Fantaisie élégiaque, op. 59

Sor’s op. 59, the Fantaisie Élégiaque à la mort de Madame Beslay, née Levavasseur, is a threnody, a lamentation on a death, a work of unrelieved grief. In one sense it is specific, in that the title-page tells us the name of the person on whose death it was composed. In another sense it is personal, for the composer himself had not long to live. And in a final sense, it can be regarded as an eloquent reflection on death as part of the human condition. This is the work of which Mitjana wrote of “une inspiration pleine de noblesse” (in A. Lavignac’s Encyclopédie de la Musique et Dictionnaire du Conservatoire, Paris, [1917?]). A funerary urn is engraved on the cover of the original edition. A long introduction, andante largo, leads into a funeral march, at the end of which the dead one’s name is pronounced. The person on whose death the piece is written was “Madame Beslay, née Levavasseur”, and from the list of works which Sor himself published in copies of his later opus numbers, we learn that she was “une Elève”, a pupil of his. (The list can be seen in the Tecla facsimile edition of Sor’s works, for example in volume 5 on the reverse of the title-page of op. 37.) Towards the end of the piece the words “Charlotte, adieu!” are printed over a phrase of music: not that they are necessarily to be sung, however, any more than Beethoven’s “Muss es sein?”. One may consider that those words may be sung, or perhaps declaimed, or perhaps that they may be merely present in the mind of the performer and the audience. (Curiously, the name “Charlotte” is also sung, and with similar music, in Massenet’s Werther.) Charlotte Beslay was a pianist, associated with Rossini, who said of her: “Madame Beslay touche le piano comme une grande artiste” (“Madame Beslay plays the piano like a great artist”). Her husband, Charles Beslay, wrote: “j’épousai, en 1833, la fille d’un colonel d’artillerie, ancien aide-decamp du Maréchal Ney, et petite-fille de M. Delorme, propriétaire du passage qui porte son nom . . . Au bout de dix-huit mois, ma pauvre femme, si brillante de jeunesse et de beauté, mourut en mettant au monde un fils” (‘In 1833 I married the daughter of an artillery colonel who had been aidede- camp to Marshal Ney, and the granddaughter of M. Delorme, the proprietor of the passage which bears his name [the Passage Delorme in Paris] ... After eighteen months, my poor wife, so brilliant in youth and beauty, died while bearing a son’) (Charles Beslay, Mes Souvenirs, Paris, 1873, pp. 136-9). A contemporary who visited Sor in the last year of his life wrote of him that “if this artist was worthy of admiration for his great ability and genius, he was no less so for the exquisite gifts of his responsive and tender heart”. He recalled how Sor played for his visitors, at the piano, parts of a Mass which he had composed on the death of his daughter, and that when playing it he “seemed to take up into himself alone the pain of every heart that laments, at a tomb, the lost object of its love”. So it is, surely, that the Fantaisie élégiaque also expresses the pain of death, not only of one pupil, but universally. (See my book Fernando Sor, Composer and Guitarist, chapter 5.) The work was first published, and probably composed, in Paris in about 1835. It was Sor’s last work but one for solo guitar. He had lived in Paris, with his daughter Caroline, since about 1827. But in 1837 Caroline died, and soon Sor fell ill and himself died in 1839. It is not fanciful to imagine that when he composed the Fantaisie élégiaque, these two deaths were in some sense already present to him. The original edition contains an unusual number of misprints, here corrected. In the Introduction, bar 137, the first note in the bass is A in the original, but it may be suggested that it could be played as a B. In this edition I have put B. The original edition of this Fantaisie élégiaque also contains an “Avertissement” which appears to praise the newly invented tripodison of Aguado and also attacks some of those who write poorly for the guitar. It says about the tripodison: “I would never have dared to impose on the guitar such an onerous task as to carry out the effects which this piece demands, without the excellent invention of my friend Aguado”, and again “Without my friend’s invention I would never have imagined that the guitar could be capable of executing at the same time the different qualities of the sound at the same time, that is the melody, the bass, and the harmonic structure, which are required in a piece of the character of this one”. Yet however much the tripodison may help in playing the guitar correctly and easily, and in facilitating the proper performance of the different parts of the harmony, the fact remains that Sor’s op. 59 does not appear to contain any technical features which are not also found in many previous works of his where he had made no mention of Aguado’s invention. The explanation is, I think, that this Avertissement is ironic, like those attached to his opp. 44, 48 and 51. It will be seen, for example, that Sor does not compare using the tripodison with his own normal holding position, but rather with holding the guitar in the bad position used by certain guitarists and composers whom he is attacking. The whole text seems to be more an attack on them than a genuine recommendation of the tripodison. Here is the full text of the Avertissement: Je n’aurais jamais osé imposer à la guitare une tâche si rude que celle de lui faire rendre les effets exigés par la nature de ce morceau sans l’excellente invention de mon ami Denis Aguado. Ce pied qui en soutenant la guitare à la hauteur et à la position qui convient à chaque exécutant ajoute aux moyens d’exécution ceux qu’on devait employer à soutenir la manche avec la main gauche, ou à presser le corps de l’instrument avec le bras droit pour lui donner un peu de fixité. N’ayant à m’occuper que du doigté et de la production du son je puis placer ma main gauche de manière à trouver sous les bouts de mes doigts ce que je serais obligé de chercher à chaque instant si je voulais la tenir à la manière des guitaristes en général; ou bien si je voulais la tenir comme il le faut, je m’exposerais à ce que le poids du manche lui fît changer de direction dans les mouvements ou la transition rapide du haut en bas le laisserait un instant en liberté, et mes doigts ne trouveraient plus la corde au point où je l’aurais visé. Je conçois parfaitement que la plupart des guitaristes ne partagent point mon opinion à regard de l’invention de mon ami; cela est tout simple: la confection de leur musique n’a besoin que de la moitié de la longueur des doigts de la main gauche devant le manche, le reste se trouvant derrière pour le soutenir place le pouce à même de faire des notes de basse qui faites par l’index ou le medium donneraient à leur jeu un air de facilité qui ne produirait nullement l’effet qu’ils se proposent. II est vrai que cette musique est la cause du discrédit dans lequel la guitare se trouve dans le monde vraiment musical, et que Guitariste est le synonyme de pis-aller: mais, est-ce la nature de l’instrument qui discrédite l’artiste, ou le guitariste qui dégrade l’instrument? ... L’invention d’Aguado va résoudre la question. La guitare offre maintenant la facilité de l’élever au rang qui lui appartient par son aptitude à l’harmonie presque autant que la harpe, et bien plus pour la mélodie. Celui qui aurait déjà un peu de talent ne serait point excusable s’il ne contribuait pas a étendre les bornes dans lesquelles l’ignorance et la routine ont renfermé ce puissant instrument. Sans l’invention de mon ami je n’aurais jamais imaginé que la guitare fût capable de rendre à la fois les différentes qualités de son, de la partie chantante, de la basse, et du complément harmonique, exigées de rigueur dans un morceau du caractère de celui-ci, et sans une grande difficulté; car tout est du domaine de l’instrument. Qu’on essaye de le jouer sans ce secours en soutenant la manche à la manière de certains guitaristes; et on verra l’impossibilité de jouer (de cette manière) d’autre chose que de la mandoline une octave en dessous, et avec une note de basse par-ci par-là: c’est-à-dire, de la pauvre musique. En vain quelques guitaristes accumuleront des difficultés pour éblouir le vulgaire en s’emparant d’un beau morceau à succès composé pour orchestre tel que l’ouverture de Guillaume Tell, de Sémiramis, etc. La nécessité de le dépouiller d’harmonie dans les moments où elle est plus indispensable, et même d’en mutiler le squelette pour qu’il ne dépasse point la portée de leurs doigts, raccourcis et mal placés à cause de l’usage absurde du pouce pour les notes de la sixième corde, rendra pitoyable et mesquine la musique la plus délicieuse. Voilà pourtant ce qu’on ose appeler Arranger. (‘I would never have dared to impose on the guitar such an onerous task as to carry out the effects which this piece demands, without the excellent invention of my friend Aguado. This foundation which by holding the guitar at the height and position which is suitable for each player adds to the powers available for performance those which one would otherwise have to spend in supporting the neck, or in pressing the body of the instrument with the right arm in order to give it sonic fixity. Now that I need only concern myself with fingering and sound production I can place my left hand in such a way that I can find under the ends of my fingers that which I would have to continually seek out if I were holding the instrument in the manner of guitarists in general; or if I wanted to hold it as it ought to be held, I would be exposed to the weight of the neck causing it to change its direction during the movements, or the rapid transition from top to bottom would leave it in liberty for a moment and my fingers would no longer find the string at the point which 1 was aiming at. I understand perfectly that most guitarists do not share my opinion with regard to my friend’s invention; the reason is very simple; the way in which their music is made necessitates only half the length of the fingers of the left hand being in front of the neck, the rest being behind and holding it up make it possible for the thumb to stop bass notes which, if they were played with the index or middle finger, would give their playing the appearance of being very easy, which is not at all what they want. It is true that that music is the reason for the discredit in which the guitar finds itself in the truly musical world, and that Guitarist is a synonym for making do; however, is it the nature of the instrument which discredits the player, or is it the guitarist who degrades the instrument? ... Aguado’s invention will resolve this question. The guitar now offers the facility of being elevated to the rank which it occupies by its aptitude to harmony almost as much as the harp, and a good deal more when it comes to melody. Anyone who already had some talent would be inexcusable if he did not contribute to extending the boundaries within which ignorance and humdrum playing have shut in this powerful instrument. Without the invention of my friend I would never have imagined that the guitar could be capable of executing at the same time the different qualities of sound, that is the melody, the bass, and the harmonic structure, which are required in a piece of the character of this one, and without great difficulty; for everything is within the domain of the instrument. Let someone try to play this piece without this aid and supporting the neck in the manner of certain guitarists, and one will see the impossibility of playing (in that way) anything another than mandolin music an octave lower and with the occasional bass note here and there; that is to say, poverty-struck music. In vain do certain guitarists pile up apparent difficulties to dazzle the multitude in adapting some fine successful piece composed for orchestra such as the overture of William Tell or of Semiramis, etc. The necessity of stripping it of harmony at the moments where it is the most indispensable, or even of mutilating its skeleton so that it does not exceed the reach of their fingers, shortened and badly placed because of the absurd use of the thumb for notes on the sixth string, will make the most delicious music pitiful and mean. However, that is what they dare to call: Arranging.’) On Aguado’s tripodison, see Aguado’s New Guitar Method published in English translation by Tecla Editions. 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. This new edition is copyright © by Brian Jeffery 2019. Your cooperation is requested in not making illegal copies for other people. Brian Jeffery