Giulio Regondi

Étude de concert No. 4

Few composers in the 19th-century guitar scene could rival Giulio Regondi’s creative imagination. Among the most distinctive features of his compositional style is his sophisticated harmonic language. His handling of progressions, dissonances, contrasts, and modulations offers a fresh perspective, with a remarkable variety of colors and nuances. In fact, "Étude de Concert No. 4" is a particularly fine example of these traits.

Despite the quality of Regondi’s music and the recognition he enjoyed as a performer during his lifetime, it took more than a century after his passing for him to receive the appreciation he truly deserved. In 1981, Editions Chanterelle published "Giulio Regondi: The Complete Works for Guitar," edited by Simon Wynberg. That same year, Danish guitarist Leif Christensen was the first to record Regondi’s guitar works (Rêverie Op. 19, Fête Villageoise Op. 20, 1er Air Varié Op. 21, 2e Air Varié Op. 22, and Introduction et Caprice Op. 23). Renowned guitarist David Russell later recorded "Rêverie" on his album "19th Century Music" (1987). Still in the 1980s, guitarist and researcher Matanya Ophee discovered Regondi’s "Ten Études" for guitar, which were published by Editions Orphée in 1990. In 1993, they were recorded by David Starobin as part of the collection "The Great Regondi," released by the The Giulio Regondi Guild.

In addition to being an acclaimed guitarist and composer, Regondi was a leading advocate of the concertina, a recently invented instrument developed by Sir Charles Wheatstone. Indeed, his output for concertina considerably exceeds his guitar catalogue, not only in quantity but also in variety. His concertina works include two instructional methods, original solo and chamber compositions with piano accompaniment, two concertos, and several fantasies based on popular melodies.

I first came across Regondi’s concertina works during my master’s program in 2003, thanks to Professor Allan Atlas, who kindly sent me copies of several scores. Among them was one of the aforementioned methods, the "Hexameron du Concertiniste," a collection of six concert studies for solo concertina. Dedicated to the composer’s friend, Reverend Samuel Dickson Sandes, it was published in London in 1857. Curiously, the final Étude in this series bears a certain resemblance to the last of the ten guitar studies.

A guitar transcription of the fourth Hexameron Étude was included in Chantarelle’s edition of Regondi’s guitar works under the title "Étude 4b," distinguishing it from the fourth of the ten studies. This version was based on a manuscript copy listed in the catalog of Eleuterio F. Tiscornia, an Argentine collector of guitar music, published in 1948 by Ricordi Americana. Dated January 19, 1944, this copy is now accessible through IMSLP. It is a literal transcription of the concertina Étude, which preserves the original key of F major.

In the present edition, I have chosen to transpose it down to D major, with the 6th string lowered to D. Although Regondi never employed this particular scordatura in his original guitar compositions, it proves quite effective in this transcription, favoring the instrument’s natural resonance and a more idiomatic character.