Articles

Early US editions of Fernando Sor

I will present here two different sets of publications of music by Fernando Sor published in the United States in the 19th century. While there may be other editions published in the US in the 19th century, I will focus on these two sets because it appears there is little to no information written about them before now.

(more…)
By Robert Coldwell, ago

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…)
By Robert Coldwell, ago

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…)
By Robert Coldwell, ago

Justin Minor Holland “The Guitar” in Brainard’s Musical World 1887-1888

A few years ago I found 14 pages of lined paper with articles pasted on them in a folder titled “Clippings Justin Holland 1887” in the Bickford Collection at California State University Northridge. The articles were titled “The Guitar” and included interesting topics on Sor, Carulli, Carcassi, Molino and answers to reader letters. A typescript also in this folder contains transcriptions of some of these articles and articles from other guitar journals. Based on these two items I was able to track down these articles to Brainard’s Musical World January – December 1888.

(more…)
By Robert Coldwell, ago