Granted: Segovia was a grumpy old teacher who could no longer play
effectively in his 90's.
However, he did achieve a number of things that might deserve some
praise and even passing admiration:
--He not only contributed to the revival of the classical guitar, but he
evolved his own technique of playing and phrasing, and inspired many
contemporary composers to create a new repertoire for his instrument:
Castelnuevo-Tedesco, Manuel Ponce, Villa Lobos, etc. He was a master at
arranging music for his instrument: Bach, but also S.L. Weiss and quite
a few others as well. He also revived interest in lute and baroque
guitar music. He did not disdain the popular roots of music for the
guitar and helped insure some respectability for that music and his
instrument.
We are 2 or 3 generations removed from Segovia by now and can evaluate
his considerable contribution without feeling overly oppressed by his
personality quirks during his platinum years.
Also, remember, during the dark ages of the twentieth century, the
education system still involved a decent amount of whipping, caning,
slapping, spanking, hair pulling and kicking... The student at the
master class got away with a couple of stiff remarks but physically
whole. Not so negligible.
Other musicians have not always been so lucky -- See among other
instances: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RdR6MN2jKYs
Alain
On 12/15/2013 05:08 AM, Geoff Gaherty wrote:
On 15/12/13 4:47 AM, William Samson wrote:
Segovia's early years seem to be unclear. Does anybody know where he
learned to play? Did he study with a master?
The Wikipedia article on Segovia gives some of his early history,
though I don't know how reliable it is.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andres_Segovia#Early_life
Geoff
ble
To get on or off this list see list information at
http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
