Fantasia, op. 4

This delightful fantasia [op. 4] in rondo form, whose limpidity and modest technical demands go hand in hand, was first published in London in about 1815-18. Lewis Lavenu, the publisher, was the same man who had already printed in London the music for two political songs by Sor in 1810, in Arriaza’s Poesías Patrióticas, which are reproduced in Chapter 1 of my book Fernando Sor, Composer and Guitarist. A gentle introduction marked Andante Largo (that is, in the terminology of the time, “Largo, with steady movement” and not necessarily as slow as the term Andante might indicate today) leads into an extended and lively Rondo. The original edition gives no opus number; this appears only in later Meissonnier editions. The original edition calls it “A 2nd Fantasia”, and until recently it was not known precisely why it was called that. However, following the recent discovery of an early London edition of the fantasia op. [12], we can now assume that it was that which was considered as the first fantasia, and this one (which as we have seen was originally published without opus number) as the second. Details of that discovery are given in the second edition (1994) of my book Fernando Sor, Composer and Guitarist, in which I also gave newly discovered details of concerts which Sor gave in London, in many of which he is said to have played a “Fantasia”. We may guess that most probably opp. 4 and 12 were among the “Fantasias” which Sor then performed. A Fantasia Concertante for guitar and strings was also among the works which Sor played in London; no score of it is known to survive, but perhaps it was a version of either op. 4 or op. 12, more probably op. 12. The date of the Lavenu edition must be 1815 or later, because if this was seen in London as the second fantasia and op. [12] was the first, then this edition of op. [4] must be after the first edition of op. [12] which is not before 1815. Lavenu’s edition bears the words “Printed & Sold for the Author” at the head of the music, which strongly suggest that Sor was by then in London, where we know that he arrived in the spring of 1815. In the original edition of this rondo, the sequence of the repeats and of the recurring sections appears to be corrupt. The original version may be seen in Volume 1 of my facsimile edition of Sor’s Complete Works for Guitar (Tecla Editions). It has been conjecturally restored here. The repeats at bars 99ff. and 159ff. should probably be regarded as optional. Bar 84: the repeat sign is editorial. The Meissonnier edition has been compared. 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