Sérénade, op. 37

This Sérénade op. 37 by Sor was first published in Paris in 1828 or 1829. Bars 35 to 37 of this work are interesting and a puzzle. First at bars 29 to 34 comes a passage which is evidently in campanelas, that is to say that an open string (here E) sounds repeatedly through moving chords which here are played high up on the fingerboard. But then comes a harmonic at bars 35 to 37 whose interpretation is not clear. The problem lies in deciding how to play this harmonic. An A is notated which appears to mean that it is on the fifth string. Also an F sharp is notated, and a figure 4 with a curved line. However, F sharp is not available at all as a harmonic on the fifth string. It is available on the fourth string, but then the fourth string is occupied in playing the campanelas, so it cannot be that. What does the figure 4 mean? It can scarcely mean the fourth string because as we saw that is not available, nor is it likely to mean the fourth fret because that is impractical in this passage. So perhaps it means the finger with which the harmonic is to be touched, even though its notation with a curved line is unusual. The original edition may be seen in the Tecla facsimile edition of Sor’s Complete Works for Guitar. I suggest that what the composer intended was a C sharp played by touching the fifth string at the ninth fret with the fourth finger, and that is the solution which I have adopted in notating this passage. I hypothesize that Sor wrote a 4 in his ms to mean that the harmonic should be played with the fourth finger (which is indeed available at this point), and a small circle to indicate a harmonic, but that the engraver misunderstood the small circle and notated it as the round breve (whole note) on the F sharp. Another possible solution would be to play this harmonic on the fifth string at the twelfth fret, but that does not work well musically. If any reader has any better idea, do please get in touch with me. Campanelas, by the way, are an ancient technique with a long history but were generally used in guitar music rather less at the time of this work. Do they mean that the Sérénade has an older history, perhaps dating from Sor’s Spanish period? Or is it rather that Sor continued to use this fine old technique even at the later date? The indication fr occurs here in each of the two allegrettos (it is also found in op. 28 in variation 3, and in op. 36 on the last page). This could perhaps stand for French friser or frisé, friser here meaning to brush, so it could be a brushing movement with the right hand fingers, like a stroke of rasgueado. The son de trompette (trumpet sound) at bars 426ff. is described in Sor’s method, pages 20-21 in the French version, page 16 in the English translation. The Sérénade was first published as op. 36, but it appears correctly in a later issue and in contemporary catalogues as op. 37. 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