Fernando Sor – Andante largo op. 5 no. 5

This is a famous piece which Sor dedicated to his wife and published in Paris in 1814. They had left Spain during the war there the year before in 1813 protected by a strong French military escort, and Sor had just begun his career in Paris as a musician.

Don’t play this famous piece too slowly. Andante at that time did not necessarily mean slow as it usually does now! It only meant “keep a steady beat”. So try this as a simple very steady Largo. Don’t let the eloquent ornamentation slow the piece down.

If you play the piece as though the melody were a voice singing, you won’t go far wrong.

You can hear this Andante largo played by the famous Argentinian guitarist Maria Luisa Anido here:

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.