John William Duarte

3 Studies op. 88

The Three Studies op. 88 were written in 1979-80, but not published, for the first time, until the 1990s. My father visited Japan in 1993 and presented Mr Jun Sugawara, the editor of ‘Gendai Guitar’ Magazine, with two unpublished Studies, which were later published in issue No. 342. I retrieved the copyrights to these pieces in January 2020 and then started trying to view the original manuscript, held by the GFA, a process which was hugely delayed by the C-19 pandemic. When a copy of the manuscript eventually arrived in mid-2021 I found not two studies, but three, No. 2 being the unpublished one.

In the manuscript the 3rd study is initially labelled No. 2, but another copy of the manuscript shows it marked as No. 3. I have thoroughly checked my father’s original copy and found a few differences from the ‘Gendai Guitar’ version. Fingerings have been restored and one or two technical matters have been clarified. I am very grateful to Brian Roberts, of Wayne State University, who has helped me with these points.

(Christopher Duarte)