Type of Submission
Podium Presentation
Keywords
Andres Segovia, Guitar, Classical Guitar
Proposal
Today, the classical guitar is recognized as a valid concert instrument: it is taught in most major music schools and conservatories across the world, but it has not always been this way. Before the twentieth century, the guitar was viewed as a simple instrument, incapable of being played in more prestigious venues than bars. In the nineteenth century, a handful of guitarists attempted to change this view of the guitar, but they were all ultimately unsuccessful. Around the dawn of the twentieth century, a man by the name of Andres Segovia decided to radically turn the guitar around and make it a prestigious concert instrument that could rival the violin or the piano. He used a variety of means to accomplish this: scheduling recitals in important venues to raise the public opinion, enlisting non-guitarists to compose new music for the instrument, transcribe important works by notable composers for the instrument, and convince music school and conservatories to teach the instrument at a high level. He was successful in all of these means, but ultimately failed to make the classical guitar as prominent an instrument as the violin or the piano. What causes the guitar to fall short of these instruments and is there a way to raise it up to their level of importance in classical music?
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.
Publication Date
2024
Andres Segovia: Champion of the Guitar
Today, the classical guitar is recognized as a valid concert instrument: it is taught in most major music schools and conservatories across the world, but it has not always been this way. Before the twentieth century, the guitar was viewed as a simple instrument, incapable of being played in more prestigious venues than bars. In the nineteenth century, a handful of guitarists attempted to change this view of the guitar, but they were all ultimately unsuccessful. Around the dawn of the twentieth century, a man by the name of Andres Segovia decided to radically turn the guitar around and make it a prestigious concert instrument that could rival the violin or the piano. He used a variety of means to accomplish this: scheduling recitals in important venues to raise the public opinion, enlisting non-guitarists to compose new music for the instrument, transcribe important works by notable composers for the instrument, and convince music school and conservatories to teach the instrument at a high level. He was successful in all of these means, but ultimately failed to make the classical guitar as prominent an instrument as the violin or the piano. What causes the guitar to fall short of these instruments and is there a way to raise it up to their level of importance in classical music?
