ISBN 9781610656139.

The guitar's entrance into American culture began in the early 1800s, introduced primarily by visiting and immigrant Spanish guitarists. Many of these newly arrived Spaniards exerted great influence on the guitar's development in 19th century America. The works in this book contain the compositions and arrangements of eight noted 19th century Hispanic American guitarist / composers with an emphasis on their works that reflect Latin themes or rhythms. Rounding out this anthology are dance forms such as the Habanera, Jota, Cachucha, Sevillano, Spanish Mazurka, and other Spanish dance related works along with extended concert pieces such as Theme and Variations, Serenades, Polonaises and a delightful arrangement of The Celebrated Spanish Retreat, a programmatic work with an unusual 'C' tuning and novel harmonic effects crafted to imitate the bugles, horns and drums as heard on the battlefield. The book features twenty-one solos and two duets which range in difficulty from easy to advanced. An extensive and well researched text along with photos and a companion recording by acclaimed guitarist/scholar Douglas Back help to make this a landmark book.

ISBN 9781513459691. 8.75x11.75 inches.

Silvius Leopold Weiss (1687 1750) is known to guitarists as the greatest baroque composer for the lute, yet most are only familiar with the earlier portion of Weisss prolific output found in the British Library in London. Inspired by a forty-year friendship with the late Douglas Alton Smith - a major figure in the scholarly study of the history of the lute - guitarist, composer, and head of the guitar program at Temple University in Philadelphia, Allen Krantz explored the Weiss manuscripts found in other European cities, particularly the Dresden editions which contain the fifteen sonatas that Weiss produced from the late 1730s to the end of his life. Transcriptions of three of those fifteen late sonatas are featured in this book in modern standard notation along with the original lute tablature as found in the Sachsische Landesbibliothek - Staats- und Universitatsbibliothek, Dresden. While the baroque lutes tuning makes some works awkward or impossible on the guitar, the three works presented hereSonatas No. 35 in D minor, No. 42 in A minor and No. 45 in A Major are in their original keys which happen to be guitar-friendly. The authors generous and scholarly Preface provides thorough historical and performance notes for the music in this volume. While just three of Weisss 109 multi-movement lute sonatas are represented here, the importance of this publication cannot be overstated. It contains some of the greatest music of a masterful lutenist Weiss once faced-off with J. S. Bach on keyboards in a counterpoint improvisation contestnow made accessible to the modern classical guitarist.