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Notes for Air
de Léonore by Fernando Sor
Jun Sugawara
This article was written for
Notes from the Editor of Air de Léonore
published by HOMA dream Inc.
A leading guitar composer of the classical era, Fernando
Sor's (1778-1839) music is heard regularly on today's
concert stages. However, unlike his contemporaries, Mauro
Giuliani and Ferdinando Carulli, Sor's compositions did not
include much guitar chamber music. This comes as a surprise
for many of us since, besides his guitar solo works, Sor had
composed symphonies, string quartets, sacred music, operas,
ballets, and songs.
In written records, we are aware of the evidence for two
chamber music works: Concertante for Guitar, Violin,
Viola and Cello performed in 1817 at a London
Philharmonic Society concert, and a Introduction et theme
de Mozart varie pour guitar avec acompagnement de quatuor ou
quintet Op.39 which is in the advertisement of a
work which Sor himself published after a break with the
publisher Meissonnier. Also, one manuscript transcription of
La Romancesca for violin and guitar survives,
although the manuscript was not in Sor's handwriting.
Today, I am happy to report that we have now discovered
another Sor chamber piece, and am privileged to be able to
publish it. This newly discovered work, in a Sor autograph
manuscript, is from one of his ballet works.
Sor composed three ballets based on the play Le
Sicilien (1667) by Moliere (1622-1673). These ballets
are: Alphonse et Léonore ou l'Amante Peintre
(in one act, score lost) premiered in London 1823,
Alphonse et Léonore ou l'Amante Peintre (in
three acts, score in existence) premiered in Moscow 1824,
and Le Sicilien ou l'Amante Peintre (co-composed by
Schneitzhoeffer, score in existence) performed in Paris 1827
and London 1828. The piece I'm presenting is from the second
ballet Alphonse et Léonore ou l'Amante
Peintre, the Moscow premiere. This ballet consists of 24
pieces, in which the 13th and 14th piece include the guitar
part.
Title page of Ballet
Alphonse et Léonore
The 13th piece is the fourth piece from the Second Act
that is comprised of Andantino, Cantabile,
Allegretto, and Tempo doppio, which are in F
major. At the last 12 bars of Andantino, the guitar
enters, which then evolves into a guitar solo at the last
four measures until the half-cadence. The following
Cantabile begins as a C clarinet and guitar duet,
which is then carried on by orchestral tutti. It is this
duet that I have taken out to formalize as a piece for
publication.
The 14th piece involves the guitar and orchestra, though it
is not Sor's original work. Similar to his famous
Variations on a Theme of Mozart Op. 9 for solo
guitar, it is a transcription of "Das klinget so
herrlich" from Mozart's Die Zauberflöte. It
is almost similar to Op. 9, however considerable alteration
had been made melodically. Initially, I speculated that it
is indeed Sor's original work, however as I looked at the
following piece for clarinet and orchestra, I discovered
that it too is a transcription of Paisiello's famous aria
"Nel cor piu non mi sento." Thus I concluded that the
14th piece is a transcription.
Let us get back to Cantabile. I entitled this duet
for clarinet and guitar as Air de Léonore. The
reason for this title is its connection with the ballet
Alphonse et Léonore. In the manuscript, Sor
writes scene numbers for the first act, but unfortunately
not for the second or third acts. Along with each scene,
there is a libretto by Sor himself at the beginning of the
manuscript. For the Second Act, 6th scene, Sor wrote,
"Le Comte en costume commun
portant un chevalet , une toile encadrée , une
palette et des pinceaux s’introduit dans le jardin :
il s’approche du pavillon et il entend
Léonore qui joue sur la guitare un air dont les
paroles sont analogues à sa position et au devoir
qu’elle a de se soustraire au pouvoir du tuteur. Le
Comte fait le tour pour tacher de la voir, elle
l’aperçoit, il se fait reconnaître en
montrant son entrechat ; elle est saisie
d’étonnement et de plaisir. ..."
Precisely, the Cantabile is the yearning air
Léonore sings to the Count with guitar accompaniment.
Young Léonore loves Count Alphonse, but her love can
never be fulfilled because, though Léonore is
wealthy, as an underage orphan she is obliged to comply with
her guardian Don Pedro. Don Pedro is after Léonore's
wealth, so he composes a scheme to marry Léonore. I
think the melody from the middle of Cantabile reminds me of
deep sorrow, surrender, and a sigh reflecting
Léonore's desire to be with the Count.
87th page guitar part appers
and the beginning of Cantabile
In the publication, I tried to keep the notation as
original as possible. Just as in the original score, I have
two versions of the piece. One is with the C clarinet (which
is hardly ever used today) and guitar. In the second
version, the guitar is substituted by the harp. Also, since
Sor used a guitar that was tuned a half tone higher, the
guitar part is written in E major. Since there is no
indication of capo use, but we know Sor wrote guitar pieces
with the sixth string tuned to F, so Sor must have raised
all six strings by a half tone. However, for practical
purposes I decided to call for the use of a capo.
Also, for the sake of convenience, I am including two extra
parts besides the original C clarinet instrumentation (this
part can be played with flute, oboe, or violin as well). The
second part has the transposed clarinet part for the B
clarinet. The last version is in E major in order to perform
with guitar without a capo.
Lastly, all repeats have been added by the editor, and are
not from the original score.
Now, this piece is ready to be performed. I hope that this
petite beautiful air will be heard on concert stages
throughout the world.
Tokyo, March 2005
(Translated by Taro Yamaya and Robert Coldwell)
Sound data of non guitar works by Fernando Sor
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