the fresh- ness and innocence of Mozart in it.
3. MINUET IN D
Sors
This Minuet of Sors' is less Mozartian than the preceding piece. It reveals more of Sors' own personality, Sors travelled a great deal, even venturing as far as Russia; his work abounds in a variety of mood as a result of his own varied experiences.
4. CANZONETTA
Mendelssohn
The Spanish guitarist-composer, Fisea Tárrega, originally transscribed this work from Mendelssohn's String Quartet. Mr. Segovia has made certain alterations in the transcription to present the work as it is recorded here. The result is indeed a happy one. The central portion of the Canzonetta contains a succession of arpeggios that, when divided among four instruments, cannot begin to achieve the unity of performance as when played by only one.
5. PRELUDE
Villa-Lobos
Written in the style of Bach, this Prelude follows with persistence a repeated pattern of design throughout the entire last half of the piece. Villa-Lobos was himself a guitarist; everything he wrote for guitar was written with ample knowledge of the instrument. He has even invented a few new guitar techniques, including twelve studies for guitar, and a series of Preludes, from which collection this one was taken,
6. SARABANDA
Rodrigo
Rodrigo is at the moment engaged in the process of writing a suite for unaccompanied guitar. As the "Sarabanda" was written expressly for guitar, so was the Concierto de Aranjuez, for guitar and orchestra.
You ask, my dear Andrés, that I should present to the public your transcription of the Chaconne. It seems absurd, in reality, that a musician of your standing should be defended against a possible suspicion of disrespect to J. S. Bach. Grim zealots may rise to pro- test in the name of the old cantor – and seek to prohibit precisely what he, himself, would have been the first to approve.
I admire the Chaconne profoundly, yet I have seldom heard it played without a sense of discomfort. This dissatisfaction was wholly unrelated to the musical splendor of the composition itself, to its nobility and pathetic content which reveals itself, to its rich variety, its marvelous balance as well as its ingenuity in the treatment of the violin. In spite of all this, it is rare that a performance corresponds to our expectation, so great is the contrast between the frail resources of those four strings and the intensity of the truth which they must express, between the mondonic character of the violin-a pure soprano voice- and the orchestral fullness demanded by the composition.
A Joachim or an Ysaye, and a few other privileged artists since their day, could succeed in reconciling these contradictions but each time the impression given was that of a success permitted only to genius from which the ordinary honest interpreter of repertoire was necessarily excluded.
Something of this sort must have been in the minds of those fervent admirers of Bach: Mendelssohn, Ferdinand David, and Schumann, for when David played for the first time the recently discovered Chaconne in the winter of 1840-Mendelssohn rushed to the piano to lend it the support of an accompaniment which, later, he edited and published in London, 1847. Schumann followed suit in 1854, publishing accompaniments to the six Sonatas or Suites, while the piano accompaniments were enlarged by Wilhelm into orchestral scores.
Many other experiments were made in the desire to make the execution of the Chaconne accessible. F. Herman split the difficulties between the two violins without bass. Brahms made an arrangement for piano (left hand), the fifth of his Etudes pub- lished by Breitkopf. Raff made another arrangement, this time for two hands. Finally, we are familiar with the all-too-sumptuous arrangement of Busoni. It remained, however, for that master of the bow, Jena de Hubay, to dispossess his own instrument by giving us a transcription for full orchestra in which the various instru- ments divide among themselves the polyphony originally assigned to a single violin.
Those readers who may consider such liberties illegitimate, need only to be reminded of the practices customary among musicians at the time of Bach, and, indeed, of the casual way in which the master himself modified the destination of his works – changing an adagio in legato style from violin to harpsichord, transferring a prelude for solo violin to an organ accompanied by orchestra.
Among the instruments to which Bach devoted particular atten- tion was the lute, close relative to the guitar. Scholars (among whom N. D. Bruger and H. Neeman) have inventoried the works that exist in several instrumental versions, for violin solo with lute, for lute and violoncello but, in most cases, these researches have failed to reveal which of these versions was the original and which the transcription. Is it inconceivable that the Chaconne, perhaps, might turn out to be among the compositions with a double version and that further research might bring this fact to our knowledge?
Who can say that a direct connection with the guitar may not be brought to light? The very Key of D, in which the Chaconne is written, is the perfect tonality for the guitar; the entire harmonic "schema" is based on progressions that are typical of Andalusian popular music, a thing which is characteristic throughout the com- position but most striking in the whole of the last page. This Andalusian music is expressed traditionally on the guitar.
It is not unlikely, moreover, that the Iberian origin of the Chaconne might have suggested to Bach the idea of assigning it to a Spanish instrument, one which his universal curiosity could not ignore, since it had become the fashion in every country of Europe. Obviously, it is not on so frail a hypothesis that we can form a conviction. What really counts in the balance, the sole argument of weight likely to influence our opinion as to whether or not the Chaconne was composed originally for the guitar, is the clear evidence that the composer wrote as though he had no other instrument in mind. No rearrangement is required; everything springs out with amazing spontaneity. The chords, so laboriously sawed out out by the violin in arpeggio or closed present themselves here with a single stroke; the imitations retain their independence of line and color; the arpeggios provide a harmony of an even weave above which the melodic designs appear in full relief. Perhaps the violin can affirm its superiority in a few legato variations, in certain high passages where the strokes of the bow give vigor and poignancy to the phrase. Almost all the rest is better suited to the guitar which (in addition to its other advantages) can claim that of add- ing the lower octave under the written note, thus providing a deep bass capable of sustaining the majestic structure.
Enough said. The whole question is one of ear, or musical sensi bility, and your hearers will form their own judgment. My object has been simply to reassure those among them who have not studied these questions and who, not yet knowing you, might, in their distrust, be patient enough to read to the end what I have written. To these, I would say that the delight they will experience in listening to you is a legitimate delight...
1. PRELUDE
Side One
MARC PINCHERLE
J. S. Bach
Originally composed for the lute, this piece is published today in a collection of "Twelve Little Preludes" for piano. Mr. Segovia plays his own transcription of the work.
2. GAVOTTE
J. S. Bach
The "Gavotte" recorded here was originally part of a suite for lute. Bach then incorporated it into the E major suite for unaccom- panied violin. The so-called "purists" who object to the transcribing of pieces from one instrument to another have only to look to Bach for flagrancy in this respect! Vivaldi and Handel also wrote the same works for a variety of instruments.
3. CHACONNE
(See the letter by Marc Pincherle above.)
4. LOURE
J. S. Bach
J. S. Bach
The "Loure" which Mr. Segovia plays here was transcribed by him from the Unaccompanied Cello Suite in C Major.
1. MINUET IN C
Side Two
Sors
Ferdinand Sors is noted as both/guitarist and composer. Born in Barcelona in 1780, Sors was active in Paris, and from 1809, in London, where he made the guitar fashionable, appearing as solo- ist with the Philharmonic Society. His compositions include many valuable studies and pieces for the guitar. This Minuet is from a sonata with "a very un-sonata like form," which may have been the work to move the famous French musicologist Fétis to call Sors "the Beethoven of the guitar."
2. ANDANTINO
Sors
This is a very charming little work of Sors'. One notes the fresh- ness and innocence of Mozart in it.
3. MINUET IN D
Sors
This Minuet of Sors' is less Mozartian than the preceding piece. It reveals more of Sors' own personality, Sors travelled a great deal, even venturing as far as Russia; his work abounds in a variety of mood as a result of his own varied experiences.
4. CANZONETTA
Mendelssohn
The Spanish guitarist-composer, Fisea Tárrega, originally transscribed this work from Mendelssohn's String Quartet. Mr. Segovia has made certain alterations in the transcription to present the work as it is recorded here. The result is indeed a happy one. The central portion of the Canzonetta contains a succession of arpeggios that, when divided among four instruments, cannot begin to achieve the unity of performance as when played by only one.
5. PRELUDE
Villa-Lobos
Written in the style of Bach, this Prelude follows with persistence a repeated pattern of design throughout the entire last half of the piece. Villa-Lobos was himself a guitarist; everything he wrote for guitar was written with ample knowledge of the instrument. He has even invented a few new guitar techniques, including twelve studies for guitar, and a series of Preludes, from which collection this one was taken,
6. SARABANDA
Rodrigo
Rodrigo is at the moment engaged in the process of writing a suite for unaccompanied guitar. As the "Sarabanda" was written expressly for guitar, so was the Concierto de Aranjuez, for guitar and orchestra.
