Romanza d'Amor (long version)

Here is my interpretation of the famous classical guitar standard, "Romanza d"Amor". It is known by various names, including "Spanish Romance", "Spanish Ballad", "Jeux Interdits", and others.

Because it is such a famous and well-known piece, even entering the world of pop vocal music as the song "Forbidden Games" by Miriam Makeba, there has been a lot of controversy about its authorship. It is certain that this was NOT written by Narciso Yepes for the 1953 film "Jeux Interdits (Forbidden Games)", because it had already been recorded in 1940 by Vicente Gomez in the movie "Blood and Sand". And it's certain that it wasn't written by Gomez, either, because it had been published in Buenos Aires decades earlier.

Others have ascribed the piece to Miguel Llobet, Francisco Tarrega, and even Fernando Sor. There's also a convincing argument that it's a Carpathian Gypsy melody which was transplanted to Argentina in the late 1800s and eventually made its way back to Spain decades later. Strange as it sounds, this one seems to make considerable sense; there's a very strong connection between Russian guitar music of that era and guitar music from the Rio de la Plata region some 30 years later.

Ultimately, I would say that final credit has to go Antonio Rubira (a/k/a/ Antonio Rovira) who published an "Estudio para Guitarra" in 1913 in Buenos Aires which has the exact melody, albeit with a slightly different arpeggio pattern (16th versus triplets, p/a imi versus p/a mi). Many thanks to Prof. David Grimes from California State University @ Fullerton for sending me a copy of this 1913 score. There's no question this is the same piece. Rovira may well have adapted a Gypsy melody, or it may be entirely his own creation. Then there's still the remaining mystery of "who" put it into the familiar triplet rhythm, initially used by Matteo Carcassi in his Etude #3 and also by Tarrega in his E-minor etude, and not the sixteenth-note pattern Rovira published.

Anyway, it's a fun piece to play. My version leans heavily on the version done by Liona Boyd in 1977, but with elements of Jack Marshall's edition as well. I call this the "long version" because I treat it as a theme-with-variations, AA-B-A-B-A.

This particular video is dedicated to my church-friend Ines Korbanka, a lady who shares a birthday with my daughter (albeit a few years apart) and who is learning "Romanza" and who maybe will let me hear her version (some day)!

TECH DATA:
Recorded 9/10/2010 on a 2009 Johnny Walker flamenco guitar. Flip Ultra-HD camcorder, no reverb or editing (truth-be-told, being able to make a couple of edits on two spots with buzzy notes would have been nice, but the Flip doesn't have that option!)

Enjoy.

Category:

People & Blogs

Tags:

• romanza d'amor
• spanish romance
• spanish ballad
• narciso yepes
• vicente gomez
• johnny walker
• david norton
• ines korbanka
• jeux interdits
• forbidden games

[SommaVesuvio]

Thank you for playing this for us, David—and thank you very much for the historical outline too,

All the best, SV :)

[davinort]

@SommaVesuvio: I am glad you enjoyed it. I was somewhat hesitant to post such a familiar piece, but then decided that "my" version is sufficiently different from the other versions to justify the effort.

[EastKeswick1]

That was marvellous to watch. I liked the variation too. Tremolo fantastic. Impressed with the sound quality of the Flip (just bought one but unused yet), so having watched this, I know it should be good for recording.

[SuperStoopidone]

very good... enjoyed quite alot... an interesting guitar you have to

[spronev]

Very nice version!

Svilen