Six Keyboard Sonatas of Manuel Blasco de Nebra: Transcriptions for Guitar and Analysis of Spanish Folk Music Influences, and Use of Keyboard Techniques that Imitate the Guitar, as Inspired by Domenico Scarlatti Item Type text; Electronic Dissertation Authors Lerman, Steven Jay Publisher The University of Arizona. Rights Copyright © is held by the author. Digital access to this material is made possible by the University Libraries, University of Arizona. Further transmission, reproduction, presentation (such as public display or performance) of protected items is prohibited except with permission of the author. Download date 04/10/2021 08:41:22 Link to Item http://hdl.handle.net/10150/634373 1 SIX KEYBOARD SONATAS OF MANUEL BLASCO DE NEBRA: TRANSCRIPTIONS FOR GUITAR AND ANALYSIS OF SPANISH FOLK MUSIC INFLUENCES, AND USE OF KEYBOARD TECHNIQUES THAT IMITATE THE GUITAR, AS INSPIRED BY DOMENICO SCARLATTI by Steven J. Lerman Copyright © Steven J. Lerman 2019 A Doctoral Document Submitted to the Faculty of the FRED FOX SCHOOL OF MUSIC In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree of DOCTOR OF MUSICAL ARTS In the Graduate College THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA 2019 3 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS To my committee: Tom Patterson, Philip Alejo, and Moisés Paiewonsky for your support and contributions to this project. Your insight, expertise, and encouragement were invaluable to me. To Tom Patterson: There is no way to properly thank you for all of the opportunities you provided me. The guitar Mecca that you have established in Tucson shaped me as a guitarist and as a man. Your teaching has been an inspiration, and just as importantly, I have always felt that this program was like a second family. To my university guitar teachers: Bruce Holzman, Renato Serrano, Gabriel Navia, Lars Rosvoll, Thomas Viloteau, and Fred Benedetti. I felt great care and guidance from each of you. I have so much respect for you all and deeply appreciate your unique insights. To Steve Lorentz: Your classes gave me my first opportunities for teaching and leadership. Thank you for identifying my potential and being a great advocate. The atmosphere your classes provided was a refuge for me at an uncertain time. To Rick Hill: I am here today because you ignited my musical spark. I had never heard of classical guitar before I met you. Your lessons were exactly what I needed and they came at just the right time. I am forever grateful that you led me to this life. To my dear brothers: You are the most amazing role models a little brother could ask for. You demonstrate how to work hard for you passions and continually to exemplify what it means to be great men. Thank you for always supporting me. To mom, dad, and Nancy: Thank you for always advocating for me. Your guidance and encouragement has helped sustain me in this process. I am grateful for all of your sacrifices and for never wavering in your optimistic support. 4 DEDICATION For Chelsie and Avrie. You have both sacrificed so much for me to get to this point. You have been my strength and my motivation. Chelsie: You fought for me harder than I did for myself. I am forever thankful for your complete support. This accomplishment belongs to you as well. Avrie: Your life puts the world in context. I’m sorry for the time this endeavor has taken away and I hope to repay you for the rest of my life. I love you both. 5 CONTENT Abstract…………………………………………………………………………………………………………...7 I. Introduction………………………………………………………………………………………………….8 Background and Significance………………………………………………………………....8 Transcription and Arrangement…………………………………………………………...15 The Eighteenth Century: The Baroque Guitar, Spain, and Scarlatti………….17 II. Manuel Blasco de Nebra………………………………………………………………………………19 Biography…………………………………………………………………………………………....19 Extant Compositions and Important Discoveries…………………………………...20 Sonatas 107-112………………………………………............................................................22 III. Influence of the Guitar……………………………………………………………………………….23 Scarlatti’s Influence……………………………………………………………………..……....23 Guitaristic Keyboard Elements……………………………………………………………..24 Keyboard Rasgueado……………………………………………………………………………24 Alternating Punteado and Rasgueado……………………………………………………26 Internal Pedal Points……………………………………………………………………………27 Guitaristic Texture……………………………………………………………………………….30 IV. Manuel Blasco de Nebra’s Sonata Form………………………………………...………….....33 Scarlatti: Similarities and Departures……………………………………………………33 Sonata 107…………………………………………………………………………………………..35 Sonata 108…………………………………………………………………………………………..37 Sonata 109…………………………………………………………………………………………..37 Sonata 110…………………………………………………………………………………………..38 6 Sonata 111…………………………………………………………………………………………..39 Sonata 112…………………………………………………………………………………………..40 V. Spanish Folk Music and its Influence on Manuel Blasco de Nebra………………….41 Bolero…………………………………………………………………………………………………42 Cante Jondo…………………………………………………………………………………………51 Fandango…………………………………………………………………………………………….58 Sevillana……………………………………………………………………………………………...61 VI. Transcription Issues and Solutions…………………………………………………………….63 Choosing a Key…………………………………………………………………………………….63 Pedal Points with Shifts………………………………………………………………………..66 Acciaccatura to Keyboard Rasgueado……………………………………………………68 Ornaments…………………………………………………………………………………………..69 VII. Conclusion………………………………………………………………………………………….........71 Appendix:………………………………………………………………………………………………………73 New Transcriptions of Manuel Blasco de Nebra’s Sonatas 107-112………..74 Bibliography…………………………………………………………………………………………………100 7 ABSTRACT The extant keyboard compositions by composer Manuel Blasco de Nebra (1750-1784) were discovered nearly 200 years after his death. This document contains a compilation of de Nebra’s known biographical information and provides historical context to his music, specifically his sonatas 107-112 (discovered in 1987). Research is used to demonstrate how his compositions were significantly influenced by the Domenico Scarlatti- inspired tradition of incorporating guitaristic elements in keyboard sonatas. Specific techniques and correlations are identified between de Nebra and Scarlatti. This document provides sonata form analysis of each of the six sonatas and offers conclusions about his general realization of sonata form. To demonstrate the folk music influences in de Nebra’s compositions, contemporaneous Spanish folk music styles are examined in relation to the sonatas. Finally, new transcriptions of the six sonatas for classical guitar are provided. The issues that occurred during the transcription process are listed with detailed descriptions of the solutions. These pieces are valuable additions to the tradition of transcribing eighteenth-century keyboard music for the guitar. 8 I. INTRODUCTION Background and Significance The oud is earliest ancestor of the guitar. The rounded back of the oud means that it is technically not a member of the guitar family, but the development of the guitar can be traced from its the history. It first arrived in Europe via the Moorish invasion of Spain from North Africa in 711 A.D., but later reached other European regions through contact with the Ottoman Empire.1 The oud existed in Persia for millennia before being introduced to Europe, and is recognized as the earliest ancestor of plucked string instruments. The oud changed through time, eventually evolving into the early lute. By the middle of the fourteenth-century, this evolution included the addition of frets and the douBling of three of the four strings (the first string was generally a single string, called the chanterelle). The doubling of strings was an adaptation that became the standard of the multiple plucked string instruments that following for nearly 400 years. Two more strings were added to the lute by the year 1500, and the playing style evolved from the use of a plectrum, to plucking with the right hand fingers. The use of finger plucking coincided with the invention of lute taBlature, which allowed for more compositional specificity and the preservation of repertoire; this contrasted the music of the oud, which existed almost entirely 1 Anthony LeRoy Glise, The Guitar: In History and Performance Practice from 1400 to the 21st Century (St. Joseph: Aevia Productions, Ltd., 2016), 38. 9 through aural tradition. The last stage in the development of the Renaissance lute was the addition of diapason basses.2 A typical Renaissance lute contained eight courses, two of which were diapason basses. Forthcoming discussion will demonstrate that the standard tuning of the lute (G – C – F – A – D – G) also had a long-term influence on the tuning systems of other plucked string instruments. The lute was most popular in England, France, Germany, and Italy.3 With a flat back, the vihuela is the earliest member of the guitar family. The vihuela developed at the end of the fifteenth-century, around the same time that the Renaissance lute was being codified. The vihuela quickly achieved immense popularity in Spain. The last of the Moors were expelled from Spain in 14924, so it is possible that anti-Moorish sentiment led the Spanish to favor the vihuela over the more exotic lute. Although different in appearance, the vihuela had many similarities to the lute. Early vihuelas had five courses, but a sixth course was introduced before any of the surviving methods were written. The courses were tuned exactly the same as the Renaissance lute, however the douBled Bass strings could Be tuned in octaves or unisons. The vihuelists also used the Italian lute tablature notation, which allowed for polyphonic