A Brief Transcription, Arrangement, and Adaptation History for Guitar
There is a long history of guitarists and composers transcribing and arranging works for guitar that were previously intended for other mediums. This may have occurred as a result of the relatively small number of works for guitar written by prominent composers, as well as the desire of guitarists to play familiar and well-known pieces of music. Over time, this has resulted in a significant expansion of the guitar’s repertoire, with some pieces (such as Asturias: Leyenda by Isaac Albeniz, for instance, which was originally intended for the piano) becoming more associated with the guitar than their original instrumentation. As guitarist and scholar, Tariq Harb notes in his excellent dissertation, titled The Unlimited Guitar: Arranging Bach and Britten as Means to Repertoire expansion, “transcriptions and arrangements are an essential part of the classical guitar repertoire.”
In his collection of music for the vihuela (a close relative to the early five course guitar) published in 1538, Luis de Narvaez included several adaptations of movements from masses originally written by Josquin des Prez. Nearly two hundred years later (in 1732), Santiago de Murcia adapted violin works by Arcangelo Corelli for five course guitar. The nineteenth century saw an influx of guitar arrangements. Examples of this development include Mauro Giuliani’s guitar arrangements of pieces from Rossini operas for guitar (published in 1820); guitar arrangements of Schubert lieder by Johann Kaspar Mertz approximately two decades later; and Justin Holland’s mid to late nineteenth century arrangements of arias and airs from operas by Giuseppe Verdi, Gioachino Rossini, and other notable composers (Fojas 2017; Holland 1888; Tyler and Sparks 2002).
The increased interest in J. S. Bach’s music during this time also influenced new additions to the guitar repertoire. For instance, in the late nineteenth century, Francisco Tárrega made one of the first notable guitar arrangements of J.S. Bach’s music. Specifically, Tárrega arranged the Fugue in G Minor, BWV 1000; the Bourrées from Violin Partita No. 1 in B Minor, BWV 1002; and the Bourrées from Cello Suite No. 3, BWV 1009 for guitar. Several of Tárrega’s students, most notably Emilio Pujol and Miguel Llobet, also adapted works by Bach for guitar, such as Pujol’s transcription of the Fugue from BWV 1005 and Llobet’s transcription of the Sarabande from BWV 1002.
In the early twentieth century, Agustin Barrios arranged the Gavotte and Rondeau from Suite in E Major, BWV 1006a, followed in 1934 by Andrés Segovia’s landmark arrangement of the Chaconne from Violin Partita in D Minor, BWV 1004 (Fojas 2017; Wade 2012). In the late 1950’s, John Duarte created his arrangements of Cello Suite No. 1, BWV 1007 and Cello Suite No. 3, BWV 1009, which were published in 1965. A second edition of both works was published in 1982. More recently, Stanley Yates, Manuel Barrueco, and Jeffrey McFadden have also published or recorded guitar arrangements of the Cello Suites, BWV 1007 - 1012.
One of the key decisions for transcribers and arrangers when creating adaptations for guitar is whether to re-create the original work as closely as possible, or focus on making their adaptation idiomatic for guitar. In other words, to what extant should an adaptation be a note-for-note replication versus a creative and idiomatic interpretation of a work originally intended for a different instrument, tailored to the distinctive attributes of the guitar? It is ultimately a qualitative decision along a broad spectrum, one that every transcriber and arranger must make to some extent, and it is fascinating to explore the numerous approaches taken by composers and guitarists over the years, decades, and centuries.
Resources:
Duarte, John W. 1998. Andrés Segovia, as I Knew Him. Pacific, MO: Mel Bay Publications.
Fojas, Ivar-Nicholas. 2017. “J.S. Bach’s Suite in G Minor BWV 995: A Comparison of Manuscripts for Violoncello, Lute and Lute Intabulation as a Model for a Guitar Arrangement of the Suite in D Major BWV 1012.” DMA diss., University of Arizona. https://repository.arizona.edu/handle/10150/624583.
Harb, Tariq. 2014. “The Unlimited Guitar: Arranging Bach and Britten as Means to Repertoire Expansion.” DMA diss., University of Toronto. https://tspace.library.utoronto.ca/handle/1807/68434.
Holland, Justin. 1888. Comprehensive Method for the Guitar. Boston, MA: Oliver Ditson Company.
Tyler, James, and Paul Sparks. 2002. The Guitar and Its Music: From the Renaissance to the Classical Era. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
Wade, Graham. 2012. Traditions of the Classical Guitar. Richmond, UK: Overture Publishing.
Yates, Stanley. 1998. “Bach’s Unaccompanied String Music: A New (Old) Approach to Stylistic and Idiomatic Arrangement for the Guitar.” Classical Guitar Magazine, November 1998.