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On October 30 2010 was held in Modena, in the
halls of the Palazzo Coccapani, the XXIII Guitar
Convention. The event, in collaboration with the Accademia Nazionale di Scienze Lettere e Arti,
has to be considered – this year as well – a
welcome opportunity to explore themes of
searching around on the guitar, listening to
music, and of course meet teachers, performers
and scholars.
The tradition revived in 2009, it was therefore
confirmed as qualified event that involves, in
the true sense of the initiative, many employees
and an increasingly participatory and proactive.
The scientific committee (consisting of Giuliano
Balestra, Simona Boni, Giovanni Indulti, Pocci
Vincenzo, Enrico Tagliavini) has worked
carefully to design the convention, articulating
the discussion of the issues in chronological
order: all that has offered a rare opportunity
to rediscover, even in the size of the
historical development, special and unusual
aspects of the past, and the present of the
guitar. Relations and musical events, held by
performers and scholars of recognized value and
skills, have transported the audience from the
sounds of contemporary music to the vihuela, a
continuity of expression and content very much
appreciated.
Beside the convention were also held, at the
ancient halls of the palace, two major
exhibitions: one for the guitar makers, by the
most representative art of some Italian
manufacturers, and one devoted to historical
recordings, titled Historical Discography of
the Guitar in Italy: engravings, books and
documents in the years 1920-1960. This
exhibition, curated by Marco Bazzotti, offered a
path through rare sound recordings, which were
transmitted to this day, evocative and
surprising interpretations of well-known
musicians such as Antonio Amici, Pasquale
Taraffo, Louigi Mozzani, Renato Giuseppini,
Elena Padovani, Mario Gangi.
The day opened with greetings from prof.
Ferdinando Taddei, president of the Accademia
Nazionale di Scienze Lettere e Arti.
Then took the word of the convention curator Simona Boni, who described the project
Chitarra in Italia, around which we are
gathering important research contributions of
music; she has presented thus the XXIII Guitar
Convention, which is the authentic expression of
that industry, in a harmony of purpose aimed to
overcome the distinctions between ‘schools’.
The first intervention, titled The Vihuela
and Emilio Pujol in the Accadenia Chigiana,
was held by Giuliano Balestra, who introduced
the topic with the execution on the vihuela of
the Fantasia del IV Tono by Luys Milan,
and the beautiful and touching Romance
Paseabase el Rey moro by Luys de Narvaez,
with the participation of soprano Elisabetta Majeron. After this opening in music, in homage
to the master Pujol, Giuliano Balestra has drawn
an unusual profile of fortune Spanish instrument
in Italian soil, and the contribution made in
this field by Emilio Pujol, performer, teacher
and musicologist, teacher and freshman vihuela
at the prestigious Accademia Chigiana, where
students had for some of the most important
guitarists of the time, such as Alirio Diaz,
John Williams, José Tomàs and Elena Padovani.
After the Renaissance splendor of the vihuela,
the discussion switched to guitar with five
choirs, which had in the seventeenth century the
greatest moment of artistic expression. The
issue has been addressed by the composer and
musicologist Giovanni Indulti, who has carried
out archival research on contemporary musical
sources, tracking points of contact with the
instrumental writing of the time. The report
also highlighted the contribution of
compositional Francesco Asioli, seventeenth
century guitarist ‘forgotten’, active in the
Ducato di Modena e Reggio Emilia, through the
two rare examples of tablature by Asioli now
known.
The musical performance of Rosario Cicero, then
offered the opportunity to appreciate some of
the dances by Francesco Asioli (Allemande,
Corrente, Sarabande, Giga), also the
Chaconne, and the unique variations on the
Folies d’Espagne by François Le Cocq,
fascinating the public through the sounds,
rhythms and catchy five choruses of the baroque
guitar. The perfect fusion between the
techniques of the Spanish rasgueado and
repicco, harmonic cadences, and melodic
phrases, had as a result a definitely
captivating music and visual ensemble of a right
hand – which she herself seemed to dance on the
strings of the guitar.
Continuing the historical path, Mario Dell’Ara
outlined a historical portrait of Paris in the
first half of the nineteenth century, and its
rich musical activity. Within this lit art
scene, he played one of the best-known
methodological discussions – between
carullisti and molinisti; it has been
so animated to be wittily portrayed by Charles
de Marescot in the famous lithograph inserted in
the book The Guitaromanie of 1829.
The morning ended with a tribute to the poetry
of the nineteenth-century guitar, proposed by
Filomena Moretti: the rich expressive
interpretation of Paganini’s Grand Sonata,
and the Rêverie by Giulio Regondi
elicited a warm tribute to the public,
fascinated by dreamy harmonies, and the
virtuosic outbursts, perfectly cast in these
pages as the same Filomena Moretti has
masterfully demonstrated.
After a lunch break, offered to defendants in
the halls of the palace, in a serene and joyful
atmosphere, just made anxious by the welcome
opportunity to talk with teachers, and
colleagues from various Italian cities,
guitarists gathered in the Hall of Mirrors, for
the usual group portraits made by photographer
Marco Cavina.
The afternoon session was opened with an
interesting research done by Carla Costa, of the
guitar in the nineteenth-century Italian
painting, pleasantly accompanied by the
projection of processed images. The contribution
of the iconography is crucial in the analysis of
cultural, aesthetic and organological, capable
of revealing significant elements of practice
and playing technique of the time: just think of
‘luck’ of the lyre-guitar in the nineteenth
century, also evident in portraiture, and its
constructive experiments. The research has
therefore a considerable value – documented
especially in the study, and systematic use of
these sources.
The opening of the twentieth century music took
place on the notes of Memento for guitar
and string quartet by German composer Herbert
Baumann. The work, dedicated to the memory of
Romulo Ferrari, and performed for the first time
at the XXI Guitar Convention held in Tokyo in
1962, has been proposed in the intense
interpretation of Massimo Nalbandian, and the
Quartetto di Modena (Matilde Di Taranto first
violin, Laura Garuti second violin, Torra
Montserrat Coll viola, Laura Benvenga cello).
Not being able to be present in Modena, the
composer has sent a letter, which was read as a
slide show performance, expressing the wish full
success to the XXIII Guitar Convention.
A discussion followed on the relations between
Italy and Russia guitar in the nineteenth and
early twentieth century. It was edited by
Alexander Mironov, who performed work for six
and seven-string guitar, including the
well-applauded Variations on Russian folk themes
by Michaíl Vysótskij e Andréj Sìhra, and the
brief but suggestive pages for seven strings
guitar by some Italian guitarists (Pensiero
Nostalgico by Frederico Orsolino, Mesta
Canzone by Giovanni Murtula, Piccola
Arabesca by Primo Silvestri).
A reflection on the current developments of
composition, entitled A proposal of new
music: a resource for the guitar? has been
the subject of intervention Piero Bonaguri, who
has proposed an unusual combination of musical
and art works of the twentieth century and
contemporary period, providing a possible key to
an understanding of linguistic research and
timbre – analyzed in relation to the complex
problem of the relationship between New Music
and the public. The proposed pieces were born
from a collaboration with the guitar composers
(Paolo Ugoletti, Adriano Guarnieri, Roberto
Tagliamacco, Davide Anzaghi, Gilberto Cappelli,
Pippo Molino), collaboration that has led in
recent years, the creation of a new rich
repertoire.
In this atmosphere of contemporary music, took
part also of the intervention of Cristiano
Porqueddu on Melancholia: loneliness and
matter in the music of Angelo Gilardino. The
report particularly praised for the depth and
richness of the analysis of the implications,
has outlined a path full of literary references
and artistic, dedicated to the work of the
composer of Vercelli.
The conclusion of the day was headed by Enrico
Tagliavini, who recalled with intense colors and
feel, the important contribution of some
guitarist-composers of the first half of the
twentieth century, then executing the works of
Benedetto Di Ponio, Romolo Ferrari, Giovanni
Murtula, Benvenuto Terzi. These are the names of
some notable personalities that have been
fundamental to the reality of their time guitar,
waking also, beyond self-interest for the
recognition of the instrument at institutional
level.
The XXIII Guitar Convention concluded in the
sign of this human and artistic reflection. The
hope is to keep working together in the coming
years, sharing a passion for a special
instrument: as noted Tagliavini at the end of
the meeting, «the one which sounds closest to
the heart».
S.
Mastrogregori,
Il XXIII Convegno Chitarristico
Program Abstract
relations (in italian) Photos
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