1640–1710 · Spain · Classical
Gaspar Sanz was a Spanish guitarist, composer and priest of the Baroque era, baptized in Calanda in 1640 and died in 1710. His tutor for the baroque guitar, with about ninety pieces, is still part of the classical guitar repertoire today. His pieces have been transcribed into modern notation, and the site offers his Preludio for solo guitar.
The man known as Gaspar Sanz received the name Francisco Bartolomé Sanz Celma at baptism. He was born into a wealthy family in Calanda, in Lower Aragon, Spain. His exact birth date is unknown: what survives is a record of his baptism in the local church on 4 April 1640. The name Gaspar was one he took up later.
The name Gaspar first appears in documents in 1669, when Sanz took part in a competition for the music chair at the University of Salamanca. He is described as a composer, guitarist and priest.
Sanz studied at the University of Salamanca, where he took up music, theology and philosophy. He began with the humanities and then gained a bachelor's degree in theology. In the title of his chief work, he described himself as a bachelor of theology of the University of Salamanca.
After gaining his bachelor's degree in theology, Sanz travelled to Naples, Rome and perhaps Venice to further his musical training. He is thought to have studied with Orazio Benevoli, choirmaster at the Vatican, and with Cristoforo Caresana, organist of the Royal Chapel of Naples. He learned the guitar from Lelio Colista.
The music of the Italian guitarists Foscarini, Granata and Corbetta left its mark on his playing. Little is known about the journey: its only traces are in his own book, in the dedications and prefaces. Sanz appears as a key link between the Spanish and Italian musical traditions.
On returning to Spain, Sanz was appointed guitar teacher to Don Juan of Austria. Don Juan was the only acknowledged illegitimate son of King Philip IV and María Calderón, an actress famous in her day.
Judging by Sanz's own words, foreign music was played in Zaragoza when his treatise appeared. Don Juan clearly preferred things Italian and had considerable influence over which musicians were hired for his chamber, the churches of Zaragoza and the Royal Chapel. The first five editions of Sanz's main book were dedicated to Don Juan.
Zaragoza saw the Instrucción de Música sobre la Guitarra Española in 1674, dedicated to Don Juan. A second book, the Libro Segundo de cifras sobre la guitarra española, was printed there in 1675. A third book was joined to the first two, and in 1697 all three came out together under the title of the first. Every edition was printed by the heirs of Diego Dormer.
The first book takes a beginner through music and the instrument. The second is devoted to the main pieces in the punteado style that were played in Spain, and the third to variations on the passacaglia. All the works in the books had been composed by 1674 but came out gradually, possibly for commercial reasons.
The complete work contains about ninety pieces in two techniques: punteado (plucked) and rasgueado (strummed). The author describes three ways of tuning the guitar and teaches ornaments such as trills, mordents and vibrato. There is a section on accompaniment on guitar, harp and organ. The title of the work mentions dances in the Spanish, Italian, French and English styles.
Sanz's manuscripts are written in tablature for the baroque guitar. Modern guitarists and editors have rewritten them in ordinary notation. A well-known example is Emilio Pujol's edition of Sanz's Canarios. Sanz's tablature is remarkable: the first string is shown on the lowest line and the fifth on the highest. In those days a guitar had only five strings.
For chords, Sanz used the Italian alphabet: each letter stands for a chord, so melody and harmony can be written as a simple chain of letters with rhythm marks added. The system was devised by Montesardo and taken over by Sanz.
Alongside music, Sanz wrote verse and prose. He was the author of some poems and of two books that are now largely forgotten. One is a translation of the Jesuit Daniello Bartoli's L'huomo di lettere, first published in 1678 and reissued in 1744 and 1787. The other is his own book Ecos Sagrados, printed in Madrid in 1681, whose title names Pope Innocent XI.
There are no precise details of Sanz's life after his stay in Zaragoza in 1674-1675. His non-musical publications place him in Madrid between 1678 and 1682. In 1682 a posthumous edition appeared of the translation of John Owen's epigrams made by the poet Francisco de la Torre y Sevil. It contains a funeral epigram by Sanz, in which he called himself a presbyter.
The last editions of the Instrucción came out in Zaragoza in 1697. There is no reason to think Sanz lived in that city then, but he seems to have been still alive. According to Latassa, he died in Madrid in 1710.
All of Sanz's guitar music that we know of is about ninety pieces from his main work. Some of them are in the punteado style (the notes are plucked) and some in the rasgueado style (chords are strummed). The books gather Spanish dances and Italian melodies, as well as pieces in the Italian, French and English manner.
The list of pieces includes Villano, Preludio, o Capricho, arpeado por la cruz, Folias, Paradetas, Matachín, Clarines y Trompetas and Passacalles. Difficulty is shown on the site only for the music posted there. At present the site has a Preludio for solo guitar, at the intermediate level, and that is a good way to begin getting to know Sanz.
Twentieth-century composers drew on Sanz's music. Manuel de Falla used some of his themes in El retablo de maese Pedro (1923). In 1954, at the request of Andrés Segovia, Joaquín Rodrigo wrote his Fantasía para un gentilhombre on themes from the Instrucción de música sobre la Guitarra Española. A selection of the book's pieces goes by the name Suite Española. Emilio Pujol published Canarios, and Regino Sainz de la Maza brought out the Danzas Cervantinas, a transcription of four of Sanz's pieces for the modern six-string guitar.
Paco Peña and John Williams performed his works together and in 1975 played Canarios. The name of the ensemble Al Ayre Español, founded in 1988, was inspired by a fugue by Sanz for guitar.