Translated from the Spanish by Michael Kovitz
To Emilio
Pujol,
My very dear
friend,
I would wish to be a Llobet or a Segovia
in order to speak with dignity about your Guitar Method and respond in a small
way to the very affectionate kindness with which you honor me by asking for a
word of introduction to it.
Though I can add nothing to the brilliant
theoretical and practical teachings for which we are all indebted to you, I
would like to pay homage to that instrument whose home has always been the
resonant atmosphere of the Spanish parlor, but whose history is tied to our own
as well as European music in general.
Admirable instrument, as temperate as it
is rich, it harshly or sweetly knows how to master the spirit. In it, through
the passage of time has been concentrated, like a rich heritage, all the
essential values of noble instruments of former times, without the loss of its
own character, the origin of which it owes to the people of Spain. Of all the
string instruments with fretted necks, the guitar is the most complete and rich
in harmonic and polyphonic possibilities.
If all these qualities and possibilities
were not enough to reveal its significance, the history of music demonstrates
the magnificent influence of this instrument as a source of transmission of the
essence of Spanish sounds throughout a large sector or the community of
European musical art. With excitement we discover it clearly reflected in the works
of Domenico Scarlatti, Glinka, and your own countrymen the composers Debussy
and Ravel. Casting a glance upon our own music which over the course of centuries
has owed so much to the influence of Spanish sound, it should suffice to recall
as a recent example the superb Iberia left to us by Isaac Albeniz…
But let us now return to the work with
which you gratify us. Since the remote time of Aguado we have lacked a complete
method capable of transmitting the technical achievements begun by Tarrega.
You, with your method, achieve this end excellently, and in addition, add your
own magnificent personal contribution benefitting not only the performer, but
also the composer of profound sensitivity who will find in your Method motifs
to inspire the covey of new instrumental possibilities.
For all of this, please receive my
effusive congratulations the embrace of a true friend who loves and admires
you.
Manuel de Falla
Granada – December 1933
