Federico Moretti – Doce Canciones for voice and guitar, edited by Brian Jeffery, as a printed book

This is a new re-engraved edition of Federico Moretti’s Doce Canciones which are twelve love-songs loosely arranged in the form of a song-cycle, all of them with similar accompaniments, an instrumental introduction and ending, a carefully worked-out musical form, and a close attention to detail. Their composer, Federico Moretti, was an Italian born in Naples in 1769 who came to Spain in 1794, became an officer in the Spanish army and rose to the rank of field-marshal (mariscal de campo).  He combined throughout his life a military career with a love of music and in particular of singing and the guitar.  He had an influence on his younger contemporary Fernando Sor who dedicated to him at least one of his own works.

This may be the world’s first song-cycle with guitar.

I published Moretti’s Doce Canciones in 1978 as a facsimile of the original London edition of about 1811, but here now is a new edition, this time modern and re-engraved, with a new introduction.

56 pages.  Large music size 24 x 31 cm.  A handsome new edition on high quality paper, paperbound.  Paperbound and ebook only. (Please note: this edition has guitar accompaniment only; the alternative piano accompaniment which was in the original edition is not included here.)

This edition is uniform with two other new publications of Tecla Editions: Ferandiere’s book Arte de tocar la guitarra española (Madrid, 1799), and the first modern edition of Ferandiere’s Seis Dúos for two guitars (by the way, you can hear two of those six duos played on Soundcloud).

Printed by Artes Gráficas Soler in Valencia Spain, a printer specializing in fine printing for over a hundred years. (They also printed, by the way, the first Tecla Editions book back in 1971.)

You can hear the first of the Doce Canciones, Tirana “Si te veo, si te hablo”, arranged in very lively fashion for two singers and a group of instruments by the group Axivil Goyesco. (Forget the picture which as far as I know doesn’t have any authenticity!)

Here is that same song “Si te veo, si te hablo” sung by Hezy Levy accompanying himself on the guitar.

Here is the list of the twelve songs:
Introduction
Texts and translations
No. 1 La Irresolución: “Si te veo, si te hablo”
No. 2 La Reflexión: “El amor que oculto vive”
No. 3 La Insinuación: “Desde el instante, niña, que vi”
No. 4 La Explicación: “Yo las falacias no sé de amor”
No. 5 La Curiosidad: “La sombra de la noche”
No. 6 La Posesión: “Ayer tarde por flores”
No. 7 El Descuido: “Yo me estaba quietecita”
No. 8 La Ausencia: “Acuérdate, bien mío”
No. 9 El Desengaño: “Muchas veces una niña”
No. 10 Consejo al Bello Sexo: “Alerta muchachas”
No. 11 El Consejo: “Aquel que vivir quiera”
No. 12 La Libertad: “De amor la pasión activa”