Program Notes

Lute Suite in G Minor BWV 995

The baroque composer Johann Sebastian Bach is often considered as one of the greatest
composers of all time. Part of what gives him this title is by being a master of writing the
Baroque suite, a collection dance movements often opened with a prelude. In 18th Century
Germany the lute was gaining popularity as we see Bach begin to write music for the
instrument. However, it is believed that Bach did not play the lute himself but instead played a
lautenwerke, a keyboard instrument like the harpsichord with a round underbelly and gut strings
instead of steel. This piece is Bach’s own arrangement of his Cello Suite No. 5 in C minor, BWV
1011. When arranging the suite for the lute Bach made use of the Lutes polyphonic abilities by
adding in notes underneath the melody to give the piece a fuller sound. When written for cello
the piece is in the key of C minor and when arranged for the lute it has been moved to G minor
to better fit the instrument. When arranged for guitar by Oscar Ghiglia it has been moved to the
key of A minor.

- Prelude: The Prelude for this Suite is written in a French Overture style. In the late 1600’s this
was widely used as an opening for operas, ballets, and suites. The French Overture is is
composed of two parts, the first of the two is slow and uses the placement of dotted rhythms
and suspended notes. The 2nd part is faster, lively and is written in a fugue like style.

- Allemande: The Allemande is a stately dance. In this suite the Allemande continues the French
character by having dotted rhythms and many ornaments throughout the melody. In this
movement Bach makes use of playing full chords by having them clearly show the beginnings
and the ends of phrases.

- Courante: The title Courante can be translated as “running”. This courante is characterized by
longer phrases of scalar passages which also utilizes the French manner of dotted rhythms and
ornaments. Similar to the Allemande it maintains the serious manner by having very clear
endings to its phrases.

- Sarabande: The Sarabande is a piece in 3/4 and often is recognized by its slow tempo, use of
chords, and stress on beat 2. Unlike the other movements where notes have been added due to
the chordal abilities of the lute this entire movement is written in a single voice. This creates a
simple but haunting sound throughout.

- Gavottes I & II: The Gavotte is a French dance that has its origins from the folk dance, the
Gavot. In this suite the Gavottes both provide a lively feeling with a clear dance-like sense to
them. Gavotte I is written in cut time and it begins like many at the time did by coming in halfway
though the measure. Gavotte II is written in a triple meter and leaves very little room to rest as
the piece is almost entirely in perpetual motion based off of the triplet figure stated at the
beginning.
- Gigue: Gigues are often associated as a lively and joyous dance that is the last movement of
the Baroque suite. This gigue, although it is in a triple meter, does not bring that same lively
energy as other gigues composed by Bach. Like many of the movements it maintains the
serious and somber character. By doing this it maintains the minor characteristic given to us in
the prelude despite modulating to major keys for brief moments.

Agustin Barrios was a 19th century guitar and composer from Paraguay. He is considered by
many to be one of the best guitarists of his time. As a guitarist he did not receive as much
international fame as Spanish guitarist Andres Segovia. Most of Barrios’ music was composed
in three styles: religious, folkloric, and imitative. He has composed over 300 pieces of music for
the guitar and it remains a staple in the classical guitar repertoire today.

Cueca
The Cueca is the national dance of Chile. Cueca is also known as Danza Chilena and
comes from a four movement work called the “Suite Andina”. Each piece in the suite is based
off of a traditional dance from the regions of South America that The Andes Mountains run
through. Although the dance associated with Chile the origin of this dance is from the
Zamacueca, a dance that was popular in Peru and originated from the Spanish Fandango. As
the Zamacueca spread and evolved throughout South America, various countries such as Peru,
Chile and Argentina each had their own distinct version of it. In Chile, the Cueca is a dance that
involves a man and a woman dancing with each other in a very flirtatious manor.

Una Limosna por el Amor de Dios

The title of this piece translates to “An Alm For The Love of God”. The story often told is
that while Barrios was teaching guitar an old beggar woman knocked on his door and then
would begin to sing in hope for some money. The piece depicts this by using repeated notes in
the accompaniment to imply the knocking. Following this, the rhythm of these notes continue
throughout the piece while a melody is playing above them using the tremolo technique. This is
a technique that gives the illusion of a continuous melody while simultaneously playing an
additional melody or accompaniment underneath The tremolo would depict the song that the
woman is singing. This piece is also Barrios final composition before his death.

La Catedral
La Catedral is a three movement work composed in 1914. It was inspired by a religious
experience that Barrios had in Uruguay. While he was there he went to the Cathedral of San
José and for the first time heard the music of J.S. Bach being played on the organ. The piece
originally was composed only with the Andante Religioso and Allegro Solemne. The original
opening movement Andante Religioso exemplifies imitation of the organ through its use of
sustained chords and dotted rhythms. In the last movement Allegro Soleme, Barrios uses his
imitative type of composition to reflect the style of J.S. Bach. In 1938 he wrote a prelude to the
two movements called Preludio (Saudade). Saudade is a Portuguese word for the feeling of
longing and nostalgia.
El Polifemo De Oro
Reginald Smith Brindle was an English composer who played the piano, clarinet, saxophone,
and the guitar. Born in 1917, it wasn’t until 1937 where he got into composition and soon after
began to win competitions. In 1956 he composed his work El Polifemo De Oro which is
dedicated to guitarist Julian Bream who premiered and recorded the piece in 1967. In 1981
Brindle revisited the piece and made some edits as well as expanding on each of the
movements. The title of the piece is roughly translated to “The Golden Polyphemus”.
Polyphemus is a mythological creature who is known as the cyclops son of Greek god
Poseidon. The piece uses a 20th century composition technique called serialism. In serialism
the 12 pitches of western music are set in a predetermined order known the tone row. Once this
first row is played the composer writes uses specific variations based on the first tone row. The
piece is in 4 movements which Bridle title and described as:
I. Ben Adagio (fleeting sounds)
II. Allegretto (whirling intertwining softly dissonant harmonies)
III. Largo (Supernatural harmonics and tamboro effects)
IV. Ritmico e Vivo (ruthless vivaciousness).
This piece is also dedicated to Spanish poet Garcia Lorca who’s poem “The Riddle of
The Guitar” and “The Six Strings” inspired Brindle to compose this piece for the guitar. The first
poem depicts the guitar as Polyphemus and says “the strings are six maidens being held firmly
by the cyclops” The second poem describes Lorca’s feelings towards the guitar. “Guitar, it
makes dreams cry. The sob(s) of the lost souls escapes through his mouth”.

Isaac Albeniz
Albeniz was a composer, pianist, and conductor from Catalonia, Spain. Although he wrote for
orchestras and vocalists many of his compositions were written for piano, either alone or in
various ensemble combinations. One instrument he did not write for was the classical guitar
even though many of his piano pieces were written in inspiration from it. In 1887 he compiled
works that were written in 1886 entitled them the Suite Española and was done so in honor of
the Queen of Spain. Originally it was a collection of four pieces written to depict various regions
of Spain. However, in 1912 after Albeniz’s death an editor republished the Suite Espanola with
an additional 4 pieces added to it making it an 8 movement suite.

Granada (Serenta)
Granada is a region in southern Spain known for its architectural beauty. The title Serenata,
which means serenade, is a musical song form that often is calm and light. This can be heard in
the opening of the movement as the opening imitates a harp with the song played above it. The
middle section can be said to represent the architecture and art work found on the inside of
many of the cathedrals in Granada.
Asturias (Leyenda)
Originally this piece was the prelude to a collection of pieces entitled Chants d’Espagne.
Despite being written originally for the piano the piece has become more associated with the
classical guitar. Leyenda translates to “legend” which is depicted in the middle section of the
piece through expressive dynamics and the development of the opening melodic figure.
Originally in the Suite Espanola the piece is placed as the fifth movement. However, unlike the
other movements this does not depict the province known as Asturias. This is because it is not
inspired by Asturias, Spain like many would expect based on the title. The piece as a whole is
widely inspired by the Andalusian culture. The culture of southern Spain which was the
birthplace of flamenco which can be heard in the opening section of the movement.

Bibliography

Costanza, Christopher. “Gavotte.” The Cello Suites of J.S. Bach, Stanford University, 2012,
costanzabach.stanford.edu/commentary/suite-no-5-c-
minor?fbclid=IwAR1s3fZgOAGNeO5Eyn_juE5t-
9ifd4aUCUIzl8crgmy6VitNyoYOoLP7xXY.

Machleder, Anton. Serialism and Poetry in Reginald Smith Brindle‟s “El Polifemo de Oro”. A
Journal of Compositional and Theoretical Research in Music, Vol. IX/1 1998: 1-11.

Wikipedia contributors. (2019, April 21). Gavotte. In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia.
Retrieved 18:48, June 5, 2019,
from https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Gavotte&oldid=893435269