Classical Era: Dioniso Aguado

Dioniso Aguado

Dioniso Aguado (1784 - 1849) was a fellow-countryman of Fernando Sor, they were also friends when they both lived in Paris. Sor’s guitar duo Les Deux Amis bears witness of this friendship.

Aguado experimented with playing with finger nails, in those days a novelty for the mainstream guitarists, and he was ahead of his time with a guitar support device that would decrease the discomfort of the playing posture. A kind of nineteenth century Ergoplay.

Aguado is known for his method Escuela de Guitarra from 1825 and a moderate number of solo works, amongst them some quite difficult ones, containing stretches which are impossible on the modern guitar with the longer scale. Fortunately, he did not forget the lesser talented guitarist, composing less or even non-difficult pieces, in his opinion that is.

You will notice, however, that ‘non-difficult’ does not mean that the pieces are easy. Playing through these pieces I found out that Aguado definitely is no beginner’s Carulli level. Determining the positions and the right fingering often is a puzzle and ornaments that include sequences of three notes fit sometimes only in an awkward stretch. Yet the pieces are playable if you invest some careful study effort.