Divertissement, Op. 23

This Divertissement op. 23 by Sor is a collection of small pieces. Its bibliographical history is confusing, and that is why the numbering of the pieces in this edition is not continuous. For those interested, the details are set out below. Some of those details have come to light since the publication of my book Fernando Sor, Composer and Guitarist in 1977.

The first two unnumbered pieces in this edition are two pieces of music which were published in 1810 or shortly before without opus number by Castro in his Journal de Musique Étrangère, a Minuet and a “Petit Allegro” (in fact, “Allegretto ma non troppo”). The two pieces are given here in Castro’s version; they are doubtless authentic and they date from Sor’s Spanish period. The “Allegretto ma non troppo” has the form of an Allemande and is a piece with a great deal of character which would be well worth performing, especially in view of the very unusual direction which appears: “La reprise de la seconde partie, on la fera en sons harmoniques sans la basse” (‘Play the repeat of the second section in harmonics and without the bass’).

Some fifteen years later, in 1825, the “Cinquième Divertissement” op. 23 appeared, published by Meissonnier. Confusion has arisen because it turns out that there were in fact two different versions of op. 23, both published by Meissonnier and both (misleadingly) with the plate number 348. Copies of the first are in the Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris, and one of those copies was reproduced in an earlier facsimile edition of Sor’s Complete Works for Guitar which I published. It contains six pieces: No.1, Valse; No. 2, also called “Valse” even though it is in 2/4 time (in fact, it is the “Allegretto ma non troppo” previously published by Castro, but without the interesting note on harmonics); No. 3, Valse; No. 4, Minuet, the same that Castro had published; No. 5, Allemande; and No. 6, Valse.

The seven pieces numbered from 1 to 7 in this edition come from a second version of Meissonnier’s op. 23 which is quite different, and I have an original copy of it. No. 1 is the same “Valse” as before. However, the old No. 2, Castro’s “Allegretto ma non troppo”, has been removed and is replaced by a completely new Allegretto. No. 3 is the same “Valse” as before. The old No. 4, Castro’s Minuet, has gone and has been replaced by a completely new Allegretto. The old No. 5, the Allemande, has also disappeared and been replaced by two new pieces, a minuet and a long Andante. The old No. 6, “Valse”, becomes the new No. 7. In other words, three pieces have been removed and four new ones inserted.

It is hard to tell at this distance of time why these changes were made. However, a further detail regarding dating has recently come to light: op. 23 was listed in the Journal Général d’Annonce on 19 August 1825. The interest of this small detail is that it shows definitively that the work was first published at a time when Sor was not living in Paris, but far away in Moscow. Any confusion of contents can therefore be attributed to the publisher Meissonnier. It may be that the revised edition was published under Sor’s supervision when he returned to Paris in 1827; but that is only an unconfirmed theory.

So, to sum up:

The first two pieces in this edition are from Castro. The pieces numbered from 1 to 7 in this edition are the seven pieces in the second version of Meissonnier’s op. 23. Finally, I give the allemande which was removed from the first version of Meissonnier’s op. 23.

The Minuet, no. 5 in this edition (one of the four new pieces which were not in Meissonnier’s first edition), had previously been published by Castro in 1810 or shortly before as the fourth of Four Minuets (they are published in this present edition).

In the first minuet, Castro’s edition does not explain how to play the harmonics in this piece, merely giving the indication “Harmonici”. Perhaps they were intended to be played “sans la basse” as in the following piece?

In no. 4 and no. 7 I have added a repeat.

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