Miguel Llobet

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Miquel Llobet Solés (18 October 1878 - 22 February 1938) was a classical guitarist and composer, born in Barcelona (Catalonia). His early death is probably one of the reasons why he is relatively unknown today.^[1] His contemporary and — some say — pupil, Andrés Segovia, is much more famous. Llobet was renowned as a great virtuoso, and toured Europe and America extensively. His music seems to be enjoying a revival, and there have been several CDs published recently. Michael Tröster, Stefano Grondona, Nirit Ziv-Wexler, and Lorenzo Micheli have recorded his works.

Contents 1 Biography 2 References 3 Notable students 4 Historical Recordings 1925-1929 5 List of Works 5.1 Original compositions 5.2 Folksong 5.3 Transcriptions 5.3.1 Solo guitar 5.3.2 Guitar Duos 5.4 Pieces composed for Miguel Llobet 6 Discography 7 Bibliography

[edit] Biography

The reported details of Llobet's biography are confused and contradictory. Miquel Llobet Soles was born October 18, 1878 in Barcelona. He was baptized that month in the church of Sant Just i Pastor on the carrer de la Palma de Sant Just, the street where he spent his boyhood, and just a few streets from the carrer Gignàs, which was to become the first Barcelona residence (from 1884 through 1885) of his eventual teacher, Francisco Tárrega. He was the son of a wood sculptor and was himself trained as an artist, revealing a talent for painting. He continued to paint throughout his life. His earliest musical training was on the violin and the piano. Later he received a guitar as a gift from an uncle. In December, 1889, Llobet heard Antonio Jiménez Manjón (1866-1919) give a guitar recital at the Teatre Catalunya in Barcelona, and was inspired to seek instruction on the guitar from Magí Alegre.

Llobet first met and played for guitar pedagogue Francisco Tárrega in October 1892. Two years later he began to study with him at the Municipal Conservatory of Music in Barcelona. By his own account, his studies with Tárrega seem to have been based on no particular methodology. Rather, Llobet would observe Tárrega play and then experiment with his techniques at home. "Così, più che impararla, io sperimentavo la mia tecnica sull chitarra". ("In this way, more than by learning it, I experimented with my guitar technique.") (Tonazzi 1996, 13-14).

He began giving private concerts in 1898 for intimate gatherings. In 1900, he met Concepción Jacoby, Tárrega’s patron, who also became his patron, helping him to launch an international career. Llobet's first public concert took place in 1901 at the Conservatory of València. During that same year, he also performed at conservatories in Seville and Malaga and, in the latter conservatory, was awarded the title of Professor Honoris Causa. He also played at the Teatro de la Comedia in 1902 and before the Spanish Royal Family in Madrid in 1903.

Llobet's first concert outside Spain was in Paris in 1904, presented by Ricardo Viñes, the noted pianist and interpreter of Debussy’s piano works. It was at this time that he first came into contact with the avant garde. Paris was apparently kind to Llobet, as he returned to live there in 1905, performing at such prestigious venues as the Schola Cantorum, La Trompette and the Société Nationale de Musique. According to Ronald Purcell (Llobet 1989, 1: iii), he resided there until 1910. In the biographical sketch given by Bruno Tonazzi (Tonazzi 1966, 12), Llobet returned to Paris in 1910.

As suggested by Purcell, Llobet most likely relocated to Buenos Aires in 1910 as an interim home. While there, he continued to perform throughout South and Central America and the Caribbean. This series of tours was largely arranged by Domingo Prat, author of the Diccionario de Guitarristas (1933), Juan Anido (whose daughter, María Luisa, was to become a pupil of Llobet's and a celebrated guitarist in her own right) and Ruiz Romero of the publishing house Romero y Fernandez. In 1912, Llobet gave his first concerts in the United States, performing in Boston, Philadelphia and New York. He then returned to Paris. In the following years, he continued to perform throughout Europe, particularly in Belgium and the Netherlands.

During the years 1913 and 1914, Llobet performed throughout Germany. According to Purcell, "At the outbreak of World War I, Llobet returned to Buenos Aires," and continued to make trips throughout the Americas (Llobet 1989, 1: iv). This stands in stark contradiction to Tonazzi's statement that "Allo scoppio della prima guerra mondiale torna in patria..." ("At the outbreak of the First World War he returned to his native land...") (Tonazzi 1966, 12). Llobet's concert itinerary seems to have been dominated by performances in the Americas at that time, lending some support to Purcell's claims. However, it should be noted that Purcell also implies that it was at about 1915 that Llobet was in Spain, where he taught his most important pupil, Andrés Segovia.

Segovia's status as a pupil is a matter of debate among guitarists. The Segovia autobiography, written for mass consumption at the height of his career, depicts him as being self-taught. There are admissions of his seeking out Llobet's advice only for a short time, but Segovia is quite clear about the lack of any real influence on his playing. Although at the age of 22, Segovia may well have been much more than a neophyte, he was still youthful enough to have received valuable instruction, and to have been significantly influenced by it. Indeed, Purcell points out that "Segovia, whose performance style and technique reveals [sic] the principles of Tárrega, was basically influenced by Llobet....This stylistic influence can be heard when comparing Llobet's Parlophone Electric recordings (Chanterelle Historical Recordings CHR 001) with Segovia's Angel recordings, ZB 3896" (Llobet 1989, 1: ii).

Purcell later states, "At the age of twenty-two he (Segovia) pursued what he considered the only direct contact to Tárrega, Llobet, for refinement of his technique and especially for the music that both he and Tárrega had written and transcribed for the guitar..."(ibid.). The accuracy of this date (Segovia would have been twenty-two in 1915) seems to be somewhat questionable. A photograph taken at the exhumation of Tárrega in 1915, clearly shows Segovia at the foot of the coffin, but Llobet does not appear in the photo, and would likely have been present had he, in fact, been in Spain at the time. It may well have been another two years before Segovia began to work with Llobet and there seems to be nothing that would contradict this 1917 date.

Between 1912 and 1917, Llobet is reported to have made at least one attempt at recording. It is known that he toured the East Coast of the United States in 1912, 1914, and again in 1917. The prominent guitarist Vahdah Olcott-Bickford, who was living in New York between 1912 and 1923, writes that "he tried to make a recording at the Bell Lab in New Brunswick, New Jersey, but was dissatisfied with the sound" (Purcell 1993, 5). This gives little support to either theory regarding his wartime residence, but does suggest an early interest in recording. Pending the discovery of any documentary evidence, one can only hypothesize that Llobet resided in Buenos Aires during the war years.

It is known that it was in this city, in 1923, that he began to teach María Luisa Anido (1907-1997). Anido was the daughter of Juan Anido, one of the patrons who had first introduced Llobet to South America. By 1925, Llobet was performing duets with María Luisa and, according to Purcell, about 1930 they "recorded some of Llobet's duet arrangements on the Odeon-Parlophone label distributed by Decca. These recordings followed the solo series recorded by Llobet on the Parlophon/Electric series out of Barcelona" (Llobet 1989, 1: iv). These were the first electric recordings of the classic guitar.

These recordings have been reproduced on CD, but the brief recording history given in the liner notes (Purcell 1993) does little to shed light on Llobet's recording career. The solo recordings, for example, are supposed to have been recorded around 1925, but are from two different sources: the Argentina/Odeon recording and the earlier Barcelona/Parlophon recording. Even the most casual listening reveals a difference in recording technology that makes their issue in the same year difficult to accept. In response to an inquiry Purcell stated that "Llobet did not care for the acoustic recording results in 1915 and only recorded electronically.... His recordings were recorded in 1925 and later with Maria Anido" (Purcell 2001).

In 1920-1921, Llobet played in Spain and toured throughout Germany, performing in Munich, Leipzig, Dresden, Cologne and Stuttgart. In 1924, he again toured throughout Germany and Austria, and he concertized in the Americas in 1925. He returned again to the Americas in 1930 to perform for the Spanish Arts Festival, under the auspices of the Library of Congress. The violinist Antonio Bossa had recommended him, and he was contracted to play six solos, and to arrange and perform Manuel de Falla's Siete Canciones Españoles with soprano Nina Kochitz.

Llobet toured Europe again in 1930-1931, performing in London, Berlin, Hamburg, Munich, Vienna, Budapest and Bologna among others. On hearing him perform in Berlin in 1930, Paul Hindemith declared an intent to compose for the guitar. He did not follow through with this, however. Hindemith's only work for guitar was the Rondo for Three Guitars, which had been written in 1925, prior to his first documented contact with Llobet.

From 1932 to 1934, Llobet taught the young Cuban virtuoso José Rey de la Torre at his home in Barcelona. He does not appear to have performed much at this time, but maintained his artistic contacts. Rey writes, "At the time I arrived in Barcelona in 1932, he had almost retired from the concert stage. During the three years that I spent there he left town only once for a month's tour of Scandinavia" (Rey 1985, 24).

Llobet seems to have enjoyed a somewhat reclusive retirement from the concert stage, meeting with a few influential artists at his large apartment at Via Layetana No. 46 in Barcelona. Manuel de Falla is known to have visited there whenever in that city and Emilio Pujol was a frequent guest. Rey de la Torre who, as Llobet's pupil, may well have been his most frequent visitor, writes that "Llobet did not have many visitors..." (ibid). He did seem to go out to concerts frequently, walking with his wife, to the Palau close to his home.

The statement by Philip J. Bone in The Guitar and Mandolin that Llobet "was killed in 1937, in an air raid in Barcelona during the Spanish Civil War" (Bone 1954) has been tacitly contradicted by all reliable sources. However, the emotional devastation over the siege of Barcelona may have begun his downward spiral of health. On February 22, 1938, Llobet died of pleurisy in Barcelona.

His complete works as Urtext edited by Professor Ron Purcell is published by Chanterelle Verlag.

[edit] References

[edit] Notable students

• María Luisa Anido
• José Rey de la Torre
• Andrés Segovia

[edit] Historical Recordings 1925-1929

• Julián Aguirre: Huella*
• Isaac Albéniz: Evocación*
• Johann Sebastian Bach: Sarabande [2 takes].
• Napoléon Coste: Etude op.38 no.21 [2 takes].
• Miguel Llobet: El Testament d'Amelia, La Filla del Marxant, Plany, El Mestre.
• Felix Mendelssohn: May Breezes*.
• Manuel M. Ponce: 2 Canciones Mejicanas.
• Pedro M. Quijano;: Estilo Popular Criollo.
• Fernando Sor : Andantino op.2 no.3, Estudio op.35 no.2, Minueto op.11, no.12.
• Rogelio del Villar: Canción Popular Leonesa [Canción del Ladrón]

(* Duetts with María Luisa Anido).

Publisher: Chanterelle, 1990

[edit] List of Works

[edit] Original compositions

• Romanza
• Estudi en mi major
• Estudi Capritx en re major
• Mazurka, Variacions sobre un Tema de Sor
• Scherzo-Vals
• Prélude Original
• Preludi en re major
• Resposta-Impromptu
• Preludi en la major
• Preludi en mi major
• Preludi
• Estil.

[edit] Folksong

• Plany (Lamentation)
• La filla del marxant (The merchant's daughter)
• El testament d'Amèlia (Amelia's will)
• Cançó del lladre (Thief's song)
• Lo rossinyol (The nightingale)
• Lo fill del rei (King's son)
• L'hereu Riera (Heir Riera)
• El mestre (The teacher)
• La filadora (The spinner woman)
• La presó de Lleida (The prison at Lleida)
• La Nit de Nadal (Christmas Eve)
• La pastoreta (The little shepherd girl)
• El noi de la Mare (The Mother's child (Our Lady's child))
• Leonesa (From León)
• Estilos populares Argentinos nos. 1 & 2.

[edit] Transcriptions

[edit] Solo guitar

• Isaac Albéniz: Cádiz, Oriental, Sevilla, Torre Bermeja.
• Enrique Granados: Danzas Españolas nos. 5, 7 & 10, Dedicatoria, La Maja de Goya.
• Joaquín Valverde: Clavelitos.

[edit] Guitar Duos

• Isaac Albéniz: Rumores de la Caleta, Castilla, Bajo la Palmera, Evocación.
• Louis-Claude Daquin: Le Cou Cou.
• Enrique Granados: Enrique: Danzas Españolas nos 6 & 11.
• Eduardo López-Chávarri: Leyenda del Castillo Moro.
• Felix Mendelssohn: Romanzas sin Palabras nos.20 & 25.
• Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Minueto de la Sinfonia no.39.
• Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky: Humoresque, op.10 no.2.

[edit] Pieces composed for Miguel Llobet

• Manuel de Falla: Homenaje pour le tombeau de Claude Debussy.

[edit] Discography

• Stefan Grodona: Respuesta - Stefan Grodona Plays the Guitar Works of Miguel Llobet

Publisher: [Italy] : Stradivarius Records, [2006] STR 33770

• Lorenzo Micheli: Miguel Llobet - Complete guitar music

Publisher: [Hong Kong] : Naxos Music Library, [2004] OCLC 57732810

• Nirit Ziv-Wexler: Siesta in Catalonia / Guitar arrangements of Miguel Llobet

Publisher: BNW Recordings, [2004]

• Michael Tröster: Tröster Plays Llobet

Publisher: [Germany]: Thorofon, [1998] CTH 2378

[edit] Bibliography

• Bruno Tonazzi: Miguel Llobet, Chitarrista dell’ Impressionismo. Ancona, Italy: Edizioni Bèrben , 1966. (Italian) OCLC 12560728
• Robert Phillips: The influence of Miguel Llobet on the pedagogy, repertoire, and stature of the guitar in the twentieth century. Doctoral dissertation. ©2002, (English) OCLC 51796355

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