Luigi Legnani’s Missing Opus 9

An updated English version of my article on Luigi Legnani’s missing opus 9 has been published by Soundboard Scholar. The original version was first published in Italian in il Fronimo n. 194 in April 2021 and in Japanese in Gendai Guitar n. 696 September 2021. A full facsimile of the original Legnani opus 9 edition is included with the article.

(more…)

Segovia in Russia 1926

I recently came into possession of a number of programs and articles from 1926 and one article from 1927 regarding Segovia’s concerts in Russia. In Matanya Ophee’s 2017 article “Segovia and the Russians” he included some of these items. I’m sure the book by Vaisbord includes the details from the programs and articles but I don’t have a copy of the book to compare. Hopefully this information will be of interest to others so I make them available here.

(more…)

J. K. Mertz – Johann or Joseph? – research by Masami Kimura

On the question of the actual name of Mertz, around the turn of the 20th century guitar writers made assumptions about the initials “J. K.” While in the 1980’s Astrid Stempnik discovered the birth name of Mertz to be “Caspar Joseph,” the earlier writers used either “Joseph Kaspar” or “Johann Kaspar.” Somehow “Johann” became the definitive reading of his initial “J.” and has been repeated over the past 100 years. Repetition does not always make information correct. Mertz never used his full first or second name in promoting himself either in concerts or publications. In fact, even after he died his widow posted advertisements to sell his instruments by using his performing name “J. K. Mertz.”

(more…)