WILLIAM CARTER LA GUITARRA ESPAOLA

SANTIAGO DE MURCIA (1682~1732)

1

Folias Espaolas .........................

3.11

Canarios ...........................................

Prelude ..............................................

1.40

Passacalles por la B,

3 a compassillo ................................... 4.07

4 a proporcion ..................................... 3.52

Passacalles por la E

Suite (after Gaspar Sanz, 1675) ....

7.17

Canarios
La Esfachata de Napoles
La Minona de Cataluna
Clarin de los Mosqueteros
Del Rey Francia
6

Zarembeques, o Muecas.........

2.33

THE BAROQUE GUITAR IN SPAIN

3.45

a compassillo .....................................

5.09

Cumbees ...........................................

4.14

Passacalles por la D
10 a compassillo ..................................... 6.06
11 a proporcion ...................................... 3.38
12

Marionas por la B ......................

4.13

13

Preludio Grabe de Coreli ......

2.55

14

Giga de Coreli ...............................

3.02

15

Gaitas .................................................

4.04

William Carter, baroque guitar after Sellas, by Martin Haycock, 1991.

With Susanne Heinrich tracks 5,6,9 and 13-14, bass viol by Merion Attwood, 1999,
after 17th century English anonymous instrument.
Recorded at St Andrews Church, Toddington, UK : 17th to 19th September 2006
Produced by Philip Hobbs and William Carter
Engineered by Philip Hobbs
Edited, mixed and mastered by Julia Thomas, Finesplice, UK
Photographs of William Carter by Amit Lennon
Design by The Art Surgery
Front cover: Bayeu y Subias, Ramon 1746-1793
Majo (youth) playing music, late 1788. Courtesy of AKG Images.
William Carter : 2

Its one of the interesting paradoxes of music history that during the century-long
craze for the 5-course Chitarra Spagnuola which swept Europe around 1600,
infecting royalty and commoners alike, with hundreds of books of music written
for it by dozens of composers in France and Italy, that almost nothing survives
from Spain, its spiritual home. Part of the reason might be the economic and
political senility of the Spanish Empire; in a constantly progressing state of decay
since the end of the 16th century little music of any kind was published.
Another reason might be the evanescent nature of the music itself, coming
as it did from an instrument which inhabited the separate worlds of folk and
art music. Few guitarists or their activities were documented in Spain because
in Spain everyone was a guitarist, and while the quality might range from the
dismal scratchings of someone waiting for a shave at the barbershop (where there
were always a few guitars hanging on the wall) to the inspired improvisation of
a musician in the theatre or at court, the music itself was free and spontaneous,
never intended to be notated; part of the internal dialogue of the Spanish people.
In any event, were lucky that three Spanish guitarists of this period did write
their music down for publication; Francisco Guerau and Gaspar Sanz in the 17th
century, and the subject of the present recording, Santiago de Murcia, in the 18th.
Such is the beauty and vitality of what they have left us that it can still give delight
today, even as we pensively contemplate all the wonderful sounds that have gone
forever, vanished on an evening breeze 300 years past.
In order to appreciate Santiagos achievement I need to say a little about
his two predecessors, both of them very different. Guerau, who was a choirmaster
at the Royal Chapel in Madrid, wrote in a serious, elevated style. His main subject
was the Passacalle, an exploration and elaboration of simple chord progressions
which Spanish musicians treated with the same respectful attitude that German
musicians reserved for the Prelude and Fugue. His one publication, the Poema
Harmonica of 1694 is one of the high points of 17th century Spanish music.
William Carter : 3

Gaspar Sanz (not employed at court) was an educator, a populariser, and

in my opinion, more of an inspired collector of folk music than a composer. He
published three tiny how-to books in 1674-5 which are crammed with advice
on strings, ngering, gured bass and tunes from Spain and the rest of Europe.
He even had a go at writing a fugue on a Spanish folk tune (which, perhaps
wisely, only takes up four lines of music). The melodies in the book have such
a wonderful energy and spirit that they were reprinted again and again and still
gure in guitarists programmes today.

SANTIAGO DE MURCIA
The real giant of the Spanish baroque guitar however, was Santiago de Murcia
(16821732) who achieved a synthesis of popular and art music that eluded his
predecessors and created a large and fascinating body of work. His Passacalles
equal those of Guerau and not only was he able to capture the vivid rhythms
and harmonies of Spanish folk dances (including ones from the New World and
West Africa), but to actually create striking and fully composed versions of them.
He was also abreast of musical trends in Europe and wrote updated versions of
older French and Italian dance suites, newly fashionable contredances and even
arrangements of keyboard pieces and the violin music of that most inuential of
Italian composers: Arcangelo Corelli. There are three main sources of his music:
The Resumen de Acompanar of 1714; The Passacalles y Obras of 1732; and the
undated Codice Saldivar No.4 (called after Dr. Gabriel Saldivar, who discovered
it in 1943). Facts about his life are very scanty but the musicologists Craig Russell
and Monica Hall have done enough detective work to allow us to make a few
educated guesses. He was probably born in the 1680s in Madrid where there are
records relating to the de Murcia family at court: Gabriel de Murcia, Royal Guitar
Maker, would have been the right age to be his father. Santiago is described in
the Resumen as Guitar Master to the Queen, Our Lady, Maria Luisa Gabriela
of Savoy. She was a foreign import and although musically educated and already
William Carter : 4

able to play the harpsichord, she obviously felt the need for some guitar lessons
to bolster her credibility with her new subjects. After her death in 1714 Santiago
vanished from view although the fact that both the Passacalles y Obras and the
Codice Saldivar No.4 were found in Mexico (as well as some new works turning
up in Chile recently) might indicate that he immigrated to the New World.
THE MUSIC

I think the music is always its own best advocate but I provide here some bits of
background information that might be helpful.
Track 2. Prelude: This is part of a longer work in the Resumen which seems to
be a transcription of several Spanish keyboard works. Ive used the section which
paraphrases the anonymous Obra de Falsas Cromaticas from Martin y Colls
anthology Flores de Musica (1706) to introduce the ne Passacalles in D.
Track 5. Suite: I wanted to include my versions of some of Sanzs melodies as a
foil to Santiagos more fully worked out versions of similar material. Because of
the brevity of the pieces (the longest work of Sanz is one page long and many
of the tunes are only four or eight bars long) every player needs to adapt and
elaborate them individually. Featured here is a piece I made up over the Canarios
chord progression, then two folk tunes of great charm: La Esfachata di Napoli
(hard to translate; something like the impudent Neapolitan girl); La Minona
de Cataluna (the Catalan cutie); and nally Clarin de los Musqueteros del Rey de
Francia which strangely has far more of the character of an Andalusian lament
than a Musketeers Fanfare.
Track 6. Zarembecques o Muecas and 9. Cumbees (also known as the chuchumbe):
These are both dances of West African origin but seem to have come to Spain via
the New World. First, here are some thoughts about dancing in general from the
work of the 18th century cleric Padre Antonio Garces:
William Carter : 5

Your Eminence asks me about contredanses in which the bodies of men

and women come together and they make provocative gestures. They give
each other their naked hands, they press them, and give one another signs
with which they express love to each other and not the pure kind. I respond
directing Your Eminence to Father Senari of the Jesuit Order, Volume Four
of the Christiano instruido, discourse 29, where while clean and sombre
dances are not condemned, he effectively proves that immodest dances are
ruinous, the overturner of souls The new dictionary of the Academia
Espaola includes the proverb: Surely the devil showed women how to
dance and the ass how to bray because of the vexatious nature of both
acts and because neither of them has the good sense to stop
If this was the attitude of the authorities to the relatively rened
contradance imagine the suspicion with which they viewed the two trendy dances
recorded here! Here is part of an ofcial ban issued by the Inquisition on October
31 1716:
We the Inquisitors of Your Excellency; it has come to our attention through
denunciations that certain couplets commonly called the chuchumbe have
been disseminated and passed on in the city as well as in other cities and
villages of this realm. They begin A friar from the village is standing at the
corner to chaste ears, these lyrics are scandalous, obscene and offensive
to the highest degree. They are sung and are accompanied by a dance
no less scandalous and obscene. They are accompanied by lewd actions,
lascivious displays and indecent and provocative shaking all to the grave
ruin and scandal of the souls of the Christian community.
The Zarembecques must have been slightly less hard core as it escaped
an ofcial ban but its other name Muecas (the sort of face you make by pulling
the corners of your mouth apart and sticking out your tongue) is wonderfully
suggestive of an atmosphere of general mayhem. One cant help wondering if, or
how, these pieces gured in the Queens guitar lessons, and also if children in the
William Carter : 6

Royal family today are instructed in the works of Snoop Dog and Ice-T by their
music teacher
Tracks 13 and 14. Preludio Grabe de Coreli and Giga: These are transcriptions of
the rst and last movements of Arcangelo Corellis Violin Sonata Op.5 No. 3. Ive
added Corellis original bass line (plucked here on the Bass Viol) into the mix.
Track 15. Gaitas: A name for the Spanish bagpipe. Although most commonly
found in Galicia the melody is hauntingly similar to the beautiful Catalan carol
El Noi de la Mare.
Note on Spanish Baroque terminology: por la E as referred to in tracks three
and four is D minor; por la B in tracks eight and twelve is C major; por la D in
tracks eleven and twelve is A minor. Compassillo and proporcion are common and
triple time respectively.
PERFORMANCE NOTE

As more and more obscure nooks and crannies of early music are explored,
interest in the baroque guitar is increasing. Perhaps because it is both a popular
and classical instrument its music has attracted the kind of treatment that used
to be reserved for Medieval music from when I was a teenager; orchestrated
and arranged with a host of colourful and exotic instruments in an attempt to
add novelty and make explicit all those qualities found implied in the score. Of
course this approach can be vastly enjoyable when done well (and I remember
how much I loved my Medieval records) but it seems a shame if the music is only
ever experienced in this way and it does seem to be the norm today. When I
mentioned that I was planning this recording to a fellow musician he innocently
asked who had been engaged to play the drums! I wouldnt claim that Santiago
has the same signicance as Brahms, but imagine if recordings of his music were
limited to the Hungarian Dances in arrangements for Gypsy Style Ensembles
(containing no real Gypsies) and youll get an idea of what I mean. It goes
William Carter : 7

without saying that certainty in these matters will always elude us but I cant help
feeling that Santiago and his contemporaries would have been scratching their
heads in bewilderment at the sort of elaborate scorings given to what is, after all,
very clearly solo guitar music.
The baroque guitar is such a fragile and limited instrument, with a range
of just over two octaves, but I do think that to look inward, and explore the great
wealth of colour and nuance within its small space is actually very rewarding.
After all, as Julian Bream once observed, There is nothing more perfect than
the diminuendo of a plucked string. But I dont really like to imagine myself as
a righteous authenticist pouring a test tube of ice water over the heads of my
hapless colleagues, and Ive thought to make a virtue of inconsistency by asking
my friend Susanne Heinrich to pluck a simple accompaniment in a few of the
pieces: my versions of Sanz; the Cumbees and Zarembecques of Murcia; and
in the Corelli arrangements. These accompaniments arose in the most natural
way possible, during concerts of the Palladian Ensemble, when Susi would sit
patiently on stage waiting for me to nish my (seemingly interminable) solo slot.
In the middle of one long tour she started plucking as I played my pieces, at
rst tentatively but then with more condence the sound was so transparent
and yet supportive that I nd myself unable to imagine these pieces without her
contribution so much for musicology and preconceived ideas.
Id like to close these notes with some very appropriate words written by
that greatest of all the Spanish baroque guitarists: Domenico Scarlatti (although
he was neither Spanish nor, even strictly speaking a guitarist, choosing instead to
perform on a mechanized guitar consort):
Dear Reader,
In these compositions do not expect to nd any profound learning but rather an
ingenious jesting with art... Show yourself more human than critical and your
pleasure will increase. Vive Felice! Live Happily!
William Carter, London, February 2007
William Carter : 8

WILLIAM CARTER
What most strikes you about William Carter is the sheer force of his musical
imagination writes William Yeoman in Gramophone.
Born in Florida, Carter received a thorough training as a modern guitarist with
Bruce Holzman at The Florida State University before falling in love with the
earlier plucked instruments and the world of historical performance. Following
initial guidance from Pat OBrien in New York City, he travelled to London as a
Fulbright Scholar where he studied the Lute with Nigel North and quickly established himself as one of the leading players on old instruments.
William Carter : 9

Concert tours and festival appearances followed throughout Europe, Asia

and North and South America both as an orchestral player and as a chamber
musician and soloist with his own group, The Palladian Ensemble. Carter has
an extensive discography (including 10 CDs with the Palladian Ensemble) and
has featured on numerous recordings of the Academy of Ancient Music and The
English Concert, for both of which he acts as principal lutenist.
He is also an enthusiastic teacher and is Professor of Baroque Studies
and Lute at The Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London. 2005 saw a
new development in Carters career as his exploration of the world of baroque
guitar led to the release of his rst solo album La Guitarre Royalle: The music of
Francesco Corbetta (Linn CKD 185) which has been widely praised and named in
Gramophones Critics Choice list for 2005.
William Carters previous albums have won great critical acclaim:
This is a wonderful disc a real amenco inspired tour-de-force. GRAMOPHONE
This is that rare and perfect thing, a pioneering recording where the historical
interest is fully matched by the quality of the music and performance...
one of 2005s real gems. INTERNATIONAL RECORD REVIEW
The compelling artistry of William Carter makes this often complex music sound
disarmingly simple and natural, making each and every movement a unique and
treasurable listening experience. CLASSIC FM MAGAZINE
Mr. Carter performs with agility and eloquence on a rst solo disc with as much
appeal for fans of Eric Clapton as those of John Williams. THE OBSERVER
Carters sound is gorgeous the playing is faultless helps introduce a guitarist of
the highest stature. FANFARE

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William Carter : 10

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CKD 288

ALSO AVAILABLE BY WILLIAM CARTER ON LINN RECORDS

FRANCESCO CORBETTA LA GUITARRE ROYALLE

CKD 185

WILLIAM CARTER IS ALSO FEATURED ON THE FOLLOWING

PALLADIAN ENSEMBLE ALBUMS

Sonatas & Chorales

Les Elemens

Held By the Ears

CKD 275

CKD 221

CKD 126