Six Divertimentos, Op. 1

Sor’s Six Divertimentos [op. 1] were first published in London in about 1815 by the firm Monzani & Hill, which means that they are likely to have been the first work by Sor, or one of the first, to be published in London soon after the composer arrived there in the spring of 1815. Sor had left Spain in 1813, and lived then first in Paris and then from 1815 in London. The opus number 1 is not in the first edition but is an artificial number given to the work later by the Parisian publisher Meissonnier, and does not by any means indicate that this is Sor’s earliest composition. These Six Divertimentos are a charming set of six short pieces which contrast admirably with each other, making it evident that the set was designed as a whole. Performers would do well to treat it as such and to play it complete. Nos. 1 and 4, both marked “Andante”, are in fact evidently minuets. The set begins, then, with a minuet followed by a waltz in the same key: so do Sor’s other sets of divertimenti, opp. 2, 8, and 13. This minuet and waltz serve to introduce a contrasting piece in a different key, and then the pattern is repeated, with another minuet and waltz and another contrasting piece. None of the pieces is very difficult, yet their charm and their great suitability for the guitar place them among Sor’s most rewarding compositions for the player of moderate accomplishments. Note that the indication “Andante” in nos. 1, 4 and 5 does not necessarily mean rather slow as it usually does today, but rather “with steady movement” and perhaps rather faster than it would normally be interpreted today. See the article “Andante” in Grove. For details of the various early editions of this work and of all Sor’s compositions, please see the bibliography in my book Fernando Sor Composer and Guitarist (London, Tecla Editions). This edition is based on the first issue of the Monzani & Hill London edition. The later Meissonnier and Simrock editions have been compared. In no. 3, the sixth string is to be tuned to D, as is indicated in the Monzani & Hill edition. In no. 6 it is to be tuned to F, which is not indicated in Monzani & Hill but is clear from bar 36, in which the first chord cannot be played in any other way. (The later Meissonnier and Simrock editions indicate the scordatura.) In no. 3, the Monzani & Hill edition gives the tempo indication “Larghetto”, but the later Meissonnier and Simrock editions both give “Allegretto”. No. 3, bar 49: Monzani & Hill is in error here, having a superfluous quaver (sixteenth-note) rest after the second chord. Meissonnier (and then Simrock) attempted to correct this by removing the first of Monzani & Hill’s three quaver rests; I have instead removed the second of the three rests, a solution which is more likely to represent Sor’s original. No. 4: the voicing suggests that the beginning is probably intended to be played at the eighth position. No. 5, Variation (bars 16-32): this section is doubtless entirely in triplets, the dotted rhythm at bars 25 and 31 being probably only a notational convention. For a discussion of this kind of situation, see the New Grove Dictionary of Music (Grove 6), Notation, III, 4 (iii), pp. 381-387, and cf. op. 9 in this edition, bars 10, etc. No. 5: the following ties are not present in the original and are here supplied editorially: 36-37, 37-38, 38-39 (on the B), 44-45. No. 5, bar 37: the last note in the treble: the engraver of the Monzani & Hill edition appears to have omitted the leger line through this A, causing Meissonnier’s engraver to misread it as a G. No. 5, Minore, bar 33, end of first beat: not dotted in the original. No. 6: the accent marks are reproduced from the original, perhaps meaning that they are to be played accented with the right hand thumb. 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