Ruggero Chiesa’s Legacy

Written by Peyman Shirali

Translated by Mahta Mottaghi

Since many years ago, I had the intention of writing an article on the Italian maestro Ruggero Chiesa and his musical life; but his ingenuity and the immense legacy, which is impressive for not only me, but also almost everyone who knows him properly, made it hard for me to find out what am I even going to start my words with.

Chiesa, a remarkable and brilliant classical guitar player, teacher and editor, was born in Camogli, Italy. He started a couple of private lessons with Mario Canepa. Thenceforth, he continued his guitar education with Carlo Palladino in Genoa, Italy.

At 1956 and 1960, he participated in Academia Musicale Chigiana with having Alirio Diaz and Emilio Pujol back then, to teach him how to play Vihuela.

Subsequently, Chiesa were replaced as Alirio Diaz in tablature transcription courses until the year 1992, a year before his death.

After his carrier as a concert player came to an end as the result of hand problems, he began a new life devoting himself to training students. Moreover, he engaged with learning and contemplating about literature, lute and of course classical guitar. Eventually all his efforts led to revitalizing Italian guitar pieces were composed back in the 19th century.

Since 1963, he was a teacher at Giuseppe Verdi Conservatory of Music in Milan. Some of his best students are now known as the most outstanding international guitarist like Frederic Zigante and Emanuele Segre.

After 1965, Chiesa started a great collaboration with Edizioni Suvini Zerboni (an Italian music publishing house (ESZ) founded in Milan) by some revisions of ancient classical pieces, performing accurate philological analysis, and expanding this instrument’s repertoire. Furthermore, editing many songs from different composers and also writing some educational books are some of his other musical activities that should be mentioned.

Chiesa wrote three books on the basic methods of playing guitar. These books served as references for remarkable and famous Italian guitar teachers and players to start their work with. One can say that he established the standard Italian school.

Nowadays, many musicians believe in his edits so they generally use his edits in master-classes and concerts all over the world.

“Any guitarist,”Chiesa once said, “that uses my editing knowledge, is literally my student.”

In this article, I also tend to discuss about some edits from the greatest teachers of guitar history like Andres Segovia, Alirio Diaz, Emilio Pujol, John Duarte, etc. All these celebrated musicians are certainly notable for improvements of guitar skills that were brought about in these decades, but what made Ruggero Chiesa different and special is that he has left an impact on other players’ knowledge.

Here are some points seen in his edits:

-Correct transcription of the notation

– Fingering both right and left hand in the sheet music

– Putting some ossias for bars

– His unique “timbre” for each bar

– Creating better and more accurate harmonic melody for the notes

– Using an artistic and a masterful way for the bass notes and rests.

Another overt trait that his edits have, is that they demonstrate a good articulation.

This Italian guitarist truly had a great knowledge of guitar structure and his editions has recovered guitar and its classical composers.

I, personally, have studied about more that 350 pieces edited by him and, indeed, I owe most of my knowledge and POV in music to him.

Chiesa spent several years of his life studying and figuring out etudes and repertoires and he even published his erudition in a weekly magazine. Those articles became so popular that almost all of his fans and the guitar teachers read his words, which later made a great impact on guitarists’ musical life.

One of his favorite students, Frederic Zigante, took advantage of most of Chiesa’s edits and reprinted it. Sadly, Zigante’s fingering and anything that refers to editing a music sheet, have a lower merit and quality.

Finally, I want to say that this article can be useful and helpful for this field’s researchers and students to get to know Chiesa and his efforts better.

I also recommend people to follow his best transcripts and edits for Sor, Giuliani, Tarrega, Aguado and Paganini’s songs.

“Everything he had tried to edit, believe it or not, became a masterpiece.”

 

 

Post a Comment

Required fields are marked *
*
*
Your email is never shared.

Nasser Masoudi: The Voice of Gilan and a Legacy of Iranian Music

In Iranian music, certain singers have become emblematic of their homelands through their distinctive voices. Historical figures such as Eghbal Sultan, who epitomized the grandeur of Azerbaijani music, and Taj Isfahani, who conveyed the authentic essence of Isfahan, serve as notable examples from the Qajar era. Nasser Masoudi occupies a similar position; his voice emerged as a symbol of Gilan while also achieving national acclaim. Before him, Master Ahmad Ashurpur represented Gilan’s musical landscape, but his extended residence outside Iran limited his continuous engagement in the music scene. In contrast, Masoudi’s consistent presence allowed him to introduce the voice of Gilan to audiences across Iran.

Farhad Poupel: The Voice of the Shahnameh in the Orchestras Around the World

In an era when almost no trace of contemporary Iranian music can be heard in international concert halls, except (so-called!) avant-garde works that owe their existence solely to the fashionable slogans of the “pseudo-intellectual” crowd who have seized the already meager resources for performing classical music from the true artists of the field, the numerous performances of Farhad Poupel’s works shine as a ray of hope for lovers of sincere musical art. Without resorting to trendy slogans, he has kept the flame of Iranian classical music alive purely through the power of his artistry.

From Past Days…

The Structure of Kurdistan Daf (V)

ehrouz Mohammadi, “Daf and its feasts in Ghaderieh’s Tekyeh” mentions that the outer thickness of arch where studs are located, [is] between one to one and a half centimeters (Mohammadi, 2001: 12). The thickness of arch should be gradually reduced from the installation place of rings to skin (Avazeh of Daf) to create a high volume, clear sound from Daf; also, the connection of arch to skin should not be less than one millimeter, because in this case the skin will be torn due to the sharpness of the wood (Mogharab Samadi, 2009: 79-78). The thickness of wood on the skin side is about two to three millimeters (Tohidi, 2002: 79).

Women and the Music Environment in Iran

The life territory of the female-male relations in the Iranian cultural context is basically a domestic territory and not a social-living one in the labour and leisure domains. To prove this, it only suffices to consider the Iranian men’s viewpoints about women. For the Iranian men, there are three perspectives regarding the women: mother, sister and wife. Mother represents the emotional territory; sister represents the logical territory at home while wife represents the sexual territory.

From the Last Instrumentalist to the First Composer (I)

Music as an art has its own special history; emergence of a singer, of an instrumentalist and then the emergence of the strong character of a composer covers three significant phases of the art of music. With the emergence of composer which was simultaneous with the emergence of the language of music, this art managed to offer a domain for criticism for its composer; a procedure which led to a magnificent variety and evolution in musical production. Even though the conflicts between singers and instrumentalists have not met their end in the Iranian society and while singers can achieve high, instrumentalists have yet to play behind curtains . In a special era, with the efforts of musicians such as Ali Naghi Vaziri (1887-1979) and Rouhollah Khaleghi (1906-1965), glimmers of a composing era started to glow bearing fruit in Khaleghi’s achievement as Iran’s first professional composer. Khaleghi made his reputation as a composer while Vaziri deserved to pioneer this path. By then Vaziri was well-known as a Tar player.

Polyphony in Iranian Music (I)

Despite the fact that Iranian folk music (regional music of Iran), like the Radif of Iranian traditional music, is monophonic and follows heterophony in principal, we experience polyphonic forms, albeit, majorly unconscious.

Polyphony in Iranian Music (III)

In heterophonic variant, two performers perform a single melody simultaneously and change it. Performing and changing a single melody simultaneously by two performers leads to the coincidence of different voices.

Henry Cowell: “Persian Set”

Persian Set: Four Movements for chamber orchestra: Moderato; Allegretto; Lento; Rondo

Henry Cowell, one of the most innovative American composers of the 20th century, was born in 1897. Cowell and his wife visited Iran in 1956 and stayed there the whole winter, upon the invitation by the Iranian Royal Family, when he composed his album “Persian Set” in four movements for chamber orchestra. His composition is expressive of the characteristic quality of the Persian or the Iranian music.

A few steps on the “Road to Bach”

The world of music has unparalleled respect for Bach. Bach is considered the spiritual father of classical music; Bach’s great position is due not only to his great achievements in the fields of harmony, counterpoint, and compositional sciences but also to his respect for and adherence to the artistic principles of classical music. In the history of classical music, it is recorded that Bach walked about fifty kilometers to listen to the music played by the great German organist Dieterich Buxtehude, and this is the path that every idealistic classical music student should walk.

Homayoun Rahimian & Iran’s National Orchestra

The Roudaki Foundation presented the permanent conductor of the National Orchestra (Orchestr Melli), Homayoun Rahimian, in a ceremony, and finally, after four years, the national orchestra found a permanent conductor. Homayoun Rahimian is the fourth permanent conductor of this orchestra after Farhad Fakhreddini, Bardia Kiaras, and Fereidoun Shahbaziyan. He, who has previously had experience of conducting concerts besides being Meister’s concert of this orchestra, performed the concert “Autumns” on the 20th of Tir, performing works by Rouhollah Khaleqi, Javad Ma’roufi, and Hossein Dehlavi.

Mohammad Esmaili passes away

Master Mohammad Ismaili, a prominent musician and renowned tombak player, passed away on August 13, 2023, after battling an illness in the ICU of Rasoul Akram Hospital. His funeral will take place on Thursday, August 17, at 10 am in front of Vahdat Hall, and he will be laid to rest in the Artists’ Section of Behesht Zahra Cemetery.

Polyphony in Iranian Music (VI)

Torqeh or jal is the same bird (Bimaculated lark) and is the name of a muqam which is well-known in Torbate Jam and those areas. Jal muqam is called Torqeh in Esfarayen and Bojnourd. This muqam which was used to be played by Bakhshis/Bagşies (dutar-players) in the past is seldom performed today.