Christopher Nicklin Concert Work Report Giulio Regondi has been relatively unknown for years until his

music was discovered in the 1980s. Before that it was widely considered that Sor was the Beethoven of Guitar. However, after finding some of Regondis works it is clear that Regondi was the most accomplished composer of the guitarists during the late classical/ early romantic era. Looking into Regondis Fete Villageoise Op.20 will give an insight into the prowess of his compositional skill. Regondi was part of the early romantic era and being of that era meant that form was a tool but not a strict tool. Because of this his Op.20 follows these ideas. On the score it is labeled as a rondo caprice. This is important because the title is already telling the performer that it is a rondo with an improv quality to it. The piece is a five-part rondo with some unusual occurrences within it, which makes it a modified five-part rondo. Right off the back it starts with an introduction in the dominate of the piece, the key of A. This is reminiscent of the first movement in Beethovens sonata Pathatique, which also opens with an intro. After the intro it starts with the A theme at measure 40 in the key of D, the main key of the piece. Then at measure 80 it starts a transition to the B section in the key of A, the dominant. It gets there through the key of G, which is interesting but not entirely unusual. After the B section finishes it goes into another transition at measure 119 with a lot of secondary dominates. However, right before the return of the A section the last 14 measures of the intro show up to connect the two sections. That again is reminiscent of Beethoven. The A section is in the correct key of D and then with no transition goes into a cadenza at measure 187. This is highly unusual for a rondo. Then it

goes into the C section, but really it is the B section in the key of D. This is unusual because usually the C section is the key furthest away from D in the whole piece. However, if one takes a seven-rondo part form then it makes sense because the final return of B would be in the home key of D. Basically he blended a five-part rondo form with a seven-part rondo. Regondi probably did this because the piece was extended into seven parts with an intro, cadenza, and coda (as will be soon discussed). The second B section uses a transition to get back into the A section as it did the first time but using different chords because it is transition to the same key it is already in. The Last A section happens and then moves into a coda going back and forth between V and I. This use of form is brilliant because it highlights the virtuoso nature of Regondi and allows a lot of showing off. The piece is chromatic but is never to far out. All the chromatic notes and chords are only for embellishment and definitely pulled from the late classical tradition of Italian music. It would be most related to Italian opera, which Regondi takes many influences from. It can be proven from the two air on themes of operas that he wrote. Examples of chords that were chromatic that he used are French augmented sixth chords in measures 5 and 7 to highlight the next dominant chord. He also used many diminished chords. Even though he used all these chords they functioned as they are suppose to rather than the style of Chopin where chords are mutated chromatically. The piece has a plethora of ornamentation of fast trills. This also comes from the Italian sound. He also uses a lot of appoggiaturas within the piece. This gives it a light bubbly nature of a party. The piece is homophonic with bass and melody. Chords come in

every once in a while but it is mainly bass and melody. Chromatic passing tones are used frequently that sort of resemble the style of Mozart. The piece does fit on the guitar however; it does fit better on a romantic guitar. This is because as guitars got big the scale of the guitar got bigger. This makes some of the stretches a little more difficult to handle, especially when it is at a brisk tempo. It is not impossible but it does make it more challenging for performers now. Being a piece by Regondi it has many technical challenges. The biggest one to note is the B sections. They have scales with many pull offs. The reason they are there is to showcase the players technique. The other two hard spots are the cadenzas chromatic descending thirds and the codas scales in octaves. Other than that the piece seems manageable. I really enjoy this piece. It is a nice break from pieces in the minor keys. It has a high level of compositional skill that I enjoy as well. I plan to play it for my senior recital but that is always subject to change. It is the most manageable of Regondis concert works, but that does not mean it is easy by any means. It is a nice addition to anyones repertoire. It is especially good after a modern piece in order to not alienate a listener.