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Miguel Llobet Solés (1878-1938) was born the son of a wood sculptor in Barcelona. His initial musical training was on the violin and the piano. In 1889 he heard a guitar recital by the blind Spanish guitarist Antonio Jiménez Manjón (1866-1919) and was deeply impressed.
Llobet began his studies of guitar at the age of eleven with guitar teacher Magin Alegre (who took him along to that Manjón concert). At the age of fourteen, he continued his studies at the Municipal Music Conservatory in Barcelona, Escuela Municipal de Mùsica, with Francisco Tàrrega.
Miguel Llobet started giving concerts at the age of twenty in Spain, and then in Europe, South America, the United States, Russia and Africa.
Llobet was one of the first to establish the concert guitar worldwide as a solo instrument. He also holds the distinction of being the first classical guitarist to make sound recordings. A collection of his pieces has been remastered and is available on CD. Miguel Llobet - The Guitar Recordings 1925-29
Llobet composed over 100 works for the guitar, and is widely regarded as the teacher of Andres Segovia.
Llobet's original " El Noi De La Mare" arrangement is included on the Segovia compliation CD. Andres Segovia & his contemporaries, Vol. 4
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The guitar arrangement |
The "Catalan folksong" I play is a simple version of one of Miguel Llobet's better known arrangements, "El Noi De La Mare" (The Son Of The Virgin). It is also known as "El Noy De La Mare".
The arrangement I play on the video is not mine, although I did dream up one of the variations. It comes from a 30 year old book of simple classical guitar pieces that I gave away years ago. Since it wasn't a hard piece to play in the first place, I still remember how to play it because I played it so often. For the life of me I cannot remember who prepared this simple arrangement. I don't have the tab for "my version", but it shouldn't be too hard to work out by watching the video. The 5th string (A) is tuned down to G.
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