ABEL CARLEVARO AND THE HISTORY OF GUITAR

- That was my first tour outside Uruguay: first I made a performance in Porto Alegre[7], then in Sao Paulo and finally I arrived in Rio, where I could study with Maestro Villa-Lobos. He was present in two of my concerts in Rio, and few days later I was working with him, first on his preludes and then on his famous studies for guitar.

- During that tour around Brazil in 1943, did you play in public any of Villa-Lobos works, which you had been studying with him?

- I stayed several months in Brazil in that tour around many cities. Among other concerts, as I have already told you, I gave two in which Villa-Lobos was present: one at “Teatro Municipal de Rio” and the other at “Teatro Dom Pedro”, an old theatre from the colonial period in Petropolis city, near Rio. In the first one I played the Preludes 3 and 4, which I believe was the first public presentation of those works[8]. For the second one, Villa-Lobos and Arminda came with me from Rio[9]. That was in December 1943, the 10^th and 12^th respectively. It was in that time, as I have already said, that Villa-Lobos gave me the manuscripts of the Studies 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 10, and Prelude Nº1[10].

- He never told me that, and I did not think at that moment that it would have any importance. What was important for me was the fact that he gave them to me and for that reason I keep them with great affection. I cannot make a calligraphic study, and besides it is possible that he would have asked someone to help him making some copies. At that moment, of course, it was not so easy to have copies of documents as it is today.

- They had not been published yet[11], I wanted to study them, Villa-Lobos wanted me to play them, and he gave me the possibility by lending me the manuscripts and later giving them to me. But I want to tell you something important. Because of Villa-Lobos' invitation I went to his house to listen to his Studies for the first time. There he introduced me to a great Spanish pianist, his friend, Tomás Terán, who had been living in Rio for a few years. He invited him to play his twelve studies for guitar at the piano for me. That was the unusual way I knew for the first time the studies for guitar, played at the piano by Terán.

- It was a wonderful class! Villa-Lobos was telling me all the details concerning to each of the studies, while Terán was playing them at the piano. I keep that peculiar lesson in my mind as something very special. It made me understand how those studies must be transmitted, with all their beauty, far from the original instrument, and from an abstract point of view; how to introduce the different problems that the author himself showed me at the precise moment, during the performance.

- While I was staying in Rio and when I was working with him at “Conservatorio del Canto Orfeónico”, as I told you, Villa-Lobos gave me the manuscripts of the studies and some preludes so that I started reading them. Of course the first one was the Nº1, the study of arpeggios. After one week it seemed to me that my work was ready to be presented, so I took it to play it at his presence. When I finished playing I was flattered by his congratulations for my performance, telling me that he was impressed by the way I played his study. And he told me that the way I had perceived it, had coincided – luckily – with his original idea. And I was even happier when he asked me for a pencil and wrote on the manuscript he had given to me, the indication “Allegro non troppo”. “I like it in this way” he told me, and at that moment he said that the beauty of that study was in the clearness of each note and in the different sonorities presented in each time, having the repetition the effect of an echo. How excited I felt when he awarded me by giving me as a present those manuscripts that he had lent me to study! After that very important day for me, I continued working on the other studies under his tutoring, receiving the contribution of his advice, always precise and clear. It was in those days, on 23^rd December 1943, that he autographed for me one of his photographs, which I still keep within the souvenirs from that period[12].

- It is true. He took me to the governmental radio station (I do not remember its exact name), which belonged to the Ministry of Education in Brazil in order to record the preludes. I never knew what happened with those recordings[13] because when the tour ended I came back to Uruguay, and I did not care about that event anymore. But maybe, sometimes they were broadcasted by the Brazilian radio and I never knew about that.

- That moment was very important because I started to get in contact with a very special person, because of his quality as a human being and as a musician. I had studied the rules of harmony and counterpoint and I tried to respect carefully all of their precepts. And when I met him I found myself in front of a character who was breaking all those rules. It called my attention how he faced music so differently than the way I had understood it in my first works. In front of that procedure I had to re-make my scholastic world of discipline and respect for all that was learnt. I understood, throughout his teaching, that man can break the past and start a new way. That world Villa-Lobos showed me was a new one, very good for me because - almost without realising it - I started to create my own rules which, although they did not exist at that moment, developed as time went on. This gave me as a result a wider vision of the music world.

- I think that in a certain way my last works are a consequence of those pieces of advice from this great Maestro. I have always been deeply grateful to him. For this reason and the admiration that I feel to his work, I wrote the series of five studies “Homenaje a Villa-Lobos”

- Could you make a biographical sketch and describe Villa-Lobos as a person and as a musician?

- Of course. First, I should say that Villa-Lobos is unmistakable because of his overflowing and persevering character. Because of his will and idealism he could get free from the academic influences and produce his own music in which his strong and original personality emerges, as well as the sound reality of the Brazilian people. His was a strong and charismatic personality, with a mischievous and witty spirit. I heard him saying: “I strongly believe in what I feel. I hate imitation as well as the musical routine”.

I hope that what was previously written and the documents shown here (just a part of the plentiful material in the documentary files on which I have based my work) will put an end to the scepticism that some people keep about these facts, which today are part of the history of guitar. Its protagonists do not live anymore, but their works keep standing on their own. In spite of the fact that I plan to deepen into these subjects in a book (in progress) about Abel Carlevaro’s life and work, I will still express in this occasion some of my own considerations.

First, I believe there is no doubt that – although young, because he was almost 27 years old – Carlevaro could not be considered as an inexperienced guitarist when he travelled to Brazil and played in front of Villa-Lobos the première of his Preludes 3 and 4 (on December 10^th 1943 in Rio de Janeiro). From that first contact on 25^th October 1940, great important events happened in his career. He obtained outstanding recognition and prestige from them, particularly his concert on 12^th November 1942 in Montevideo, which was publicly presented by Segovia[14]. Another important event in this sense was his premiering of Guido Santorsola’s “Concertino para guitarra y orquesta” dedicated to him, also in the most important theatre in Montevideo.(The same in which Segovia had premiered “Concerto in Re” by Castelnuovo-Tedesco and “Concierto del Sur” by Ponce). I have more than ten copies of articles from 1942 and 1943 in the most important publications in Montevideo. From all of them it is possible to conclude that at that moment Carlevaro was already considered the most serious guitarist of the country and the most connected with the world of the new musical creation by the musical circles and the critics.

However, Villa-Lobos was not the only Brazilian musician who noticed the musical quality of the guitarist, Abel Carlevaro. The composer M. Camargo Guarnieri was also impressed when listening to him and after one of the concerts of that tour at the end of 1943 and beginning of 1944, he congratulated and told him that he wanted to compose a work for him. Camargo’s “Ponteio” was born in that way and dedicated to Abel Carlevaro, who performed it for the first time at Estudio Auditorio del SODRE on 10^th August 1944, shortly after he arrived from Brazil.

As we are talking about premières, I want to say that I have had in my own hands the programme of a performance by Carlevaro at the Montevideo University Hall, in a cultural soirée devoted to Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco’s work. There it is evident that on 3^rd September1942 Carlevaro performed in first audition for Uruguay three pieces from the Italian composer: Variazioni attraverso i secoli, Tarantella and Aranci in fiore. The first two were dedicated to Segovia who, as it is known, was living in Montevideo at that period and in 1939 had performed for the first time the Concerto in Re by Castelnuovo himself. Not only was Segovia in favour of that première in the city where he was living, but most probably did also encourage it.

Therefore, it is reasonable that finally the preludes have not appeared dedicated to Segovia but to Villa-Lobos’ second partner, Arminda Neves d’Almeida (under this name in the first publication of numbers 3 and 4, in 1941, and then as “Mindinha”, her familiar nickname, in Max Eschig issues). Besides, he had decided not to wait until Segovia played them one day. I believe that Segovia’s double attitude attracts the attention: on one hand in his letter to Ponce, on the other hand the autograph in the minute book from “Centro Guitarrístico del Uruguay” dated the day of Carlevaro’s concert (document 1). This double attitude appears clearly if the letter is compared with Segovia’s words in the Prologue of Max Eschig edition of the 12 Studies, in January 1953. I doubt that an experienced and witty man, like Villa-Lobos surely was, failed to realise that duality.

... a musical event of high level. That is the fact in the case of the concert I have just listened to... and which performance was relied on the hands of a Uruguayan master, Abel Carlevaro.

This evening we heard the sounds of harpsichord, piano, bells; they were pizzicatos of violin, viola, cello; they were chords of harp and staccatti of flute; it was all this but not imitating other instruments, always keeping the great polyphony of the guitar! The guitar as it is understood by an eminent Uruguayan master, student of the great Segovia.

... a real storm of applause, which made the great artist to reappear in front of the public, that was all over the place, once and again.

Simply great performance, for the eyes as well as for the ears, which is an honour –as the great country of the artist – for our capital which had the opportunity to listen to the art of the guitar mastered by this wonderful artist”[21].

In 1948, with the support of the Uruguayan government, Carlevaro travelled for the first time to Europe. After many concerts in Spain, where he even filmed a documentary, he went to London in 1949. In the English capital he gave many concerts and recorded a disk for the “Parlophone” label. In a near future, as already said, my research about this period of his career will be published . Now I will satisfy with a reference to the concert on 6^th May 1949 in the “R.B.A. Galleries” hall[22]. In that occasion, as in many previous ones, Carlevaro included in his programme a “Prelude” and a “Study” by Villa-Lobos. In the printed program it is written “(M.S.)” after the names of both works. I believe that it means “manu scriptum”, which sounds logical if we consider that the Studies would be published four years later and Max Eschig's issue of the Preludes is dated in 1954. Besides, I think the “Study” which Carlevaro had been playing during some years and he probably played in that event is the Nº1 (which he recorded later –in London too – together with “Las Abejas” by Barrios and “Tarantella” by Castelnuovo Tedesco). I also think that the Prelude is the Nº3, always of his preference, and which he included almost a hundred times in his concerts, as part of his program or as an “encore”. It was also the one he recorded in Montevideo in 1959[23]. And now, here comes the main reason for this “addenda”: I have copies of many reviews of that concert, but one which attracted my attention was signed by Arthur Jacobs in “The Daily Express”[24] of 7^th May 1949. From there I transcribe the following sentence:

“My choice went to two pieces heard for the first time in Britain, by Brazil’s Villa-Lobos.”

The typographical emphasis is mine, and I do not have by now any reference, which allows me to affirm that before that day any other guitarist had played those works by Villa-Lobos for the British audience. However, I want to believe that the specialised critic Mr. Jacobs really knew what he was talking about. Anyway, not everything has been said about this topic yet and it will be necessary to go on inquiring...

[1] “Abel Carlevaro – Interview” Gitarre Aktuell – II/97

[2] “Abel Carlevaro – Sein Schaffen als Meilenstein in der Entwicklung der Gitarre”

      Universität für Musik und darstellende Kunst in Graz – Jänner 1999

[3] “Abel Carlevaro – ‘Der Weg des Mensches ist der Mensh selbst’”

        – Staccato 8Germany) – Januar – Februar 1998

[4] The concert took place on October 25^th 1940 and the authorities of

     “Centro Guitarrístico del Uruguay” sent Carlevaro a letter on November 5^th

       expressing him their gratitude (see document 1 and document 2 ).

[5] Fanny Ingold (pianist) and Guido Santorsola (playing the viola, with his wife

      Sara Bourdillon at the piano) made the performance in the same show.

      All of them, together with Carlevaro, were part of a Uruguayan delegation tour

      organised by “Instituto Latinoamericano de Musicología”. See document 3.

[6] The Concertino for guitar and Orchestra, which was dedicated by Santorsola

      to Abel Carlevaro, has been presented for the first time by both in Montevideo,

     on September 4^th  in that same year, 1943.

[7] On November 25^th 1943 one of the Uruguayan delegation concerts was held in Porto Alegre.

     They had already performed on the 19^th  in Pelotas, Rio Grande do Sul.

[8] See document 4

[9] See document 5

[10] I had those manuscripts in my own hands: Carlevaro, who kept them with devotion,

        showed them to me more than once. I was also present in two lectures he gave about

        Villa-Lobos (one in Montevideo in 1977, and the other one in Buenos Aires

        in September 1981: see document 11). In both occasions, Carlevaro openly showed

        the manuscripts to the audience.

[11] Although they are dated in 1929, in Paris, they were published after January 1953

       (that is the date of Segovia’s prologue to Max Eschig’s edition)

[12] See Abel Carlevaro “Guitar Masterclass – Volume III” Ed. Chanterelle 1987

       – ECH 713 – pág. 2

[13] The fact is quoted in “O Diario” from Belo Horizonte on 28^th  December 1943,

        in the review about the concert which Abel Carlevaro gave the day before in that city.

        When the critic Roberto Franck enumerates the performed works, he said:

         “.... simply a great Prelude Nº3 of Villa-Lobos (recorded at the Ministry of Education in Rio)...”

        (translation by the author). See document 6 and document 7.

[14] This will be detailed in my book.  I will simply say for the moment, that –besides writing

        and signing a presentation of Carlevaro which appeared inside the programme-

        Segovia gave interviews to the main newspapers in Montevideo previous to the concert,

        laudatory talking about Carlevaro and highlighting the fact that it was the first time

        he recommended publicly a pupil. An example can be found in an extensive interview

       in three columns in “La Mañana” on 9^th  November 1942, page 5, titled “A. Segovia

       talks us about Abel Carlevaro”

[15] Carlevaro gave similar information to Lionel Dieu (“Entretien impromptu avec

       Abel Carlevaro” – Les Cahiers de la guitare – 1^st quarter 1991).

        Moreover, the 24-year distance between the date of the composition and the date

       of Segovia’s prologue attracts the attention. Has the initial Segovia’s resistance to

       Villa-Lobos music caused –besides the well-known strength of both “egos”-

       the turbulence in the relationship between them?

[16] “The Segovia-Ponce letters” – Miguel Alcázar, Editions Orphée 1989 pages 210 and 211.

[17] See “Die Urauffürung der “Préludes” von Heitor Villa-Lobos” – Matanya Ophee –

       published in “Gitarre & Laute” 3/1995 page 21 to 25.

[18] Idem previous note.

[19] See document 8

[20] See document 7

[21] Author’s translation.

[22] See document 9

[23] “2º Recital de guitarra” – Antar Telefunken, ALP 4002.

[24] See document 10