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[5 min read] 1st time trying to write a comprehensive bio from all I've read! Enjoy!
One of the most renowned and well known composers of classical guitar is Francisco Tárrega, a Spanish composer and classical guitarist in the romantic period. He is considered as one of the fathers of classical guitar.
Tárrega was born on 21st November 1852 in Villarreal, Castellon, Spain.
His father, Francisco Tárrega Tirado, was a classical guitarist. He played various styles including flamenco. He worked as a watchman at a convent. His mother, Antonia Eixea Broch. Some sources state that both his parents worked as housekeepers.
During childhood, Tárrega liked to run around a lot, and later on he would run away from home many times. When his father was away working, Tárrega would take his father’s guitar and attempt to make beautiful sounds he heard. Francisco’s nickname as a child was “Quiquet”. As a child, he ran away from home (possibly running away from the nanny) and accidentally fell into an irrigation canal, injuring his eyes. This was very unfortunate as he partially lost his eyesight due to infection. Fearing that Francisco will lose his sight completely, his father moved his family to Castellón de la Plana to attend music lessons under the guidance of Manuel González and Eugeni Ruiz who were both blind. His father must have thought: If he ever lost his eyesight, he would still be able to play guitar and earn a living because he will learn from these two teachers that are blind.
Tárrega not only learnt to play the guitar, he was also very accomplished in piano at an early age (read on for explanation). In 1862, concert guitarist Julian Arcas, on tour in Castellón, heard young Francisco play and was very enamoured by him. Julian advised Tárrega’s father to allow Francisco to come to Barcelona to study with him for higher musical education. Tárrega’s father agreed, but insisted that he take piano lessons as well. His father was well aware that the guitar, as a solo instrument, was in decline, coming increasingly to be viewed as an instrument to accompany singers, while the piano was all the rage throughout Europe.
10-year-old Tárrega went with Julian Arcas to study in Barcelona. However, lessons stopped shortly after beginning, as Arcas left for another concert tour abroad. Tárrega stayed at a relative’s place before running away. He tried to start a music career on his own by playing in coffee houses and restaurants in Barcelona. At only 10 years old! He also joined a group of young musicians, and played at pubs and cafeterias to earn some money instead of attending a music school. His father was furious and went to Barcelona to bring him home.
In 1865, 3 years later, Tárrega ran away again! He ran away to Valencia, where he joined a group of gypsies. His father sought him and brought him back, but once again he ran back to Valencia. Though he kept running away, Tárrega was proficient at playing both guitar and piano by his teenage years.
His family was in a bad financial state, thus for a time, he played with other musicians at local engagements to earn money. He eventually returned home to help his family. He performed at a number of concerts at different villages before being accepted as a pianist at Burriana’s Casino. He alternated between guitar and piano during those years.
In 1874, at 22 years old, Tárrega was sponsored by Antonio Canesa, a wealthy merchant, to enrol at the Spanish Music Conservatory, Madrid. Before enrolling at the conservatory, Tárrega acquired an extraordinary loud and resonate guitar, made by the Seville luthier Antonio de Torres. The guitar’s sonic output was so brilliant that it strongly inspired Tárrega in his music. The Torres design of guitar, became a universal standard in the years to come, and established the spring-board for its subsequent acceptance by the listening public and academia alike, as an instrument competitive with the major instruments of the era.
Tárrega’s student years were tough, as the guitar had lost its former glory when compared to the piano. Since Tárrega was primarily a guitar specialist, he was not allowed to play at concerts. At the conservatory, He received a thorough instruction in theory of music, harmony, the piano, and composition. Tárrega studied composition under Emilio Arrieta.
When Arrieta heard Tárrega’s great quality perform in a guitar concert, Arrieta convinced Tárrega to pursue a career in the guitar rather than the piano. By the late 1870’s, Tárrega worked as a music and guitar teacher, where he taught Daniel Fortea, Emilio Pujol and Miguel Llobet, amongst other students, while also performing at concerts regularly.
In 1876, Tárrega began teaching and giving regular guitar concerts. He typically received much acclaim for his playing and began traveling to other areas of Spain to perform. By this time, he was composing his first works for guitar, which he played in addition to works of other composers.
In 1880, Luis de Soria, a guitarist who could not play at a concert due to illness, requested for his friend Tárrega to stand in for him at his concert in Novelda, Alicante, Spain. After the concert, an important townsman asked Tárrega to come listen to his daughter, Maria José Rizo (who was also a guitarist). Romance bloomed between the two musicians.
Concert tours in 1880 to Paris and London followed, where he was hailed as the "Sarasate (Pablo de Sarasate (1844-1908) a famous Spanish violinist) of the guitar".
In 1881, Tárrega performed at Lyon’s Opera Theatre followed by the Paris Odeon, in dedication to Pedro Calderón de la. He also played in London – full of successful performances, but he completely disliked the weather and the language. After his concert, some people noticed that Tárrega was in low spirits. There is a legend that after one of his performances, he was asked by admirers what made him sad and if he missed his family. This prompted him to pen Lágrima (circa 1889), one of his most memorable works, as a way to demonstrate his sadness at the time.
After playing in London he came back to Novelda for his wedding. On Christmas 1882, Tárrega married María José Rizo. Tárrega was 30.
To enlarge his repertory, Tárrega used his extensive knowledge of piano music, to transcribe piano works by Beethoven, Chopin, Louis Moreau Gottshcalk (an American pianist), Sigismond Thalberg (A Swiss pianist), Mendelssohn and others.
Tárrega and his wife moved to Madrid, earning a living by teaching privately and playing concerts. But after the death of their infant daughter in winter, Maria Josefa, they settled permanently in Barcelona in 1885. Among his friends in Barcelona were Isaac Albéniz, Enrique Granados, Joaquín Turina and Pablo Casals.
Francisco Tárrega and María José Rizo had three more children: Paquito (Francisco), Marieta and Concepción.
On a concert tour in Valencia, Tárrega met a wealthy widow, Conxa Martinez, who became a valuable patron to him. She allowed him and his family the use of a house in Barcelona, where he would write the bulk of his most popular works. A visit to Granada with Martinez, spawned Francisco Tárrega's famous Recuerdos de la Alhambra solo guitar composition, which he wrote after experiencing the 14th century Moor-built palace in Andalucia: Alhambra.
From the late 1880s to 1903, Tárrega continued composing, but limited his concerts to Spain. In 1900, Tárrega visited Algiers, where he heard a repetitive rhythm played on an Arabian drum. The following morning he composed Danza Mora based on that rhythm, a famous solo guitar piece.
Breaking with his past technique, Tárrega cut his fingernails in 1902, the resulting effect being a more mellow tone which was associated with guitarists of the Tárrega school of guitar playing. His concert playing career continued with much success, including a tour of Italy where he played in Rome, Naples and Milan.
In 1902, he also composed Gran Vals, which is used now used as a popular Nokia ringtone, albeit a small part only.
In January 1906, Age 54, Tárrega was at the height of his fame. However he became afflicted with paralysis on his right side (stroke), and though he would eventually return to the concert stage, he never completely recovered. He finished his last work, Oremus, on December 2, 1909. He died in Barcelona 13 days later, at the age of 57.
Francisco Tárrega was undoubtedly a conservative musician, in both style and performance, with strong similarities to the latter half of the 19th century. An absolute authority on the guitar, he is widely accepted as the one who built the foundation of classical guitar today. His moniker of “father of classical guitar” is, therefore, rightful in every way as Tárrega devoted his life to his art and to the uplifting of the guitar as a venerable musical instrument in the 20th century. There have been many piano and violin masters who had followed trends of the 19th century but Tárrega himself was one who went against the tide, despite odds stacked against him, and persevered with the guitar.
Tárrega is regarded as having laid the foundations for the 20th century's wide-spread acceptance of the guitar as a concert-recital instrument. The Maestro himself preferred small intimate performances, which particularly suited the lower-volume generated by his lack of fingernails. He composed in a variety of styles and forms including Valses, mazurkas, preludes, tangos.
However, with 78 original works, and 120 transcriptions he clearly appreciated the work of other composers, and used their works to further the reputations and esteem of his chosen instrument, as well as his own as a performer. Through his pupil Miguel Llobet, Tárrega passed on the traditions of the instrument to that other notable Maestro of the guitar, a pupil of Llobet, Andres Segovia. Tárrega's list of works include Sherzo's, preludes, estudios, danzas, fantasias, minuets, mazurkas, tangos and more.