Tárrega
‘EL SOÑADOR’
the dreamer
An Introspective Musical Portrait
Concert Program
Tárrega’s best-loved compositions and arrangements performed in a historically informed manner on a guitar dating from 1901, built by Tárrega’s friend and luthier Enrique García and strung with gut and silk strings. A chance to hear one of these few existing instruments in concert.
Barcelona, 1901. The guitar virtuoso Francisco Tárrega (1852-1909) has entered a decisive phase in his artistic life; dreaming of a divine sound, he begins to play without nails and rejects superficial virtuosity.
With music by Tárrega, Chopin, Schumann, Grieg and Bizet, this concert program brings to life the poetic beauty of Tárrega’s art and captures the aesthetics of his late artistic period. By presenting his masterpieces alongside rarely performed works, such as Sueño Tremolo, and combining these with his arrangements of famous pieces like Chopin’s Nocturne op. 9 no. 2 and Schumann’s Träumerei, the program highlights themes of dream and night and invites the listener to share Tárrega’s dream of the guitar’s most intimate beauty.
Some examples from the program
The program ‘El Soñador’ is part of the project ‘All of Tárrega’. Find out more about the project here…
The Instrument
Enrique García
The instrument used in this concert program was built in 1901 as number 9 by one of the greatest luthiers of the era, Enrique García.
Like many of the Spanish classical guitars from around the turn of the 20th Century this instrument was fitted with a tornavoz and is still carrying the original one. The tornavoz is a metal tube around the inside of the sound hole, which lowers the sonority and gives the instrument a glowing, bronze like sound colour.
Francisco Tárrega with his Enrique Garcia guitar from 1906
Garcia was one of the most sought-after and famous makers at the turn of the century. His reputation very early on was truly international, largely thanks to Domingo Prat and Francisco Tarrega, who both played his guitars. By 1912, he was exporting many of his instruments, primarily to South America, where a thriving and very important guitar scene, based mainly in Argentina, was forming. His guitars have always been prized by performers and collectors for their intimate charm and unique style.
Christian Fergo with his 1901 Enrique Garcia guitar