Twelve Studies, op. 6

These twelve studies [op. 6], full of strength and lyricism, were the first of Sor’s famous didactic pieces for the guitar, and were published in London under the title Studio for the Spanish Guitar in about 1815/17. Sor was about 37 and at the height of his powers, enjoying great success in London after he had been forced to flee from Spain at the end of the Peninsular War. He appears to have lived in Charlotte Street, near the north London area where most of the Spanish exiles lived, with whom he stayed in touch. His concerts and pupils were many; his songs poured from the presses; and the manager of the King’s Theatre, John Ebers, called him “the extraordinary Spaniard Sor, who is known to be the most perfect guitarist in the world”.

Many of these twelve studies are virtuoso compositions, in which the technique dazzles. Probably nothing like the study in octaves, No. 10, had been heard in England before. But there was another side to Sor’s nature, a side which has meant that his music has endured and is played by many thousands of people two hundred years later: an inner strength, a profundity. A perceptive notice appeared in one of the London periodicals of the time: “Mr. Sor feels what he has to say, and that feeling is not merely true, it is deep and intense”. Surely we here approach the reason why this first set of studies is among the classics for the instrument.

The set first appeared privately printed by William Milhouse, a wind instrument maker whose instruments are still esteemed today. There were twelve studies, in two sets of six, each set with its own title-page; no opus number was given. This edition is based on Milhouse’s edition. In later Paris editions, the whole became a single set of twelve, and in later issues of the Paris editions (not at first) the opus number “6” was given to it.

As usual with many of his sets of pieces, Sor has arranged the twelve studies as a set, with contrasting keys and tempi. It would make excellent sense to perform the twelve as a whole, in the order in which their composer deliberately arranged them, rather than to adopt any of the various other orders in which they have been arranged by modern performers. Some ten years later, in 1827, Sor published twelve more studies as op. 29, numbered from 13-24, indicating that he regarded the whole as a single set of 24 pieces in which the sequence was important.

A careful reading of Sor’s Méthode pour la Guitare (available in English translation from Tecla) will shed much light on the technical intention of these studies. For example, the treble notes in Study no. 11 are almost certainly all intended to be played with the middle finger of the right hand, and not with the ring finger as the unforewarned modern player might assume. Sor’s Complete Studies, Lessons, and Exercises (opp. 6, 29, 31, 35, and 60, together with op. 44) are also published by Tecla in a modern re-engraved edition in one book (Tecla 101).

Nos. 2 and 3: These two pieces seem to begin on the first beat of a bar, not the third, as indeed Reginald Smith Brindle pointed out (for no. 3) in his edition of op. 6. However, this is not an isolated phenomenon; it is found, for example, in Sor’s op. 29 no. 18, and in op. 31 no. 20, as well as in the Andante largo from opus 5; moreover, the last bars of no. 3 here are obviously correct. On the whole it seems best, as Smith Brindle said, to leave the music as it is. No. 2: the tempo indication “Andante Allegro” means in the terminology of the time “Allegro, with steady movement”. It is an older tempo indication which is found, for example, in Handel.

No. 3 is the only one of the twelve to lack a tempo indication in the original edition, but in a copy now in the British Library, London, no. 3 has been marked “Andante” (i.e. with a steady pace) in ink in what appears to be Sor’s hand. In no. 3, Sor probably intended the first note of each group of three notes to be played with the right hand thumb, the left hand fingers slurring the other two notes. “Sometimes my left hand comes to the assistance of the right in descending groups of three notes, and I finger the three at once.” (Method, page 33). The direction of the stems in the original edition tends to confirm this use of the thumb, and certainly he used the right hand thumb on the top string in other pieces, for example in op. 29 no. 16, op. 31 no. 19, and probably op. 6 no. 9.

No. 4: Sor doubtless intended the semiquavers (sixteenth-notes) to be played by the right hand thumb and first finger. He discussed the matter in his method (quoted above): “This observation determined me to execute passages of that kind with the thumb and first finger...”.

In bars 17-29 the fact that the stems on the last chords in each bar point down (rather than up, as one might have expected on purely musical grounds) seems to indicate that Sor intended these chords to be played with the right hand thumb alone. In his Method he writes: “The right hand thumb can slide on two succeeding strings with such a velocity as to make them both be heard together”. At bar 30 the direction of the stems changes, probably deliberately to indicate a return to the use of pim.

The second section of the piece may be repeated if desired: the original gives a repeat mark at the beginning of the second section but not at the end. Note the distinction between staccato in the first half, and long chords in the second half.

Bar 14: the sharp is editorial.

No. 6: the second section may be repeated if desired: the original gives a repeat mark at the beginning of the second section but not at the end. Bars 54, 107 and 108: the sharps are editorial (there are none at those points in the original edition). At bar 58, the F could be played as a double sharp.

No. 7: this piece presents a problem of structure. The original had only seven bars in the section now numbered 41-48, and I have accordingly added one newly composed bar at bars 44-45. The original version may be seen in facsimile in Volume 1 of the nine-volume Tecla edition of Sor’s Complete Works for Guitar.

No. 9: the slurs in bars 34-37 are probably intended as musical slurs rather than as notes to be played with the left hand alone.

No. 10: The final section is, of course, “God save the King”. Perhaps we may regard it not only as a tribute to Sor’s country of refuge at the time, but also as a kind of encore after this unprecedented and virtuoso piece. It might also have something to do with the recent British victory at Waterloo in 1815.

No. 11: although this piece would constitute an ideal study for the use of the ring finger to play a melody in the manner of Tárrega, it is most unlikely that Sor had that in mind. More probably the fingering for each group of three notes is mpi.

Bar 67: the sharp on the B is editorial.

No. 12: as in no. 11, the fingering that Sor had in mind is unlikely to have involved the ring finger.

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