Richard
D. Stover. Six Sliver Moonbeams: The Life and
Times of Agustín Barrios Mangoré. San Francisco: Guitar Solo Publications, 1992.
271 pages. Paperback. ISBN
0-9632233-1-3
Peter Kun Frary
I first heard
the music of Agustín Barrios (1885-1944)
in the mid-1970s. The curious fusion of
Classical, folk and popular styles in pieces
such as Vals, Op. 8, No. 4, Un sueño
en la floresta and Maxixe immediately
drew me to his compositions. Back in the day,
the drone of Sor, Carcassi, Villa-Lobos and
Tarrega in practice rooms and master classes was
enough to drive you mad. The discovery of
Barrios offered fresh and exciting sounds and
guitarists flocked to the ground-breaking
editions of Richard Stover. Today Barrios is a
staple of the repertoire, but most guitarists
know little about Barrios as a man and musician.
Stover's monograph, Six Silver Moonbeams,
reveals Barrios for all to read and
ponder.
Six Silver
Moonbeams is a well written and researched
biography of Agustín Barrios, one of the
finest guitarist-composers of the last century.
Many interesting aspects of Barrios'
life—travels, loves, concerts, recordings,
poetry, drawings, compositions, etc.—are
revealed, expounded upon and documented by
Stover for the first time.
Barrios: Danza Paraguaya | Frary Guitar Duo
Stover surveys
the life of Barrios in eight chapters: "Youth in
Paraguay," "The Artist Matures," "The Journey to
Greatness," "Cacique Nisuga Mangoré,"
"The Last Years," "Barrios the Artist," "Barrios
the Man" and "Barrios the Composer." He includes
appendices of recordings, guitars and
compositions, and documents sources with
extensive endnotes and a bibliography. The text
is nicely enhanced with frequent photographs,
concert posters and programs, letters,
manuscripts and other original source
materials.
Although the
intent and organization of this book are
scholarly, the writing style is fairly simple
and direct, making it an easy read for most
classical guitar aficionados. The musical
analysis in "Barrios the Composer" may be over
the head of someone lacking freshman music
theory. However, most of the contents are
standard historical and biographical fare.
Here's a sample from page 113:
Starting
in mid 1930 in northwestern Brazil, this full
blown concert suddenly emerges: Nitsuga
Mangoré—complete with costumes (he
wore feathers and even posed with bow and
arrow) and poetry—emphasizing the fact that
here was a true representative of the
Guaraní culture mystically empowered
to share with them the "songs of our birds
and the fragrance of our forests through the
music of my guitar."
That was a
long sentence! Interesting tidbit though. Modern
classical guitarists interested in authentic
interpretation should consider stripping naked
to the waist and donning feathers on
stage!
Barrios: Estudio en si meno | Frary Guitar Duo
The only
negative aspect of this book is its cheap
materials: thin paper covers and page stock. For
20 bucks GSP could have done better. Yeah, I
know, it's a small print run for a limited
market, but Joe Public is used to better
quality.
Six Silver
Moonbeams is a milestone in the
guitar history literature and will be a fascinating read for any Barrios fan. It has
earned a place on my night stand along with the
Holy Bible and the National Geographic
Guide to Photography.
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