Giulio Regondi - Etudes no. 1 & 6

Etude no. 1 in C - 0:00, Etude no 6 in D minor 3:13 I recently went to the Hayes School of Music at Appalachian State University to record and showcase a number of works contained in the incredible Ophee Collection, recently acquired by the University. Perhaps the crowning jewel of the Ophee collection is the only known manuscript of Regondi’s ten etudes. Unfortunately, the manuscript isn’t in Regondi’s hand (in fact, no original Regondi manuscripts are known to exist), instead, the manuscript was done by a contemporary of Regondi, Ivan Andreevich Klinger, whom Regondi had apparently given his scores. The quest that Matanya Ophee endured in order to retrieve the score is a really great story, and can be found in the forward of his edition of these etudes. While I was at the university I was able to look at the manuscript, and discuss it will Adam Kossler, Douglas James, and Gary Boye, who are all very knowledgable on all things guitar related. One very interesting feature of the first etude, is that some notes were erased (scratched out ink actually), but are still kind of visible. If you know the piece, the erased notes were from those peculiar minor 7th chords that still exist in other publications. Until some original manuscripts come to light, we may never know what Regondi truly intended. Another thing that struck me as odd in the 6th etude, is the fairly long repeat. Klinger marks the repeat with a “sign“ at the beginning rather than the typical Da Capo al Fine. I almost feel as though the repeat should have been from later on in the section, but Regondi has repeated some very long sections in other pieces, so I think it should probably be accepted. I decided to play this work on a 7-string Romantic style guitar because (aside from it being much more similar to Regondi’s instrument than a modern guitar) in one of the copies we have of the first etude, there is a single low D bass note. Since there is no original score, we can’t be sure if this was an addition by a Russian 7-string guitarist who found it more convenient to place it an octave lower (which it is), or perhaps this further supports the evidence for Regondi playing guitars with more than 6 strings. This recording is supported by the Martha and Nancy Lee Bivens Library Fund for Excellence, and the Hayes School of Music. More information about this work can be found in the Matanya Ophee Collection located in the Belk Library Special Collections at Appalachian State University, or online at 7-string Romantic style guitar by Mark Usherovich Drew proudly uses Augustine Classic Reds on his Romantic guitar.