Sor's Guitar Sonatas: Form and Style

Stanley Yates
1. Introduction. 2. A Note on Eorm, Style and Terminology. 3. General characteristics and likely chronology of
Sor`s sonatas. 3.1. Sonata prima (op. 14). 3.2. Sonata seconda (op. 15b). 3.3. Grande sonate (op. 22) 3.4. Deuxime
Grande Sonate (op. 25) 3.5. Fantaisie (op. 30). 4. Sonata styles of guitarists contemporary to Sor. 4.1. Spain. 4.2.
Paris. 4.3. Vienna. 5. Sonata prima in D-major (Grand Solo, op. 14). 6. Sonata seconda in C-major (Sonate, op. 15b).
7. Grande Sonate in C-major, op. 22. 7.1. Allegro. 7.2. Adagio. 7.3. Minuetto Allegro. 7.4. Rondo Allegro. 8.
Deuxime Grande Sonate in C-major/minor, op. 25. 8.1. Andante Largo. 8.2. Allegro non troppo. 8.3. Andantino
grazioso (theme and variations). 8.4. Minuetto Allegro. Trio. 9. Fantaisie in E-minor, op. 30. 10. Conclusion. 11.
Bibliography of works cited and consulted.
1. Introduction
The guitar sonatas of Eernando Sor are significant to the instrumental output of Sor himself,
to the guitar repertoire in general, and to the instrumental literature of early nineteenth-century
Spain. It is therefore surprising that no detailed study of these works has appeared in print,
despite a number of studies dealing with Sor's music. As a result, consensus opinion regarding
Sor's sonata style would appear to end at an almost casual association with the high classic style
of Haydn, while other influences remain unexamined. There even exists a lack of
acknowledgment amongst the scant literature on the subject as to which of Sor's works actually
employ the form.
This confused state of affairs would appear to derive, at least in part, from the brief
discussion of Sor's sonatas contained in William Newman's seminal work, The Sonata in the
Classic Era (The University of North Carolina Press, 1963).
1
Here, Newman recognizes the
creative value of Sor's guitar sonatas, but misconstrues several important points. Most
significantly, Newman falls into an easy association of Sor's sonata style with that of Haydn (and
Boccherini), with the implication that 'bold key changes, 'rich modulations and 'considerable
flexibility in the application of sonata form,` especially in the larger number of ideas introduced
and recalled are exceptional to that style. (Are they exceptional to the style of Haydn, or are
they manifestations of an entirely different model?). In a footnote, Newman supports these
observations with a reference to the dissertation on Sor by William Sasser, 'The Guitar Works of
Eernando Sor (1960), also produced at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. In Sasser,
we find a listing of the main sections of the opening movement of Sor's Grande sonate, op. 22,
1
William Newman, The Sonata in the Classic Era (Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press, 1963),
663-4.
Sor SonatasPage 2
along with a statement that the exposition of the movement contains 'seven definite themes, a
rather unusual amount of material. This must have been taken at face value by Newman, since
the movement contains nothing of the kind (Sasser does not distinguish between a complete
thematic statement and its constituent parts, nor between a theme and a transition or a codetta,
simply labeling each discreet section 'theme). Sasser also proposes the theory, subsequently
adopted by later writers, that Sor's 'rather unusual treatment of sonata form stems from
technical limitations of the guitaran attempt to explain why Sor's development sections,
lacking contrapuntal discussion of previously heard material and introducing new material
instead, do not adhere to the Haydn model. As Newman points out, the developmental
'development section is not a prerequisite of the classic sonata style; it simply happens to be a
common feature of the Austrian sonata style of Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven (and certain other
composers, the Viennese guitarists Diabelli and Matiegka for example). Again, the argument
assumes the model to be Haydn.
In a single paragraph, Newman laid a foundation that appears to have been taken at face
value by virtually all subsequent writers on the subject. In his The Guitar from the Renaissance
to the Present Dav (1974), Harvey Turnbull quotes Newman in full, as well as citing Sasser's
argument concerning the 'limited resources of the instrument and a supposed inability of the
guitar (and the lute!) to support contrapuntal textures.
2
Six years later, in his article 'Guitar in
Groves Dictionarv of Music and Musicians (vol. 7, 838), Turnbull combined the two
misconceptions: 'In his sonatas (opp. 22 and 25) Sor introduced a larger number of themes than
is usual in this form, thereby compensating for the restrictions in development imposed by the
limitations of the instrument.
Eurther confusion exists. Newman is of the opinion that Sor wrote only three sonatas; he
does not mention Sor's Sonata prima, perhaps misled by the work's better known title, Grand
solo, op. 14. Though Sasser recognizes the work as a sonata form, Brian Jeffery, in his Fernando
Sor. Composer and Guitarist (1994), considers op. 14 a 'free fantasy in which themes recur,
rather than a work in strict sonata form.
3
In addition, all writers seem to have missed the
remarkable fact that Sor's op. 25 sonata begins with a highly unusual pairing of two connected
2
Harvey Turnbull, The Guitar from the Renaissance to the Present Dav(New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1974),
89.
3
Brian Jeffery, Fernando Sor. Composer and Guitarist. Second edition (London: Tecla Editions, 1994), 26.
Sor SonatasPage 3
movements (slow-fast), both in sonata form, and substantial ones at that. Newman describes the
work as simply 'a rather free, pathetic Andante` in the tonic minor, a gay Allegro` in 6/8 meter,
and a theme-and-variations. (He apparently didn`t notice that the work has a fourth movement,
a concluding minuet and trio.) Sasser did recognize the first movement of op. 25 as a sonata form
(and says nothing else about it), but failed to recognize that the second movement is a sonata
form as well, labeling it a rondo. It is a pity that Newman did not realize the true nature of Sor's
op. 25it is one of the most sophisticated guitar sonatas of the period. Eurthermore, no writer
seems to have noticed that Sor's remarkable Fantaisie, op. 30, is a further example of the form: it
comprises a connected introduction, theme-and-variations, and concluding extended sonata form
of some 266 measures duration.
Newman's assessment of Sor's sonata style can be understood within the context of a
complex work of scholarship that examines the sonatas of literally hundreds of composers
peripheral to the central figures of the study, Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven. Nevertheless, our
understanding of Sor's sonata style and our appreciation of its compositional and aesthetic
qualities have suffered considerably as a result.
An examination of a genre that occupied a central position in the compositional output of
most instrumental composers of the early nineteenth century therefore seems appropriate to the
comprehensive study of Sor offered in these volumes. The present article examines the formal
and stylistic procedures employed by Sor in his guitar sonatas, determining appropriate models
for these works and placing them in a likely chronological context. This examination affords a
telling glimpse of Sor at two very different stages of his career: as a young composer in Spain
emulating the imported cosmopolitan high-classical style of the Italian opera overture and
Austro-Erench symphony; and as an established post-classicist exercising a personal aesthetic
and a confident, individual approach to formal construction.
2. A Note on Form, Style and Terminology
Before turning to a detailed discussion of Sor's sonata style, I should give a brief overview
of the various solo and orchestral sonata styles relevant to our discussion, as well as clarify the
terminology that will be used.
The solo instrumental sonata existed in a great variety of styles during the closing decades of
the eighteenth century. Indeed, the term 'sonata still continued to be used to indicate
Sor SonatasPage 4
'instrumental music in general, encompassing works not actually written in sonata form (for
example, the andante-rondo pairs favored by many Italian composers). Our textbook definition
of the form is derived from the Viennese high-classic keyboard sonata style of Haydn and
Mozart, and their contemporaries Dittersdorf, Vanhall and Pleyel (active in London and Paris).
We understand a three movement scheme, fast-slow-fast, the first movement being in sonata
form (the last movement often a rondo). The essentials of first movement form are an overall
binary division: the first half establishes the tonic and dominant keys (in minor, usually the tonic
and the relative major), marked by thematic statements; the second binary-half of the form
begins with a section of further modulation and 'development of previously stated material,
followed by a recapitulation of previously stated themes reconciled to the opening key. In
practice, though, even the high-classic Viennese sonata style itself deviated often from this
model.
Elsewhere in Europe we find a considerable variety of sonata forms and styles in use. The
native Italian keyboard sonata style, characterized as much by diversity as anything else, ranges
from the three-movement sonata-forms (fast-slow-fast), singing allegros and alberti textures of
the Venetian Grazioli, and the sonata-form allegro/rondo pairs of the Elorentine Cherubini, to the
single (possibly paired)-movement near-sonata forms of the Neapolitan Cimarosa. The Parisian
keyboard sonata style of such native composers as Hullmandel, Riegel and the Italian-flavored
Mehul, on the other hand, is more consistent, usually consisting of three movements (sometimes
two) with the opening movement generally in a brief (but varied) sonata form. An Italian violin
sonata style is also to be found in Paris (and London), represented by the hugely influential Paris
and London-based Italian violinist Viotti, and his Erench disciples Rode, Kreutzer and Baillot.
Again, the scheme is three movements (fast-slow-fast) with a flexibly applied sonata form for the
opening movement. On the Iberian peninsula a distinct keyboard sonata style in the lineage of
Scarlatti, Seixas, Soler and Nebra is to be found. The style is characterized by single or paired
movements and 'incipient sonata forms (that is, forms that do not employ a development
section within their overall repeated-binary design, and which do not feature systematic
restatement of thematic material in the home key). In London, on the other hand, we find the
'pre-romantic keyboard sonata style of the enormously influential Italian Clementi and the
Bohemian Dussek, as well as the Italian violin sonata style of Viotti, already mentioned.
Although the movement scheme is generally the high-classic three-movement one (fast-slow-
Sor SonatasPage 5
fast), the 'pre-romantic style combines a fairly strict first-movement sonata form with a
dramatic, romantic quality of texture, key scheme, and dynamic expression. Einally, during the
early decades of the nineteenth century, a Viennese 'post-classic sonata style can be identified.
In the hands of Beethoven, Schubert, Adam, Reichal, and others, the outer form is quite stable,
generally the four movements of the high-classic symphony or string quartet (fast-slow-
minuet(scherzo)-rondo), with fairly strict adherence to the broad structural design of the textbook
sonata form (though with widely-varying internal details of form).
Turning to orchestral sonata styles in the eighteenth century, the term 'sinfonia was used
both for (what we would call today) the purely orchestral symphony and the opera overture.
Although overtures were often performed as symphonies, orphaned from their parent operas,
there nevertheless exists important differences between the two: the length and number of
movements, the degree of compositional sophistication, and the overall character of the music.
The high-classic orchestral symphony was generally of four movements (fast-slow-minuet-
rondo), whereas the opera overture was generally a fairly short single movement (although three-
movement examples were sometimes produced as well). While the high-classical symphony
dealt with matters of thematic development and organic growth, the character of the overture was
much more direct: it was highly rhythmic, employed little or no development of ideas, and
usually ended with a series of highly recognizable codettas.
I should also clarify the terminology that will be used in describing the formal attributes of
these sonata styles. The term theme does not necessarily refer to a discernible melody, but to a
musical section that, defined by a strong sense of cadence, projects and reinforces a single
tonality. The term transition refers to a passage or section that connects one thematic area to
another. Although a transition may begin with a melodic or thematic quality, it does not serve to
reinforce a single tonality. The transition that follows the first theme in the exposition modulates
(or at least reaches the new tonic), the transition that appears in the recapitulation does not
(neither do secondary transitions that may connect thematic statements in an extended theme
group). I do not use the term 'closing theme, preferring instead the term coda (a section
comprised of any number of short codettas that affirm the current tonality) for the outer closing
sections of the form. The term development section refers only to the area of contrasting tonality
(consisting of one or more episodes) that intervenes between the exposition and the
recapitulation; the term does not necessarily imply a process of thematic or motivic development.
Sor SonatasPage 6
The term retransition refers to the modulatory passage or section that connects the final episode
of the development section with the beginning of the recapitulation (it precedes the thematic
statement that marks the return of the opening tonality). In addition, I have often used the term
sonata stvle (as distinct from sonata form); as we have seen, beyond the most rudimentary notion
of sonata form are many variants which relate principally to compositional style, rather than to
the form itself.
3. General characteristics and likely chronology of Sor's sonatas
Despite his fame and skill as a guitarist, Sor did not devote himself exclusively to
composing for the instrument. The considerable energies he expended on vocal music and the
grander genres of opera and ballet, no doubt combined with the demands of publishers for
marketable items of guitar music, resulted in a sporadic sonata output totaling only four works
(along with a fantasia in sonata form). These sonatas are serious, ambitious compositions
nevertheless, and comprise two substantial single-movement works, two highly developed multi-
movement forms, and a fantasia-sonata hybrid. The works in question are the following:
1) Sonata prima (Grand solo, op. 14)
2) Sonata seconda (Sonate, op. 15b)
3) Grande Sonate, op. 22
4) Deuxieme Grande Sonate, op. 25
5) 7e Eantaisie, op. 30
These works span Sor's compositional career, we do not know precisely where or when they
were written. We do know that a 'Gran Sinfonia for solo guitar and 'una sonata by Sor were
advertized for sale in Madrid in 1806,
4
and that Sor`s Sonata prima and Sonata seconda
appeared in Parisian publications sometime between 1802 and 1814. However, since publication
dates establish only an upper limit for the date of composition, in the absence of dated autograph
manuscripts, letters, or other compelling evidence, the precise dating of the works remains a
matter of conjecture.
4
The 'Gran Sinfonia was advertised on November 1, 'una sonata on October 4. Mangado, La Guitarra en
Catalua, 1769-1939, 288. Also see footnote 19, below.
Sor SonatasPage 7
3.1. Sonata prima (Grand Solo, op. 14)
Sor's first sonata, the single-movement Sonata prima (later known as Grand Solo, op. 14,
and which may very well be the 'Gran sinfonia advertized for sale in Madrid in 1806) was
published in Paris, sometime between 1802 and 1814.
5
The piece appeared in Salvador Castro's
Journal de Musique Etrangere pour la Guitare ou Lvre ('Journal of Eoreign Music for the
Guitar or Lyre), indicating that Sor was still regarded as a 'foreign musician at the time and
presumably predating his exile to Erance in 1813. However, the work was likely composed much
earlier, and quite possibly dates from as early as the latter part of Sor's Barcelona period of
around 1796-1800, during his time as a student at the Real Escuela Militar de Matematicas de
Barcelona. Here, as well as successfully producing his opera Telemaco (1797) at the Barcelona
opera house, Sor began composing guitar music after the style of the Italian guitarist Eederico
Moretti. Moretti had arrived in Spain from Naples in 1795 and, although the six-course guitar
had been known in Spain for some time, published his Principios para tocar la guitarra de seis
ordenes in Madrid in 1799. Sor spoke of the influence of Moretti in his Methode pour la Guitare
(Paris, 1830):
6
J`entendis un de ses accompagnements execute par un de ses amis; et la marche de la bassse, ainsi que les
parties d`harmonie que j`y distinguai, me donnerent une haute idee de son merite; je le regardai comme le
flambeau qui devait servir a eclairer la marche egaree des guitaristes.
I heard one of his accompaniments played by one of his friends; and the movement of the bass, and the parts of
the harmony which I distinguished gave me a good idea of his merit; I regarded him as the torch that should
serve to light the wandering steps of guitarists.
Significantly, the Sonata prima is one of very few works by Sor to contain examples of brillante
passagework in the Italian style.
Eollowing the re-opening of the Barcelona opera house in 1788, and the appointment of
Antonio Tozzi as director, Sor surely heard the contemporary Italian operas of such composers
as Cimarosa, Paisiello and Sarti produced there, and (with friends in high places) presented his
5
The opus numbers attached to these works first appeared, in a non-chronological fashion, in subsequent releases of
Sor's guitar music issued by the Erench publisher Meissonnier and, later, the German publisher Simrock. Eor
information relating to the dating of the various publications of Sor's music I have relied upon Brian Jeffery, Sor
(1994), and presently unpublished research provided by Erik Stenstadvold (Norwegian State Academy of Music).
6
Page 3, footnote.
Sor SonatasPage 8
own opera in the Italian style in 1797.
7
Sor was young, not yet having reached his twentieth
birthday, but was quite capable of composing the overture and set numbers of a well-received
opera. Provided a suitable period of assimilation, a solo guitar sonata in the Italian style would
hardly have been out of the question.
Evidence to support a relatively early date for the work comes from a contemporary diary
entry of Baron Malda, reproduced in Josep Maria Mangado`s La Guitarra en Catalua 1769-
1939, which describes a performance by Sor at the house of the Marques de Castellbell in
Barcelona on May 7th 1802:
8
When lhe refreshnenl vas over, ve changed lhe scene, as in a pIay, and ve aII venl lo lhe draving
roon leyond lhe nain roon of lhe CasleIIleII house, and aII galhering round Iernando Sors, sealed
in chairs, ve Iislened lo his guilar, afler he had veII luned il, on vhich he pIayed one of his inspired
pieces of nusic, vilh such sveelness and dexlerily of lhe fingers lhal il seened lo us lhal ve vere
Iislening lo a pianoforle in lhe variely of expression, sonelines sofl and sonelines Ioud, vilh
cerlain scaIes lhal he perforned, never nissing one nole on his veII-luned guilar in lhe loccala
vhich he pIayed lo us firsl, vilh nany varialions and nusicaI noduIalions, lhen he sang a loIero or
lvo, in vhich he is lhe chanpion.
This 'toccata, with its 'many variations and musical modulations sounds very much like a
description of a sonata (given that variation forms themselves generally do not modulate),
especially one with the brilliant passagework of the Sonata prima.
Eurther evidence to support an early date for the first sonata comes from the extended
biographical account (presumably supplied by Sor) contained in Ledhuy and Bertini's
Encvclopedie Pittoresque de la Musique (Paris, 1835).
9
Here, it is mentioned that Sor did not
dare to compose an overture in the style of Haydn for Telemaco in 1797, but had begun a study
of string quartets by Haydn and Pleyel before leaving for Madrid. That is, before 1800. Although
the overture Sor wrote for Telemaco is thoroughly Viennese (quite reminiscent of Mozart), the
Sonata prima relies heavily on the Italian overture style. If Sor composed the Sonata prima after
or around his study of Haydn and Pleyel string quartets, the work shows no signs of it. Many
details of form and style, however, link Sor's early sonata style with the single-movement Italian
opera overture, especially as represented by Cimarosa (the most widely performed, arranged and
published Italian opera composer of the time). At this point, it is enough to mention a correlation
7
See the article by Josep Dolcet contained in these volumes.
8
English translation provided in Jeffery, preface to 'More Seguidillas, (Tecla Editions, 1999).
9
Page 164.
Sor SonatasPage 9
of theme types, motivic gestures, key schemes, and formal plans. The relationship is explored in
some detail during the course of this article.
3.2. Sonata seconda (op. 15b)
Sor's Sonata seconda (later known as op. 15b), another single-movement work, was also
published in Paris in Castro's Journal de Musique Etrangere pour la Guitare ou Lvre, sometime
between 1802 and 1814. Although the overall graceful character of this work stands in contrast
to the brillante exuberance of the first sonata, the model is again the Italian opera overture. With
an almost identical internal structure, and similarly few signs of Austro-Erench style, the Sonata
seconda was very likely written around the same time. That is, probably the latter part of
Barcelona period of around 1796-1800.
3.3. Grande sonate (op. 22)
The Grande sonate, op. 22, is a multi-movement work set in the four-movement scheme of
the high-classical Austro-Erench string quartet and symphony. This brings us to the question of a
Haydnesque quality so often noted by commentators on Sor's music. In addition to the music of
Haydn himself (which Sor first heard as a student at Montserrat) and the study of string quartets
by Haydn and Pleyel mentioned above, Sor may also have heard the music of the esteemed
'Haydnite Luigi Boccherini, who was active in Madrid during Sor's time there in 1800-2 and
1804. In addition, Sor may well have come across the several guitar arrangements of music by
Haydn (and Pleyel) advertized in Barcelona during the closing years of the eighteenth century.
10
Nevertheless, the resemblance between Sor's sonata style and the sonata style of Haydn is quite
superficial. In fact, few internal features of Haydn's style are to be found in Sor's writing;
certainly, a developmental stylethe distinguishing internal feature of Haydn's sonata styleis
not employed by Sor. Sor's style in the op. 22 sonata actually owes as much to the style of Pleyel
who, in addition to having been both Haydn's student and publisher, had formed an early
friendship with the Italians Cimarosa and Paisiello, and appears to have absorbed certain
elements of their style as well. We will examine the details in due course.
10
See the article by Josep Mangado contained in these volumes.
Sor SonatasPage 10
Although in the opening movement of Sor's op. 22 elements of overture style remain,
improvements in compositional technique would seem to place the work somewhat after the two
single-movement sonatas. But by how much? Though first published in Paris in 1825, the work
clearly was written much earlier. On historical grounds alone, the past tense construction of the
patriotic dedication, 'Grand Sonate de Sor, qui fut dediee au Prince de la Paix ('Grand Sonata
by Sor, which was dedicated to the Prince of Peace) suggests it was written before 1808, since
in that year Spanish statesman Manuel Godoy, the 'Prince of Peace, was exiled and Sor
accepted a post with the Erench administration.
Adding to the problem of provenance, however, is a manuscript located at the Archivo de
Pilar in Zaragoza of what appears to be an early version of the work:
11
El Merito / Gran Sonata para Guitarra compuesta / por D
n
Eernando Sors para el uso / Luis Pajaron
The term 'El Merito could of course refer to Manuel Godoy, though the title suggests that the
work was actually 'composed for the use of one Luis Pajaron. Unfortunately, no information on
Pajaron has come to light.
With persisting elements of overture style, but also significant compositional advances over
the first two sonatas, and with little justification for a patriotic dedication after 1808, op. 22 must
have been composed during the period 1800-08. (And since Godoy regained the position of chief
minister in 1801, after having fallen from power in 1797, we can perhaps modify these dates to
1801-08.) The period of sinecure in Barcelona, around 1802-3, seems quite likely. Here,
according to Ledhuy, Sor worked on an opera, orchestrated oratorios for the chapel of Santa
Maria del Mar, and composed Spanish vocal works, sacred vocals works and, more significantly,
three string quartets and two symphonies.
Why did it take so long for this early work to appear in print? One answer is the seriousness
and technical difficulty of Sor's 'Grande sonata, coupled with an increasing lack of interest
shown in the genre by purchasers of music. By the time Sor established a relationship with his
principal Erench publisher, Antoine Meissonnier, around 1816, the guitar sonata was no longer
the popular recreational piece it had been a decade earlier. The sonata was now regarded as a
serious composition, written more for the benefit of fellow musicians than for amateurs; the
11
Luis Gasser reports that the manuscript, which is undated and in an unknown hand, was donated to the archive in
1868 by one D. Juan Bernardon.
Sor SonatasPage 11
publishing houses of Paris and Vienna appear to have produced the majority of their guitar
sonatas by around 1811-2 (and their piano sonatas even earlier). Sometime after 1817
Meissonnier had published (or republished) much of Sor's back-catalogue (along with several
newly composed works). Based on a firmly established reputation, and with Sor's earlier works
already in print, in 1825 Meissonnier published the work.
Returning to Spain at the beginning of the nineteenth century, and an assessment of Sor's
position amongst his Spanish contemporaries, we find a surprisingly broad range of sonata styles
in use there. The older Iberian keyboard sonata in the style of Soler was still very much in
evidence during the 1790s, and was practiced by such figures in Sor`s general environment as
Narciso Casanovas at Montserrat and Jose Galles in Barcelona.
12
Sor, in fact, refers to both Soler
and Casanovas in the Ledhuy article (though his style bears no relationship to them). We also
find a unique symphonic style that appears to combine elements of the early sinfonia and the
Iberian sonata. The resulting works of such Madrid symphonists as Pablo de Moral, Erancisco
Javier Moreno, Eelipe de Mayo and Jose Nono commonly employ the highly-rhythmic triple
meters and sharp ornamentation of the Iberian sonata, but show few signs of the standardized
formal procedures, key schemes or movement forms of the high-classical Austro-Erench
symphony.
13
Einally, a fully contemporary imported style is found in the keyboard and
symphony sonata-style of Matteo Eerrer, the symphony style of Carlos Baguer, the Italian
overture style of Juan Balado and, of course, the three guitar sonatas of Sor discussed so far.
14
Sor, then, was one of the more progressive of the early nineteenth-century Spanish composers of
sonatas. His musical language received further contemporary impetus with his exile to Paris in
1813, followed by his move to equally cosmopolitan London in 1815 and later travels in Eastern
Europe.
12
A selection of Casanova`s sonatas is contained in Mestres de lescolania de Montserrat, iv: Musica instrumental,
i. Ed. David Pujol (Montserrat, 1934). Examples of sonatas of both Casanovas and Galles are contained in Joaquin
Nin`s Classiques Espagnols du Piano, i (Paris: Editions Max Eschig, 1929).
13
See the collection, The Svmphonv in Madrid, ed. Jacqueline A. Shadko (New York: Garland Publishing, 1981),
series E, vol. IV, The Svmphonv, ed. Barry S. Brook.
14
Ibid.
Sor SonatasPage 12
3.4. Deuxieme Grande Sonate (op. 25)
The Deuxieme Grande Sonate, op. 25, first published in 1827 in Paris around the time of
Sor's return from Eastern Europe, is undoubtedly a much later work than the previous three
sonatas and must have been written either during the London period (1815-23) or during the
travels in Eastern Europe (1823-7). It could therefore post-date the op. 22 sonata by as much as
two decades. The character of the first movement of the work has much in common with Sor's
romantically-inclined fantasia, Les Adieux, op. 21 (pub. 1825), which he dedicated to Erancesco
Vaccari, an Italian violinist with whom he associated in London.
15
Les Adieux has all the
appearances of a trial run at the first movement of op. 25; the working-out of the opening phrases
is identical, as are the aria-like character and general mood. Both works, as well as several later
ones, seem somewhat indebted aesthetically to the style of influential London pianist Johann
Cramer, dedicatee of Sor's Three Italian Arietts, 5th set (pub. 1819). Erom the early 1820s
Cramer had used rhetorical Erench and Italian titles for his instrumental works, many of which
were in the form of andante-allegro pairs which could have served as models for Sor's Les
Adieux and for the outer form of the opening movements of op. 25 (though not the internal
form).
16
The major characteristic, however, is a pervading operatic quality stemming not from
the overture, but from the aria, coinciding with Sor's preoccupation during the London years with
the music of Mozart.
Bearing no dedication, op. 25 was a further publication directed as much to the benefit of
Sor's reputation as a composer as at meeting the tastes of an amateur clientele. The movement
scheme may be unprecedented: a first movement Andante largo in a fully developed sonata form
connected to a second movement in sonata form, Allegro ma non troppo; followed by an
Andantino grazioso theme-and-variations and a concluding minuet and trio.
3.5. Fantasia (op. 30)
After op. 25, Sor clearly no longer considered the sonata to be an appropriate (or popular
enough) form for his more ambitious instrumental efforts which, with one exception, he
subsequently devoted to the fantasia. The exception is the 7th Fantasia, op. 30, a hybrid fantasia-
15
Jeffery, 46.
16
See John Baptist Cramer, vols. 10-11, The London Pianoforte School 1766-1860, ed. Nicholas Temperly (New
York: Garland Publishing, 1985).
Sor SonatasPage 13
sonata in Sor's later operatic style comprising a connected introduction, theme-and-variations,
and concluding allegretto in sonata form. The work was published by Messonnier in 1828, the
year following Sor's return from Eastern Europe, and is based upon two popular Erench
children's songs. Dedicated to Sor's friend and compatriot Dionisio Aguado, and performed in
Paris by Sor himself (as announced on the pubished title page), the work was likely newly
composed by Sor for his own benefit concert of May 18, 1828.
17
4. Sonata styles of guitarists contemporary to Sor
Although we have suggested an orchestral model for Sor's early sonata style, any attempt to
measure the solo guitar sonatas against the symphonies of Haydn, Boccherini, or Pleyel would
hardly be reasonable. In addition, since Sor's sonata style owes nothing to keyboard models, and
barely enjoys the same resources, comparison with contemporary piano sonata styles would be
unrealistic also. A reasonable detailed comparison may, however, be made with with the sonata
style of Sor's guitarist contemporaries.
The main production of guitar sonatas during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth
centuries took place in two principal centers, Paris and Vienna, both of which accommodated
influential Italian guitarists in addition to native guitar composers. Late eighteenth-century Spain
also saw the publication of a number of sonatas for guitar, and it is there that we should begin
our survey.
18
4.1. Spain
Sor was not the only Spanish composer of guitar sonatas. He remains, however, the only
Iberian guitarist known to have written sonatas in the classic style. Although the recent research
of Josep Mangado has revealed that several guitar sonatas were published in Madrid between
1780 and 1793, no copies of these works are known to have survived. It therefore is not possible
to determine the style in which they were written.
19
However, since the content listings of these
17
Date from Jeffrey, 101.
18
I am indebted to Erik Stenstadvold for much of the publication information presented throughout this chapter.
19
The works in question, advertized in the Ga:eta de Barcelona (but for sale in Madrid), include: 'una sonata by
Don Juan Garcia (advertized September 9, 1780), 'una sonata a 1. Guitarra by Maximo Merlo (advertized
November 16, 1784), 'una sonata para guitarra by Pedro Soliveres (advertized September 13, 1788), 'una sonata
en musica y cifra para guitarra, composer not listed, (advertized January 1, 1789), 'una sonata by the Portuguese
Sor SonatasPage 14
collections generally comprises the older Spanish genres (such as fandangos and contredance
settings), it seems likely that the majority of sonatas included were of the earlier Iberian type.
(They could also simply be generically-titled pieces.) Some evidence to support the earlier style
exists in the form of a surviving Allegro by one Dn. J. Arizpacochaga, published in Castro`s
Journal in Paris, again sometime between 1802 and 1814. The piece is a single-movement
binary-form sonata in the Iberian style.
20
4.2. Paris
Publication of guitar sonatas in Paris, where all of Sor's sonatas were published, began early,
one of the earliest examples being a three-movement sonata for the then five-string guitar
contained in Pierre Porro`s Nouvelle Etrennes de Guitarre, op. 4 (Paris, 1784)a work in Italian
style consisting mainly of shallow passagework, included in a collection of music intended to
introduce amateurs to the new arpeggio style of guitar playing. Indeed, most Parisian guitar
sonatas, especially before the arrival of Carulli and Sor, were somewhat modest efforts intended
for amateurs; those of Charles Doisy, D. Joly and Antoine Meissonnier, for example (one
exception being Antoine Lhoyer's somewhat more technically-involved Grande sonata, op. 12,
for five-string guitar, published in 1799). The native Erench guitar sonata generally employs a
two-movement scheme: an allegro in sonata form followed by a rondo or set of variations
(occasionally a valse). (This can be distinguished from the two-movement, andante-rondo
'Italian sonata of the time, which did not include a movement that actually employed sonata
form.) Themes tend to be defined more by their concerto-like texture of fast, violinistic
passagework and arpeggios than by any strong melodic quality, the main intention undoubtedly
being to provide amateurs with material that was brilliant-sounding yet fairly easy to play.
Motivic development is non-existent and the key schemes are extremely predictablethe
development sections of all these works center on the dominant or the relative key areas only. An
exception to the two-movement format, marking the adoption of Italian keyboard sonata style by
Sr. Brito (advertized August 11, 1789) and 'una sonata con una nota particular, again by Maximo Merlo
(advertized October 19, 1793). See Mangado, La Guitarra en Catalua, 1769-1939; the online supplement
'Anuncios de Obras para Guitarra de 1780 a 1789 en la 'Gazeta de Barcelona` at http://www.tecla.com/catalog/
0375c.htm; and the articles by Mangado contained in these volumes.
20
This piece also exists in a version for two guitars with continuo as, 'Sonata del S.or Arizpaccochaga puesto a
trio, located in the Biblioteca Historica Municipal de Madrid. See Luis Briso de Montanio, Un fondo desconocido
de Musica para Guitarra. (Madrid: Opera Tres, Ediciones Musicales, 1995), p.83.
Sor SonatasPage 15
native Erench guitarists, is found in the three sonatas, op. 31 of Charles de Marescot (publication
date unknown, but almost certainly post-dating the arrival in Paris of Carulli, in 1808).
21
Marescot employs a three-movement scheme (fast-slow-rondo), further distinguished by a
keyboard-like idiom of alberti textures and running scale passages. The forms remain
undeveloped, however, and the development sections center on the dominant key area only.
The sonata style of Marescot was, no doubt, a derivation of the highly developed three-
movement Italian keyboard/concerto-style guitar sonata that had been introduced to Paris by the
Italian virtuoso Eerdinando Carulli (1770-1841), who in 1808 arrived there from Naples
(possibly via Vienna). Carulli's sonatas seem just as appropriate for concert purposes as for
recreational ones, and surpass the native Parisian guitar sonatas in significant ways, notably:
length, thematic quality, inventiveness, grace, and formal substance and balance. Carulli makes
little reference to the orchestral models preferred by Sor, however, relying instead on the often
extended pianistic alberti textures and singing allegros commonly employed by Italian guitarists
of the time. Eurther, a concerto-like element derives from a propensity for brilliant passagework,
usually in the second theme area, which often concludes with a full cadential trill prepared by a
short ascending 'solo cadenza (op. 16, pub. 1810, and op. 83, pub. 1815, for example). Eully
integrating these keyboard and concerto elements with a natural guitaristic idiom, Carulli's main
achievement is his ability to combine brilliant texture and passagework with memorable thematic
content. On a structural level, within an overall larger form (sometimes literally double the
length of the earlier works) the structural points are very clearly, almost dramatically defined. A
strong arrival point is routinely reserved for the beginning of the transition which, marked with
highly active rhythm and forte dynamic, assumes almost thematic interest. The development
sections are also dramatically marked, moving directly and exuberantly to remote third-
related/Neapolitan key areas such as the flattened mediant key (op. 21, nos. 1 and 2, pub. ca.
1810) or, by a half-step ascent, to the flattened sub-mediant (op. 83), as well as traversing
widely-varied tonalities during the course of the section.
This was the Parisian sonata style contemporary to the publication of Sor's first and second
sonatas there, a few years before his arrival in 1813. If Sor knew the music of the Erench
guitarists, there is little evidence for it. His second sonata, with its single-movement form
modeled after the overture and its absence of brilliant passagework, has nothing in common with
21
Marescot`s Methode de Guitare, opp. 15 and 16, was published in 1825.
Sor SonatasPage 16
them. The Italian guitar style, however, is a different matter. We know that Sor fell under the
influence of the music of Italian guitarist Eederico Moretti in Barcelona sometime around 1796
and, with the pervasive Italian climate in Madrid and Barcelona at the time, it is certainly
possible that the music of other Italian guitarists fell into his hands. Whatever the case may be, in
the first sonata Sor reveals his knowledge of the Italian guitar style, combining the overture and
singing allegro styles and incorporating passages of brillante violinistic passagework. Like
Carulli in his Grande sonata, op. 83 (pub. 1815) and Luigi Moretti (younger brother of Eederico)
in his Grande sonata, op. 11 (publication date unknown, but probably c.1810), Sor employs a
slow introduction, an extended second theme group consisting of brillante passagework, and a
dramatic opening development key (albeit a very unusual and short-lived one, the flattened
tonic). Nevertheless, Sor also remains distinct in this work; the procedures and gestures of the
overture are obvious at the opening period of the allegro (and elsewhere), as is the use of
unifying motives that mark important structural points of the form.
Additional factors separate Sor's early sonata style from both the Itali an and the Erench
guitarists; most obvious, his use of single-movement forms for the first two sonatas and Austro-
Erench symphonic movement scheme for op. 22. Less obvious, is the use of scordatura tuning in
the Sonata prima, at the time most unusual. Sor's notational style is also significant. Eew of Sor's
Parisian predecessors took the step of accurately notating the polyphonic texture of their music
(even Carulli had mainly relied upon a single-stem, violinistic form of notation). Sor did so, and
for one very good reason: his guitar music relies far more heavily on a genuinely independent
lower voice, true dialog between the voices, and a consistent three-voice texture. In other words,
Sor's notation was, of necessity, a representation of his advanced conception of the textural
possibilities of the guitar.
During Sor's residence in London and travels in Eastern Europe, from 1815-1826, Paris saw
the publication of few guitar sonatas. Apart from Sor's op. 22 and op. 25 'Grande sonatas and
Marescot`s op. 31, mentioned above, we can mention here only the Trois sonatas, op. 6 (pub.
c.1815?) and a single-movement Grand ouverture, op. 17 (pub. c.1820) by the Italian violinist
and guitarist Erancesco Molino, the former being short, graceful, recreational pieces in Italian
keyboard style that little more than hint at the true abilities of their composer. (Incidentally, and
despite their title, Molino`s Trois sonates, op. 15 and Grande sonate, op. 51 do not employ any
movements that actually employ sonata form.)
Sor SonatasPage 17
4.3. Vienna
In Vienna, during the first decade-and-a-half of the nineteenth century, we find numerous
examples of multi-movement guitar sonatas, some in the style of Haydn, but little in common
with the style of Sor. A survey of these sonatas reinforces just how short-lived a genre the
Viennese guitar sonata actually wasvirtually all significant examples were published within a
period of five years, between c.1806-1811. The Viennese guitar sonata took a variety of forms
and styles, perhaps not surprising for a city that supported guitarists as diverse as the Italian
Mauro Giuliani (1780-1829), the Austrians Anton Diabelli (1768-1858) and Simon Molitor
(1766-1848), and the Bohemian Wenzel Matiegka (1773-1830). Several of these guitarists
moved in the most elevated musical circles, Matiegka in Schubert's, Giuliani in Beethoven's,
Diabelli in both, and the Viennese guitar sonata style reflects this.
Giuliani`s sonata output, consisting of only one multi-movement work and two single-
movement works (a Grand ouverture, op. 61 and the posthumous Sonata eroica, op. 150), is
small but high in quality. The multi-movement Sonata brillant in C-major, op. 15, published in
1808 (two years following his arrival in Vienna) displays a refined, sophisticated pianistic style
which is melodic rather than concerto-like, and which avoids the brillante passagework that
defined the sonata style of fellow Italian guitarists such as Carulli and Moretti (though Giuliani
does retain the extended pianistic alberti accompaniments typical of the Italian guitarists). A
concern for structural refinement and balance is very evident: connections between sections are
gradual rather than direct or dramatic; and a concern for the unity of the cycle as a whole is
evidenced by the appearance toward the end of the final rondo of a graceful chromatic alberti
accompaniment figure which introduced the opening movement. The rondo is an interesting
form in itself which, in addition to the quotation from the first movement just mentioned,
contains an inserted aria-like grazioso section in the middle of the movementa device
sometimes found in the rondos of other Viennese composers (including the guitarist Molitor in
his unpublished op. 12, c.1808). Giuliani's Grand ouverture, op. 61 (pub. 1816), like Sor's
Sonata prima, is a single-movement sonata allegro with slow opening introduction. There,
however, the similarity ends: Giuliani's work is an overture in the contemporary style of Rossini,
Sor SonatasPage 18
complete with extended crescendo and diminuendo effects, whereas Sor's is based on the earlier
Cimarosa model.
22
Two native Austrians, Anton Diabelli and Simon Molitor, composed in the four-movement
plan of the string quartet or symphony, as did Sor. However, the style employed is a
contemporary, post-Haydn one, and owes much to the keyboard. The allegros are full of weak-
beat, sforzandi-marked syncopations, sequences, (modest) contrapuntal textures, and short ad
libitum cadenzas (also employed by Giuliani). In contrast to Sor's high-classical Austro-Erench
minuets, the Austrian guitarists themselves usually employ the contemporary Viennese type
characterized by hemiolas and frequent syncopation. The internal forms differ from Sor's sonata
style as well, often incorporating monothematic elements, tempo changes, interpolated episodes,
and third-related key schemes. The structural points of the form are often marked with fermatas.
The second of Diabelli's Trois sonatas, op. 29 (published c.1807) is a good example of the style:
the first movement employs a monothematic, developmental form; the second theme area is
prefaced by a slow chordal insertion in the flattened mediant key; the second movement, an
Adagio in ABA form, is built on the third-related I-bVI-I (rather than the usual I-V-I); the rondo
incorporates abridged thematic restatements with an interpolated episode in the dominant.
Molitor employs an outer style similar to Diabelli, though internally his movement forms and
treatment of tonic modality lean somewhat toward the style of Schubert. The inner form of the
opening movement of Molitor's Grosse sonata in a-minor, op. 7 (pub. c.1806) is again quite
distinct from the classically-oriented forms of Sor, employing a false recapitulation followed by
a tonic-major recapitulation. The rondo of Molitor's unpublished op. 12 sonata (c.1808) employs
an extended andante sostenuto episode (in both minor and major versions of the relative key),
while his unpublished op. 15 sonata (c.1808) comprises a quite unusual movement sequence: an
anthem-like Prelude in G-major, followed by a short sonata-form Marcia in the sub-dominant,
and a concluding theme-and-variations in the opening key.
The remaining significant Viennese composer of guitar sonatas is the Bohemian Wenzel
Matiegka (1771-1830), whose twelve remarkably varied examples include both the fully
developmental high-classic sonata style of Haydn and the more romantically-inclined movement
22
Giuliani's remaining single-movement sonata, the Gran sonata eroica, op. 150, is a problematic work. Published
posthumously, in 1840, without an expression marking of any kind, this large-scale work appears to be comprised of
sections borrowed from other pieces and 'fitted to a sonata form, rather than successive sections of an organically
composed piece.
Sor SonatasPage 19
forms and character of Schubert. In contrast to Sor, Matiegka's adoption of Haydn style is quite
specific: his Grande sonate no. 2 in A-major (pub. c.1808) concludes with a 'Variations par
Haydn while his Sonata in b-minor, op. 23 (pub. c.1811) adapts movements from Haydn piano
sonatas. Matiegka employs the three-movement scheme of the Haydn piano sonata (fast-slow-
rondo or variations), rather than the four-movement schemes used by Sor, Diabelli and Molitor,
along with a fully developmental style in which a principal motive often provides the material
for both theme areas as well as the development. Another Haydnesque feature, the first theme is
often used to frame the form, appearing at the beginning of the development and in both codas.
The detail is generally motivic and rhythmic, though brillante passages are also employed,
including extended measured cadenzas in the rondos of the Grande sonate no. 1 (pub. 1808) and
the Sonata Progressive, op. 17 (pub. 1810). Matiegka also employs the metric effects of his
Viennese contemporaries, very much so, including the superimposition of 3/4 groupings over 4/4
meter (Grande sonate no. 1). His style contains further progressive elements, sometimes
reminiscent of Schubert, that stand in marked contrast to Sor`s classically-oriented sonata style:
in addition to the general character of themes in such works as the Grande sonate no. 2 and the
Sonata progressive in e-minor (op. 31, no. 2), we can mention pianissimo endings to a large form
(the opening movement of the Grande sonate no. 1) and to the whole cycle (op. 27 and op. 31,
no. 6); the juxtaposition of tonic major and minor (Grande sonate no. 2, second movement); and
a variety of recapitulation schemes ranging from sub-dominant recapitulations ( Grande sonate
no. 2) to such altered keys as both tonic and major versions of the relative key (op. 31, no. 1)
and, in minor-mode forms, a sub-mediant recapitulation (op. 31, no. 2) and the recapitulation of
the second theme in major (op. 31, nos. 2 and 6). Representing an expansion of a process used by
Giuliani, Diabelli and Molitor, in his Sonata progressive, op. 17, Matiegka defines all the major
sections of his form with contrasting tempos (first theme, second theme, development, and
codas).
These Viennese guitar sonatas of Giuliani, Diabelli, Molitor and Matiegka, written before or
around the time of Sor's exile to Erance in 1813, demonstrate a contemporary, post-classical
approach to sonata writing that Sor was not to adopt until significantly later, with his op. 25
Grande sonata published in 1827. However, in all matters, the stylistic difference between Sor
and his Viennese contemporaries is considerable. Whereas Sor's early model was an orchestral
one, the Viennese guitarists were influenced by the keyboard (with the exception of Matiegka's
Sor SonatasPage 20
op. 22, no.21, 'en forme d'une symphonie, pub. c.1810); when Sor uses a four-movement
scheme, it is a high-classic style rather than the contemporary Viennese style employed by
Molitor or Diabelli; when Sor adopts the style of Haydn, it is a matter of general aesthetic rather
than the developmental style adopted by Matiegka; and when Sor adopts an individual romantic
approach to formal construction it remains within a classic framework of movement types and
key schemes, rather than the varied-tempo forms and third-related schemes of the Viennese. In
fact, Sor appears to have shared so little with the style of his guitarist contemporaries, that one
wonders to what extent he was actually aware of their music.
5. Sonata prima in D-major (Grand Solo, op. 14)
Sor`s Sonata prima appeared in Castro's Journal de Musique Etrangere pour la Guitare ou
Lvre in Paris, sometime between 1802 and 1814, without opus number (although, as we have
seen, it could quite easily have been written around 1800 and may very well have been published
in Spain in 1806 under the title 'Gran sinfonia). This early version by Castro differs in many
details from subsequent editions and contains several errors, including the omission of the eight-
measure consequent portion of the first allegro theme (surely an engraving or copying error,
since the theme appears in full in the recapitulation). The Parisian publisher Meissonnier issued a
revised version during the period 1820-1,
23
this time as Grand Solo, op. 14, which corrects the
errors and omissions of the Castro edition but also differs in many matters of detail. Although
quite refined, the Meissonnier version seems to have been made with more than an eye to the
buying publicthe Db-major portion of the development section was removed. A further
Meissonnier edition, published sometime during the period 1824 to ca.1827, restores the
development section to its previous state (along with some chromatic harmonies from the
introduction, and other refinements), and may be regarded as the definitive version of the piece.
24
As we have noted, Sor's early sonata style owes much to the single-movement Italian opera
overture of the 1780s and 90s, which was most widely represented at the time by the music of
23
This dating, which conflicts with that of 1822 given in Jeffery (1994), is based upon information provided by Erik
Stenstadvold, whose research into Meissonnier suggests that the publisher had moved from Boulevard Montmartre
No. 4 (the address indicated on the publication) to Rue Montmartre No. 182 sometime between September 1820 and
April 1821.
24
This was also the version used by Sor's friend and compatriot Dionisio Aguado as the basis of his Gran Solo de
Sor (Madrid: Benito Campo, 1849) which, according to Aguado's preface, was intended to demonstrate 'certain
orchestral effects on the guitar.
Sor SonatasPage 21
Spontini, Paisiello and Cimarosacomposers whose music Sor almost certainly heard during his
time in Barcelona. In common with Sor's early style, the overture is characterized by very direct,
non-developmental forms in which sections are defined by clear points of arrival (rather than
seamlessly connected). The opening typically consists of a short head-motive followed by an
immediate launch into a lively first theme consisting of parallel string-thirds over a repeated-note
bass. Phrase groupings are symmetrical and periodic with literal repetition of phrases and periods
as the principal means of developing sections. Transitions are highly rhythmic, and are usually
built on one or more common motives. The second theme area is lively rather than lyrical; the
Cimarosa overture often contains two secondary themes, the second being more rhythmic than
melodic. The development section begins with a striking modulation and functions as an area of
contrasting tonality rather than as a place to develop previously heard material. The final coda
consists of an often-extended series of familiar codettas.
With its persistent repeated-note accompaniments, brilliant Italianate passagework, sonorous
D-scordatura tuning, and overall theatrical exuberance and humor, the Sonata prima is very
much a display piece in the 'grande overture stylea combination of overture and concerto
styles. It is also an ambitious work, cast in the form of a sonata-allegro of orchestral proportions
(some 270 measures) prefaced with a slow introduction in the tonic minor. The first thematic
period (mm. 1-20)
25
comprises, in typical overture style, a short introductory head motive
followed by ubiquitous 'string-thirds over a repeated-note bass (fig. 1):
Eigure 1. Sonata prima (Grand solo, op. 14), first theme, 1-6.
The transition (21-33), also in typical overture style, is highly rhythmic, incorporating dotted
rhythms, repeated sixteenth notes and triplet 'string tremolando. The new dominant is not
reached, however, and the arrival at the secondary key area (34) is weakly defined. This
rudimentary transition type, which proceeds on static harmony (dominant becomes tonic), is rare
in the high-classical symphony but is often found in short sonata forms and overtures. A
25
Measure numbers refer to the second Meissonnier edition.
Sor SonatasPage 22
procedure used in the longer Cimarosa overture to extend the secondary theme group, and also
employed by Sor here, follows the first theme of the secondary group with a more emphatic
second transition that now does create a well-marked arrival point on the new dominant; this is
followed by a second thematic statement, often defined rhythmically rather than melodically. Of
the two secondary thematic areas in this sonata (34 and 54), the first again suggests the three-part
string textures of the Italian overture (fig. 2):
Eigure 2. Sonata prima (Grand solo, op. 14), first secondary theme, 34-7.
The second is marked by a well-defined arrival point, but begins ambiguously, with transition-
like material, before its elision to a period consisting of brilliant Italianate passagework (fig. 3):
Eigure 3. Sonata prima (Grand solo, op. 14), Italianate passagework, 63-5.
The 'development portion of the movement is quite extended (48 measures) and, in typical
overture fashion, progresses through a series of highly-rhythmic, easy to follow, two and four-
measure phrases. The opening key area, however, is very unusual (though short-lived): the
flattened-tonic (Db-major). Sor finds an interesting way out of this remote area, enharmonically
respelling the Neapolitan to the dominant (Bbb becomes A), which is instead used to establish an
episode in the large-scale tonic-minor. This episode employs the same rhythmic figuration as the
codetta at measures 90-6, a rhythmic gesture very often found in the Italian opera overture (fig.
4, also fig. 15, below):
Sor SonatasPage 23
Eigure 4. Sonata prima (Grand solo, op. 14): codetta, 90-3; development episode, 144-7.
While the retransitions of many overture composers (Paisiello, for example) consist of a simple
arrival on the dominant followed by a rest and immediate launch into the first theme, Cimarosa
often employs a connected approach to the first theme, as does Sor. In fact, Sor routinely
employs a gradual lead-in to the recapitulation, of one type or another. In the Sonata prima the
retransition (154-166) recalls both the tonality and closing material of the slow introduction
before reintroducing the first theme through an anticipatory descending sequence built on its
opening motive (fig. 5):
Eigure 5. Sonata prima (Grand solo, op. 14), retransition, 158-67.
Beyond the customary changes of detail (to accommodate the tonic key) and omission of
material from the second theme group (to maintain a balanced proportion of key areas; theme B1
is omitted), the most notable feature of the recapitulation is the extended coda (223). Consisting
of no less than seven codettas, interspersed with measures of silence and excursions to the sixth-
related keys (vi and bVI), this final section is again highly characteristic of the concluding
psychological 'crescendo of the opera overture.
We have mentioned that one aspect of Sor`s early sonata style, shared with the the Italian
opera overture, is that the important structural points of the form (transitions, codas, development
episodes, etc.) are defined with highly identifiable rhythmic figuration, commonly taken from a
Sor SonatasPage 24
common set of figures. Sor, however, also relates important structural areas to one another
through thematic references. In the Sonata prima, the first codetta in both the exposition (78) and
recapitulation (223) clearly is based on the (b) motive of the opening theme (this is also a feature
of Haydn's sonata style, which Sor may have picked up from the performances of Haydn
symphonies he heard at Montserrat or from the various guitar arrangements advertized in
Barcelona during the 1790s) (fig. 6):
Eigure 6. Sonata prima (Grand solo, op. 14), thematic references: first theme, 10-12; exposition coda, 78-80.
Having mentioned earlier the relationship between the tonic-minor development episode and the
exposition coda (see fig. 4), we may also note a relationship that exists between the opening
motive of the first theme and a prominent figure introduced during the introduction (fig. 7):
Eigure 7. Sonata prima (Grand solo, op. 14), motivic similarities: a) Introduction, 9-12; b) Allegro, 1.
The brilliant, exuberant, orchestral character of the Sonata prima is a quality that has helped
the work remain popular to the present day. However, we should also recognize a certain
looseness of form; Sor finds it difficult to maintain momentum through the varied sections of the
exposition, and the development key (although skillfully negotiated) does not serve the larger
tonality of the form. Eurthermore, the brillante passages are not best served by the periodic
phrase construction employed; though an element of the style, with barely a two or four-measure
phrase escaping immediate repetition the result is often overly repetitive, and therefore
Sor SonatasPage 25
predictable. Nonetheless, the Sonata prima is a quite remarkable, ambitious guitar work for its
time.
6. Sonata seconda in C-major (Sonate, op. 15b)
Sor's Sonata seconda also appeared in Castro's Journal de Musique Etrangere pour la
Guitare ou Lvre in Paris sometime between 1802 and 1814, though (oddly) with a slightly earlier
plate number (47) than the Sonata prima (50). Meissonnier published a revised version sometime
during the period 1816-21
26
(plate no. 110), again without opus number, titled simply Sonate.
This version differs from the Castro edition in many small details and omits the final codetta and
the repetitions of two non-thematic phrases. A further Meissonnier publication, dating from the
same period and employing the same plate number, restores the final codetta (or at least a
version of it) and corrects the few errors found in the presumably earlier edition. This version
was also reissued after Meissonnier became a partner with Heugel in 1839 (plate no. H. & Cie
110). A further Paris edition, likely dating from the period 1814-1820, is included in a
'Collection de Morceaux Choisis des Meilleurs Autuers Espagnoles et Italians pour Guitarre ou
Lyre, Redigee par un Espagnol, as 'Sonata di Sor (plate no. 81, no publisher). This version
shares similarities with both Meissonnier editions, but employs yet another variant of the final
codetta. A German edition published by Simrock around 1824-5 (plate no. 2310) is virtually
identical to the first Meissonnier edition however. This edition by Simrock is the only one to be
assigned an opus number, op. 15 (the work thus becoming one of four by Sor to be assigned that
number). Although the later editions present the more refined versions of the piece, the original
Castro edition does contain a number of unique charming details. Nevertheless, due to its relative
completeness, refinement and accuracy, the second Meissonnier edition best represents the piece.
The Sonata seconda is another single-movement work in overture-style, though less
exuberant and of more modest dimensions than the first sonata (178 compared to 270 measures).
A lively, yet graceful character is supported by the original tempo marking of Allegretto (which
became Allegro moderato in later editions), lively short appoggiaturas (especially in the early
edition by Castro), a general absence of brillante passagework, and a less extravagant coda.
Nevertheless, the two sonatas share many similarities: three-part textures in parallel thirds with
26
This dating also conflicts with that given in Jefferey (1994). Stenstadvold suggests that Meissonnier occupied the
address Rue Montmartre No. 182 (the address indicated on the publication) from May 1815 until, at the latest, April
1821 (see footnote 23, above).
Sor SonatasPage 26
repeated-note bass, the use of well-defined rhythmic figuration and motives, a reliance on period
phrase construction and symmetrical groupings, a rudimentary transition leading to a two-part
second theme group, a new clearly-defined development 'theme, and a gradual lead-in
retransition. The opening themes of the two works share an almost identical construction: a short
head motive, followed by parallel thirds over a repeated-note bass, followed by dialog texture
(fig. 8):
Eigure 8. Sonata prima (Grand solo, op. 14), |Allegro] 1-6; Sonata seconda (Sonate, op. 15b), 1-6.
The secondary theme area is defined as much by its rhythm and texture as by its melodic
component (a common feature of the overture), as is confirmed when it reappears in the
recapitulation with only vague pitch resemblance (fig. 9):
Eigure 9. Sonata seconda (Sonate, op. 15b), secondary themes, 33-6, 60-1, 138-41 and 153-4.
27
As a shorter movement containing somewhat less immediate repetition (especially in the
sequentially treated transitions) and subtle variations in the phrases that are repeated, the second
sonata is a tighter and better balanced form than the first, though not without its peculiarities.
The transition theme that follows the first thematic period re-cadences on the tonic (at 22) before
27
Measure numbers refer to the second Meissonnier edition.
Sor SonatasPage 27
moving off again to the dominant, with the curious effect of neither closing the first theme nor
moving away from it. The transition proper is the non-modulatory type, and the first dominant
theme is followed by a second, modulatory transition (48) and a second dominant theme (53),
after the Cimarosa model. The core development key again is unusualthe lowered-seventha
tonality entirely unrelated to the large-scale harmonic structure of the movement (and not even
functioning in the customary manner as the dominant to the relative major of the tonic minor, or
as any kind of Neapolitan dominant). Sor does not resolve this tonality, but rather moves to the
supertonic of this key (the large-scale tonic-minor) and a tonic-minor prolongation of the large-
scale dominant. Like the first sonata, an anticipatory retransition 'leads-in to the recapitulation
with motives adopted from the first theme (mm. 5 and 8) (fig. 10):
Eigure 10. Sonata seconda (Sonate, op. 15b), retransition, 110-15.
The piece contains further structural motivic connections. The following rhythm, ubiquitous to
the overture since its earliest days (Pergolesi's overture to S. Gugliemo, Naples, 1731, for
example, is based entirely upon it), appears at each transition, in both codas, and announces the
development section (fig. 11):
28
Eurthermore, first theme motive (b) appears prominently in the secondary theme area of the
exposition (37 and 45) and the recapitulation (142 and 150) (fig. 12):
28
This figure is easily confused with the characteristic seguidilla rhythm which, however, occurs in triple-meter
only.
Sor SonatasPage 28
Eigure 12. Sonata seconda (Sonate, op. 15b), motive (b), 2-4, 36-8 and 141-3.
The core development episode appears to be built on a lower voice presentation of the opening
motive of the movement (in the later editions this is hidden in uncharacteristically imprecise
notational texture) (fig. 13):
Eigure 13. Sonata seconda (Sonate, op. 15b), development episode, 1-2 and 85-7 (Castro, 93-5).
And a second development episode relates to the second theme of the dominant area (fig. 14):
Eigure 14. Sonata seconda (Sonate, op. 15b), development episode, 53-4 and 98-9.
Sor SonatasPage 29
Are these thematic associations deliberate? If so, one assumes Sor would have notated them
more clearly. However, the following ubiquitous overture figure is similarly hidden in the
notational texture (fig. 15):
Eigure 15. Sonata seconda (Sonate, op. 15b), overture motive, 35 and 43.
One of the most used cliches of the Italian opera overture, from the early overtures of such
Neapolitan composers as Lampugnani to those of Paisiello and Cimarosa, and beyond, its
appearance here can hardly be coincidental. The figure is also found in many symphonies,
including some of Boccherini's, and is a particular feature of Pleyel's style, appearing with very
great frequency in his transitions (it is also found in Mozart, but is rarely used by Haydn). (The
figure is accurately notated in both Sor's Sonata prima and Grande sonate, op. 22, by the way).
To sum up, although the second sonata differs considerably in character from the first, the
formal procedures employed are the samethey are those of the Italian opera overture. Several
specific internal details link the works: the opening periods of both are constructed in an
identical fashion (a short head-motive, followed by parallel thirds over a repeated bass, followed
by a dialog texture), the first transition is non-modulatory, the dominant area is in two parts and
includes a second modulatory transition, the core development key is arbitrary and does not
resolve to a structural key, and the retransition is connected and gradual. Both sonatas employ
motivic relationships, the second being even more unified than the first in this respect: all of the
structural points of the form are marked by common motives, including thematic references in
the development.
Sor SonatasPage 30
7. Grande Sonate in C-major, op. 22
The Grande Sonate, op. 22 was first published in Paris by Meissonnier in 1825 but, as we
have noted, could hardly have been conceived at that time. Indeed, the work that precedes it in
Meissonnier's plate numbers, the fantasia Les Adieux, op. 21, employs the same romantic
aesthetic and compositional style as the Deuxieme Grande Sonate, op. 25, published just two
years later, but shares few of the high classical traits of the op. 22 sonata. The version of the
work presented in the 'El Merito manuscript has all the appearances of an earlier version of the
work, being rhythmically more direct and somewhat less refined in both phrase construction and
overall detail.
Op. 22 presents a somewhat more ambitious compositional style than the previous sonatas
and, in the first movement sonata-allegro at least, a greater command of larger form. Eollowing
the standard four-movement plan of the Austro-Erench symphony of the 1790sfast (sonata)-
slow-minuet-rondoan aesthetic resemblance to Haydn can perhaps be justified. The inner
workings of the movements, however, remain distant from Haydn's compositional style and the
overall form probably owes as much to Pleyel. The monotonal key scheme between
movements all are in C-major/minoris an occasional feature of Haydn, but also of Pleyel
(and Boccherini). An extended secondary area in sonata form is also a feature of Pleyel's style
(though it is also a feature of Cimarosa's overture style, as we have seen). An aria-like adagio for
the second movement, very unusual before Beethoven, is often used by Pleyel (especially in
sonata form, as Sor's form suggests here). Although not unique, and quite orchestral, both Sor
and Pleyel show a marked preference for themes that contain assertive repeated-note motives in
quarters or eighths. Similarly, the diminished-seventh harmony, a colorful pre-cadential gesture
favored by Sor, is also a decided characteristic of Pleyel's style. This is not to suggest that Sor's
style in the op. 22 sonata is modeled exclusively after that of Pleyel. Sor does not discuss
previously heard material in the development section, nor frame his form with appearances of the
first theme in the codas or at the beginning of the development (both are Haydnesque
charcteristics of Pleyel). Moreover, Pleyel does not employ Sor's characteristic lead-in
retransition (also a feature of Haydn), but invariably precedes the return of the first theme with a
fermata. In addition, the opening allegro of Sor's op. 22 retains many elements of the overture,
including a highly rhythmic character, a non-developmental form, and a dramatic development
key (Pleyel prefers closely-related keys).
Sor SonatasPage 31
7.1. Allegro
The opening allegro of op. 22 shares a marked similarity of material with the second sonata
(it could almost be a re-working of it). The first-theme launch into repeated-note texture is
prefaced by an eight-measure introductory motivic period, also a feature of Pleyel's style (Haydn
would spinout this material for the entire first theme, adopting repeated-note texture only at the
transition). This is simply an expanded version of the opening themes of the previous sonatas: an
opening head-motive (now occupying seven measures), followed by 'string thirds over
repeated-note bass, followed by dialog texture. The prominent repeated quarter-note motives
presented here introduce a marked preference for repeated-note, orchestral melodic figuration
throughout the entire movement, and in the later movements (fig. 16):
Eigure 16. Grande sonate, op. 22, Allegro, first theme, 1-14.
In comparison with the earlier sonatas, the opening movement of op. 22 is better balanced,
employing more varied phrase construction, subtly varied repetition, non-symmetrical phrase
groupings, and cadential extensions and elisions. The result is a more organic form in which less
predictable transitions grow out of the themes that precede them. Eurthermore, the transition
functions immediately as an effective arrival point, not simply reaching the new key but
cadencing firmly on the new dominant after reinforcing the dominant area; in this case with an
extended sextuplet 'string tremolando built on the new dominant Neapolitan key (Eb-major)
(31-41). This striking modulation is quite reminiscent of Cimarosa (his overture to Il mercato di
Malmantile, 1784, for example, employs the same modulation as Sor here). The effect, coupled
with the fragmented lead-in to the second theme group (42-3), could hardly be further removed
from the functional uncertainty of the second sonata at this point (fig. 17):
Sor SonatasPage 32
Eigure 17. Grande sonate, op. 22, Allegro, transition, 31-44.
Although still not developmental, significant changes are to be found in the construction of the
development area as well. At the outset of its three rhythmically and texturally-defined episodes
(94, 102, 114), the development pivots from the G-major ending of the exposition to Eb-major.
The core development key is therefore clearly related to tonal events heard previously in the
exposition, i.e., to the transition key (the same procedure was used by Cimarosa in the overture
just mentioned; Pleyel generally adopts closely-related development keys). Eurthermore, Sor
resolves the key area appropriately, to a dominant prolongation of the large-scale tonic-minor
that precedes the retransition (which again employs a characteristic gradual lead-in). Short
transitions between development episodes and phrases are built on the overture motive found
embedded in the notational texture of the second sonata (as already mentioned, the use of this
motive at the structural points of the form is a particular element of Pleyel's style) (fig. 18):
Eigure 18. Grande sonate, op. 22, Allegro, development transition motive, 104-5.
The structural areas of the form continue to be linked through common motivic ideas: the
repeated-note idea presented in the first theme is also used melodically throughout the transition,
in the two secondary themes, and throughout the development (fig. 19):
Sor SonatasPage 33
Eigure 19. Grande sonate, op. 22, Allegro, repeated-note motives, 21-2, 36-7, 42-3, 62-3 and 95-6.
7.2. Adagio
When Sor later dedicated a work to Pleyel, the Fantaisie, op. 7 (published by Pleyel himself
in Paris in 1814), he prefaced a variation set in C-major with an extended largo introduction in
the tonic minor. The slow movement of Sor's op. 22 is also in c-minor, and takes an uncommon
form (at least before Beethoven) which happens to be the slow-movement form preferred by
Pleyel: a long aria-like adagio in sonata form. Sor's second-movement adagio juxtaposes an outer
da capo form with sonata form as follows (fig. 20):
Eigure 20. Grande sonate, op. 22, Adagio, hybrid sonata form.
The first theme group, a 16-measure closed binary form, moves directly into a much longer
secondary theme group in the relative-major (17-59) comprising two themes with intervening
Sor SonatasPage 34
transition and a well-defined coda marked by a long aria-style cadential trill (rare in Sor`s guitar
music) (fig. 21):
Eigure 21. Grande sonata, op. 22, Adagio, 43-6.
The 'development area (60-81) begins with dominant Neapolitan harmony before settling in the
closely related large-scale sub-dominant key, f-minor (in contrast to the overture-style key area
employed in the opening movement; we have mentioned Pleyel's preference for closely related
development keys). The abbreviated recapitulation is marked by an exact restatement of the
second theme in the tonic (82), complete with full cadential trill and coda. This brings us to the
question of formal balance in this movement. With an opening theme of 16 measures followed
by 43 measures in the secondary area (almost three times longer than the first area) and 22
measures of 'development, one would expect a significant recapitulation in the tonic minor to
balance the form. However, we are given only the 10-measure closing portion of the secondary
theme and a 10-measure coda. Although 20 measures in a slow tempo is certainly enough to
establish a tonality, the overall proportions of the movement seem quite out of balance (16 65
20). Eurthermore, the omission of a first-theme return only adds to the effect of incompleteness
and formal uncertainty. On a more positive note, the movement is otherwise quite unified, both
within itself and with the previous movement. Prominent thematic repeated-note motives, like
those of the first movement, define the second themes of both the primary and secondary key
areas, as well as the opening of the 'development and its episodes (fig. 22):
Sor SonatasPage 35
Eigure 22. Grande sonate, op. 22, Adagio, 9-10, 37-8 and 60-2.
In addition to the prominent use of repeated-note melodic figuration and the structural use of
dominant Neapolitan harmony to open the development, a further connection with the first
movement is apparent: the retransitions of both movements are built from identical material (fig.
23):
Eigure 23. Grande sonate, op. 22: Allegro 115-22; Adagio, 70-81.
7.3. Minuetto Allegro
The third movement is a standard high-classical Austro-Erench minuet and trio (distinguished
from the earlier minuet by its anacrusis and tempo, and from the typical contemporary Viennese
minuet through its lack of hemiola and syncopation). The unassuming, regular syntax of both
minuet and trio results from a standard binary form comprising eight-measure phrases and
Sor SonatasPage 36
textbook tonic-dominant key scheme. Motivically, the repeated-note idea is again prominent in
the leading themes of both minuet and trio (though this is characteristic of many such
movements) (fig. 24):
Eigure 24. Grande sonate, op. 22, repeated-note motive, Minuetto, 1-4; Trio, 1-4.
7.4. Rondo Allegretto
The final movement is an extended five-part rondo that, like the second movement, suggests
elements of sonata-form through the rhetoric of its transitions and theme types (though it is not a
genuine sonata-rondo and the sectional plan remains one of rondo form) (fig. 25):
Eigure 25. Grande sonate, op. 22, rondo form.
The main theme (a 16-measure rounded binary) is followed by an extended B section, very much
in the form of a sonata secondary area: an extended transition (17-32) establishes the new
dominant; the second theme proper (33-52) is followed by a twelve-measure retransition back to
the main theme. The 'development (another self-contained binary, in the relative minor) is
followed by a second retransition (96-117, an extended 21 measures) to the main theme. Both
retransitions are characteristically gradual, and form connections with transitional passages
found in previous movements of the cycle: the first retransition (from the B area, 53-63) shares
material with same functional area in the preceding minuet; the second retransition (from the
Sor SonatasPage 37
'development, 96-117) shares material with the transition from the opening movement of the
sonata (fig. 26):
Eigure 26. Grande sonate, op. 22, Minuetto, 25-6; Rondo, 53-56 and 114-5; Allegro, 42-3.
Clearly, these transition figures are related to the motive as presented at the opening of the first
movement of the sonata (fig. 27):
Eigure 27. Grande sonate, op. 22, Allegro, 7-8.
Like the second movement, the manner in which Sor closes the form is unusual. Unlike a
genuine sonata-rondo, the secondary theme does not reappear and is instead replaced by an
extended overture-style coda of some 52 measures duration. After such a well-developed
transition and secondary area, and the use of structurally prominent retransitions to move back to
the main theme, we could expect a reference to the secondary area to close the form. The coda
that appears instead seems appended rather than organically connected, though it is not entirely
unrelated to the rest of the movement as it contains references to both the transition motive
shown above and motives from the relative-minor portion of the movement (fig. 28):
Sor SonatasPage 38
Eigure 28. Grande sonate, op. 22, Rondo, 160-5 and 178-81.
The op. 22 Grande sonate, then, is an another ambitious, though slightly uneven, early work
of Sor's. The first movement, still essentially an overture form, substantially solves the earlier
problems of momentum and arrival, as well as of relating a striking development tonality to the
overall tonal structure of the form. Motivically, many of the ideas for the movement, if not the
whole work, are stated at the opening period of the movement, especially the orchestral repeated-
note idea that is present in virtually all the major themes presented during the cycle. Like his
probable model Pleyel, Sor's high-classical style incorporates elements of both the Austro-
Erench symphony and the Italian overture and employs (or suggests) sonata form for the three
extended movements. Relying still on an overture sonata-style for the opening movement, the
incomplete hybrid form of the adagio suggests that Sor's absorption of this second-movement
form was intuitive. Certainly, the sonata element is as much rhetorical as literal. What should we
make of Sor's use of unifying motives? Although melodic repeated-note motives are hardly
unique to the themes of Sor and Pleyel, Sor's apparent method of associating them, probably
absorbed from the highly identifiable structural figuration of the Italian overture, appears to have
developed into a quite individual characteristic of his sonata style.
8. Second Grande Sonate in C-major/minor, op. 25
Perhaps two decades separate Sor's op. 22 and op. 25, the Deuxieme Grande Sonate. During
the intervening period, Sor had lived in Paris, built a successful career in London, and had
possibly begun his travels in Eastern Europe. As an established member of the musical circles of
London and Paris, he associated with many leading musicians of the day and had the opportunity
to hear performances of the widest range of music. (Performances of Beethoven symphonies, for
example, were given in London and Paris almost contemporaneously with the premieres in
Vienna.) Amongst his friends and professional associates he counted such esteemed personalities
Sor SonatasPage 39
as the pianists Kalkbrenner and Cramer, the violinist Baillot, the flautist Druet, (as publishers of
his music) Pleyel and Clementi, and even shared a concert with Eield in Russia. In London, he
was a sought-after teacher of singing, composed vocal music after the Italian style, and became
absorbed in producing music for the ballet. Not surprisingly then, the Sor of the 1820s composed
in a quite different style than the young composer we have seen so far.
Sor's London period (1815-23) is marked by the adoption of a new, romantically-inclined
operatic style characterized by a preponderance of minor tonalities, a solemn, pathetic mood (in
major, a gentle, bright mood), seamless connections between movements, aria-like andantes
accompanied with repeated diadic harmonies, and gentle but insistent pedal tones. Also during
this period, Sor appears to have become preoccupied with the music of Mozart. He arranged
arias from Don Giovanni for guitar and voice (published in 1820); he made solo guitar
arrangements of arias from the Magic Flute (published as 6 Airs from the Magic Flute, op. 19
around 1823-5); and wrote his celebrated Introduction et Jariations sur un Thme de Mo:art, op.
9 (published sometime between 1817-21). Op. 9 appears to be a pivotal work. Mozart's theme
inspired Sor to compose an introduction, and it is here that we first encounter his new style (fig.
29):
Eigure 29. Introduction et Jariations sur un Thme de Mo:art, op. 9, Introduction, 1-12.
The opening scheme of this introduction is as follows: forte block-chordal statement in the tonic
followed by piano polyphonic statement to the dominant; consequent version of the same; a
melodic period accompanied with gently repeated diads. An identical procedure and mood is
found in opening measures of the fantasy Les Adieux, op. 21 which, although published in 1825,
appears to have been written around the same time (fig. 30):
29
29
Jeffery, 46.
Sor SonatasPage 40
Eigure 30. Les Adieux, op. 21, 1-12.
And, in more elaborate form, in the opening movement of the Deuxieme Grande Sonate, op. 25
(pub. 1827) (fig. 31):
Eigure 31. Deuxieme Grande Sonate, op. 25, Andante largo, 1-12.
Clearly, the style is operatic. However, it is now the rhetoric of the aria, rather than of the
overture, that provides the material and the mood.
The Deuxieme Grande Sonate, op. 25 is the first (presumably) of several quite extended
works in Sor's new operatic style. Eirst published in Paris by Meissonnier in 1827,
30
around the
time of Sor's return from Eastern Europe, op. 25 could perhaps have been written during these
travels or, just as likely, earlier in London. It is a sophisticated, highly unified work, in several
respects quite unique, and certainly one of the finest guitar sonatas of the classic-romantic
period. The outward form is very unusual, perhaps unprecedented, beginning with two connected
movements in sonata form: the opening Andante largo begins with all the appearances of a slow
introduction before unfolding as a full developmental aria-style sonata form in itself, and is
elided to an elaborate sonata, Allegro non troppo. The pairing may certainly be regarded as an
Sor SonatasPage 41
expanded form of the elided Andante largo-Un poco mosso that comprises Sor's (presumably)
earlier Les Adieux. Op. 25 continues with an Andantino grazioso theme-and-variations, and
concludes with a minuet and trio. The latter two movements are also connected; the minuet
shares its opening motive with the opening of the preceding theme, initially suggesting itself as a
further variation. And the two pairings themselves are connected, though not literally; the
Allegro non troppo ends so gently that a psychological connection with the theme-and-variations
that follows is made virtually inevitable. This sequence of movements can perhaps be best
understood aesthetically, as a romantically expanded introduction and allegro followed by a
nostalgic pairing of movements in high-classical style. (We perhaps tend to forget that as many
classical-period sonatas end with a theme-and-variations or a minuet as with a rondo.) Like the
first Grande sonata, the key scheme is monotonalall movements are in C. Although unifying
motivic and thematic connections between sections and movements are pervasive, unlike the
earlier sonatas Sor employs here a developmental first-movement form.
8.1. Andante Largo
The opening Andante largo is a movement of finely balanced dimensions and organically
derived formal sections. The movement begins solemnly, presenting the motives that comprise
the entire movement: a dotted sixteenth-quarter anacrusis figure (a), an accompanimental figure
of repeated eighth-note diads (b), a dotted eighth-sixteenth melodic figure (c) (which obviously
derives from the anacrusis figure that precedes it) and its auspicious echo in the lower register
(c`) (fig 32):
Eigure 32. Deuxieme Grande Sonate, op. 25, Andante largo, opening motives, 1-4.
30
A few subtle notational refinements are introduced in a later edition, published in Germany by Simrock in 1830
(plate no. 2843).
Sor SonatasPage 42
Eollowing this initial first thematic period, what begins as a second tonic theme built on an
inversion of the opening measures of the movement becomes a well-developed transition section
with a modulating sequence which establishes the new dominant area (9-19) (fig. 33):
Eigure 33. Deuxieme Grande Sonate, Andante largo, transition motives, 8-10.
The second theme, an aria-like duet in the expected relative major, is built on identical material
to the opening theme and transition (motives b and c), but projects an altogether distinct
character (fig. 34):
Eigure 34. Deuxieme Grande Sonate, Andante largo, second theme, 27-30.
At the closing of the secondary theme, motive c' appears as an operatic pre-cadential cliche,
introducing a short duet-style cadenza in thirds and sixths, and equally typical full cadential trill
(fig. 35):
Eigure 35. Deuxieme Grande Sonate, op. 25, Andante largo, second theme, 40-3.
The coda maintains the repeated-note accompaniment that has served most of the movement thus
far, and recalls the lower voice motives first heard in the transition (fig. 36):
Eigure 36. Deuxieme Grande Sonate, op. 25, Andante largo, coda, 44-8.
Sor SonatasPage 43
The development begins in the large-scale Neapolitan key (Db-major), enabling a modulation to
the closely related large-scale sub-dominant (f-minor), and an elaboration of the first theme (fig.
37):
Eigure 37. Deuxieme Grande Sonate, op. 25, Andante largo, development, 63-4.
Consequently, the recapitulation omits the first theme at the return and instead moves directly to
a tonic-minor restatement of the second theme, complete with the short cadenza and trill heard
earlier. Instead of the expected final coda, the insistent repeated-note accompaniment figure (b)
reappears, and now introduces a reworking of the first theme to close the form (fig. 38):
Eigure 38. Deuxieme Grande Sonate, op. 25, Andante largo, closing theme, 98-102.
The final closing material, which connects to the second movement by ending on dominant-
seventh harmony, is based almost entirely on the (c) motive which, especially in its low octave
version, has appeared as a structural marker throughout the movement (fig. 39):
Eigure 39. Deuxieme Grande Sonate, op. 25, Andante largo, closing motives, 113-7.
The formal effect of this finely balanced, organic movement is of a symmetrical sonata form
built around an insistent principal idea, as follows (fig. 40):
Sor SonatasPage 44
Eigure 40. Deuxieme Grande Sonate, op. 25, Andante largo, sonata form.
The minor-mode recapitulation is an interesting detail, since post-classical sonatas (and even the
late ones of Haydn) often switch to major-mode in the recapitulation of the second theme in a
minor-mode sonata. This preserves the major-mode character of the theme as first heard in the
exposition, as well as adding an element of sublimation to the form. Sor's paired-movement
form, however, leaves this function to the ensuing major-mode allegro.
8.2. Allegro non troppo
The second movement, an Allegro non troppo in the large-scale tonic major, is a second
elaborate and well-balanced sonata form (of some 278 measures duration). Like Sor's earlier
sonatas, the exposition employs a two-part secondary theme area. The themes, which resemble a
succession of graceful ariettas, are related both to one another and to the previous movement.
The first thematic period is characterized by an opening anacrusis and an ascending 4th (fig. 41):
Eigure 41. Deuxieme Grande Sonate, op. 25, Allegro non troppo, 1-4.
The second theme, a major-mode version of the theme that pervaded the first movement,
combines these two features (fig. 42):
Eigure 42. Deuxieme Grande Sonate, op. 25, Allegro non troppo, 46-50.
A further secondary theme (76) recalls the first theme (fig. 43):
Sor SonatasPage 45
Eigure 43. Deuxieme Grande Sonate, op. 25, Allegro non troppo, 76-9.
The exposition therefore assumes a symmetrical ternary grouping within the two tonal areas (as
does the exposition of a sonata-rondo). The transitions and codas are fully developed sections in
themselves and grow out of the principal themes in an organic, developmental fashion such that
it is often difficult to define precisely where the one function starts and the other stops. Perhaps
twenty years earlier, Sor used the same transition textures heard here. The following examples
could have been taken directly from the pages of op. 22 (fig. 44):
Eigure 44. Deuxieme Grande Sonate, op. 25, Allegro non troppo, 39-45 and 105-7.
After an otherwise conclusive coda, the exposition ends gently, though unpredictably, with a
sixteen-measure cadential period in which repeated soprano harmonics alternate in dialog with a
repeated chordal accompaniment (fig. 45):
Eigure 45. Deuxieme Grande Sonate, op. 25, Allegro non troppo, 116-30.
Sor SonatasPage 46
Eollowing this loosening of the form the development begins without break in the tonic minor,
and in turn centers around the dominant-Neapolitan key (Ab-major) and the tonic minor again,
echoing the tonality of the first movement and forming a symmetrical three-part tonal scheme.
The motivic material is freely derived from the secondary theme area (principally the rhythmic
outline of theme B1, but also quotes from measures 63-6 and 91-94) (fig. 46):
Eigure 46. Deuxieme Grande Sonate, op. 25, Allegro non troppo, 142-4, 49-51, 148-52, 63-7 and 91-3.
Like the earlier sonatas, the retransition is gradual, and is built on the repeated accompaniment
diads of the second theme. The restatement of second dominant theme in the tonic key is a close
substitute for the first theme, and the result is an overall symmetrical rondo-like sonata form
similar to the first movement (though here the second theme group dominates) (fig. 47):
Eigure 47. Deuxieme Grande Sonate, op. 25, Allegro non troppo, sonata form.
The gentle, anti-climactic codetta that closed the exposition is again present at the end of the
recapitulation, ending softly and coaxing the large form into the beginning of the next
movement.
Sor SonatasPage 47
8.3. Andantino grazioso (theme and variations)
Sor`s third movement takes the form of an infectious Andantino grazioso theme with five
variations. The theme begins with an ornamented version of the ascending-fourth motive that
opened the principal themes of the previous movement (with which it also shares a common
harmonic plan), sounding as an anacrusis until the true downbeat becomes apparent with the
change of harmony on the first beat of the third measure. This type of metric effect is rarely
present in Sor's music (fig. 48):
Eigure 48. Deuxieme Grande Sonate, op. 25, 3rd movement, theme, 1-6.
The variations are in standard classical form, comprising a short series of textural-rhythmic
elaborations of the underlying harmonic progression of the theme.
8.4. Minuetto Allegro. Trio
Sor ends his large form on a graceful note, with an innocent, perhaps nostalgic referencea
high-classic Austro-Erench minuet and trio. The minuet uses the opening motive of the previous
theme, with the result that it could at first be taken for a further variation (fig. 49):
Eigure 49. Deuxieme Grande Sonate, op. 25, Minuet, 1-4.
Despite the obvious stylistic and formal differences that exist between the multi-movement
op. 25 sonata and its predecessor, op. 22, Sor's new style does retain an important element of the
classical style: the psychological weight of the work falls to the opening movement. Unlike the
classical style, however, the emotional energy is dissipated gradually through the cycle rather
than being balanced with an extended, lively final movement (although lively, the extended
Sor SonatasPage 48
second movement of the opening pairing is also graceful and ends softly rather than
affirmatively); the cycle thus becomes progressively lighter, finally dissipating on a graceful,
nostalgic note.
As we have already noted, the main production of nineteenth-century guitar sonatas took
place between around 1800-1811, with subsequent publications of sonatas being mainly
concerned with further editions of the more successful of the earlier works. (Even if Sor's
Deuxieme Grande sonate had been written early in his London years, it would still be the last
substantial multi-movement guitar sonata of the period.) Only the music of such celebrities as
Sor and Giuliani was marketable to the extent that even beyond the 1820s it was possible for a
publisher to print a 'new sonata under their name: Giuliani's op. 150 Gran sonata eroica
appeared for the first time in 1841; newly edited versions of Sor's earlier sonatas continued to
appear at least into the 1830s. Despite this, Sor published no further sonatas by name after op. 25
(indeed, no further guitar sonata seems to have appeared before the early twentieth century and
the sonatas of Heinrich Albert, Eederico Moreno Torroba and Manuel Ponce). Sor did, however,
publish a further sonata form as the conclusion to his Fantasia, op. 30.
9. Fantasia in E-minor, op. 30
Sor's 7e. Fantaisie et Jariations Brillantes Sur deux Airs Favoris Connus, op. 30 was
published in Paris by Meissonnier one year after op. 25 (in 1828) and shares the same minor
tonality and connected movement forms. The outer form is very interesting, comprising an
introduction and theme-and-variations connected to an extended allegretto in sonata form. The
piece is based on 'two well-known favorite airs. The first, the subject of the variation set,
appears be based on 'C'est la mer' Michael, a popular Erench children's song of the time (fig.
50):
31
31
I am grateful to Brigitte Zaczek for sharing this example, which is taken from a nineteenth-century collection in
her possession: Jielles Chansons et Rondes pour les petits enfants. Paris: E. Plon, Nourrit et Cle|illegible] Editeurs.
Sor SonatasPage 49
Eigure 50. 'C'est la mer' Michel.
The second 'favorite air, presumably the first (or second) theme of sonata portion of the
fantasy, is presently unidentified.
The introduction, Lentement, is marked by references to the forthcoming theme,
accompanied by repeated diads above. The similarity with the opening movement of op. 25 is
obvious (fig. 51):
Eigure 51. Fantaisie, op. 30, Introduction, 9-10.
The variation set that follows is one of Sor's best, and departs from his usual notated practice: the
variations are connected to one another without pause, and each has fully written-out repeats of
one or both halves of its binary form containing further variation (something usually reserved for
extended orchestral, chamber, or keyboard sets). In addition to the customary changes of texture
and rhythmic figuration that defines each variation, Sor also employs harmonic variation in two
of the variations (the second is embellished with chromatic harmonies, the third with secondary
dominants). An interrupted cadence resolves to a return of the introduction for an extended coda,
Lentement, followed by a complete statement of the theme (apparently in the new tempo).
Stopping short, on dominant harmony, the theme resolves directly (V-i) into the sonata-form
Allegretto.
The Allegretto presents an extended and well-balanced sonata form of some 266 measures
of 6/8 time. Like op. 25, much attention is given to the transitions and other connective areas of
the form, and the whole remains flexible and unpredictable, yet highly unified. The themes are
given aria-like settings, and the overall mood and style is operatic. The first theme (the second
Sor SonatasPage 50
'favorite well-known air of the work's title?) is a self-contained small-ternary form (i-V-i) built
almost entirely from a subtly-varied two-measure figure (fig. 52):
Eigure 52. Fantaisie, op. 30, Allegretto, 1-3.
The extended second theme area has all the appearances of an operatic finale in miniature,
comprising three periods (the second and third repeated en bloc), each of which adds to a
rhythmic and textural crescendo progressing from solo melody (perhaps the second of the 'deux
airs favoris connus), through exuberant duet thirds, to repeated eighth-notes before reaching the
coda (fig. 53):
Eigure 53. Fantaisie, op. 30, Allegretto, 50-3, 58-61 and 66-9.
The development, perhaps not surprising for such an operatic movement, is short and
harmonically direct (focusing almost entirely on the dominant). The retransition however is
elaborate: introduced by the lead-in material first heard in the exposition transition, along with a
fragmentary re-harmonized presentation of the first theme, ad libitum, the first theme is not
restated literally (8 4 4) but is temporarily interrupted, the middle-four measures replaced
with a contrapuntal sequence (fig: 54):
Sor SonatasPage 51
Eigure 54. Fantaisie, op. 30, Allegretto, 149-72.
Sor omits the transition and moves directly to a full restatement of the second theme group. As
with the first movement of op. 25, Sor does not adopt a major-mode version of the secondary
themes, but instead reconciles the original material to the new key and modality. The first period
(177) is displaced relative to the barline (confirmed for the performer with accent marks),
resulting in a series of appoggiaturasa quite unusual, Beethoven-like effect (fig. 55):
Eigure 55. Fantaisie, op. 30, Allegretto, 177-82 and 50-4.
The first theme reappears in the coda (reharmonized with descending chromatic thirds), as was
the case with the opening movement of op. 25, and the movement ends in cyclic fashion with the
repeated tonic pedal-point and chordal texture of the very opening measures of the fantasy,
closing with an eight-measure crescendo of tonic-major harmony (fig. 56):
Sor SonatasPage 52
Eigure 56. Fantaisie, op. 30, Allegretto, 250-66; Lentement, 1-6.
Despite the implication of its title, this 'fantasia on two favorite and well-known airs
clearly was not intended for the popular market, but rather was a concert work of Sor's
(dedicated to his friend and compatriot Dionisio Aguado, another virtuoso guitarist) published
for the benefit of the few who could appreciate it. Like op. 25, op. 30 finds Sor adopting a
personal approach to sonata form, such that he no longer even uses the term to identify the piece.
Despite the unique overall construction, however, the work remains unified and persuasive. As a
piece of music, it is without question a pinnacle of the nineteenth-century guitar repertoire.
10. Conclusion
All of Sor's sonatas are ambitious concert works, and although the early works in some
respects fall short of the lofty goals Sor set for himself, the overall result is invariably of high
quality. It is worth stressing that only two of the works discussed in this article are mature ones;
the three earlier sonatas are likely the work of a composer in his early twentiesa composer
significantly younger than Carulli, whose earliest sonatas appeared when he was in his late
thirties; Giuliani, whose op. 15 appeared when he was twenty-eight; and Matiegka, whose
earliest sonatas appeared during his mid-thirties.
The early sonatas almost certainly predate those of Sor's more notable guitarist
contemporaries, and the later works (opp. 25 and 30) certainly post-date them. Consequently, his
models remained distinct, standing apart from the keyboard-inspired style and virtually defining
the concept of the guitar as an orchestra in miniature: the early single-movement works derive
from the Italian opera overture, especially the extended model of Cimarosa; the multi-movement
op. 22 adds formal models and gestures typical of the string quartets and symphonies of Pleyel,
yet retains elements of overture style. The influence of Haydn, often cited in connection with
Sor SonatasPage 53
Sor, is one of general aesthetic only; few traces of Haydn's compositional style are present in
Sor's sonata-style.
Though nothing can be found to relate Sor's sonata style with that of the Erench guitarists, a
brief point of contact with the Italian guitar style is found in the single-movement first sonata,
which shares common ground with the single-movement works in 'grande overture style of the
Italians Carulli and Luigi Moretti (though not with Giuliani or Molino). Although Sor shares
with the Viennese guitarists Diabelli and Giuliani a common desire for a unified multi-
movement cycle, the means used to achieve it are quite different: Diabelli and Giuliani employ
cyclic quotations from earlier movements, whereas Sor links movements through motivic
associations (op. 30 does contain a cyclic element, though not in the form of direct quotation).
In the later works, Sor shares a post-classical formal approach with the earlier examples of
the Viennese guitarists. However, Sor's forms remain distinct and classically tempered: although
movements are connected, the internal forms remain in a single tempo; the key schemes are the
closely-related ones of the classic symphony or the Neapolitan ones of the opera overture, but
not the third-related ones of the Viennese; and even in minor-mode sonatas Sor does not depart
from the classical tonic-minor recapitulation. Eurthermore, Sor's model is operatic rather than
pianistic, and appears to have been inspired, at least in part, by a preoccupation with the music of
Mozart. Despite being classically tethered, the two late sonatas are as distinct in form and
aesthetic character as any guitar work from the period. It is perhaps the fundamentally classical
foundation of Sor's style that lends otherwise highly individual, unpredictable forms an abiding
element of cohesiveness and persuasion.
Although spanning a period of almost three decades, Sor's sonatas are bound by a common
thread of compositional intention: a concern for formal unity rather than idiomatic display, for
motivic and thematic connection rather than melodic charm; a technical challenge that stems
from musical necessity, from the use of Neapolitan development keys and extended textures,
rather than from virtuosic display; a concern for the unity of the larger form; and, above all, a
desire to compose an aesthetically substantial music for an instrument at the time not generally
considered capable of it. These exceptional works, written not simply to please or to sell, affirm
the view Sor held of himself: that he was not a guitarist-composer, but a composer-guitarist.
Sor SonatasPage 54
11. Bibliography
Briso de Montanio, Luis. Un fondo desconocido de Musica para Guitarra. Madrid: Opera Tres,
Ediciones Musicales, 1995.
Jeffery, Brian. Fernando Sor. Composer and Guitarist. Second edition. London: Tecla Editions,
1994.
. More Seguidillas. London: Tecla Editions, 1999.
Ledhuy, A. and H. Bertini. 'Sor in Encvclopedie Pittoresque de la Musique (Paris, 1835), 154-
67. Eacsimile reproduction in Brian Jeffery, Sor (op. cit.), 117-30.
Mangado Artigas, Josep Maria. La Guitarra en Catalua, 1769-1939. London: Tecla Editions,
1998. Online supplement 'Anuncios de Obras para Guitarra de 1780 a 1789 en la Gazeta de
Barcelona` at http://www.tecla.com/catalog/ 0375c.htm.
Newman, William. The Sonata in the Classic Era. Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina
Press, 1963.
Nin, Joaquin. Classiques Espagnols du Piano. 2 vols. Paris: Editions Max Eschig, 1929.
Pujol, David (ed.). Mestres de lescolania de Montserrat, iv: Musica instrumental, i. Montserrat,
1934.
Sasser, William. 'The Guitar Works of Eernando Sor. Ph.D diss. Chapel Hill: The University of
North Carolina, 1960.
Shadko, Jacqueline A., ed. The Svmphonv in Madrid. Series E, vol. IV. The Svmphonv. Ed. Barry
S. Brook. New York: Garland Publishing, 1981.
Sor, Eernando. Methode Pour La Guitare. Paris, 1830. Moderen facsimile edition, Geneva:
Minkoff, 1981. English edition: Method for the Spanish Guitar. Trans. A. Merrick. London: R. Cocks and Co.,
1832. Modern facsimile edition, New York: Da Capo Press, 1980.
Temperly, Nicholas, ed. John Baptist Cramer. Vols. 10-11, The London Pianoforte School 1766-
1860. New York: Garland Publishing, 1985.
Turnbull, Harvey. The Guitar from the Renaissance to the Present Dav. New York: Charles
Scribner's Sons, 1974.
. 'Guitar in The New Grove Dictionarv of Music and Musicians. 6th ed., 20 vols., ed.
Stanley Sadie. London: Macmillan, 1980.