Fernando Sor – 24 progressive lessons op. 31 for solo guitar

Sor’s 24 progressive lessons for the guitar, op. 31, were first published in Paris in 1828. The full title of the original edition is Vingt quatre leçons progressives pour la guitare, doigtées avec soin, dediées aux élèves commençants (‘24 progressive lessons, carefully fingered, dedicated to beginning pupils’).

The lesson op. 31 no. 3 is FREE TO EVERYBODY.

In this work, a mere year after the publication of his studies op. 29 in 1827, Sor radically changed his approach to the writing of instructional music for the guitar. Whereas in his op. 6 and op. 29 he had assumed that the basic level of playing had already been attained, and had devoted himself to writing pieces at a moderately advanced level whose aim was to improve certain technical aspects of guitar-playing, now in this op. 31 he is writing specifically, to quote the title-page, for “les élèves commençants” (beginning pupils). To emphasize the difference, he calls the pieces of op. 31 “Leçons” rather than “Etudes”, a distinction which he repeats in the text of his Méthode pour la Guitare of 1830. From being primarily a virtuoso performer, he has become a teacher. His method is a thoughtful work, and his instructional music from now on is among the finest and most melodious of all easy music ever written for the guitar.

This edition comes from the new 2020 second edition of Sor’s New Complete Works for Guitar edited by Brian Jeffery. The Introduction and Index to the entire series can be seen here on this site.