Gaspar Sanz

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Gaspar Sanz

Gaspar Sanz.jpg

Gaspar Sanz. A detail from the dedication page of Instrucción de música may be an image of Sanz

Born Francisco Bartolomé Sanz Celma

baptized April 4, 1640 (birth date unknown)

Calanda, Bajo Aragón, Spain

Died 1710 (aged 70)

Madrid, Spain

Occupation composer and priest

Francisco Bartolomé Sanz Celma (April 4, 1640 (baptized) – 1710), better known as Gaspar Sanz, was a
Spanish composer, guitarist, organist and priest born to a wealthy family in Calanda in the comarca of
Bajo Aragón, Spain. He studied music, theology and philosophy at the University of Salamanca, where he
was later appointed Professor of Music. He wrote three volumes of pedagogical works for the baroque
guitar that form an important part of today's classical guitar repertory and have informed modern
scholars in the techniques of baroque guitar playing.

Contents

1 Biography

2 Influence

3 Works

3.1 Volume 1: Instrucción de música sobre la guitarra española (Zaragoza, 1674)

3.2 Volume 2: Libro segundo, de cifras sobre la guitarra española (Zaragoza, 1675)

3.3 Volume 3: Libro tercero de musica de cifras sobre la guitarra española (Zaragoza, 1697)

4 References
5 Bibliography

6 External links

6.1 Manuscripts

Biography

His birth date is unknown but he was baptized as Francisco Bartolomé Sanz Celma in the church of
Calanda de Ebro, Aragon on 4 April 1640 later adopting the first name "Gaspar".

After gaining his Bachelor of Theology at the University of Salamanca,[1] Gaspar Sanz travelled to Naples,
Rome and perhaps Venice to further his music education. He is thought to have studied under Orazio
Benevoli, choirmaster at the Vatican and Cristofaro Caresana, organist at the Royal Chapel of Naples. He
spent some years as the organist of the Spanish Viceroy at Naples.

Sanz learned to play guitar while studying under Lelio Colista and was influenced by music of the Italian
guitarists Foscarini, Granata, and Corbetta. When Sanz returned to Spain he was appointed instructor of
guitar to Don Juan (John of Austria), the illegitimate son of King Philip IV and María Calderón, a noted
actress of the day.

John of Austria

John of Austria as he appears on the dedication page of Instrucción de música sobre la Guitarra Española

In 1674 he wrote his now famous Instrucción de Música sobre la Guitarra Española,[2] published in
Saragossa and dedicated to Don Juan.[3] A second book entitled Libro Segundo de cifras sobre la guitarra
española was printed in Saragossa in 1675. A third book, Libro tercero de mùsica de cifras sobre la
guitarra española, was added to the first and second books, and all three were published together under
the title of the first book in 1697, eventually being published in eight editions. The ninety works in this
masterpiece are his only known contribution to the repertory of the guitar[4] and include compositions
in both punteado ("plucked") style and rasqueado ("strummed") style.

In addition to his musical skills, Gaspar Sanz was noted in his day for his literary works as a poet and
writer, and was the author of some poems and two books now largely forgotten. His excellent translation
of the celebrated L'huomo di lettere by Jesuit Daniello Bartoli first appeared in 1678, with further
editions in 1744 and 1787.[5]
He died in Madrid in 1710.

Influence

His compositions provide some of the most important examples of popular Spanish baroque music for
the guitar and now form part of classical guitar pedagogy. Sanz's manuscripts are written as tablature for
the baroque guitar and have been transcribed into modern notation by numerous guitarists and editors;
Emilio Pujol's edition of Sanz's Canarios being a notable example. Sanz's tablature is remarkable in that it
is topologically correct, representing the first string in the lower line and the fifth string in the highest
printed line. In this epoch, guitars only had five strings. It also features the "italian alphabet", a
shorthand system that assigns a chord to each letter, so that melodic chord progressions can be written
and read very neatly (with rhythm information) as a simple sequence of letters, a concept related to the
recent Nashville system. For example, there is a "Zarabanda francesa" (french sarabande) which includes
the sequence CIFI+H2+G2K2IFCM2N2CAIC, which means:

CIFI: D major chord, A major, E major, A major

+H2+G2K2: E minor, B major, E minor, F# major, B minor

IFCM2N2: A major, E major, A major, E major (variation), A major (variation)

CAIC: D major, G major, A major, D major

Gaspar Sanz strongly influenced some twentieth-century composers.

The composer Manuel de Falla utilised some of his themes in his work El retablo de maese Pedro
composed in 1923.

In 1954, at the request of guitarist Andrés Segovia, Joaquín Rodrigo composed his Fantasía para un
gentilhombre on themes from Instrucción de música sobre la Guitarra Española.

Passages of Peter Warlock's Capriol Suite for String Orchestra composed in 1926 appear to be inspired by
Sanz's composition Dance De Las Hachas.

Paco Peña and John Williams have performed works of Sanz together, and performed Sanz's Canarios
(1674) in 1975.

Passacalles

An example of tablature from Instrucción de música sobre la Guitarra Española

Works