Re: Recuerdos de la Alhambra

[Alex J. Lubet <lubet001...>]

Wasn't Washington Irving a bigtime pool hustler like Minnesota Fats?  Was he 
Jewish?



Judith R Cohen wrote:

> 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
>

--
Alex Lubet, Ph. D.
Morse Alumni Distinguished Teaching Professor of Music
Adjunct Professor of American and Jewish Studies
Head, Division Of Composition and Music Theory
University of Minnesota
2106 4th St. S
Minneapolis, MN 55455
612 624-7840 612 624-8001 (fax)


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