John Roberts (1919-1995) was an eccentric guitarist, writer and poet. For those interested in twentieth century classical guitar history, his diaries can be invaluable. Most of all his book Guitar Travels. At 650 pages, it is a long, fragmentary and bizarrely digressive account of his time at Emilio Pujol’s annual courses. I find it immensely enjoyable, but I can well understand why others might not. However, within it there are numerous curious historical details. As well as Pujol, who has the starring role, many notable figures pass through its pages, such as Robert Bouchet, Hopkinson Smith, Alberto Ponce, John Taylor, Leo Brouwer, Manuel Cubedo, Edward Sainz de la Maza, and various others. As the book itself can be rather labyrinthine (not to mention hard to get hold of), I thought I’d publish a page of excerpts to give a flavour. If that whets your appetite, I’m also writing a long article about Roberts’s life with the guitar, which will bring together his published and unpublished writing related to the guitar. So, more to come!
“The only thing that the guitar lacks is a bow (Pujol).” (12)
“You have the notes in your fingers, or your fingers in the notes, said Pujol drily.” (14)
“‘Este senor es de muy mala intencion’, said Pujol about his own music [‘This man has very bad intentions’]” (17)
Wilfrid Appleby suggested that Pujol transcribe the Chromatic Fantasia. Pujol replied, “I would be afraid that Bach would come and beat me up in the night.” (19)
“Javier Quevedo held forth on the amiability of Pujol’s characters, compared to Segovia’s.” (19)
“P[ujol], like my father, appears not to know what’s going on, then suddenly makes a remark that shows he knows very well what’s going on.” (36)
“In the dusk, P[ujol] sketched the life of Bejar the painter, his early supported, who brought him to London in “el año doce” (1912). The London of that year left a lasting impression. Never, said P[ujol], had social life been so well arranged.” (56)
“[Thomas Hartman] has taken two courses in Siena and one in Santiago. Segovia said to him: ‘Meester Hartman, when you play, I feel a Mephistophilean presence over the guitar.’
Hartman: ‘Thank you, Maestro. Anything else?’
He is rather bitter about Segovia. (77)
“Pujol asked Tárrega if the apoyando stroke was his own invention: the answer was: No, the stroke was used by Arcas.” (90)
On Alfonso Broqua’s Evocaciones Criollas, which were written for and premiered by Pujol in the 1920s. “Said P[ujol]: It was my fault that they are so difficult. I told Broqua not to worry, to make them as difficult as he pleased; at that time composers were afraid of making things too difficult for guitarists.’” (212)
“Said P[ujol]: ‘I am my own worst pupil.’ Referring to his (at times evident) trembling of the hands: ‘I have a continual vibrato.’” (213)
Pujol: “The doctor who only knows medicine will not even know medicine.” (219)
“In ‘51 Pujol said: When I went to Buenos Aires, and played the vihuelists, the critics said it was not worth crossing the Atlantic with such easy pieces. He added: Let those who can, play them.” (297)
“Said Pujol of Bream: ‘He is very correct, very English, well set-up. But we miss the Mediterranean throb.’” (362)
“Tom [Hartman] plays Lauro. Said P[ujol]: ‘Frankly, I don’t like this music. I find it insistent and hollow. Begging the composer’s pardon, for he has produced some good pieces.’ The 2nd movement was more successful. Said P[ujol]: ‘To write sonatas simply to be wirting sonatas, is – arriesgado.’
He prefers the struck string in shorter forms.” (380)
“A page in the press about Segovia. Much excitement. Said P[ujol], breathlessly on the way to class: — what we truly owe to him is this Andalucian grace with which he has conquered the guitar and brought composer to it. … how badly he plays Bach, to the applause of the multitude!” (501)
“Said P[ujol]: the string quartet never changes timbre; why should the guitar have to do so?” (513)
Pujol, in a speech at the opening ceremony of the 1972 course: “In the slow but continuous evolution of musical instruments can be seen their metaphysical connection with human beings. The guitar is the only one whose imitative capacity … is adapted to every musical form; hence its manifold difficulties. Many conservatoires use out-of-date methods in guitar teaching, forgetting the essential thing — to teach how to study.
“Public and jury panel and critic, when ignorant, accept the guitar however it is played; whether with the perfection demanded of other instruments, or with tricks to hide the deficiencies of a faulty execution. …
“On the nail and flesh problem: The first, brilliant but rather cold, favours rapid and spectacular works, always a sucess; the second, warm, ample, sensitives, gives a truer picture of the player’s emotion and the lyricism of the music, for intelligent appreciation.
“But the mechanisation of sound is brining about a corruption of the delicacy of the ear, and the general public, ignorant of these matters, pays them no attention.” (514)
“P[ujol] said he went on his knees to Tárrega whenever he heard the Capricho Arabe. ‘All later guitarists have played it, each in his own way; but I always have present in memory the way in which I heard Tárrega play it.’” (514)
“Tárrega used rasgueado but once, in a transcription of Albeniz. Pujol used it for the first time in a classical work, ‘Sevilla,’ 1923.” (515)
“Said P[ujol]: ‘Some people think I prefer the sound without nails; but the principal things is to have a good sound, whether with or without nails.’” (520)
“[Pujol] cited Llobet, a man of facility who studied little, because, unlike Tárrega, he had no desire for an impeccable technique. While out walking he would turn the music over in his mind. He studied, but without the guitar.” (526)
“Lewis Arnold quoted Zander the ‘cellist of Boston. ‘I lump all you guitarists together. Williams and Bream commit musical atrocity and get away [with] it in a manner not tolerated on any other instrument.’” (564)
On an unspecified prelude by Tárrega. “An excess of arrastres, says P[ujol]. Because his listeners liked then. Had Tárrega lived he would have suppressed them all.” (572-73)
Pujol described “two types of concert giver: the mystical, with a mission, and the astute, who imposes his prestige.” (573)
“P[ujol] believes in a future life. I do not. He cannot be disillusioned. But I can.” (646)
No-Nail Guitar 