Pepita Roca (1897-1956)

Born 1897, Josefa Roca Salvador (better known as ‘Pepita’ Roca) was Tárrega’s last notable student. She came from a wealthy Valencian family whose home frequently hosted musical concerts. Tárrega gave a recital there one evening, and from then on he taught Roca the guitar. She was his dedicated student until his death in 1909. In a 1907 letter to Roca, Tárrega told her, ‘Study the guitar hard and believe in the fervent affection of your teacher who admires you.’¹

She clearly possessed uncommon skill. Domingo Prat wrote that her ‘brilliant career was a great achievement for the instrument’.² In his autobiography, Segovia comments on her playing, as he does many of the guitarists he encountered early in his career. His comments are seldom entirely positive — he was not one to give his rivals unalloyed compliments. Interestingly, while a typical (and often erroneous) criticism of no-nail players is that, whatever their musical merits, their non-use of nails impedes virtuosity, Segovia says the reverse was true with Roca:

She had been Tárrega’s last student—a girl of twenty more graced by her youth than by good looks, whose slight figure lacked feminine softness. She had also been shortchanged in sensitivity and musical perception: her fast, flexible small fingers played the most intricate exercises with amazing speed and accuracy, but without the slightest expression, shading or dynamics. It was like listening to an automated guitar: mere technique.³

Roca gave her premiere concert at the Circulo de Bellas Artes in Valencia, aged eighteen. It was apparently a great success, but sadly her career would be cut short. The primary reason was ill health, although her marriage may also have played a part (as with Josefino Robledo).⁴ She did not give many concerts and never performed outside Spain. She did, however, have a career as a teacher. In 1955 she was even offered a post at the Valencia Conservatory, but her failure to recover from a serious operation meant she could not take up the post.⁵ She died a year later, in 1956.

Throughout her life she was a steadfast supporter of playing without nails, following the example of Tárrega. In a letter to her student Rosa Gil Bosque, she wrote:

Also keep in mind that, despite my health, I continue to cut my nails. I think you will not be seduced by the enemies of the sweetest sound of the guitar.⁶

It’s possible that Tárrega’s Pepita was named after Roca, though I haven’t seen any confirmatory evidence. However, Emilio Pujol did dedicate a work to Roca, Becqueriana. Here’s Rob’s MacKillop’s performance:

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1. 24 March 1907, in Torge Bramer, Francisco Tárrega Eixea: Diario y cartas (2016), pp. 103-104. ↩︎
2. Domingo Prat, Diccionario de Guitarristas (Editions Orphee, 1986), p. 264. ↩︎
3. Andrés Segovia, an autobiography of the years 1893-1920 (Marion Boyars, 1976), pp. 91-92. ↩︎
4. Prat, Diccionario, p. 264. For the suggestion that her marriage affected her career, see Wolf Moser, Francisco Tárrega y la guitarra en España entre 1830 y 1960 (PILES, Editorial de Música S. A., 2009), p. 344. ↩︎
5. https://rosagil.es/1948-c-encuentro-con-pepita-roca/ ↩︎
6. Ibid. ↩︎