Recuerdos de la Alhambra

[Judith R Cohen <judithc...>]

hi, WHERE does Sharon Isbin say she learned this Tarrega piece is based
on a Sephardic
melody? The original title from 1899 was  "Improvisation !A Granada!
Cantiga Arabe " ("Improvisation - to Granada! Arab Song") which doesn't
seem terribly Sephardic, but in any case, where the composer would have
found a traditional Sephardic melody in Spain in 1899 is an interesting
question. Or, for that matter, a traditional Arabic one.

If she claims it is from around 1492, there is nothing whatsoever to
substantiate this; we haven;t any Sephardic music from this time.

I cou;dn't access the sound file Joel indicated, but have heard the
piece many times and did have another look at the score; can't imagine
what would be either Sephardic-ish or 1492-ish about it.

Besides, the people who are most famous for "recuerdos de la Alhambra"
(Memories of the Alhambra) are the "Moors" (especially the famous last
Moorish Sultan Boabdil, whose mother apocryphically chided him for
weeping as he left it, in 1492) and Washington Irving...


Judith

> Sharon Isbin, the classical guitarist, claims that this originates from a 
> Sephardic melody. As someone familiar with Sephardic music, do you have any 
> knowledge of this?
> T. J. Steenland

---------------------- jewish-music (at) shamash(dot)org ---------------------+