NAPOLÉON COSTE Etude In C Major
The 19th century guitarist and composer was a leading figure from the ‘Golden Age’ of guitar. Bridget Mermikides arranges and transcribes Coste’s beautiful Etude In C Major.
Bridget continues her series of simpler pieces with this Etude from a great French composer.
The French composer and classical guitarist Claude Antoine Jean Georges Napoléon Coste (1805-1883) - who, helpfully for us dropped his first four christian names - is an important figure in the history of the classical guitar. He acted as something of bridge between the instrument’s ‘classical’ and ‘modern’ eras. He was a student and then close friend of the ‘the Beethoven of the guitar’ the Spanish guitarist and composer Fernando Sor, and was also in the company of guitar masters Carulli, Aguado and Carcassi. However, Coste not only occupied this mid 19th century ‘Golden Age’ of the guitar but looked both backward and forward in time to enrich the instrument. He was the first to notate 17th century works (many of which are now established in the repertoire). He was also progressive in his infusion of the ‘romantic’ spirit in the guitar, and foreshadowed 20th (and 21st) century guitar practice with his experimentations on seven-string, 24-fret and ‘harp’ guitars and the introduction of novel and challenging techniques in his compositions and pedagogical work.
One such important set of Coste’s works which greatly influenced 20th century guitar performers and composers is his Opus 38 – the 25 Études (‘studies’). This challenging set of progressive pieces was first published in 1873, reprinted twice in Coste’s life and many more times since – and is featured during most of the guitar’s history of recordings from Llobet and Sor to today’s virtuosi.
Here I’ve chosen No 2 from the series, and this Study In C Major is a very direct examination of melodic fluidity. It is made up of almost continuous quavers with occasional bass notes and chords, and is the perfect opportunity to develop picking-hand technique and fluency. While some of these lines (for instance bars 1-8) fall under the hand intuitively, much of this piece requires a careful organisation of plucking strategy in order to achieve – and help develop – an efficient fluency.
While many solutions are possible, just approaching a piece like this arbitrarily, can easily become problematic and you can find yourself in awkward corners, so I have notated( using pi ma to represent the thumb, second, third and fourth finger respectively) an approach which I find embeds a really efficient technique. Employing such preparation and forethought not only allows an otherwise unattainable level of fluency but instils good habits and instincts for countless pieces in your playing future.
NEXT MONTH Bridget arranges another great study, Op 35, No 20 by Fernando Sor
“Approaching a piece like this arbitrarily, can easily become problematic, and you can find yourself in awkward corners”