Fortea learnt guitar, piano, and bandurria as a child, but the moment his musical life truly began was when, at twenty years old, he first met Francisco Tárrega. I’ll let Fortea tell the story in his own words:
‘While l was doing my military service it happened that I was in Castellon for several days. Even in those days I was enamoured with the guitar and felt an immense admiration for my illustrious compatriot (Francisco Tarrega), haunting the vicinity of his house in my soldier’s uniform and waiting for the chance to hear the maestro playing the guitar. One night the opportunity came and I stood with my ear to the door, listening in rapture, when I was surprised by someone coming out. He turned back and told the maestro about the intruder he had seen. Tarrega came to the door and said calmly ‘It is a modest soldier, he can came in’. He received me with simple kindness and from that time I became his devoted and faithful disciple.’‘1
Fortea would go on to be a notable performer, teacher and publisher. His students included Regino Sainz de la Maza, Celedonio Romero, and Miguel Angel Martinez. He also set up Biblioteca Fortea, an important publishing house for guitar music.
Emilio Pujol described his friend Fortea as
‘a good-hearted, genial and simple character, full of sane humour. […] He never tried to appear other than he was, as so many do who are driven by ambition. He never boasted of his talent or mastery and never presumed to be doing more than simply maintaining the prestige of the guitar, and through so doing, to be expressing his own highest aspirations. He never tried to impose his judgment upon others.‘2
Fortea was favoured by the Spanish royal family — the King and Queen reportedly called him ‘Forteita’ as a term of affection — but when the Republic was declared he lost this advantage. He was also unlucky under the Franco dictatorship, when in 1947 he accidentally became a political prisoner. His student, Ramón Roncal Gonzalo, managed to get him released, explaining that
‘in one of my visits to Madrid they told me that Fortea was incarcerated. Asking the reason for this, I realized that he had been deceived by certain politicians who, with the excuse of listening to a private concert, performed a clandestine session at his home. The police found out and they were all arrested.‘3
Fortea was a no-nail player, with one exception — his thumb.4 However, the thumbnail is easy to grow out while still avoiding its use, owing to the different angle of attack of the thumb. I suspect, listening to Fortea’s recordings, that he did not use the thumbnail most of the time, but it is admittedly hard to tell.
Here is Fortea playing his composition Munescos de Carton, recorded in the mid 1930s:
- Guitar News, 13 (1953), p. 4. ↩︎
- Emilio Pujol, ‘Daniel Fortea,’ Guitar News, 14 (1953) pp. 1-3 (p. 2-3). ↩︎
- https://bibliotecafortea.com/en/daniel-fortea-en/ ↩︎
- Ibid. ↩︎
No-Nail Guitar 
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