Chapter 15 - Fernando Sor: Guitarist, Composer and

Singer

‘When he was at school, he performed such prodigious things on the guitar that all his co-

pupils and everyone who heard it were amazed.’1 This quote from Ledhuy and Bertini’s

biography of Sor demonstrates how from his early years of training at the monastery of

Montserrat, his skill as a guitarist was already at the forefront of his artistic personae.2

The guitar would continue to play a significant role throughout Sor’s career but as a

mature artist his public personae would also be shared, and sometimes dominated, by his

role as a singer and composer.

What effect did Sor the virtuoso performer and composer have on his contemporaries as

he made the guitar ‘speak so sweetly and well’3; with each of his new compositions

sounding as ‘vigorous as it might be if it were written for orchestra’4, compositions he

performed with the ‘greatest precision, and with the deepest expression’? By exploring

the life of Sor, examining the musical influences to which he was exposed and by

recourse to his compositions and Method, an enticing picture of Sor the performer can be

created. To build a contextual picture of Sor will enable his compositional oeuvre to be

more thoroughly understood and new interpretive possibilities suggested.

1
Brian Jeffery, Fernando Sor, Composer and Guitarist, second ed. (Penderyn: TECLA, 1994), 5.
2
Brian Jeffery provides the complete article 'Sor' from the Encyclopédie Pittoresque de la Musique of A.
Ledhuy and Bertini (Paris, 1835) on pages 118-131 of his book Fernando Sor Composer and Guitarist.
3
Jeffery, Fernando Sor, Composer and Guitarist, 63.
4
Ibid., 91.

375
Fernando Sor was born in Barcelona in 1778 and died in Paris in 1839. His formative

years were spent in Spain, where he received a thorough training in both the theoretical

and practical aspects of music. According to Ledhuy’s biography of Sor5, by the age of

five Sor was, singing arias from Italian opera, playing his father’s guitar and having

violin lessons. During his formative years Sor was exposed to Italian opera, a dominant

musical force in this period of his life. Brian Jeffery draws particular attention to this

fact:

It is no exaggeration to say that musical life in Barcelona at this time, in late eighteenth
century, was dominated by Italian opera. Throughout Europe, indeed, its influence was
enormous, to an extent which is still not fully recognised today. Sor had heard Italian
operas …as a child in the 1780s, and now, back in Barcelona in the 1790s, this influence
continued.6

As a result of the highly charged creative atmosphere, driven by the popular Italian

Opera, the young Sor composed his opera Telemaco of which Jeffery observed that ‘The

style is completely Italian.’7 The Italian influence can be observed in the works of Sor

throughout his creative life, an influence that was seamlessly integrated within the style

into which he was inculcated during his training in the Germanic harmonic tradition

which he received at the monastery of Montserrat. The Italian influence will be explored

in greater depth later in the chapter.

The eclectic nature of Sor’s education was to continue in his training at the Monastery of

Montserrat from when he arrived there in 1789 or 1790 until he commenced his military

5
A. Ledhuy and H.Bertini's Encyclopedie Pittoresque de la Musique was published in Paris in 1835. This
work contains a detailed biography of Sor. Brian Jeffery concludes that this entry in Ledhuy was most
probably written by Sor himself. Jeffery also includes a facsimile of the article in his seminal work
Fernando Sor Composer and Guitarist, Jeffery quotes liberally, and informatively from Ledhuy.
6
Jeffery, Fernando Sor, Composer and Guitarist, 6.
7
Ibid., 6 & 7.

376
service some six or seven years later. The precise dates aside, the musical skills he was

to learn at the monastery were to influence every aspect of his life as a musician, both in

terms of a composer and performer. Of particular note was his thorough training in the

craft of harmony. Ledhuy informs us that Sor had been taught well the ‘…construction

and part writing of classical-vocal music...’8 this would logically lead to a natural

transference of these compositional skills to his works for the guitar.

Sor’s technical and musical legacy is distilled in his Méthode pour la Guitarre which was

published in Paris in 1830. This method is one of the most significant and comprehensive

guitar methods to appear during a period when many such works were published. Cox

notes in his survey of tutor methods for the six string classical guitar of this period 1770 –

1850 that ‘The bibliography which results from such a project is enormous –

approximately 450 items.’9 The Méthode has been used extensively since this time both

in its original form and in a range of edited versions including that of Sor’s student,

Napoleon Coste. In 1969 Frederic V. Grunfield in his The Art and Times of the Guitar

stated that Sor’s Méthode was ‘easily the most remarkable book on guitar technique ever

written.’10 A French and German translation had appeared by 1831 and an English

translation was published in 1832.

Jeffery notes that:

Enthusiastic reviews of the Méthode appeared in the Revue Musicale, X1 (1831 – 2) and
in the Allgemeine musikalische Zeitung, 1832, both of them praising its seriousness and
value.11

8
Ibid., 6.
9
Paul Wathen Cox, Classic Guitar Technique and Its Evolution as Reflected in the Method Books Ca. 1770
- 1850 (PhD, Indiana University, 1978), 2.
10
Cited from: Jeffery, Fernando Sor, Composer and Guitarist, 96.
11
Ibid.

377
Sor the Harmonist

The principles that underlaid Sor’s approach to the guitar had as their foundation, a

thorough training in, and understanding of, harmonic processes. In the first paragraph of

his Méthode Sor asserts:

I establish nothing by authority nor by caprice; and I merely indicate the route which I
have followed in order to produce results from the guitar which have obtained for me the
approbation of harmonists, people the most difficult to satisfy and to dazzle in regard to
music. I do not believe that my compositions for this instrument can be executed on
different principles. 12

Having thoroughly studied the principles of harmony and counterpoint, Sor comments:

The study of harmony and counterpoint having familiarized me with the progression and
nature of chords and their inversions, with the manner of throwing the melody or air into
the base [sic] or into one of the intermediate parts, of increasing the number of notes of
one or two parts, whilst the others continue their slower progression, I have required
things of this kind from the instrument, and I have found that it yields them better than a
continual jumble of semi and demi-semi-quavers, in diatonic and chromatic scales.13

Sor is clearly referring to the virtuosic, crowd-pleasing style of such performers as Mauro

Giuliani. His Méthode contains a number of such references, usually with an underlying

critical sub-text, which culminates in his rewriting of a variation, composed by Giuliani,

as part of J.N. Hummel's La Sentinelle. Sor suggests that it was not his lack of facility

that led to rewriting the variation, but rather a deeper aesthetic reason; ‘I could perform it;

but it would be at the expense of principles from which I could never willingly depart.’14

At the age of sixteen Sor was dismayed to hear the art of accompanying, which he

perceived as inextricably linked to the correct harmonic movement of parts, dismissed as

12
Ferdinand Sor, Method for the Spanish Guitar, trans. A. Merrick (London: R. Cocks, 1832; reprint, Da
Capo Press), 5.
13
Ibid.
14
Ibid., 47 (in footnote).

378
inconsequential.15 Hearing a performance of an accompaniment composed by Frederic

Moretti, Sor was impressed by the composer’s harmonic skill.16 This was to further

strengthen his belief that in composing for the guitar it was not only possible, but

essential, to apply sound harmonic principles. Ledhuy and Bertini note that ‘Moretti’s

music gave Sor a new direction, and with a little work and by applying his knowledge of

harmony, he soon came to compose music in several real parts.’17

Sor’s view on harmony was to have a direct effect on the manner he treated other musical

and technical aspects of his composition. This is an issue he addresses with some vigour

in his Méthode noting that:

In accompanying airs of Italian operas, I frequently met with little melodious passages in
some instrumental part, and by endeavouring to execute them on the guitar, I found the
fingering I employed for the harmony was the basis of that which I found necessary for
the melody, and that the latter should be almost entirely dependent on the former.18

Sor was clearly committed to sound harmonic practices and this is something that should

not be overlooked in the performance of his compositions. This presents a number of

difficulties in dealing with his compositions on the larger modern guitar where the

fingering that gives the best voicing often requires significant left hand stretches. These

passages are more natural, and sound more fluent, in their original setting on the smaller

nineteenth century guitar. His Étude Op.6 # 12 provides a good example.19 The score of

this Étude gives detailed voicing for the bass and melody. This style of notation for the

guitar was still the exception in the early nineteenth century. Most guitar music was

15
Ibid., 5.
16
Ibid., 6.
17
Jeffery, Fernando Sor, Composer and Guitarist, 5.
18
Sor, Method for the Spanish Guitar, 6.
19
This Étude is part of a set Sor published himself in London between 1815 and 1817.

379
published in a more simplistic and easily read style ideally suited to the amateur market.

This style did not indicate voicing and is often referred to as the ‘violin’ style. The

underpinning harmonic integrity of Sor's music would not allow him to use a notational

system that did not clearly indicate the correct movement of the parts. This Étude, while

using this more sophisticated notational system does not however include any fingering.

Figure 15-1 - Fernando Sor: Étude 0p. 6 #12 / 33 - 3720

A favoured modern fingering using a string of half bars would be21:

Figure 15-2 - Fernando Sor: Étude 0p .6 #12 / 33 – 37

This fingering is pragmatic and gives particular emphasis to the melody, but it results in

the loss of the continuity of the bass voice in bar 34. In this bar the bass voice, a d!

minim, is cut short and restricted in length to that of a crotchet as the third finger is

20
Fernando Sor, Fernando Sor Op.1-20, ed. Frederick M. Noad (New York: Golden Music Press, 1976),
41.
21
A sharp has been added to the bass d1 in bar 35, missing from the original edition.

380
placed on the fourth string to finger the Bb! quaver. The problem is resolved in bars 35

and 36 where the left hand fingering allows the bass to be sustained for its full notated

value. This however has the negative effect of drawing attention to the incorrect voicing

in bar 34 where the bass voice is cut short. The fingering suggested by Andres Segovia in

his edition of twenty selected studies confirms the modern approach to the fingering of

this passage (fig. 15 - 3).

Figure 15-3 - Fernando Sor: Étude 0p. 6 #12 / 33 – 37 – Fingering by Andres Segovia22

By fingering it in the following manner with a string of full bars, the correct voicing can

be maintained, and the chromatic movement of the bass line realised.

Figure 15-4 - Fernando Sor: Étude 0p. 6 #12 / 33 – 37 – Use of a 'string of full bars'

22
Fernando Sor, Studies for the Guitar by Fernando Sor, ed. Andres Segovia (Sydney: J. Albert & Son,
1945), 19.

381
On the modern guitar this fingering would be at the expense of technical ease and

fluidity, and would require a performer capable of managing a significant stretch with the

left hand.23 This fingering however, would have been quite natural and technically

comfortable on an early nineteenth century guitar with a string length of 63cms.,

compared to a typical modern guitar with a string length of 65cm. The spacing of the

strings was also narrower; at the nut the width of the fingerboard was commonly 42 - 47

mm on the nineteenth century guitar and 52.5 mm on the twentieth century guitar. Not

only the shorter string length and narrower fingerboard but also the lower pitch and

resulting lower string tension of the early nineteenth century guitar would have added to

the ease of playing this passage and thus its musical fluidity. So it is not just an issue of

being able to manage the stretch on a modern guitar but also the issue of giving the music

the sense of fluidity and ease that it would have had on an early nineteenth century guitar.

The fingering in Figure 15 - 4 provides a fingering that allows the correct duration of the

voices and this therefore satisfies Sor’s position on the matter as stated in the introduction

to his tutor method:

I found that the fingering which I employed for harmony was the basis of that which I
found necessary for the melody, and that the latter should be almost entirely dependant
on the former.24

23
These fingerings were suggested to be by the Italian guitarist Antonio Scarenzi who has extensively
explored this aspect of Sor's music. Many such examples can be found in Sor's compositions.
24
Sor, Method for the Spanish Guitar.

382
The Viennese Influence

The influence of the Viennese classical style on the music of Sor is often noted with

stylistic parallels being drawn with the music of Haydn. William Newman in his book

‘The Sonata in the Classic Era’ notes:

The creative worth of Sor’s guitar sonatas is high. The ideas, which grow out of the
instrument, yet stand up well enough apart from it, are fresh and distinctive. The harmony
is skilful and surprisingly varied, with bold key changes and with rich modulation in the
development sections. …the style goes back to that of Haydn and Boccherini, especially
in Op. 22/i, which has all the neatness of syntax and accompaniment to be found in a
classical symphony, and Op. 22 / iii and iv, which could nicely pass as a minuet and
rondo by Haydn.25

In his own period this characteristic of Sor’s compositions was also noted in a review of

his Morceau de Concert Op.54:

An introduction, broad and if we may so, as vigorous as it might be if it were written for
orchestra, serves to introduce a theme of rare elegance written with as much purity as one
could achieve in piano music. Then comes variations, sometimes graceful, sometimes
brilliant, and always filled with that taste for harmony which one finds in all M. Sor’s
compositions and only there.26

Sor’s skilful use of harmony was recognized by Newman in 1963 as a desirable aspect of

his compositions, just as it had been in the early nineteenth century. The following extract

is an example of the ‘bold key changes’ as noted by Newman27; a temporally transferable

characteristic (fig. 15 - 5).

25
William S Newman, The Sonata in the Classic Era, 2nd ed., The Norton Library (New York: W.W.
Norton & Company inc., 1972), 664.
26
Jeffery, Fernando Sor, Composer and Guitarist, 91.
27
The key change from C major to Eb major may not now appear 'bold' when compared to the modulations
employed by leading composers of the period such as Haydn and Beethoven. However in terms of the
guitar repertoire of the period, which rarely moved away from a tonic - dominant axis, it may well be
viewed in that light.

383
Figure 15-5 - Fernando Sor: Sonata Op. 22; i / 91 – 13628

The Italian Influence

Compositions in the Italian operatic style appear throughout Sor’s life, a pattern as noted

by Brian Jeffery, which started with his youthful Italian operas. During his stay in

28
Fernando Sor, The Complete Works for Guitar, ed. Brian Jeffery, 9 vols. (London: Tecla Editions, 1982),
Vol.3 Pg.44.

384
London (1815 – 1823) his vocal output was of particular significance in highlighting this

stylistic influence. During this period, ‘He produced eleven sets of three arietts each, in

the purest tradition of bel canto.’29 – ‘to rediscover them is to be reminded of Rossini’s

early operas, or Donizetti or even early Verdi.’30 The attention of the press was attracted

to these finely crafted works:

Mr. Sor’s vocal compositions have gained such favour among the higher order of musical
dilettanti, that a new set of arietts from his pen causes almost as much sensation as the
publication of a new novel by the author of Waverley.31 [Walter Scott]

Sor’s depth of understanding of the Italian operatic style and the bel canto found its

fullest expression in his role as a singer and composer of vocal compositions. His skilful

imitation of the leading Italian singer Girolamo Crescentini (1762 – 1846) was praised by

all who heard it. Sor’s imitation of Crescentini was more than just a ‘party trick’; more

importantly it reflected his deep understanding of the Italian operatic style and his ability

to convincingly portray the popular expressive world of the bel canto. Crescentini was

the last of the great castrati, renowned for his patetico style of singing. Stendhal noted

Crescentini’s ability to introduce infinitely small nuances into his performances and

compositions.32 Jeffery provides an informative quote concerning Sor’s association with

this artist. Drawing on Ludhuy and Bertini’s Encyclopédie Jeffery relates Sor’s meeting

with the Duke of Sussex in late July 1816:

He [Sor] was invited to a soirée, where the Duke of Sussex, brother of the Prince Regent,
spoke to him about his stay in Italy and the popularity there of Crescentini, whom Sor
had known in Madrid when he was giving lessons to Mlle. Colbran (Mme Rossini).33

29
Jeffery, Fernando Sor, Composer and Guitarist, 39.
30
Ibid., 48.
31
Ibid., 39.
32
Nicola Lucarelli, Crescentini, Girolamo (OUP, 2006 [cited 2006]); available from
www.grovemusic.com.
33
Jeffery, Fernando Sor, Composer and Guitarist, 46.

385
Sor probably met Crescentini during his years in Spain when the singer would visit

Madrid from his home base in Lisbon. These meetings gave Sor the opportunity to

become familiar with this influential artist’s style of singing, to a degree which enabled

him to later produce the celebrated, and one assumes accurate, imitation of his style.

Crescentini was significant not just as a performer in the bel canto style but also as a

teacher, his most notable student being the soprano Isabella Colbran (1785 – 1845).34

According to Ledhuy, Sor had also known Colbran in Madrid while she was studying

there with Crescentini.35

Sor, himself a fine singer, had been mixing with the leading Italian exponents of the bel

canto. It would seem reasonable to suggest that these great singers, and their interpretive

practices, influenced the development of Sor’s own style of singing. This theory is further

reinforced by his significant compositional output of arietts in the ‘purest tradition of bel

canto’. I would suggest that this bel canto style of composition was not just reserved for

these sets of songs but flowed through to his pure instrumental music and logically to his

own style of instrumental performance. Sor’s Op.16 variations on Paisiello’s Nel cor piu

non mi sento is an example of such a work. In this composition are blended Sor’s deeply

rooted harmonic sensibilities and the spontaneous creativity associated with the Italian

bel canto. In chapter fourteen a number of examples from Giuliani’s concerti were

quoted to demonstrate how the use of specific terminology or styles of notation where

used to indicate the use of tempo rubato. These were:

34
Colbran was a leading interpreter of Rossini, to whom she was married for fifteen years, and was a
leading exponent of the bel canto style of singing. She was the lead soprano at the Teatro San Carlo in
Naples where she created, to critical acclaim, operatic roles especially written for her by Rossini.
35
Jeffery, Fernando Sor, Composer and Guitarist, 8, 46.

386
 1. The Fermata often associated with an Extemporare cadenza

2. Use of indicative terms

3. Vocal / Operatic figuration

Sor uses just such indicative terms as those noted in point two above in his Op.16. In the

fourth variation Sor utilises the indicative term Lento a Piacere for the whole variation,

encouraging the rhythmic freedom of the bel canto and its associated use of tempo rubato

(fig. 15 - 6).

Figure 15-6 - Fernando Sor: Op. 16 var. 4 / 1-8 – Lento a Piacere (tempo rubato)36

Recording 15-1 (Track 38) - Fernando Sor: Op. 16 var. 4 / 1-8 – Lento a Piacere

Variation one also contains a passage with an extended fermata (see point one above) and

the term a piacere, suggesting a free Italianate use of tempo rubato (fig.15 - 7).

36
Sor, Fernando Sor Op.1-20, 126.

387
Figure 15-7 - Fernando Sor: Op. 16 var. 1 / 18 – 20 – a piacere (tempo rubato)37

Variation six provides an example of the use of free vocal style figuration that is clearly

associated with filigree bel canto figuration, and the use of tempo rubato (fig.15 - 8).

Figure 15-8 - Fernando Sor: Op. 16 var. 6 / 9 – 13 – Free vocal style notation (use of
tempo rubato)38

Recording 15-2 (Track 39) - Fernando Sor: Op. 16 var. 6 / 9 – 13

Such passages, as also noted by Czerny, lent themselves to expressive tempo

modification (see Chapter 7 ‘A Lesson with Czerny’, pg.218):

In embellishment, consisting of very many quick notes, which are unable to force into the
degree of movement first chosen.39

37
Ibid., 125.
38
Ibid., 128.
39
Carl Czerny, Complete Theoretical and Practical Piano Forte School Op. 500, 3 vols. (London: 1839),
3/3/33, 34.

388
In Sor’s Étude Op. 6 # 12 an interesting interpretive issue arises in respect to the possible

Italian influence. This set of Études is believed to have been published near the time of

one of the set of Italian arietts40. Sor was clearly in a particular compositional and

creative frame of mind. It is quite possible that some of the stylistic elements of the bel

canto flowed through to his instrumental works. If this was the case it would need to be

given due interpretive consideration.

This Étude requires the guitarist to sustain a cantabile melody above an harmonically

thorough accompaniment (fig. 15 - 9). If the influence of the bel canto is accepted the

melody would show some of the distinct characteristics as outlined by Celletti and may

include:41

• subtle interplay of chiaroscuro contrast

• subtle nuance
• flexibility
• unusual quality of timbre
• variety of colour
• varied, analytical phrasing
• delicacy

40
Jeffery, Fernando Sor, Composer and Guitarist, 151.
41
See Chapter 14 page 375 for a full list of Celletti's bel canto descriptors.

389
Figure 15-9 - Fernando Sor: Étude Op. 6 # 12 / 1 - 4242

Recording 15-3 - Fernando Sor: Étude Op. 6 # 12 (complete)

42
Sor, Fernando Sor Op.1-20, 41.

390
The Romantic Influence

It is reasonable to assume that Sor, as a leading member of the musical establishment,

was familiar with the latest stylistic developments that were occurring and how they were

shaping the musical aesthetic of the period.

The arch experimenter and a harbinger of the new hyper-subjectivity of the romantic,

Hector Berlioz (1803–1869), was active in Paris in the later period of Sor’s residency in

the French capital. Sor would have been in the city at the time of the premiere of

Berlioz’s Symphonie Fantastique in 1830. How could a sensitive, inquisitive artist not

have been affected by such a monumental event? Hugh McDonald in New Grove Online

notes that;

…on 5 December [1830] the Symphonie fantastique received its first performance in a
concert of Berlioz’s works conducted by Habeneck. Liszt, who was present, made
Berlioz’s acquaintance on that occasion….Berlioz’s reputation as a composer of startling
originality was by now confirmed.43 (New Grove Online)

Sor is known to have performed at concerts featuring both Hector Berlioz and Franz

Liszt. Jeffery lists a concert which also featured Berlioz in June 1833 and concerts that

featured Liszt in April 1828 and April 1829.44 Whether Sor knew these ‘mega-stars’ of

the musical firmament is not clear but evidence suggests that he would have been familiar

with their music and performances. A review by Fétis of a concert on April 20th 1828

draws attention to the musical company in which Sor was mixing. The concert featured

43
Hugh Macdonald, Berlioz, Hector, §2: 1821-30 (2007 [cited 15 January 2008]); available from
http://www.grovemusic.com.
44
Jeffery, Fernando Sor, Composer and Guitarist, 100.

391
Franz Liszt and also Sor, and it was Sor who concluded the evening with a performance

of a set of variations which he had composed himself. Fétis’ review notes:

M. Sor has talent; the music which he plays, almost always written in four parts, is
prodigiously difficult, but he gets a poor sound from the instrument.45

What a challenge to conclude an evening featuring performances by such musical

luminaries. Sor’s composition was well received and not seen wanting; it was the sound

of the guitar that came under attack. It would not be hard to imagine that after a

performance by the likes of Liszt that the small voice of the guitar could have been heard

as lacking in sound. This would have undoubtedly been one of those occasions that led

Sor to express the view in his Méthode:

I have always too much regretted that there was no method of giving more sound to the
instrument, in order that I might occupy myself with the methods of diminishing it…46

Early Nineteenth Century Reviews of Sor the Performer

Another snapshot of Sor’s performing personae can be assembled from contemporary

reviews. After each review noted in the table below key words that relate to Sor’s playing

are identified and are later assembled to create a picture of Sor the performer and

composer.

45
Ibid.
46
Sor, Method for the Spanish Guitar, 17.

392
 Giulianiad47
Source Description Key Words
Vol.1. p.27 ‘… he [Sor] then made his first magical and surprising;
(London 1835) performance at the Argyll Rooms, nobody could credit that
Anonymous which I attended, was of a nature such effects could be
correspondent; which will never be erased for my produced on the guitar
memory; it was once magical and
surprising; nobody could credit that
such effects could be produced on the
guitar!’

Fernando Sor Composer and Guitarist by Brian Jeffery.48

Source Description Key Words
Morning ‘His talent on this instrument, enlarged its [the guitar’s]
Chronicle which has been so limited, till he powers; exquisite
(London, 17 June enlarged its powers, was truly
1815) exquisite...’
Jeffery, FSCG, 41
The Philharmonic ‘In a concertante for the Spanish astonished the audience;
Society of London guitar, composed and performed by unrivalled execution
(London, 1862, M. Sor, a guitarist in great vogue at
p.17) that time, he astonished the
Jeffery, FSCG, 47 audience by his unrivalled
execution.’
Ackermann’s ‘We will not attempt to describe the magic of his play; excited
Repository of Arts sensations which the magic of his within us; greatest
(London, Feb. play excited within us, but our precision; deepest
1820) readers may form some idea of expression
Jeffery, FSCG, 62 what we felt, when we state that
Included in a this gentleman executed, with the
review of Six greatest precision, and with the
Divertimentos for deepest expression, scores of five or
the Guitar Op.13 six distinct parts…’
The Harmonicon ‘... where he charmed all the must have been a complete
(London, March Parisian amateurs by an instrument orchestra
1823) which, says our French
Jeffery, FSCG, 76 correspondent, might, from its
appearance been taken for a guitar;
but judging by its harmony, must
have been a complete orchestra,
enclosed in a small compass. He
ought, continues our friend, to be
called Le Racine de la Guitare.’

47
Giulianiad, vol. 1 (London: Sherwood & Co, 1835).
48
Jeffery, Fernando Sor, Composer and Guitarist.

393
The Harmonicon Amongst the once favoured musical exquisite and wonderful
(London, March instrument, now for some time performances; speak so
1824) neglected, and coming back into sweetly and so well
Jeffery, FSCG, 63 practice again, is the guitar. To the
exquisite and wonderful
performances of M. Sor this may be
attributed, he makes the instrument
“speak so sweetly, and so well,”
that hundreds fly to “strike the
chorded shell,” who never before
dreamt of what it was capable of
producing.’
The Harmonicon ‘M. Sor stands at a vast distance excellent musician; a man
(London, Feb. from all other guitarists, both as a of taste; astonishing
1831) performer and composer. He is an [command]; always
Jeffery, FSCG, 64 excellent musician, a man of taste, pleasing
and his command over an
instrument which in other hands is
so limited in its means, is not only
astonishing, but – what is far more
important – always pleasing.’

394
Bringing together the key words and phrases allows a picture of Sor the performer to

emerge which will conclude this chapter.

TECHNICAL SKILLS
• unrivalled execution
• greatest precision
• astonishing [command]
• must have been a complete orchestra
• such effects could be produced on the guitar
MUSICAL ABILITY
• exquisite
• magic of his play
• exquisite and wonderful performances
• speak so sweetly, and so well
• deepest expression
PERSONAL ATTRIBUTES
• excellent musician
• a man of taste
• always pleasing
EFFECT OF HIS PLAYING
• astonished the audience
• excited within us
• once magical and surprising

Figure 15-10 - Period descriptors of Fernando Sor the performer

Sor – An Early Nineteenth Century Perspective

A picture emerges of a performer with astonishing technical facility, capable of coaxing

from the guitar such a variety of sounds that comparison is drawn to the sound world of

the orchestra; a performer who demonstrated an ability to sustain complex harmonies in

multiple and correctly moving parts, an accomplishment not previously heard on the

guitar. Sor continuously demonstrated that he was an educated and cultured musician

and a great communicative artist, a performer who was able to draw from his instrument

395
the sweetest and most expressive of sounds, the likes of which audiences had never

before experienced. Sor had an overwhelming effect on his audiences, exciting within

them the deepest, almost magical feelings.

396