Composed 1939; Duration: 21 minutes
First BPO Performance: October 4-5, 1997 (Manuel Barrueco, guitar; Maximiano Valdés, conductor)
Last BPO Performance: March 2-4, 2001 (Angel Romero, guitar; JoAnn Falletta, conductor)
Aranjuez is a small town situated in the southern outskirts of Madrid and boasts the Royal Palace of the Spanish royal family. First built in the 16th century, its beautiful gardens were opened to the public in 1931 following the end of the Spanish monarchy. As the Spanish Civil War raged from 1936-39, Joaquín Rodrigo was struggling to make ends meet while exiled in Paris. Following the war, Rodrigo returned to Spain in triumph with his new, patriotic concerto, premiered in 1940 by guitarist Regino Sainz de la Maza.
Inspired by the gardens at Aranjuez, Rodrigo’s concerto communes with nature in an iconic Spanish setting and acts as a proud escapist meditation in a time of war that transports the listener to a different era. The striking opening features archetypal Spanish rhythm as the soloist alternates between accent groups of three and two. The meticulously colorful orchestration exudes a restrained joy that is absent in the extensive middle movement. There, the soloist offers a steady rhythm for the English horn’s plaintive theme. The movement is conversational with the theme alternating between guitarist and orchestral soloists, until the soloist works in isolation with a lengthy cadenza.
Born in Valencia, Rodrigo lost his sight at age three, began studying music at eight, and would later compose using braille. The virtuosic pianist continued his studies in Paris, where he met Turkish pianist Victoria Kamhi. Married in 1933, Victoria focused on assisting Joaquín. She gave birth to their only daughter in 1941, only after the tragedy of miscarriage years earlier. Victoria later recounted that the central movement portrayed the emotional conflict of marital joy and devastating loss.
Rodrigo’s concerto helped legitimize the classical guitar on the concert stage and reinforced it as a musical symbol of Spain. Remaining his most famous work, the concerto’s success launched his career, and he held a professorship in Madrid from 1947 on. His success seems like a fulfillment of the optimistic finale, in which the virtuosic guitarist presents clear, joyous lines of music that surprise with unexpected metric and key changes. Rodrigo’s concerto is a celebration of Spanish pride that remains at the heart of the guitar’s repertoire.