In the 1950s and 1960s, Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco explored the expressive possibilities of combining the human voice with the sounds of the guitar in works including Romancero Gitano, Ballata dall’esilio, Vogelweide, and The Divan of Moses-Ibn-Ezra. A newly published volume adds two more pieces to this body of work: La Ermita de San Simon and Romance del Conde Arnaldos.
The two songs, dated March 1962, are dedicated to the renowned Brazilian singer and guitarist Olga Praguer Coelho (1909–2008). They are actually adaptations for voice and guitar of pieces originally written for voice and piano in 1934-35 after the composer’s friends Manuel De Falla and Andrés Segovia had encouraged him to set more songs to Spanish poetic texts.
La Ermita de San Simon and Romance del Conde Arnaldos for voice and guitar retain the defining characteristics of their original versions, preserving the balanced and captivating interplay between music and lyrics.
The volume is available from Edizioni Curci in both digital and printed formats.