Dionisio Aguado was a Spanish

Spain

Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...

 classical guitar

Classical guitar

The classical guitar is a 6-stringed plucked string instrument from the family of instruments called chordophones...

ist and composer

Composer

A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...

.

Biography

Born in Madrid

Madrid

Madrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. The population of the city is roughly 3.3 million and the entire population of the Madrid metropolitan area is calculated to be 6.271 million. It is the third largest city in the European Union, after London and Berlin, and its metropolitan...

, he studied with Miguel García. In 1826, Aguado visited Paris

Paris

Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

, where he met and became friends with and for a while lived with Fernando Sor

Fernando Sor

Josep Ferran Sorts i Muntades was a Spanish classical guitarist and composer. While he is best known for his guitar compositions, he also composed music for a wide range of genres, including opera, orchestra, string quartet, piano, voice and ballet...

. Sor's duo Les Deux Amis ("The Two Friends") commemorated the friendship: one part is marked "Sor" and the other "Aguado."

Aguado's major work Escuela de Guitarra was a guitar tutor published in 1825. As of 2011, it is still in print, with Tecla Editions releasing a reprint in 2005. In the Escuela Aguado describes his use of fingernails on the right hand as well as his invention of a "tripodion": a device that held the guitar and thus minimized the damping effect of the player's body on the guitar's back and sides. Aguado's other works include Trois Rondos Brillants (Opus 2), Le Menuet Affandangado (Opus 15), Le Fandango Varie (Opus 16), as well as numerous waltzes, minuets, and other light pieces. The more extended works require a virtuoso technique and left-hand stretches that are almost impossible on the longer string lengths of modern guitars. (See Frederick Noad

Frederick Noad

Frederick Noad was a Belgian classical guitar performer, educator, and an original founder of the Guitar Foundation of America....

, "The Classical Guitar")

Aguado returned home to Madrid in 1837 and died there aged 65.

Aguado's surname comes from the Spanish word for "soaked." (This is because an ancient relative of his, who was a knight, returned after a battle caked in mud. The nickname then eventually became the surname.

Instruments used by Aguado

Of the instruments used by Aguado, two which were built by

• Pierre René Lacôte, (Paris 1838) and
• Etienne Laprevotte, (Paris 1838)

are held at the Museo Arqueológico Nacional

National Archaeological Museum of Spain

The National Archaeological Museum of Spain is a museum in Madrid, Spain, located beside the Plaza de Colón , sharing its building with the National Library....

in Madrid.
Aguado is known for having used a tripod to support his guitar.

List of works

• 1825 Rondo
• Op. 1 : Douze Valses
• Op. 2 : Trois Rondo Brillants
• Op. 3 : Huit Petites Pièces
• Op. 4 : Six Petites Pièces
• Op. 5 : Quatre Andantes et Quatre Valses
• Op. 6 : Nuevo Método de Guitarra
• Op. 7 : Valses Faciles
• Op. 8 : Contredanses et Valses Faciles
• Op. 9 : Contredanses non difficiles
• Op. 10 : Exercices Faciles et Très Utiles
• Op. 11 : Les Favorites - Huit Contredanses
• Op. 12 : Six Menuets & Six Valses
• Op. 13 : Morceaux Agréables non difficiles
• Op. 14 : Dix Petites Pièces non difficiles
• Op. 15 : Le Menuet Affandangado
• Op. 16 : Le Fandango Varié

Sheet music

• http://rex.kb.dk/primo_library/libweb/action/preferences.do?fn=change_lang&vid=KGL&prefLang=en_US&prefBackUrl=http:%2F%2Frex.kb.dk%2Fprimo_library%2Flibweb%2Faction%2Fsearch.do?dscnt=0%26fctN=facet_tlevel%26vl(1UI0)=contains%26vl(61142532UI2)=sub%26scp.scps=scope%3A%28KGL%29%26fctV=online_resource%26vl(1UI2)=contains%26tab=default_tab%26dstmp=1291360994045%26srt=rank%26mode=Advanced%26vl(45742256UI3)=all_items%26vl(48924786UI4)=all_items%26tb=t%26indx=1%26backFromPreferences=true%26vl(freeText0)=%26fn=search%26vid=KGL%26vl(freeText2)=%26vl(45742261UI5)=all_items%26title1=1%26vl(1UI1)=contains%26frbg=%26ct=facet%26dum=true%26Submit=Search%26vl(48924784UI1)=creator%26vl(freeText1)=Aguado%26vl(48924785UI0)=title%26vid=KGLRischel & Birket-Smith's Collection of guitar music] 1 Det Kongelige Bibliotek, Denmark
• Boije Collection The Music Library of Sweden
• creativeguitar.org (sheetmusic largely compiled from the above primary sources)