Week 1: Wanderer over a Sea of Fog! 
Welcome to the Main Thread for the first week of "The Romantic Era" challenge!
- Make sure you've read the guidelines before replying (<- click)
- Watch the kickoff livestream! (<- click)
When is a piece of music romantic for you?
↓ Happy Sharing! ↓
-
Coste - Op 38 No 3
I decided that, rather than just going in order through Coste's Op 38, I would instead go to my favorites. To try to play all of the opus in sequence would be at least a year long adventure for me (if not more).
Number 3 is a really beautiful prelude in D minor. I did make a few changes to Coste's fingering that, in my opinion, make it more legato. I also decided to add some slurs to the repeated figure in measures 5-9. Let me know what you think of the result.
-
Eric Phillips Another Beautiful piece! As I said in the last comment, they sound more like performing pieces than etudes, really beautiful. I am still struggling to find music to play because I am quite new to classical guitar world, I don't even know which music or who is in the "Romantic era".
Let me do some research in the Tonebase lessons archive, and hope that I can find something to start with. -
Wai Thanks, Wai. Tarrega might be a good place to start. He has so many outstanding miniatures you could play, such as Lagrima, Adelita, or Marieta. Mertz also has some great intermediate pieces, such as the one Peter Graneis did a lesson on, or one of his nocturnes (Opus 4 No 1 and 2). If you like Coste, maybe try his Op 51. Those are my initial thoughts.
-
Eric Phillips I am unfamiliar with this piece Eric, but beautifully played and such a lovely piece. Whatever you did to Coste's fingering seems to work; very legato. Beautiful
-
-
Hi everyone,
Looking forward to discovering more repertoire from this period as submissions get posted. I have decided to work on Mauro Giuliani's "Le Rose" from "Choix de mes fleurs chéries, Op. 46, No. 9. I fell in love with this piece several years ago but have never taken the time to learn it. This challenge has nudged me to do it now. Hope to have a video of my work on the A section very soon.
-
Rick Lord Awesome! I think this is Giuliani's finest concert piece.
-
Rick Lord Fantastic, I expect nothing less than stunningly beautiful from you
-
-
Looking forward to this challenge. I have just started practising Fingal's Hohle by Mertz. Will post a video Tuesday or Wednesday. It gets a little tricky at the start of the 3rd page (in my edition).
Also relearning a piece 'Romanze' by Carulli. This could be a busy month as I also must get back into Lob der Thranen and I'm away for a week from Friday!
-
Derek Sounds good, Derek. I love Fingal's Hohle, and not just because of the very cool name!
-
Derek , Great choice! This piece is from the Bardic Songs, right? It's a beautiful piece, I'm looking forward to your post!
-
Moyses Lopes I think it is! It's a mysterious and dramatic piece. I am looking forward to your interpretation, Derek ! The arpeggi look pretty hard as well!
-
-
Coste - Op 38 No 4
This study really is one of my all-time favorites. It's short and fairly simple, but just so beautiful. I would put this alongside more well-known pieces like Tarrega's Lagrima, or Carcassi's Op 60 No 16.
-
Eric Phillips oh man, this is so good! So if I've read correctly it's 25 studies and you're already at study no. 4! (where's study 2 by the way, hehe).
-
Martin Thanks, Martin. I skipped number two. I was thinking of doing them all sequentially, but some are very difficult and I would never get even close to finishing by the end of the challenge. So, I'm treating it a bit like the Carcassi challenge and will jump around to some of my favorites. At some point, I may even do some other Coste, or maybe even move on from Coste completely. What can I say? I'm a free spirit!
Next I'm working on number nine (Coste Op 38, not the Beatles song).
-
Eric Phillips Brilliant! I had a time when I always wanted to play the whole thing: the whole Bach Partita, the complete Sonata by XYZ, all the Schubert transcriptions by Mertz (I might still do that if "Aufenthalt" wouldn't always kill my right hand), but you know, who has the time, right?
-
Eric Phillips I tried to play this fluently a long time and still try, because I love it so much, you made it! it looks simple but oh man, it is not......
-
Eric Phillips If you ask, who I am, I would like to simply answer with this bundle of rows
-
Eric Phillips I dont like it, I really love it!
-
Stefanie Mosburger-Dalz I'm glad you enjoy it. With the technique you have, I'm certain you could play this study.
-
Eric Phillips I keep trying
-
Eric Phillips really good opening of this piece. Hard to play real legato, but you’re doing great there, and such good string and consistent tone
-
Eric Phillips It is a beautiful piece Eric. Played beautifully as well.
-
Derek Thank you, Derek.
-
Eric Phillips Bravo! It's sounding so beautiful! We can see that is one of your all-time favorites. Thank you for this moment.
-
Eric Phillips Another hit Eric! I guess I am going to have to take a look at Costs. Thank you for highlighting so many interesting and beautiful pieces
-
-
Over the last three days I have been focused on learning the first 28 measures of Gilulianni's "Le Rose" from "Choix de mes fleurs chéries, Op. 46, No. 9. I've been working on fingering choices and just trying to get a feel for each of the phrases. It is a masterful composition and satisfying to play! I will need to connect the phrases more carefully and avoid getting too sloppy with the tempo as the notes becomes more familiar in my hands. I'll plan on posting up a follow up video in a day or two to share my progress.
End of the Year Challenge: Finish Strong!
