L'Encouragement, Op. 34

This piece by Sor for two guitars was first published in Paris in about 1828, with the full title of L’Encouragement, Fantaisie à deux guitares dédiée à une de ses Elèves (L’Encouragement, fantasy for two guitars, dedicated to one of his lady pupils). The present edition scrupulously respects the structure of that original edition, in which Sor wrote one part (“Guitare première”) which most of the time has only a single line of music and is clearly marked on every page “L’ÉLÈVE” (“The pupil”), and a second part (“Guitare seconde”) which consists mostly of chords and is clearly marked, again on every page, “LE MAÎTRE” (“The teacher”). There is fingering by Sor. In other words, this is a didactic piece, designed for beginners on the guitar to play together with their teacher. The dedication to a lady pupil confirms this. The beauty of the melodies encourages the pupil, while at the same time the piece is designed to fulfil technical aims, and the teacher’s part steadily sustains the rhythm of the piece throughout. Many modern editions do not give this original form. Instead, they republish the piece in a fundamentally disguised form which appears to have originated in an edition first published by Napoléon Coste, probably in the 1870s. What Coste did was to change the parts round, altering the piece from its original version in which one part has nearly always a single line and the other mostly chords, to a new version in which the two players continually exchange the single-line part and the chordal part. That disguised form has been republished in many modern editions, but without the name of Coste and without any indication that it is an arrangement in which the structure has been greatly altered. This includes a Japanese edition published by Gendai Guitar, where it appears to have happened because the Gendai edition may have used as its source not the original edition which Sor himself published, but rather a later edition in which perhaps these changes had already been made. It is fine if any players wish to use Coste’s version, and it certainly distributes the interest of the piece between the two players, but it is only an arrangement and does not conform to Sor’s own original intentions as reproduced here in this present edition. Sor had at that time returned from Russia and had begun teaching, including at an academy for young ladies not far from where he lived. The work has three movements: cantabile, theme and variations, and waltz. The last movement, the waltz, may well have appealed especially to young ladies for whom dancing may well have been on the curriculum of their academy. 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