Research | Education
Hermann Hauser Guitar Foundation
Research | Education
Hermann Hauser
Guitar Foundation
Workshop "Historical Hermann Hauser guitars" with Klaus W. Wildner at the Stella Vorarlberg Private University for Music 2017
https://stella-musikhochschule.ac.at/
FERDINAND REBAY’S SOLO SONATA IN E
MAJOR NO. 2, AN IMPORTANT GUITAR
SONATA IN LATE-ROMANTIC STYLE
REDISCOVERED
(VIDEO RECORDING)
YOUTUBE / VIDEO
Donation by the Hermann Hauser Guitar Foundation of guitar sheet music for the library of the Vorarlberg State Conservatory in Austria.
The Stella Vorarlberg Private College of Music is an Austrian conservatory in the city of Feldkirch, Vorarlberg.
Hermann Hauser Guitar Foundation - Donation / PDF [814KB]The main idea of this article is to draw the classical guitarist's attention to the aspect of intonation that is directly related to the tonal beauty of the guitar. It is not intended to be a deep dive into complicated mathematical theories of music, but rather an inspiration to open up new horizons in this field.
Do we really need to worry about intonation today? Didn't someone already do that and create equal temperament a few centuries ago?
Almost all guitars today are equipped with a fingerboard where the distances between the frets are calculated according to the mathematical formula 12√2. This is to ensure that the octave is divided into twelve equal semitone steps of 100 cents.
And that could be the end of the story, ...
Andrès Segovia was an exceptional artist known the world over. Like almost all great personalities, this man polarized people, especially in professional circles. There is an abundance of honors, tributes and even a monument to him. The HHGF would also like to give A.S. a place of honor. Those who feel touched by Andrè Segovia, e.g. through concerts, recordings or personal encounters with the maestro, are invited to send us their personal accounts. This Spanish guitarist has influenced and promoted many artists and guitar makers worldwide. He is characterized by his love of music and the guitar in particular. The legendary "Segovia tone", a sound experience and a message, loved and admired - or already forgotten?
The diversity of his work and his influence on the music world should remain alive here through personal accounts. A particularly detailed and personal account was sent to us by guitarist Haim Asulin:
Andrès Segovia | Appreciation and gratitude
II don't feel like an authority, nor can I say anything new that hasn't already been said. The Segovia legend speaks for itself. Nevertheless, I am happy to have the opportunity here to thank him for the hours of musical enjoyment and pleasure he has given me. He has helped to shape my musical aspirations and my understanding of the guitar, and also to pursue guitar playing as a profession, which is also my great love. I would like to point out that although I was not one of his students, I had the honor of attending his master class in "Santiago De Compostela" in Spain in 1965.
It was a private lesson with Segovia, I sat in front of him and received explanations and demonstrations on how to play properly. I was in awe of this great man who was very helpful in giving my life direction, whom I admired greatly and whose personality and way of playing I saw as the perfect model for inspiration and aspiration.
I was deeply impressed by his beautiful, smooth musical interpretations and effortless playing. Simply put, I understood how a guitarist should be seen and heard. I first got to know Segovia through his records, which I discovered at the age of 15. I had already been playing the guitar self-taught for a year by then. The way he played made a deep impression on me and really electrified me. I listened to his recordings for hours on end and learned quite a few pieces from them. When I was 16, I performed in my Kibbutz Mizra. That concert was recorded and parts of that recording have survived. You can feel his influence from the beginning of my career until today, and you can hear and feel it in the recordings that have survived (4 CDs). I can say I belong to Segovia's school, as it was taught with his assistant, the great teacher Jose Tomas, from 1964 to 1967 at the "Institut Musical Oscar Espla" in Alicante in Spain.
Natürlich gab es im Laufe der Jahre persönliche Änderungen was meine Spieltechniken betrifft, die in vielerlei Hinsicht reflektiert und an meine eigene Persönlichkeit und meine Bedürfnisse angepasst werden mussten, z.B. ausschließlich mit den Fingerspitzen zu spielen, ohne die Fingernägel zu benutzen. Ohne Zweifel kann ich sagen, daß Segovias Einfluss als Mensch und großer Künstler sich in allen Aspekten meines Spielens widerspiegelt. Ich betrachte Segovia als meinen herausragenden Lehrer, als meine Inspiration. Für die Wertschätzung und Dankbarkeit für diesen Mann, der mir so viel gab, gibt es keine Worte. (Haim Asulin, Israel, 13.08.2005)
Acoustics are still the main deciding factor for a place among the world's top concert halls. The desire for good acoustics is probably about the same for musicians and concert-goers alike.
But musicians and audiences also have different requirements for the same room. For example, while it is important for guitarists to be able to communicate with each other on stage, it is more important for the audience to be able to sit comfortably and see the musicians.
Guitarists' concerts are currently always a game of vabanque for listeners interested in guitar music. Does the guitar sound worse in a gym than in a church? Does a spoken theater offer the right acoustics for a guitar quartet?
For this reason, the Hermann Hauser Guitar Foundation has commissioned a study. In this study, musicians and concertgoers were asked to give their own impressions of a wide variety of concert stages.
The study is initially limited to German-speaking countries and concerts with acoustic guitars.
A short presentation by anthropologist Peggy Seehafer, Hamburg
"Musicality is the innate or acquired ability to absorb and perform music." (Brockhaus 2008) If it were indeed innate, there would not be different ideas about and demands on music. In recent years, more and more scientists have been studying music from a psychological, neurobiological and evolutionary perspective* (Lorenz Welker, LMU Munich).
Most studies assume a uniform concept of music in a transcultural and broad temporal context. Although this only originated in 19th century Europe, it is often applied to all times and cultures. There is therefore a risk of describing certain phenomena as universal and developed over the course of evolution.
Sound that is actively composed into a sound work is generally regarded as music. It is distinguished from speech on the one hand and noise on the other, although the boundaries are very difficult to draw. Aren't drummers who transmit messages musicians and orchestral musicians also transmit messages?
„Music is often perceived as disturbing because it is associated with noise.„
(Wilhelm Busch)
Music is a heterogeneous, i.e. colorfully mixed bundle of pitches, their progression - the melody, rhythm and timbre. These characteristics are universally valid. The harmony of a piece of music, on the other hand, can only be perceived within a temporally and spatially limited framework. Harmony in music is defined as the harmony of simultaneously sounding tones. This characteristic is a western phenomenon in music and only appeared late in the history of music. This means that there is no uniform concept of music that is valid across all times and cultures!
This means that music can only ever be evaluated in the context of its function. Marching music has a mobilizing function, with aesthetics playing only a subordinate role. Whereas it is more important in the morning song in kindergarten and has a community-building effect.
If musicality has a biological component, why do some people find certain music beautiful and of high quality and others find it unbearable?
In order to recognize a rhythm or perceive a melody as harmonious, no one needs to have special musical abilities. Nevertheless, the sense of well-being when listening to or producing sounds is colored by immediate cultural impressions and is by no means universal.
A particular characteristic of music is that there must be an intersubjective agreement between listeners and musicians as to which form of music is perceived as such. This means that early childhood education contributes to the later perception of music.
This also means, however, that the ideas of "supernaturally gifted musical geniuses" are bound to space and time. Just as many find certain Arabic musical sounds enervating and exhausting, the music of Mozart and Wagner pushes the boundaries of listening habits and is by no means perceived as genius.
In a contemporary context, however, "classical music" only contributes to the well-being of selected people. Younger people, for example, find operas just as exhausting and inharmonious as foreign sounds and, conversely, modern music is not accepted as such by people with "musical understanding".
The perception of music depends on the experience a person has:
- through early learning processes
- through culturally specific and individual conventions of listening and
- through a conscious cognitive processing of melodic and rhythmic figures
None of this has anything to do with a person's biology! Music is a culture-specific phenomenon.
Peggy Seehafer, 05.05.2008 | Hamburg Anthropology Office
von Peggy Seehafer, Anthropologist
The Grammy Award is a music prize that has been awarded annually since 1958 to renowned artists in various categories: singers, composers, musicians, production managers and sound engineering. The award is not dependent on sales figures or charts.
The Grammy is awarded by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences in Los Angeles. It is regarded as the highest international award for artists and the recording team. The Grammy is currently awarded in 105 categories.
In the 47 years of Grammy awards, thirteen honors have gone to artists for their classical guitar music. Compared to the piano or the violin, with 38 and 24 Grammys respectively, that doesn't seem like a lot. But the perception of the classical guitar and its popularity seems to be linked to outstanding personalities and can be seen very clearly from the Grammys. Andres Segovia received a Grammy at the very first award ceremony in 1958. Throughout the sixties and early seventies, acoustic guitar music was repeatedly honored with a Grammy with Laurindo Almeida and Julian Bream.
1958 - Andres Segovia in the category Best Classical Performance - Instrumentalist (Other Than Concerto-Scale Accompaniment) for his work: Segovia Golden Jubilee.
1958 - Sherwood Hall III, Laurindo Almeida and Salli Terri in the category Best Engineered Record (Classical) for their work: Duets With A Spanish Guitar with Laurindo Almeida, guitar; Salli Terri, vocals.
1960 - Laurindo Almeida zwei Grammys in den Kategorien Best Classical Performance - Instrumental Soloist Or Duo (Other Than With Orchestral Accompaniment) für seine Arbeit: The Spanish Guitars Of Laurindo Almeida und in Best Classical Performance - Vocal Or Instrumental - Chamber Music für: Conversations With The Guitar.
1961- Laurindo Almeida in der Kategorie Best Classical Performance - Instrumental Soloist Or Duo (Without Orchestra) für: Reverie für spanische Gitarre.
1963 marks the beginning of Julian Bream's winning streak. The Julian Bream Consort receives its first Grammy in the Best Classical Music Performance - Chamber Music category for: Evening Of Elizabethan Music
1964 - Laurindo Almeida in the category Best Instrumental Jazz Performance - Large Group Or Soloist With Large Group for his work: Guitar From Ipanema.
1966 - Julian Bream in the category Best Classical Performance - Instrumental Soloist Or Soloists (With Or Without Orchestra) for his work: Baroque Guitar (Works Of Bach, Sanz, Weiss, etc.).
1971- Julian Bream, Andre Previn und das London Symphony Orchestra in der Kategorie Best Classical Performance - Instrumental Soloist Or Soloists (With Orchestra) für: Villa-Lobos: Konzert für Gitarre.
1972 - John Christopher Williams and Julian Bream in the category Best Chamber Music Performance for: Julian And John (Works By Lawes, Carulli, Albeniz, Granados).
After a long break, a turnaround in the perception of music seems to be taking place at the turn of the millennium. The classical guitar is stepping out of the shadow of other instruments and back into the spotlight of the Grammy Awards.
2000 - Sharon Isbin, Jens Schünemann and Tobias Lehmann in the category Best Instrumental Soloist Performance (without Orchestra) for their work: Dreams Of A World - Works Of Lauro, Ruiz-Pipo & Duarte.
2001 - Christopher Rouse, Sharon Isbin, Muhai Tang und das Gulbenkian Orchestra in der Kategorie Best Classical Contemporary Composition für: Rouse: Concert De Gaudí für Gitarre und Orchester.
2005 David Russel wins the Grammy in the category Best Instrumental Soloist Performance (without Orchestra) for his work: Aire Latino.
Hopefully the awards for Sharon Isbin and David Russell will help the music of the acoustic guitar find its way to the most secret places of the soul (loosely based on Plato, 427 BC) and the classical guitar will experience a real renaissance. The Hermann Hauser Guitar Foundation will gladly make its contribution to this
Miguel Llobet (1878-1938) is one of the most important guitar virtuosos at the beginning of the 20th century. Impressed at the age of 11 by a concert given by the blind Spanish guitarist Antonio Jimenez Manjòn (1866-1919), this artistically gifted boy decided to dedicate his life to the guitar. This is all the more surprising as he came from Catalonia and the guitar did not play a special role in the musical tradition there.
His teacher Magin Alegre, who took him to this concert, supported him for the first 3 years. At the age of 14, he continued his training at the Barcelona Municipal Music Conservatory, Escuela Municipal de Mùsica, with Francisco Tàrrega. This encounter between teacher and pupil can probably be described as one of the great moments in the rather young history of guitar playing. Miguel Llobet was the best and most important student of Francisco Tàrrega (1852-1909), who made his name and significance for the guitar known worldwide.
Miguel Llobet
Miguel Llobet began his concert career at the age of 20. First in Spain, including for the royal family, then in Europe, South America, the United States, Russia and Africa, he celebrated his greatest successes and was one of the first to establish the concert guitar as a solo instrument throughout the world. His success was based on his virtuosity, his special feel for the instrument and the music, which through him left the impression of being written for the guitar.
Press statements such as: Magician..., artistic perfection..., amazing technique..., virtuoso of great stature, remarkable musicality... accompanied him on his travels.
But the classical guitar had another important protagonist in the 19th century, the violin maker and guitar maker Antonio de Torres Jurado (1817-1892). Miguel Llobet played an FE 09 and an FE 013 on his tours. His meeting with the guitar maker Herrmann Hauser I, which took place at his concerts following invitations from the Munich Guitarist Movement, also influenced the development of guitar making in Germany, particularly in Munich.
Miguel Llobet was one of the first to make electric recordings from a classical guitar. There are around 100 publications, compositions and transcriptions by him. He was a teacher and pedagogue following the example of Tàrrega.
Miguel Llobet, the greatest Spanish guitar virtuoso at the time, was a frequent guest at her parents' home. With his pure sense of style and great technique, he gave her the best to help her develop her unique musicality.
Wolf Moser calls Miguel Llobet: ... the forgotten guitar teacher of Germany.
Heidi Schmidt, March 2005
by Perry Perreiter, Mediaproducer, 22.03.2005
You might ask yourself this question, especially if you've ever played three chords on a guitar and pressed three keys on a piano. And why is the guitar - rightly, in my opinion - considered the most flexible and potentially richest-sounding accompanying instrument in classical music?
In order to investigate this question, I have devised a mathematical model that is essentially based on the way the string is struck. It remains to be seen whether or how this model is in line with the physical conditions, but in any case you can guess where the journey is heading ...
So what is it all about?
The biggest difference between the two instruments is the way in which the strings are made to vibrate. While a guitar string is plucked, a piano string is struck by a hammer via the mechanism. It is essential that the plucking is done in a point-like manner (e.g. by a very pointed fingernail) on the string, whereas a hammer has a certain width and therefore hits the string over a certain length and not in a point-like manner.
Of course, where the string is struck also plays a role. The sound will be more harmonious and softer in the middle than near the ends.
How is a sound actually created?
A sound is always created when several physical frequencies overlap. Only the so-called fundamental frequency plays a role in the pitch perceived by humans; all other frequencies determine the sound. If a guitar and a piano play the same note, let's say an A with f0=440 Hz, the fundamental frequency is the same for both instruments (440 Hz), but overtones occur in completely different numbers and compositions. Overtones can be understood as integer multiples of the fundamental frequency.
The sound of the middle
If a string (whether guitar or piano) is struck in the middle, only odd multiples of the fundamental frequency occur. Since the frequencies 2*f0, 4*f0, ... are missing, no octaves occur. Instead, a fifth occurs first (3*f0). This fifth and the absence of the octave lead to a harmonic sound experience.
The sound of the guitar
When a string is plucked at a point, the overtones are very quiet compared to the fundamental frequency. However, the further you move away from the center when plucking, the louder the overtones become; in particular, octaves now occur in addition to the odd multiples of the fundamental frequency and the sound becomes more impure.
The sound of the hammer
Overtones also occur when a string is struck with a hammer, but they are much louder than when plucked. The first octave is clearly superimposed on the fundamental tone, which results in a jumble of frequencies typical of a piano, for example, rather than a steady tone
The sound of the guitar again
If you look at the complex movements of the string, you can easily imagine what might happen if you free the string from its mathematical model and release it into physical reality, in which the string is not frictionless, massless and ideally stretchable, and in which temperature, air pressure, humidity, the material used, the virtuosity of the guitarist and, last but not least, the secrets of the guitar maker and the guitar itself play a central role. Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)
by Sebastian Stenzel, master guitar maker
The Hermann Hauser Guitar Foundation bears the name of one of the most important guitar makers of all time. This is not only gratifying, but also makes sense. Although it could also be named after Andrè Segovia or Julian Bream, i.e. after a great guitarist, there are better reasons for this choice of name. First of all: to assume that one of the founders of the Foundation, the grandson and guitar maker of the same name, wanted to create a monument to himself here would be a testament to ignorance.
The name Hermann Hauser can rather be regarded as a fully valid symbol of the attentiveness, care and love with which Hauser I dedicated himself to the guitar - and thus also as a symbol of what draws us all under the spell of this wonderful instrument, for which a greenhouse is being built here with the foundation. And that is very necessary: The need for information, exchange and teaching is enormous, also as far as the instrument itself is concerned. The classical guitar is finding more and more enthusiasts worldwide and while there are more and more excellent guitar teachers, a deeper understanding of the guitar itself remains hidden from most people.
The classical guitar is one of the most complex stringed instruments and truly excellent guitars are still something of a rarity. That's why it won't hurt to honor the work of the guitar maker and shine a little more light on it. The name Hauser is also a symbol of the connection between purpose and means, the collaboration between musician and instrument maker. Llobet and Hauser, Segovia and Ramirez, Segovia and Hauser I, Behrend and Weißgerber, it was always a collaboration between the best guitarists and the best luthiers that produced the best instruments, and I dare say, the best guitar music.
We can therefore hope that the Foundation - certainly in the spirit of its namesake - will also become a forum for the construction and development of the guitar. As with other instruments, there is a lack of scientific standards among guitar makers when discussing technical and acoustic issues in guitar making, although acoustic research has made great progress in the last decade. Whether this research helps to build better guitars remains to be seen, but it certainly broadens the understanding of the instrument and helps to communicate it and separate the wheat from the chaff in the multitude of new developments.
The repair and restoration of guitars will also become increasingly important, as the number of instruments worth preserving is growing exponentially. The many "broken restored" guitars that can be seen time and again show how necessary it is to develop and disseminate standards here too: there will be no shortage of tasks.
Last but not least, the name Hermann Hauser also stands for his time; some speak of the "golden age of the guitar". At that time, there were hundreds of workshops in Munich where the knowledge of instrument making could be passed on. National Socialism and the Second World War put a temporary end to this broad tradition, but as long as guitars from this era are playable, the spirit of this tradition can be revived. And what better place to do this than Munich?