Sor: 6 Divertimenti, Opp. 1 And 2 / 6 Petite Pieces, Op. 5

Kraft

Regular: £11.49

Sale: £11.49
Regular

Out of Stock

Unit Price: per

Cat No: 8554196

Email me when this is available

Release Date: 12 January 1999

Label: Naxos - Nxc / Naxos Classics

Packaging Type: Jewel Case

No of Units: 1

Barcode: 636943419625

Genres: Classical

Composer/Series: SOR

Description
Fernando Sor(1778-1839)March from Cendrillon Six Divertimenti, Op.1 Six Divertimenti, Op.2Th?¿me varie et unmenuet, Op. 3 Fantasia, Op. 4Six petites pi?¿ces,Op. 5Fernando Sor is one ofthe most significant and one of the most revered figures in the history of theguitar. Born in Barcelona, Sor received his early musical training at themonastery of Montserrat, where he sang in the famous boys' choir. His opera IlTelemaco nell'isola di Calipso was produced in 1797, when he was onlynineteen. In spite of his musical gift, Sor at first embarked upon a career inthe army, but this was shattered by the Napoleonic invasion of Spain in 1808and its aftermath. Like many young Spanish officers, Sor was torn between thebackward Borbon monarchy to which he had sworn loyalty, and the progressive newBonaparte regime. A performer and composer such as Sor would also have knownthat Imperial Paris, with its abundance of publishers and its glitteringvenues, offered greater opportunities for a musical career than did provincialMadrid. Sor remained loyal to the Borbons for a while and even contributed afew patriotic songs to the cause, but eventually he joined the new Bonaparteregime.As early as 1810 a fewof Sor's works for guitar, still unpublished in Spain, appeared in Paris inSalvador Castro de Gistau's Journal de musique etrang?¿re. The defeat ofthe French at Vitoria in 1813 and the restoration of the unforgiving Borbonsended Sor's military career and doomed him to a permanent exile from his nativeland, but it also launched his international musical career. Sor fled fromSpain to Paris, where his reputation as a composer had preceded him. In thenext years he visited London, and on one triumphant tour in the mid 1820stravelled as far as Moscow. In the late 1820s he returned to Paris, where heremained until his death in1839, publishing his compositions, teaching, andgiving occasional concerts. In all, he published over sixty works for one ortwo guitars, as well as several dozen songs, a few ballets, and othermiscellaneous works.Sor is not known tohave composed ballets before about 1820, but thereafter he wrote several;unfortunately, most of them have not survived. His first great success was Cendrillon,which had its first performance at the King's Theatre in London in 1822.The classic version of the folk-tale Cinderella (or Cendrillon, LaCenerentala, Aschenbrodl) had been defined in 1697 by Charles Perrault inhis Contes de ma m?¿re l'oye ('Tales of Mother Goose'). A century later,in Sor's lifetime, the story experienced a curious resurgence. PerhapsPerrault's heroine, like Mary Shelley's creature, provided a metaphor for someof the historic developments of the age; the ascendance of the bourgeoisie orof the parvenu nobility of the Napoleonic era, or perhaps a new generationcould look back with relief on the passing of some of the harsher aspects ofrural life under the Old Regime which Perrault's tales had depicted only toovividly. Sor was not the first composer to be att
Tracklisting