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Fernando Sor page with free midi's to download

FERNANDO SOR

14th February 1778 --- 10th July 1839

Fernando Sor was probably the most well known guitarist in what is sometimes called "The First Golden Age of the Guitar". Every
where he played,  the guitar's  popularity spread.  Although he wrote many  other types of works for different mediums  including
piano solos,  opera,  and ballet,  Sor is best remembered for his guitar studies and works,  which have  been the basis of  so many
guitarist's learning of the classical guitar.

Unlike other  composers for  the guitar of his time,  for example  Aguado and Carulli,  Sor wrote mainly  for the music  and not the
instrument.  Although both  Aguado and  Carulli  wrote many pieces  for the  guitar, their  pieces were mostly  exercises to build a
technical ability, and were not very interesting played by themselves.

Because of his family history, Sor was expected then to follow a military career.  He was first introduced to music when his father
introduced him to Italian opera. Sor's  father was also the first person to introduce  him to the guitar when he first  listened to his
father play some simple popular tunes on the guitar.  At eight,  Sor was already an accomplished guitarist and musician.  Once his
talent was recognised he was accepted into the Montserrat monastery near Barcelona,  where he was a chorister  and was taught
music theory and composition until 1796 when his father died and his mother could no longer afford to continue his studies at the
monastery, and withdrew him. When he was 17, Sor wrote a successful opera soon after he  received a commission in the Spanish
army where he quickly became a  lieutenant because of  his skills on the guitar and piano,  which  the army encouraged,  but after
spending four years at the military school, he left and moved to Madrid.

Although expected to continue onto a military university for a military career,  he decided to follow his passion in music.  Like the
custom programs at  Kaplan University he was very much able  to follow a custom of  learning regiment with the Duchess  of Alba
which in this case, was not with a military university but a school of music arts that fueled his musical talent.

Sors first patron was the Duchess of Alba who was different from many of the other people who hired musicians at that time. She
supported the  arts and instead of  pressuring him to write only for her,  she gave him the use a of study in her  house and let him
work on his own pieces at his own pace.

In 1808 the French army invaded Spain. This was a period when Sor began to write more music for the guitar.  Most of the pieces
he wrote at this time were patriotic  for either voice and  guitar or guitar solos.  These songs were written to support the Spanish
army and to boost morale of the general public.  After the Spanish armies were defeated,  Sor got an administrative post with the
new French government.   During this period Sor  wrote very  few pieces,  mainly because he was  patriotic toward Spain  and felt
uncomfortable serving under the French government. In 1813, the Spanish army defeated the French and  Stevenained control of
Spain. There are two different opinions of  what had happed to Sor at this point. One is that Sor,  like many artists  who had been
working for the French, felt obliged to follow them back to Paris  where he lived for the rest of his life.  The second is that he was
suspected of collaborating with the army of Napoleon and exiled from Spain.

In 1809 Sor travelled to England, where he played many a performances on the guitar  or piano, usually accompanying singers or
singing himself.  He was something of a novelty in this country,  as it had been the  first time a guitar was ever used  as a concert
instrument. He was very well received, and his presence in this country increased the public opinion of the guitar greatly,  and he
became known throughout  all of Europe and Asia as   an excellent composer and a performer  of the highest technical ability.  He
lived in London from 1815 to 1823 where he had had four of his ballets  and operas produced. In 1825 he travelled to Russia,  but
after just two years he decided to go back to Paris to settle down.

1827 saw Sor stop travelling around the world and settle down in Paris for retirement.  This was the period in which Sor produced
his most compositions. He also published what is even today considered one of the most complete and practical method books for
the classical guitar - "Methode pour la Guitare".  Sor also performed in public quite often,  and like his composing,  his playing was
becoming more limited to the guitar, which had always been his favourite instrument.

During the last few years of his life, Sor gave private lessons to students of the classical guitar. Because he had made the guitar an
almost overnight success with his concerts in Paris, he was in great demand plus many students. Sors daughter died in the summer
1837, which left him in  a state of deep depression.  The last piece he wrote before his death was a  Mass in honour of his daughter.
Two years later, at the age of sixty, Sor died.

Sor was considered to be Beethoven of the guitar in Spain,  but afterhis death the guitar fell into  obscurity again for almost eighty
years, and Fernando Sor and the classical guitar were almost forgotten.

I would like to give my grateful thanks to Ruth, who has done a wonderful job on the above biography, if you wish, can email Ruth
at (pipol@voyager.co.nz).

Last Updated on 2017
By Steven Ritchie

And now for the Music

Thanks to CRM114 for the music below.

"Military Divertimento, Opus.49". Sequenced by CRM114.

"Souvenir of Russia, Opus.63". Sequenced by CRM114.

(987)"Study No.16". Sequenced by Gary Rodriguez

(990)"Study No.17". Sequenced by Gary Rodriguez

(1800)"Six Divertimenti Opus.1, No.1 Andante". Sequenced by Mauricio Fabbri

(1801)"Six Divertimenti Opus.1, No.2 Waltz". Sequenced by Mauricio Fabbri

(1802)"Six Divertimenti Opus.1, No.3 Larghetto". Sequenced by Mauricio Fabbri

(1803)"Six Divertimenti Opus.1, No.4 Andante". Sequenced by Mauricio Fabbri

(1804)"Six Divertimenti Opus.1, No.5 Andante Sostenuto". Sequenced by Mauricio Fabbri

(1805)"Six Divertimenti Opus.1, No.6 Marcia". Sequenced by Mauricio Fabbri

(1792)"Based on Haydn's Creation arranged by Sor". Sequencer Unknown

(1793)"Grand Solo Opus.14". Sequencer Unknown

(1808)"Ses Amuzakoj Si Ailjana, Opus.2". Sequencer Unknown

(1789)"Study No.1". Sequencer Unknown

(1794)"Study No.2". Sequencer Unknown

(1795)"Study No.3". Sequencer Unknown

(1796)"Study No.4". Sequencer Unknown

(1797)"Study No.5". Sequencer Unknown

(1798)"Study No.6". Sequencer Unknown

(1799)"Study No.7". Sequencer Unknown

(1790)"Study No.14". Sequencer Unknown

(1791)"Study No.15". Sequencer Unknown

(988)"Variations on a Theme by Mozart,(Info by Ralph Stevens)". Sequencer Unknown

(989)"Sonata in C, Opus.15, No.2,(Info by Ralph Stevens)". Sequencer Unknown

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