Abstract
This article looks at contextual and interpretive issues surrounding the Groses Duo in a-Moll by Viennese composer Ferdinand Rebay (1880-1953). After situating Rebay within the contemporary guitar developments in Vienna, I contextualize the piece and highlight its significance as a one-of-a-kind Romantic sonata for guitar duo. Next, I look at the potential difficulties of incorporating it into the repertoire of modern guitar duos due to Rebay’s use of a near-obsolete instrument, the Quintbass Gitarre, while also offering a brief organological investigation. Finally, I describe in detail my attempts to adapt the piece to the instrumentation of my ensemble, the NOVA Guitar Duo. Backed up by an extensive familiarity with the composer’s style, I endeavour to intervene in the text, not only for playability reasons but also to rebalance melodic material in the fashion of traditional guitar duo and domestic Austro-German chamber music writing.
Highlights
Ferdinand Rebay and his Viennese guitar environmentThe guitar music of Ferdinand Rebay (1880-1953) is a by-product of a major transformation in the way the guitar projected itself beyond its former niches, such as the guitar clubs emerged in the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries. it is impossible to understand its significance without looking at the circumstances that supported this transformation, those around 1920
This article looks at contextual and interpretive issues surrounding the Großes Duo in aMoll by Viennese composer Ferdinand Rebay (18801953)
I will focus on the provenance of his Großes Duo, situating it in the guitar duo repertoire as well as within Rebay’s own guitar output
Summary
The guitar music of Ferdinand Rebay (1880-1953) is a by-product of a major transformation in the way the guitar projected itself beyond its former niches, such as the guitar clubs emerged in the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries. it is impossible to understand its significance without looking at the circumstances that supported this transformation, those around 1920. Starting in the 1930s, performances of Rebay’s guitar music became increasingly associated with the activities of his niece Gerta Hammerschmid (1906-1985), herself a former student of Ortner at the Akademie and a keen chamber musician This did not prevent Rebay from writing pieces to other guitarists such as Walker, but certainly restricted the dissemination of his music outside Vienna, since Hammerschmid’s performing career ended up being a mainly local one. Prior to his professorship at the Wiener Akademie, most of Rebay’s instrumental music had been written during his student years under Fuchs. As will be discussed the Großes Duo in a-Moll is such a case
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