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- Agustin Barrios
Mangore (1885-1944)
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- Agustín Pío Barrios was born in
southern Paraguay on 5 May 1885, and died on 7 August
1944, in San Salvador, El Salvador. To many, Barrios
was the greatest of all guitarist/composers. In view
of this, it is curious that his music lay undiscovered
and unappreciated for over three decades after his
death. In the mid-1970s comprehensive editions of his
music appeared, making it possible for guitarists of a
younger generation to study his music, augmenting and
complementing more traditional repertoire. The revival
began in 1977 with a release by John Williams of an
entire recording of music by Barrios, bringing long
overdue recognition to this forgotten Latin American
guitarist. Today Barrios’ music is frequently
performed by major concert artists and is appreciated
by audiences worldwide.
- As a young man, Barrios never studied in a
formal music conservatory, and completed only two
years of high school. He made his living from
performing, and had no other professional skills in
any other pursuit except playing the guitar and
composing music. The exigencies of life as a performer
brought constant travel and he never really settled
down in one particular country. He spent extended
periods of time in Brazil (1915-1919), Uruguay
(1912-1915, 1919-1927) and El Salvador (1939-1944). In
none of these places did he establish a conservatory,
nor did he pursue the systematic publication of his
music. He escaped from Latin America only once in
1934, when he visited Europe, staying just fifteen
months, but his lifelong goal of reaching the United
States never came to fruition. Undoubtedly one of
Barrios’ most-performed compositions, La Catedral was
written in 1921. Many years later he added the
exquisite Preludio, providing a complete work that is
an example of his finest writing. Barrios performed
this work quite often throughout his career, probably
more than any other of his compositions, a reflection
of its popularity with the concert public. The
Preludio, subtitled Saudade (Nostalgia) was written in
Havana in 1938, when Barrios was suffering from a
decline in health complicated by a lack of money and
the inevitable stress to his marital life that these
difficult conditions created. In the Preludio he pours
out his heart, yearning for the joy and comfort of
former times. He performed La Catedral with the
prelude for the first time in San Salvador on 25th
July, 1938.
- Barrios greatly admired Beethoven and early in
his career transcribed the well known Minuet in D,
which he included regularly in his concerts. He also
performed minuets by Fernando Sor. This affinity he
felt with the nineteenth-century masters no doubt
served as inspiration for his six minuets.
- Barrios discovered the music of the great
Spanish guitarist and composer Francisco
Tárrega (1852-1909) around 1917, and grew to
admire him very greatly. Recognizing the importance of
the Spanish master’s work in the development of the
guitar, Barrios declared: “Without Tárrega, we
would not be”. He regularly performed
Tárrega´s music in his concerts and
recorded Capricho Arabe on two different occasions. In
1939 in Guatemala, Barrios composed a set of six
variations on Tárrega’s ever popular student
work Lágrima, creating a sophisticated virtuoso
display of the theme, using arpeggios, appoggiaturas,
tremolo, melodic harmonics, and other devices.
Variations on a Theme of Tárrega is one of his
most mature compositions, reflecting a lifetime of
devotion to and a thorough mastery of the instrument
he loved.
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La Catedral
Preludio
Saudade