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performance is not allowed. Please be sure that cell phones,

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the Garden Cafe remains open for light refreshments

until 6:00 pm on Sundays.

Music Department

National Gallery ofArt

Sixth Street and Constitution Avenue nw

Washington, DC

www.nga.gov

Concerts are made possible in part through the generosity of donors

to the National Gallery of Art through The Circle. Reserved seating is

available in recognition oftheir support. Please contact the development

office at (202) 842-6450 or circle@nga.gov for more information.

The Seventy-Third Season of

The William Nelson Cromwell and F. Lammot Belin

Concerts

National Gallery ofArt

3,021st Concert

Francisco Bernier, guitarist

Presented in honor of

El Greco in the National Gallery ofArt

and Washington-Area Collections:

A 400th Anniversary Celebration

November 9, 2014

Sunday, 6:30 pm

West Building, West Garden Court

Admissionfree
Program

Fernando Sor (1778-1839)

Theme and Variations, op. 9 (c. 1815)

Luys de Narvaez (1526-1549)

Emperor’s Song (1538)

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)

Chaconnefrom Partita no. 2 in D Minor for solo violin, BWV 1004

Antonio Lauro (1917-1986)

Four Venezuelan Waltzes

Leo Brouwer (b. 1939)

One Day in November (2000)

Enrique Granados (1867-1916)

Spanish Dance no. 5 (c. 1888)

Agustin Barrios Mangore (1885-1944)

The Last Tremolo

Astor Piazzolla (1921-1992)

Summer from The Four Seasons ofBuenos Aires

Francisco Tarrega (1852-1909)

Fantasy on Themes from La Traviata by Verdi

This concert is sponsored by the Billy Rose Foundation.

The Musician

Hailed by critics and guitar aficionados as one ofthe world’s leading classical guitarists of his generation, Francisco Bernier has performed in prestigious venues throughout the world, including Alessandria, Italy’s, Teatro

Comunale; Bordeaux’s Grand Theatre; New York’s Merkin Concert Hall;

Paris’s Salle Cortot and Theatre Mogador; Berkeley, California’s, Zellerbach 

Hall; Seville’s Teatro de la Maestranza; Tokyo’s Oji Hall; and Washington, 

dc’s, Organization ofAmerican States. Finalist in New York’s Concert Artist 

Guild competition and recipient ofmore than twenty international prizes, 

Bernier has performed with many orchestras, including the Saint Petersburg 

Camerata, the Symphony Orchestra ofthe Mediterranean, and the symphony 

orchestras of Berkeley, California; El Valles and Huelva, Spain; Manchester,

England; and San Francisco.

After initial music studies at the Conservatorio Superior de Musica in

Seville, Bernier went on to the Ecole Normale “Alfred Cortot” in Paris, where 

he studied under Alberto Ponce. From 1998 to 2002, Bernier studied at the 

Hochschule fur Musik in Cologne, the Universite du Quebec in Montreal, and 

the Conservatoire National Superieur of Paris. He has recorded cds under

the sponsorship ofthe Spanish Ministry ofArts, Sciences, and Music and

has taken part in numerous radio and television recordings for Cadena ser,

Deutsche Welle, Italy’s national network rai, Nippon nhk, and Radio France.

Francisco Bernier’s interest in contemporary music has produced collaboration with many living composers, including Cesar Camarero, Jose Manuel

Lopez, Luis de Pablo, and Jose M. Sanchez Verdu. A member ofthe Zahir 

Ensemble, Bernier teaches at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Seville and 

directs the Seville Guitar Festival and Contrastes Records in London. He

appears at the National Gallery by arrangement with Dan McDaniel, llc.

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Program Notes

In observance ofthe 400th anniversary ofthe death ofthe Greek-born

Spanish painter El Greco (1541-1614), the National Gallery ofArt—with one

ofthe largest number ofworks by the artist in the United States—is currently presenting a commemorative exhibition ofhis paintings. Attesting to

El Greco’s special importance to American collectors ofthe last century, the

exhibition continues in the West Building Main Floor galleries until February 16, 2015. Noting that El Greco lived and worked in Crete and Italy before

spending the final third ofhis career in Spain, guitarist Francisco Bernier has

selected repertoire for his instrument from the Spanish tradition and from

Latin American sources influenced by that tradition. The program’s centerpiece, a chaconne by Johann Sebastian Bach, uses an ancient dance form

common to both Spain and Italy, but also transcends all ethnic identification.

Catalan composer and guitarist Fernando Sor was educated at the choir

school offile Montserrat Monastery. Under the French occupation ofhis

homeland in 1808, he accepted an administrative post, and when the French

retreated in 1813, he had to emigrate to Paris. Eventually he became equally

famous for his skill as a concert guitarist and for his more than sixty-five

compositions for the guitar. His Methode complete pour la Guitare has been

regarded by subsequent generations of guitarists as the most remarkable

book on technique ever written.

Spanish composer and vihuelist Luys de Narvaez is listed among the

musicians ofthe royal chapel in Valladolid in 1548 and 1549, in which

capacity he traveled abroad with Prince Philip, later Philip 11 of Spain

(whom El Greco unsuccessfully petitioned for a position as court painter).

With the exception oftwo pieces, all of Narvaez’s music is included in his

book, Los seys libros del Delphin, published in 1538. The pieces for solo vihuela

(a plucked string instrument similar to but larger than the modern guitar)

include Narvaez’s transcriptions ofsongs, elaborated with passing notes and

scales. His arrangement ofJosquin’s famous Mille Regretz is described as “La

Cancion del Emperador” and is thought to have been a favorite ofCharles v,

the King of Spain and the Holy Roman Emperor who preceded Phillip 11.

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Many composers who love the music ofJ. S. Bach have transcribed for 

various instruments his monumental Chaconnefrom Partita no. zinD Minor

for solo violin. Most famous among these composers are Johannes Brahms

(1833-1897) and Ferrucio Busoni (1866-1924), both ofwhom transcribed the

work for the piano, and Andres Segovia (1893-1987), who transcribed it for

the guitar. One can imagine that Bach would have welcomed such transcriptions, as he himselfwas an active performer who regularly transcribed and

adapted his own works and those ofother composers for various instruments.

Venezuelan guitarist and composer Antonio Lauro studied piano at the

Caracas Conservatory but later took up the guitar after hearing the Paraguayan guitarist Agustin Barrios Mangore. Lauro’s output, much ofwhich was

published only in his last years, included a concerto, a sonata, and several

suites. He is best known for his Venezuelan waltzes, characterized by rhythmic vitality, teasing hemiolas (juxtaposition oftwo beats against three), and

lyrical melody. For some years Lauro was a member ofthe folk music trio

Los Cantores del Tropico.

A leading Cuban composer, guitarist, and conductor during the second

half ofthe twentieth century, Leo Brouwer studied composition at the Juilliard 

School in New York, under Isadora Freed, Vincent Persichetti, and Stefan

Wolpe. As head ofthe department ofmusic in the Instituto Cubano del Arte 

e Industrie Cinematograficos (icaic), Brouwer wrote scores for more than

sixty films. A musical adviser for Radio Habana Cuba (1960-1968) and for

other Cuban institutions, he taught counterpoint, harmony, and composition at the Conservatorio Municipal in Havana from i960 to 1967. For his

contribution to the Cuban and international music scenes, he was awarded

the Orden Felix Varela, the highest cultural honor granted by file Cuban

state. Since launching the avant-garde music movement in Cuba in the

1960s, Brouwer has been the most significant promoter ofthe biennial

Havana Concourse and Festival ofthe Guitar. Three phases can be identified

in Brouwer’s work: nationalistic (1955-1962); avant-garde (1962-1967);

and, after 1980, “new simplicity,” as described by the composer. One Day in

November exemplifies this third period, with its neo-Romantic, lyrical, and

straightforward tonal elements.

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Bom in the cosmopolitan city of Barcelona, Enrique Granados blended

mainstream European musical traditions with elements derived from

traditional Spanish folk music. His youthful work as a pianist in Barcelona’s

clubs and cafes gave him firsthand experience with piano improvisation in

the style oftraditional dances. The inspiration for the dance selected by

Francisco Bernier, number five from Twelve Spanish Dances, is the Andalusian playera.

Born in southern Paraguay’s remote Misiones District, Agustin Barrios

Mangore began playing his father’s guitar at about age seven. After intermediate and advanced studies at the Colegio Nacional in Asuncion, he traveled

and performed in Argentina and Uruguay, which became his adopted homeland. In 1930 Barrios left South America and began presenting himself as

Mangore (a legendary Guarani chieftain), appearing onstage with a feathered headdress. He lived the last four years ofhis life in El Salvador, where 

he continued to compose, teach guitar, and perform. Barrios Mangore wrote

high-quality guitar music that extended the instmment’s technique beyond 

the levels of his predecessors, Sor and Tarrega. The Last Tremolo is one ofthe 

approximately 130 works for guitar by Mangore that has been preserved.

Melding the popular style oftango with his knowledge of classical

genres, Astor Piazzolla singlehandedly reinvented the tango in the second 

half ofthe twentieth century. Summeris the final movement of a four-part

suite titled The Four Seasons ofBuenos Aires. The suite pays tribute to Vivaldi’s

Four Seasons, yet clearly highlights the culture and environment of Piazzolla’s

native Argentina. Originally written for violin, electric guitar, piano, bass, 

and bandoneon, The Four Seasons ofBuenos Aires exists in many transcriptions, including the solo guitar version heard on tonight’s program.

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Born in Villarreal, Spain, Francisco Tarrega suffered eye injuries as a

child, prompting his parents to send him to study with blind musicians

Eugeni Ruiz and Manuel Gonzalez. As early as age ten, Tarrega ran away to

launch his own career in coffee houses and restaurants in Barcelona. This

venture was cut short by his parents, but by the time he entered the Madrid

Royal Conservatory at age twenty-two, he had run away from home three

times, always with the idea ofpursuing his career. His mature years were

marked by widespread acclaim for his concerts, which included his own

works and those of other composers, and a teaching career in Barcelona.

Among his friends and colleagues in that city were Isaac Albeniz, Pablo

Casals, Enrique Granados, and Joaquin Turina.

Program Notes by Stephen Ackert, Senior Music Program Advisor,

National Gallery ofArt

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