Six Divertimentos, op. 13

These Six Divertimentos [op. 13] by Sor are another charming set of six short pieces, again first published in London, in 1819. As with the previous sets of divertimentos opp. 1, 2, and 8, this set begins with a short minuet introducing a waltz in the same key, followed by a longer piece in a different key. No. 4, “Cantabile”, is the same piece as op. 11, minuet no. 12. A long and delightful Andante Pastorale, and a march, conclude the set, which, once again, could with advantage be performed as a whole.

The original title in the London edition is Six Divertimentos for the Guitar, 4th Set. The London edition gave no opus number, which appeared only in later Meissonnier editions.

No. 3 bar 20: the natural on the B is added (not in the original).

In no. 3 the fingering in the original is seriously wrong in several places, that is to say simply misprinted or else impossible to play. Was it perhaps added by someone other than Sor? In any case, I have taken the exceptional step of removing all the fingering in this piece. Anyone who wishes to study it can do so in the Tecla facsimile edition.

No. 4 bar 15: the flat is added editorially. (It is present in the version of this piece in op. 11 minuet 12).

The set was praised by a reviewer for Ackermann’s Repository of Arts in 1820 by comparing it favourably with Sor’s vocal compositions, that is, especially his lyrical and successful Italian arietts with piano which were being published in London at this same period:

“Of the merit of the pieces themselves, we shall say quite enough, by stating that they are such as we were led to expect from our knowledge of Mr. Sor’s vocal compositions, of which we have, on several occasions, spoken in terms of the highest commendation ...”

Here is the review in full:

Six Divertimentos for the Guitar, by Sor. 4th Set. Pr. 2s. 6d. If hitherto guitar-music has been considered by us as lying out of the sphere of our critical functions, we candidly plead in our defence, the opinion which our own experience had led us to entertain of the limited powers of the instrument; and the unimportant nature of the compositions which had come under our cognizance. It was with this bias that we recently chanced to hear Mr. Sor touch the guitar, and our previous prejudice instantly gave way to astonishment and admiration. We will not attempt to describe the sensations which the magic of his play excited within us, but our readers may form some idea of what we felt, when we state, that this gentleman executed, with the greatest precision, and with the deepest expression, scores of five and six distinct parts, nay, played fugues of the most complicated texture. How this was done, how it can be done, remains, at this moment, a matter of wonder to us. We have seen and heard; we therefore must believe: otherwise, we own, we should have staked a round sum, that two or three guitars had been actively at work at the same time.

This unrivalled perfection we find, upon inquiry, to be the result of a system at once simple and efficient, the fruit of matured experience, and of a diligent inquiry into the nature and the capabilities of the instrument. Without this, Mr. Sor’s excellence might astonish his contemporaries, like a passing meteor, whose reappearance in the horizon is a matter of chance. But, with his system, his art is in a manner perpetuated: some of his pupils already wield the lyre in a masterly manner, and its unassuming elegance daily gains ground in the higher circles. Thus the most ancient of all musical instruments, the invention of Mercury, the darling of Orpheus, seems once more reinstated in its pristine rights. Even music partakes of the spirit of legitimacy which characterizes our era.

Our readers may, in some degree, form a conception of the capabilities of the guitar, by an inspection of the six divertimentos which are the subject of the present article. They are generally written in three distinct parts, and in keys of very different kinds: the harmony is full, and modulation appears in no instance to be pressed or confined by the limits which we ourselves had erroneously considered as dictated by the nature of the instrument. Of the merit of the pieces themselves, we shall say quite enough, by stating that they are such as we were led to expect from our knowledge of Mr. Sor’s vocal compositions, of which we have, on several occasions, spoken in terms of the highest commendation; and a further specimen of which is now in our portfolio, to be brought before our readers in this month’s Critique, if time permits, but at all events in our next Number.

(Ackermann’s Repository of Arts, Literature, Fashions, Manufactures, &c., February 1820)

This edition comes from the new 2019 second edition of Sor’s New Complete Works for Guitar edited by Brian Jeffery. The Introduction and Index to the entire series are here in nkoda.