Biography

Heinrich Albert (1870 – 1950) did not start his musical career as a guitarist, he was a trained brass player and also performed as a violinist. He did compose under pseudonyms like Enrico Alberto (a clear Italianism) and Henry Albert (a good entry to the French market).

As an autodidact he gradually developed himself as a guitarist and mandolin player. He put his experiences and scores on paper by means of a guitar method –Moderner Lehrgang des künstlerischen Gitarrenspiels– and a number of Etudes. Striking detail with these Etudes is the role of the teacher that has to play his own (more difficult) guitar part along with the student, creating attractive duos. Besides his own compositions for solo-guitar, he arranged a great number of folk songs and composed for ensembles with guitar.

Music

Even for the period in which Albert enjoyed his successes, around the turn of the twentieth century, his style is quite traditional, much more classic (early nineteenth century) than Romantic. That is clearly audible in the form of the Sonatine. This traditional approach is so obvious that it provides the opportunity to make the urgently needed variety in performance.