• Find us on Facebook
  • Follow us on Twitter
  • Follow us on Instagram
  • View Our YouTube Channel
  • Listen on Spotify
  • View our scores on nkoda

There is one statement by Sor in his method, just after Example 82, one almost goes by without noticing it. It says:

J'ai été toujours d'opinion que d'arranger tel morceau que l'on voudra pour un instrument qui ne peut le rendre proportionnellement, c'est plutôt le déranger; et qu'au lieu de dire arrangé pour tel instrument, on devrait dire sacrifié à tel instrument. Je joue la fugue à double sujet en si bémol de l'oratorio de Haydn, la Création
[I was always of the opinion that wanting to arrange such a piece for an instrument that cannot render the music in the same proportions as in the original, is often to discompose it. Instead of saying that the piece was arranged for such an instrument, one should say that it was sacrificed to it. I play on the guitar the B-flat fugue on a double subject in Haydn’s oratorio The Creation]

The double fugue in question is a vocal fugue with full orchestral accompaniment which bring the oratorio to a close. It begins on m. 10, of N° 34, the final chorus in the oratorio, on the words Des Herren Ruhm, er bleibt in Ewigkeit [The praise of the Lord will endure forever]. This is an intriguing statement. Sor specifically says that he plays this fugue. In the present tense. He may have just read through the piano score on the guitar, or he may have actually noted it down on paper. Such a transcription by Sor is not know to exist. The question was whether Sor was merely bragging, or if in fact this double fugue, in b-flat, is possible on the guitar. Turns out that it is possible.


Stay updated on the latest composer news and publications