Fantasia, op. 7

This fantasia [op. 7] was first published in Paris in 1814 and probably composed there, as we shall see. It is undoubtedly a virtuoso work, a major piece from a time when he was at the height of his powers. A contemporary, one who had heard him play at the Argyll Rooms in London in 1817, wrote of it in the Giulianiad in 1833:

“...I trust it will not be considered as prejudice on my part when I say, that the beautiful compositions of Sor have touched and inspired my soul above all others. What wonder then that such became the chosen objects of my particular study; and if it is said of Giuliani, that “he must be considered as the inventor of a new method of playing”—perhaps I may be permitted to say, that we ought to consider Sor as the inventor of a new method of composing. Let me point out to you, as a specimen, his delightful fantasia opera 7; the introductory largo, in C minor, with its heart-thrilling combinations of chords (although rather spun out too long), which abounds with elegance and beauty from beginning to end, leading to the tender floating theme in C major, and its variations; all these beauties must be highly relished by the proficient, as they must likewise fascinate every sincere admirer of the guitar! Allow me, especially, to draw your attention to the variations. Nos. 1, 4 and 7, and say, whether music like that is not worthy of study?”

The publisher of this Fantasia, and also the dedicatee, was the famous pianist and composer Ignaz Pleyel. We know that Sor was on good personal terms with the Pleyel family, because Camille Pleyel in London in 1815 wrote that he had just received letters brought to him from Paris by Sor’s wife.The first edition showed a peculiarity in that a new experiment in guitar music notation was used: instead of writing the music on a single stave with a G clef an octave higher than the actual sound, as was the case before and is once again the case today, in this piece the music was written at its actual pitch and on two staves. The short preface declared that the advantage was that the music was shown at its true pitch, and that is indeed so; we may add that the system had the great advantage of giving more space to the music, which on a single stave is often rather cramped, particularly in the case of an elaborate work such as this one.

Since the piece was dedicated to and published by Pleyel, a skilled pianist and all-round musician but not one who is known to have been familiar with the guitar, we may guess that the two-stave system was inspired by conversations between Sor and Pleyel, perhaps indeed by a suggestion of Pleyel that it might be convenient to adapt what was essentially piano notation to the guitar. The two-stave system, however, did not last, and a few years later, in about 1817-22, Meissonnier brought out an edition of this Fantasia in conventional guitar notation.

In this edition I have used Pleyel’s text but written it on one stave. The Meissonnier edition has been carefully examined, but although it has many small changes, there is no reason to suppose that they derive from the composer and they are not reproduced here. Those who wish to consult the Meissonnier edition will find it reproduced in facsimile in Volume 1 of the Tecla facsimile edition.

When the Six petites pièces [op. 5] were published in 1814, they bore on the title-page the words “écrites selon la méthode ordinaire”, that is to say in the normal notation, evidently meaning that it was not in the special two-stave notation used for the Pleyel edition of the Fantasia [op. 7]. The original Pleyel edition gave no opus number, which appeared only in later Meissonnier editions. In the Largo non tanto, bars 61-66, an open G is doubtless intended throughout. 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