Abel Carlevaro Casal was born on 16 December 1916 in Montevideo, Uruguay, and died on 17 July 2001 in Berlin. He ranks among the most influential guitar personalities of the twentieth century — as a performer, composer, instrument inventor, and,…
Máximo Diego Pujol, born on 7 December 1957 in Buenos Aires, ranks among the most important contemporary Argentine guitar composers, standing alongside fellow countrymen Carlos Guastavino, Atahualpa Yupanqui, and Héctor Ayala, already discussed in earlier essays in this series. Pujol…
Nikita Arnoldovich Koshkin born on 28 February 1956 in Moscow, is one of the most important and influential guitar composers of the present day. Already in his childhood he received a guitar from his grandfather, along with a recording by…
Both wonderfull pieces from very different times! Mr. Jack Hancher is an very interesting, a truly authentic and exciting interpreter on the guitar. The Gnossienne Nr. 1 of Satie is another very exiting interpretations of him. The Nocturnal is under…
Frank Martin (1890–1974) was a Swiss composer regarded as one of the most distinctive voices in twentieth-century European music. Born in Geneva as the son of a Calvinist pastor, Martin developed a highly individual compositional style that combined elements of…
Aníbal Augusto Sardinha, known by his stage name Garoto (“The Kid”), was born on 28 June 1915 and died as early as 3 May 1955, at the age of only thirty-nine. He was a Brazilian composer and performer on an…
Erik Satie (1866–1925) ranks among the most original and influential outsiders in French music history at the turn of the twentieth century. While much of French music of his time still stood under the spell of Wagner, Satie pursued a…
No verified biographical information exists concerning the figure of J. H. Wagner. Neither Philip Bone’s Guitar and Mandolin (1914) nor the Handbook of Guitar and Lute Composers by Annala and Mätlik contains a dedicated entry, and the standard authority files…
No verified biographical information concerning the figure of C. H. Vail is currently available to musicological research. Neither a full given name nor birth or death dates are recorded in the standard reference works — such as Philip Bone’s Guitar…
Jacques Tessarech was born on April 9, 1862, in Ajaccio, Corsica. He came from a family with unique European ties; his grandfather was a Czech sergeant who was captured after the Battle of Austerlitz and subsequently settled in Corsica. Tessarech…
Russian guitar enthiast and composer. No further biography informatisn available. At Boje you will find 5 pieces. The Souvenir de Spa par servaix is the most interesting piece.
1. Introduction and Historical Context At the turn of the 20th century, guitar literature in the German-speaking world experienced a noticeable aesthetic turning point. Many publications of that era relied on simple, mechanically repeated chord progressions that reduced the instrument…
1. Introduction and Historical Context At the dawn of the 20th century, folk and domestic music-making across the German-speaking lands—particularly in Bavaria—underwent a profound period of professionalization. Instruments such as the classical guitar and the concert zither emancipated themselves from…
Max Schulz (1866 – 1945) – Andante Dr. Max Erich Schulz was an esteemed German musician, editor, and scholar. Born in Dresden on February 5, 1866, he lived through pivotal eras of German cultural history before passing away in Berlin…
Gustav Otto Schick (1850–1928), born on May 12, 1850, in Bad Lauchstädt, was a prominent figure in the German mandolin and guitar movement of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Based in Leipzig, he co-founded the Leipzig Guitar Club…
The Rediscoverer of the Folksong: The Life and Work of Heinrich Scherrer (1865–1937) 1. Introduction and Historical Context At the turn of the 20th century, the guitar underwent a fundamental renaissance across the German-speaking world. Driven significantly by the bourgeois…
Spanish Sounds in Paris: The Life and Work of Manuel Sarrablo (1866–1947) 1. Introduction and Historical Context Toward the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Paris experienced a massive wave of fascination with Spanish guitar music. French society was captivated…
Manlio Biagi was an Italian guitarist, composer, and arranger born in Terni in 1896, who passed away in Milan in 1942. Despite his relatively short life, he was a key figure in the Italian guitar renaissance during the first half…
A Pioneer of the New World: The Life and Work of Luis T. Romero (1854–1893) 1. Introduction and Historical Context In the late 19th century, the classical guitar in the United States was still largely considered an instrument for domestic…