Yale University Library home page link link to yale library homepage

 

Back to Chopin at 200 Home | Exhibit Gallery

Mazurka, Op. 33, no. 1
Arranged for guitar by Francisco
Trrega Manuscript, 1909 Misc. Ms. 343 Purchased in part with income from the Stanleigh P. Friedman Fund
Gilmore Music Library
Manuscript Chopin, Mazurka, Op. 33, no. 1, arranged by Francisco Tárrega Manuscript Chopin, Mazurka, Op. 33, no. 1, arranged by Francisco Tárrega Manuscript Chopin, Mazurka, Op. 33, no. 1, arranged by Francisco Tárrega


   Chopin’s piano works have been arranged for a wide variety of instruments. The Gilmore library is fortunate to have the manuscript of the Spanish composer and guitarist Francisco Tárrega’s arrangement of Chopin’s Mazurka, Op. 33, no. 1. The end of the manuscript is signed and dated “Barcelona 23 Junio 1909.” Chopin’s original was in G-sharp minor, but Tárrega’s version is transposed into F-sharp minor.

   Tárrega (1852–1909) is a major figure in the history of classical guitar, but his name is not as familiar to most non-guitarists. A four-measure passage from one of his waltzes has become one of the best-known snippets of music in the world, though few people could name its composer; it is used as a ring tone on millions of Nokia cell phones.