Fernando Sor antaisie Pour Guitare Seule Composée et dédiée a son Eleve Mlle Houze Edited by epe INomeroFernando Sor (1778-1839) after contemporary portraits. Original art by Danny Shoemaker (1994). GME 010InTRODUCTION ‘emando Sor (1778-1839) was one of the first great composers to write for the guitar in its modern configuration, He was = Catalan, born in Barcelona, and received his early musical training at the legendary monastery of Montserrat, where he sar. in the boys’ choir. His opera ff Telemaco nell'sla di Calipso was produced in 1797, when he was only nineteen. Although =< ‘was a commissioned officer in the Spanish army, he seems to have had few military responsibilities, and was able to pursue career as a composer. Sot was briefly a protégé of the Duchess of Alba, but ths relationship was ended by her death in 1802. After the Fre invasion, Sor eemained loyal to the Borbén dynasty for a while, but eventually joined many other liberal officers in supporting the Bones: Tp 2813, the defeat of the French drove Sor into & permanent exile from his native land. Hlis career took him to Paris, London, and on e: triumphant tour as far as St. Petersburg and Moscow. Sor left over sixty works for one or two guitars, plus several dozen songs, a few ball: and other miscellaneous works. Sor’s music for guitar, especially the larger-scale works and the studies, composed in the internation! clas style, are among the jewels of the guitar repertory, works of consummate crafismanship which compare favorably with virtually any of t: composers of his age. Tn the last few years, several “lost” works of Sor have reappeared—two ballets, the funeral march Sor was commissioned to write the funeral of Tsar Alexander I, and, most significantly, the previously unknown solo work which is published here for the first time. T: original title of the work is Fantasie pour Guitare Seule Composde et dite a Son Elise Madamoislle Houzé. It is a demanding work created © Sor at the peak of his creative abilities, a work of gaiety, spontaneity, and virtuosity. The autograph manuscript, now in the possession of Per: Romero, had been auctioned at Sotheby's as part of collection, said to be of Italian origin, which also included a number of autographed fi editions of works by Sox; the collection was probably assembled in Sor’ lifetime, perhaps by the dedicatee Mile Howzé herself. The previo owners of the collection have preferred to zemain anonymous, so its provenance is uncertain. Natalie Houzé was a pupil of Sor in Paris, and the dedicatee of several other of his works, the Six Waltzes, Op. 39 (18302), anc Fantaisie, Op. 54bi (1833), both for two guitars. She was also the dedicatee of the Grande Sonate, Op. 51 of Francesco Molino (1775-1847 ‘which probably dates to the late 1820s, Little else is known of her, but her association with two of the bese guitarists in Paris, and the qualicr = the music that they composed for her, together imply that she was a talented guitarist. Molino’s Grande Merbode, Op. 46, contains a picture = certain Madele N. H., who is slée lap forte de Mr F. MP,” demonstrating the proper posture for playing the guitar. Dr. Peter Danner! pointed out that Madelle N. H. is very kely to have been Mils Natalie Hou2é. Although the dating of Molino's works is problematic, i se possible that Mlle Houzé was a pupil of Molino for several years in the 1820s, and then (assuming that she would not have two such tea at once), moved on to study with Sor by the early 1830. The date of the Fantairie was probably about 1833, sine it requires a last the 52 advanced technical proficiency as Op. 54's, and because it is unlikely in that era that a talented, atrractive, and apparentiy well-to-do yo Parisian lady remained unmarried indefinitely. By 1827, Sor had returned to live in Paris after his extended visit to Russia. In St. Petersburg and Moscow Sor had achieved mz professional triumphs and had even become a favorite of the new fara His ballerina wife, Félicité Hullin, returned to Russia to pursue carcer, but in gpite of conjecture, there is no evidence that this plunged Sor into a great melancholy. On the contrary, his internat reputation was now secure and his music was in demand across the continent, The next ten years saw his ballets performed in the capita's Burope and his virtuosity as e performer extolled in the intemational press. Sor lived quietly in Pasis, for a while in the Hotel Favact on the R dde Marivaux, across from the Opéra Comique and a few steps from the Boulevard des Italiens; in 1832 he moved ro the Marché Saint-Hone= near the fashionable Place Vendéme. His frequent concerts, many of them documented in the Revue muticale, sometimes included duets his brother Carlos or his fend Dionisio Aguado, but his principal income was increasingly derived from teaching fashionable young px such as Mile Houzé 2 ‘There is nothing to indicate that Mlle Houzé ever used the manuscript as a performing copys it contains no fingering indications: = of the fingering in this edition has been provided by Pepe Romero. Sor’s musical notation indicates a great deal about his intentir been scrupulously preserved3 with a few exceptions. Slurs not included in the original manuscript are indicated here by dotted slurs: ~ notation of accidentals has been modernized and occasionally corrected; the one flat in the key signature of the minor section of the nd: (p- 7) was omitted in the original; the thematic phrase of the Allegretto vivaze movement, notated by Sor asin example A below, has bec: notated throughout as in example B, Richard M. Long, Pr Pr 1 De, Danner used the picture of Mace N, H." on the cover af Sounds XIX, No, 3 (Ful Wiater 1992); his identication ison 2 Foe most ofthese biographical details Lam indebted, a is anyone who wishes to lean about Sor, to Brian Jeffery, Fernand Ser* Coo Guitare (London: Teela Editions, 1977; 2ad edition, 1995). “Although every effort bas been made to preserve the arate and historical authenticity ofthis edition, it contains ew and origina = tected by international copyright. This musi i inthe public domain GME 010«aly Madelle N.H., from Molino's Grande Méthode, Op. 46. 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