José Rey de la Torre
Encyclopedia
José Rey de la Torre known by his stage name Rey de la Torre, was one of the most significant classical guitarists of the mid-twentieth century, and considered by many to be the father of “modern classical guitar technique”.
(1878–1938).
On May 9, 1934 Llobet presented him in a concert at the Academia Marshall together with a pianist and then shortly after in a solo recital. Both received rave reviews from the tough Barcelona critics. Catalan composer and critic Jaime Pahissa described Rey as the most complete guitarist he had heard. Another critic compared him not only with Llobet but also with Pablo Casals
.
in New York City in 1940. He subsequently made many appearances in the USA, Canada and elsewhere. He gave radio broadcasts and played in two television plays. Rey de la Torre gave the US première of Concierto de Aranjuez
by Joaquín Rodrigo
on November 19, 1959, with the Cleveland Orchestra under the baton of Robert Shaw. He also premièred the Introduction to the Chôros by Heitor Villa-Lobos
in New York, in August 1962, and Three Pieces for Guitar by Carlos Chávez
in New York on November 14, 1969. A number of works were written for him by various composers, among them Julián Orbón
.
Rey made a number of recordings, the earliest of which he found unsatisfactory. In December, 1950 he recorded the Quintet in D, G. 448 by Luigi Boccherini
with the Stuyvesant String Quartet on the short-lived Philharmonia record label. His most significant solo recording was made originally under the Philharmonia label in 1952, and was later re-released, first by Electra records, and then by Nonesuch. Additionally, a recording exists of “Five Songs on Poems by Federico Garcia Lorca
” by Noël Lee
with soprano Adele Addison
and flutist Samuel Baron in 1961 on the Composers Recordings Inc. (CRI 147).
: The Romantic Guitar LC 3564 (music by Enrique Granados
, Isaac Albéniz
, transcribed by Llobet and Andres Segovia
; Francisco Tárrega
, Joaquín Rodrigo, Manuel de Falla
and Grau), Rey de la Torre Plays Classical Guitar LC 3418 (music by Gaspar Sanz
, Fernando Sor
, Miguel Llobet, Ponce, Federico Moreno Torroba
and Tárrega), and Virtuoso Guitar LC 3479 (music by Mauro Giuliani
, Joaquín Turina
, Llobet, Heitor Villa-Lobos, Falla and Tárrega).
, a disease which ended his performing career a year later.
Rey combined a teaching career with his active concert life until his retirement from the stage, at which point he devoted all of his efforts to teaching. He spent a brief period (1975–1977) teaching in New York, before relocating to San Francisco, where he spent the final two decades of his life, teaching in spite of a spiraling debilitation caused by his rheumatoid arthritis.
), known by his stage name Rey de la Torre, was one of the most significant classical guitarists of the mid-twentieth century, and considered by many to be the father of “modern classical guitar technique”.
(1878–1938).
On May 9, 1934 Llobet presented him in a concert at the Academia Marshall together with a pianist and then shortly after in a solo recital. Both received rave reviews from the tough Barcelona critics. Catalan composer and critic Jaime Pahissa described Rey as the most complete guitarist he had heard. Another critic compared him not only with Llobet but also with Pablo Casals
.
in New York City in 1940. He subsequently made many appearances in the USA, Canada and elsewhere. He gave radio broadcasts and played in two television plays. Rey de la Torre gave the US première of Concierto de Aranjuez
by Joaquín Rodrigo
on November 19, 1959, with the Cleveland Orchestra under the baton of Robert Shaw. He also premièred the Introduction to the Chôros by Heitor Villa-Lobos
in New York, in August 1962, and Three Pieces for Guitar by Carlos Chávez
in New York on November 14, 1969. A number of works were written for him by various composers, among them Julián Orbón
.
Rey made a number of recordings, the earliest of which he found unsatisfactory. In December, 1950 he recorded the Quintet in D, G. 448 by Luigi Boccherini
with the Stuyvesant String Quartet on the short-lived Philharmonia record label. His most significant solo recording was made originally under the Philharmonia label in 1952, and was later re-released, first by Electra records, and then by Nonesuch. Additionally, a recording exists of “Five Songs on Poems by Federico Garcia Lorca
” by Noël Lee
with soprano Adele Addison
and flutist Samuel Baron in 1961 on the Composers Recordings Inc. (CRI 147).
: The Romantic Guitar LC 3564 (music by Enrique Granados
, Isaac Albéniz
, transcribed by Llobet and Andres Segovia
; Francisco Tárrega
, Joaquín Rodrigo, Manuel de Falla
and Grau), Rey de la Torre Plays Classical Guitar LC 3418 (music by Gaspar Sanz
, Fernando Sor
, Miguel Llobet, Ponce, Federico Moreno Torroba
and Tárrega), and Virtuoso Guitar LC 3479 (music by Mauro Giuliani
, Joaquín Turina
, Llobet, Heitor Villa-Lobos, Falla and Tárrega).
, a disease which ended his performing career a year later.
Rey combined a teaching career with his active concert life until his retirement from the stage, at which point he devoted all of his efforts to teaching. He spent a brief period (1975–1977) teaching in New York, before relocating to San Francisco, where he spent the final two decades of his life, teaching in spite of a spiraling debilitation caused by his rheumatoid arthritis.
), known by his stage name Rey de la Torre, was one of the most significant classical guitarists of the mid-twentieth century, and considered by many to be the father of “modern classical guitar technique”.
(1878–1938).
On May 9, 1934 Llobet presented him in a concert at the Academia Marshall together with a pianist and then shortly after in a solo recital. Both received rave reviews from the tough Barcelona critics. Catalan composer and critic Jaime Pahissa described Rey as the most complete guitarist he had heard. Another critic compared him not only with Llobet but also with Pablo Casals
.
in New York City in 1940. He subsequently made many appearances in the USA, Canada and elsewhere. He gave radio broadcasts and played in two television plays. Rey de la Torre gave the US première of Concierto de Aranjuez
by Joaquín Rodrigo
on November 19, 1959, with the Cleveland Orchestra under the baton of Robert Shaw. He also premièred the Introduction to the Chôros by Heitor Villa-Lobos
in New York, in August 1962, and Three Pieces for Guitar by Carlos Chávez
in New York on November 14, 1969. A number of works were written for him by various composers, among them Julián Orbón
.
Rey made a number of recordings, the earliest of which he found unsatisfactory. In December, 1950 he recorded the Quintet in D, G. 448 by Luigi Boccherini
with the Stuyvesant String Quartet on the short-lived Philharmonia record label. His most significant solo recording was made originally under the Philharmonia label in 1952, and was later re-released, first by Electra records, and then by Nonesuch. Additionally, a recording exists of “Five Songs on Poems by Federico Garcia Lorca
” by Noël Lee
with soprano Adele Addison
and flutist Samuel Baron in 1961 on the Composers Recordings Inc. (CRI 147).
: The Romantic Guitar LC 3564 (music by Enrique Granados
, Isaac Albéniz
, transcribed by Llobet and Andres Segovia
; Francisco Tárrega
, Joaquín Rodrigo, Manuel de Falla
and Grau), Rey de la Torre Plays Classical Guitar LC 3418 (music by Gaspar Sanz
, Fernando Sor
, Miguel Llobet, Ponce, Federico Moreno Torroba
and Tárrega), and Virtuoso Guitar LC 3479 (music by Mauro Giuliani
, Joaquín Turina
, Llobet, Heitor Villa-Lobos, Falla and Tárrega).
, a disease which ended his performing career a year later.
Rey combined a teaching career with his active concert life until his retirement from the stage, at which point he devoted all of his efforts to teaching. He spent a brief period (1975–1977) teaching in New York, before relocating to San Francisco, where he spent the final two decades of his life, teaching in spite of a spiraling debilitation caused by his rheumatoid arthritis.
Early life
De la Torre studied with Severino Lopez in Havana, Cuba. After establishing a career as a child prodigy in Cuba, his family sent him to Barcelona in 1932 to study under the retired virtuoso guitarist Miguel LlobetMiguel Llobet
Miguel Llobet Solés was a classical guitarist, born in Barcelona . Llobet was a renowned virtuoso who toured Europe and America extensively. He made well known arrangements of Catalan folk songs for the solo guitar and is also the composer of original works.-Biography:Some details of Llobet's...
(1878–1938).
On May 9, 1934 Llobet presented him in a concert at the Academia Marshall together with a pianist and then shortly after in a solo recital. Both received rave reviews from the tough Barcelona critics. Catalan composer and critic Jaime Pahissa described Rey as the most complete guitarist he had heard. Another critic compared him not only with Llobet but also with Pablo Casals
Pablo Casals
Pau Casals i Defilló , known during his professional career as Pablo Casals, was a Spanish Catalan cellist and conductor. He is generally regarded as the pre-eminent cellist of the first half of the 20th century, and one of the greatest cellists of all time...
.
Career
His American début was at The Town HallThe Town Hall
The Town Hall is a performance space, located at 123 West 43rd Street, between Sixth Avenue and Broadway, in New York City. It seats approximately 1,500 people.-History:...
in New York City in 1940. He subsequently made many appearances in the USA, Canada and elsewhere. He gave radio broadcasts and played in two television plays. Rey de la Torre gave the US première of Concierto de Aranjuez
Concierto de Aranjuez
The Concierto de Aranjuez is a composition for classical guitar and orchestra by the Spanish composer Joaquín Rodrigo. Written in 1939, it is probably Rodrigo's best-known work, and its success established his reputation as one of the most significant Spanish composers of the twentieth century. ...
by Joaquín Rodrigo
Joaquín Rodrigo
Joaquín Rodrigo Vidre, 1st Marquis of the Gardens of Aranjuez , commonly known as Joaquín Rodrigo, was a composer of classical music and a virtuoso pianist. Despite being nearly blind from an early age, he achieved great success...
on November 19, 1959, with the Cleveland Orchestra under the baton of Robert Shaw. He also premièred the Introduction to the Chôros by Heitor Villa-Lobos
Heitor Villa-Lobos
Heitor Villa-Lobos was a Brazilian composer, described as "the single most significant creative figure in 20th-century Brazilian art music". Villa-Lobos has become the best-known and most significant Latin American composer to date. He wrote numerous orchestral, chamber, instrumental and vocal works...
in New York, in August 1962, and Three Pieces for Guitar by Carlos Chávez
Carlos Chávez
Carlos Antonio de Padua Chávez y Ramírez was a Mexican composer, conductor, music theorist, educator, journalist, and founder and director of the Mexican Symphonic Orchestra. He was influenced by native Mexican cultures. Of his six Symphonies, his Symphony No...
in New York on November 14, 1969. A number of works were written for him by various composers, among them Julián Orbón
Julián Orbón
Julián Orbón was a Spanish composer. He lived in Cuba from 1940 to 1960, moving to Mexico...
.
Rey made a number of recordings, the earliest of which he found unsatisfactory. In December, 1950 he recorded the Quintet in D, G. 448 by Luigi Boccherini
Luigi Boccherini
Luigi Rodolfo Boccherini was an Italian classical era composer and cellist whose music retained a courtly and galante style while he matured somewhat apart from the major European musical centers. Boccherini is most widely known for one particular minuet from his String Quintet in E, Op. 11, No...
with the Stuyvesant String Quartet on the short-lived Philharmonia record label. His most significant solo recording was made originally under the Philharmonia label in 1952, and was later re-released, first by Electra records, and then by Nonesuch. Additionally, a recording exists of “Five Songs on Poems by Federico Garcia Lorca
Federico García Lorca
Federico del Sagrado Corazón de Jesús García Lorca was a Spanish poet, dramatist and theatre director. García Lorca achieved international recognition as an emblematic member of the Generation of '27. He is believed to be one of thousands who were summarily shot by anti-communist death squads...
” by Noël Lee
Noël Lee
Noël Lee is an American classical pianist and composer living in Paris, France.He studied music in Lafayette, Indiana, then attended Harvard University, studying with Walter Piston, Irving Fine, and Tillman Merritt and was also a student at the Longy School of Music in the early 1940s...
with soprano Adele Addison
Adele Addison
Adele Addison is an African American lyric soprano who was an acclaimed figure in the classical music world during the 1950s and 1960s. Although she did appear in several operas, Addison spent most of her career performing in recital and concert...
and flutist Samuel Baron in 1961 on the Composers Recordings Inc. (CRI 147).
Epic Recordings
De la Torre made at least three albums for Epic RecordsEpic Records
Epic Records is an American record label, owned by Sony Music Entertainment. Though it was originally conceived as a jazz imprint, it has since expanded to represent various genres. L.A...
: The Romantic Guitar LC 3564 (music by Enrique Granados
Enrique Granados
Enrique Granados y Campiña was a Spanish pianist and composer of classical music. His music is in a uniquely Spanish style and, as such, representative of musical nationalism...
, Isaac Albéniz
Isaac Albéniz
Isaac Manuel Francisco Albéniz y Pascual was a Spanish Catalan pianist and composer best known for his piano works based on folk music idioms .-Life:Born in Camprodon, province of Girona, to Ángel Albéniz and his wife Dolors Pascual, Albéniz...
, transcribed by Llobet and Andres Segovia
Andrés Segovia
Andrés Torres Segovia, 1st Marquis of Salobreña , known as Andrés Segovia, was a virtuoso Spanish classical guitarist from Linares, Jaén, Andalucia, Spain...
; Francisco Tárrega
Francisco Tárrega
Francisco de Asís Tárrega y Eixea was an influential Spanish composer and guitarist of the Romantic period.-Biography:Tárrega was born on 21 November 1852, in Vila-real, Castelló, Spain...
, Joaquín Rodrigo, Manuel de Falla
Manuel de Falla
Manuel de Falla y Matheu was a Spanish Andalusian composer of classical music. With Isaac Albéniz, Enrique Granados and Joaquín Turina he is one of Spain's most important musicians of the first half of the 20th century....
and Grau), Rey de la Torre Plays Classical Guitar LC 3418 (music by Gaspar Sanz
Gaspar Sanz
Gaspar Sanz was an Aragonese composer, guitarist, organist and priest born to a wealthy family in Calanda in the Spanish comarca of Bajo Aragón. He studied music, theology and philosophy at the University of Salamanca, where he was later appointed Professor of Music...
, 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...
, Miguel Llobet, Ponce, Federico Moreno Torroba
Federico Moreno Torroba
Federico Moreno Torroba was a Spanish composer, born in Madrid.-Biography:Moreno Torroba is often associated with the zarzuela, a traditional Spanish musical form. Directing several opera companies, Moreno Torroba helped introduce the zarzuela to international audiences...
and Tárrega), and Virtuoso Guitar LC 3479 (music by Mauro Giuliani
Mauro Giuliani
Mauro Giuseppe Sergio Pantaleo Giuliani was an Italian guitarist, cellist and composer, and is considered by many to be one of the leading guitar virtuosi of the early 19th century.- Biography :...
, Joaquín Turina
Joaquín Turina
Joaquín Turina was a Spanish composer of classical music.-Biography:Turina was born in Seville but his origins were in northern Italy . He studied in Seville as well as in Madrid...
, Llobet, Heitor Villa-Lobos, Falla and Tárrega).
Mid career health issues
Around 1961, right at a time when his career was flourishing, he suffered a setback: the middle finger of his right hand became less responsive and was a challenge for a number of years until Marianne Eppens, a physical therapist, was able to isolate the cause and offer a remedy. In 1969 they were married and moved to California. In 1975 at the zenith of his career Rey was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritisRheumatoid arthritis
Rheumatoid arthritis is a chronic, systemic inflammatory disorder that may affect many tissues and organs, but principally attacks synovial joints. The process produces an inflammatory response of the synovium secondary to hyperplasia of synovial cells, excess synovial fluid, and the development...
, a disease which ended his performing career a year later.
Rey combined a teaching career with his active concert life until his retirement from the stage, at which point he devoted all of his efforts to teaching. He spent a brief period (1975–1977) teaching in New York, before relocating to San Francisco, where he spent the final two decades of his life, teaching in spite of a spiraling debilitation caused by his rheumatoid arthritis.
Sources
José Rey de la Torre (b. December 9, 1917, Cibara, Cuba; d. July 21, 1994, San Jose, CaliforniaSan Jose, California
San Jose is the third-largest city in California, the tenth-largest in the U.S., and the county seat of Santa Clara County which is located at the southern end of San Francisco Bay...
), known by his stage name Rey de la Torre, was one of the most significant classical guitarists of the mid-twentieth century, and considered by many to be the father of “modern classical guitar technique”.
Early life
De la Torre studied with Severino Lopez in Havana, Cuba. After establishing a career as a child prodigy in Cuba, his family sent him to Barcelona in 1932 to study under the retired virtuoso guitarist Miguel LlobetMiguel Llobet
Miguel Llobet Solés was a classical guitarist, born in Barcelona . Llobet was a renowned virtuoso who toured Europe and America extensively. He made well known arrangements of Catalan folk songs for the solo guitar and is also the composer of original works.-Biography:Some details of Llobet's...
(1878–1938).
On May 9, 1934 Llobet presented him in a concert at the Academia Marshall together with a pianist and then shortly after in a solo recital. Both received rave reviews from the tough Barcelona critics. Catalan composer and critic Jaime Pahissa described Rey as the most complete guitarist he had heard. Another critic compared him not only with Llobet but also with Pablo Casals
Pablo Casals
Pau Casals i Defilló , known during his professional career as Pablo Casals, was a Spanish Catalan cellist and conductor. He is generally regarded as the pre-eminent cellist of the first half of the 20th century, and one of the greatest cellists of all time...
.
Career
His American début was at The Town HallThe Town Hall
The Town Hall is a performance space, located at 123 West 43rd Street, between Sixth Avenue and Broadway, in New York City. It seats approximately 1,500 people.-History:...
in New York City in 1940. He subsequently made many appearances in the USA, Canada and elsewhere. He gave radio broadcasts and played in two television plays. Rey de la Torre gave the US première of Concierto de Aranjuez
Concierto de Aranjuez
The Concierto de Aranjuez is a composition for classical guitar and orchestra by the Spanish composer Joaquín Rodrigo. Written in 1939, it is probably Rodrigo's best-known work, and its success established his reputation as one of the most significant Spanish composers of the twentieth century. ...
by Joaquín Rodrigo
Joaquín Rodrigo
Joaquín Rodrigo Vidre, 1st Marquis of the Gardens of Aranjuez , commonly known as Joaquín Rodrigo, was a composer of classical music and a virtuoso pianist. Despite being nearly blind from an early age, he achieved great success...
on November 19, 1959, with the Cleveland Orchestra under the baton of Robert Shaw. He also premièred the Introduction to the Chôros by Heitor Villa-Lobos
Heitor Villa-Lobos
Heitor Villa-Lobos was a Brazilian composer, described as "the single most significant creative figure in 20th-century Brazilian art music". Villa-Lobos has become the best-known and most significant Latin American composer to date. He wrote numerous orchestral, chamber, instrumental and vocal works...
in New York, in August 1962, and Three Pieces for Guitar by Carlos Chávez
Carlos Chávez
Carlos Antonio de Padua Chávez y Ramírez was a Mexican composer, conductor, music theorist, educator, journalist, and founder and director of the Mexican Symphonic Orchestra. He was influenced by native Mexican cultures. Of his six Symphonies, his Symphony No...
in New York on November 14, 1969. A number of works were written for him by various composers, among them Julián Orbón
Julián Orbón
Julián Orbón was a Spanish composer. He lived in Cuba from 1940 to 1960, moving to Mexico...
.
Rey made a number of recordings, the earliest of which he found unsatisfactory. In December, 1950 he recorded the Quintet in D, G. 448 by Luigi Boccherini
Luigi Boccherini
Luigi Rodolfo Boccherini was an Italian classical era composer and cellist whose music retained a courtly and galante style while he matured somewhat apart from the major European musical centers. Boccherini is most widely known for one particular minuet from his String Quintet in E, Op. 11, No...
with the Stuyvesant String Quartet on the short-lived Philharmonia record label. His most significant solo recording was made originally under the Philharmonia label in 1952, and was later re-released, first by Electra records, and then by Nonesuch. Additionally, a recording exists of “Five Songs on Poems by Federico Garcia Lorca
Federico García Lorca
Federico del Sagrado Corazón de Jesús García Lorca was a Spanish poet, dramatist and theatre director. García Lorca achieved international recognition as an emblematic member of the Generation of '27. He is believed to be one of thousands who were summarily shot by anti-communist death squads...
” by Noël Lee
Noël Lee
Noël Lee is an American classical pianist and composer living in Paris, France.He studied music in Lafayette, Indiana, then attended Harvard University, studying with Walter Piston, Irving Fine, and Tillman Merritt and was also a student at the Longy School of Music in the early 1940s...
with soprano Adele Addison
Adele Addison
Adele Addison is an African American lyric soprano who was an acclaimed figure in the classical music world during the 1950s and 1960s. Although she did appear in several operas, Addison spent most of her career performing in recital and concert...
and flutist Samuel Baron in 1961 on the Composers Recordings Inc. (CRI 147).
Epic Recordings
De la Torre made at least three albums for Epic RecordsEpic Records
Epic Records is an American record label, owned by Sony Music Entertainment. Though it was originally conceived as a jazz imprint, it has since expanded to represent various genres. L.A...
: The Romantic Guitar LC 3564 (music by Enrique Granados
Enrique Granados
Enrique Granados y Campiña was a Spanish pianist and composer of classical music. His music is in a uniquely Spanish style and, as such, representative of musical nationalism...
, Isaac Albéniz
Isaac Albéniz
Isaac Manuel Francisco Albéniz y Pascual was a Spanish Catalan pianist and composer best known for his piano works based on folk music idioms .-Life:Born in Camprodon, province of Girona, to Ángel Albéniz and his wife Dolors Pascual, Albéniz...
, transcribed by Llobet and Andres Segovia
Andrés Segovia
Andrés Torres Segovia, 1st Marquis of Salobreña , known as Andrés Segovia, was a virtuoso Spanish classical guitarist from Linares, Jaén, Andalucia, Spain...
; Francisco Tárrega
Francisco Tárrega
Francisco de Asís Tárrega y Eixea was an influential Spanish composer and guitarist of the Romantic period.-Biography:Tárrega was born on 21 November 1852, in Vila-real, Castelló, Spain...
, Joaquín Rodrigo, Manuel de Falla
Manuel de Falla
Manuel de Falla y Matheu was a Spanish Andalusian composer of classical music. With Isaac Albéniz, Enrique Granados and Joaquín Turina he is one of Spain's most important musicians of the first half of the 20th century....
and Grau), Rey de la Torre Plays Classical Guitar LC 3418 (music by Gaspar Sanz
Gaspar Sanz
Gaspar Sanz was an Aragonese composer, guitarist, organist and priest born to a wealthy family in Calanda in the Spanish comarca of Bajo Aragón. He studied music, theology and philosophy at the University of Salamanca, where he was later appointed Professor of Music...
, 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...
, Miguel Llobet, Ponce, Federico Moreno Torroba
Federico Moreno Torroba
Federico Moreno Torroba was a Spanish composer, born in Madrid.-Biography:Moreno Torroba is often associated with the zarzuela, a traditional Spanish musical form. Directing several opera companies, Moreno Torroba helped introduce the zarzuela to international audiences...
and Tárrega), and Virtuoso Guitar LC 3479 (music by Mauro Giuliani
Mauro Giuliani
Mauro Giuseppe Sergio Pantaleo Giuliani was an Italian guitarist, cellist and composer, and is considered by many to be one of the leading guitar virtuosi of the early 19th century.- Biography :...
, Joaquín Turina
Joaquín Turina
Joaquín Turina was a Spanish composer of classical music.-Biography:Turina was born in Seville but his origins were in northern Italy . He studied in Seville as well as in Madrid...
, Llobet, Heitor Villa-Lobos, Falla and Tárrega).
Mid career health issues
Around 1961, right at a time when his career was flourishing, he suffered a setback: the middle finger of his right hand became less responsive and was a challenge for a number of years until Marianne Eppens, a physical therapist, was able to isolate the cause and offer a remedy. In 1969 they were married and moved to California. In 1975 at the zenith of his career Rey was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritisRheumatoid arthritis
Rheumatoid arthritis is a chronic, systemic inflammatory disorder that may affect many tissues and organs, but principally attacks synovial joints. The process produces an inflammatory response of the synovium secondary to hyperplasia of synovial cells, excess synovial fluid, and the development...
, a disease which ended his performing career a year later.
Rey combined a teaching career with his active concert life until his retirement from the stage, at which point he devoted all of his efforts to teaching. He spent a brief period (1975–1977) teaching in New York, before relocating to San Francisco, where he spent the final two decades of his life, teaching in spite of a spiraling debilitation caused by his rheumatoid arthritis.
Sources
José Rey de la Torre (b. December 9, 1917, Cibara, Cuba; d. July 21, 1994, San Jose, CaliforniaSan Jose, California
San Jose is the third-largest city in California, the tenth-largest in the U.S., and the county seat of Santa Clara County which is located at the southern end of San Francisco Bay...
), known by his stage name Rey de la Torre, was one of the most significant classical guitarists of the mid-twentieth century, and considered by many to be the father of “modern classical guitar technique”.
Early life
De la Torre studied with Severino Lopez in Havana, Cuba. After establishing a career as a child prodigy in Cuba, his family sent him to Barcelona in 1932 to study under the retired virtuoso guitarist Miguel LlobetMiguel Llobet
Miguel Llobet Solés was a classical guitarist, born in Barcelona . Llobet was a renowned virtuoso who toured Europe and America extensively. He made well known arrangements of Catalan folk songs for the solo guitar and is also the composer of original works.-Biography:Some details of Llobet's...
(1878–1938).
On May 9, 1934 Llobet presented him in a concert at the Academia Marshall together with a pianist and then shortly after in a solo recital. Both received rave reviews from the tough Barcelona critics. Catalan composer and critic Jaime Pahissa described Rey as the most complete guitarist he had heard. Another critic compared him not only with Llobet but also with Pablo Casals
Pablo Casals
Pau Casals i Defilló , known during his professional career as Pablo Casals, was a Spanish Catalan cellist and conductor. He is generally regarded as the pre-eminent cellist of the first half of the 20th century, and one of the greatest cellists of all time...
.
Career
His American début was at The Town HallThe Town Hall
The Town Hall is a performance space, located at 123 West 43rd Street, between Sixth Avenue and Broadway, in New York City. It seats approximately 1,500 people.-History:...
in New York City in 1940. He subsequently made many appearances in the USA, Canada and elsewhere. He gave radio broadcasts and played in two television plays. Rey de la Torre gave the US première of Concierto de Aranjuez
Concierto de Aranjuez
The Concierto de Aranjuez is a composition for classical guitar and orchestra by the Spanish composer Joaquín Rodrigo. Written in 1939, it is probably Rodrigo's best-known work, and its success established his reputation as one of the most significant Spanish composers of the twentieth century. ...
by Joaquín Rodrigo
Joaquín Rodrigo
Joaquín Rodrigo Vidre, 1st Marquis of the Gardens of Aranjuez , commonly known as Joaquín Rodrigo, was a composer of classical music and a virtuoso pianist. Despite being nearly blind from an early age, he achieved great success...
on November 19, 1959, with the Cleveland Orchestra under the baton of Robert Shaw. He also premièred the Introduction to the Chôros by Heitor Villa-Lobos
Heitor Villa-Lobos
Heitor Villa-Lobos was a Brazilian composer, described as "the single most significant creative figure in 20th-century Brazilian art music". Villa-Lobos has become the best-known and most significant Latin American composer to date. He wrote numerous orchestral, chamber, instrumental and vocal works...
in New York, in August 1962, and Three Pieces for Guitar by Carlos Chávez
Carlos Chávez
Carlos Antonio de Padua Chávez y Ramírez was a Mexican composer, conductor, music theorist, educator, journalist, and founder and director of the Mexican Symphonic Orchestra. He was influenced by native Mexican cultures. Of his six Symphonies, his Symphony No...
in New York on November 14, 1969. A number of works were written for him by various composers, among them Julián Orbón
Julián Orbón
Julián Orbón was a Spanish composer. He lived in Cuba from 1940 to 1960, moving to Mexico...
.
Rey made a number of recordings, the earliest of which he found unsatisfactory. In December, 1950 he recorded the Quintet in D, G. 448 by Luigi Boccherini
Luigi Boccherini
Luigi Rodolfo Boccherini was an Italian classical era composer and cellist whose music retained a courtly and galante style while he matured somewhat apart from the major European musical centers. Boccherini is most widely known for one particular minuet from his String Quintet in E, Op. 11, No...
with the Stuyvesant String Quartet on the short-lived Philharmonia record label. His most significant solo recording was made originally under the Philharmonia label in 1952, and was later re-released, first by Electra records, and then by Nonesuch. Additionally, a recording exists of “Five Songs on Poems by Federico Garcia Lorca
Federico García Lorca
Federico del Sagrado Corazón de Jesús García Lorca was a Spanish poet, dramatist and theatre director. García Lorca achieved international recognition as an emblematic member of the Generation of '27. He is believed to be one of thousands who were summarily shot by anti-communist death squads...
” by Noël Lee
Noël Lee
Noël Lee is an American classical pianist and composer living in Paris, France.He studied music in Lafayette, Indiana, then attended Harvard University, studying with Walter Piston, Irving Fine, and Tillman Merritt and was also a student at the Longy School of Music in the early 1940s...
with soprano Adele Addison
Adele Addison
Adele Addison is an African American lyric soprano who was an acclaimed figure in the classical music world during the 1950s and 1960s. Although she did appear in several operas, Addison spent most of her career performing in recital and concert...
and flutist Samuel Baron in 1961 on the Composers Recordings Inc. (CRI 147).
Epic Recordings
De la Torre made at least three albums for Epic RecordsEpic Records
Epic Records is an American record label, owned by Sony Music Entertainment. Though it was originally conceived as a jazz imprint, it has since expanded to represent various genres. L.A...
: The Romantic Guitar LC 3564 (music by Enrique Granados
Enrique Granados
Enrique Granados y Campiña was a Spanish pianist and composer of classical music. His music is in a uniquely Spanish style and, as such, representative of musical nationalism...
, Isaac Albéniz
Isaac Albéniz
Isaac Manuel Francisco Albéniz y Pascual was a Spanish Catalan pianist and composer best known for his piano works based on folk music idioms .-Life:Born in Camprodon, province of Girona, to Ángel Albéniz and his wife Dolors Pascual, Albéniz...
, transcribed by Llobet and Andres Segovia
Andrés Segovia
Andrés Torres Segovia, 1st Marquis of Salobreña , known as Andrés Segovia, was a virtuoso Spanish classical guitarist from Linares, Jaén, Andalucia, Spain...
; Francisco Tárrega
Francisco Tárrega
Francisco de Asís Tárrega y Eixea was an influential Spanish composer and guitarist of the Romantic period.-Biography:Tárrega was born on 21 November 1852, in Vila-real, Castelló, Spain...
, Joaquín Rodrigo, Manuel de Falla
Manuel de Falla
Manuel de Falla y Matheu was a Spanish Andalusian composer of classical music. With Isaac Albéniz, Enrique Granados and Joaquín Turina he is one of Spain's most important musicians of the first half of the 20th century....
and Grau), Rey de la Torre Plays Classical Guitar LC 3418 (music by Gaspar Sanz
Gaspar Sanz
Gaspar Sanz was an Aragonese composer, guitarist, organist and priest born to a wealthy family in Calanda in the Spanish comarca of Bajo Aragón. He studied music, theology and philosophy at the University of Salamanca, where he was later appointed Professor of Music...
, 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...
, Miguel Llobet, Ponce, Federico Moreno Torroba
Federico Moreno Torroba
Federico Moreno Torroba was a Spanish composer, born in Madrid.-Biography:Moreno Torroba is often associated with the zarzuela, a traditional Spanish musical form. Directing several opera companies, Moreno Torroba helped introduce the zarzuela to international audiences...
and Tárrega), and Virtuoso Guitar LC 3479 (music by Mauro Giuliani
Mauro Giuliani
Mauro Giuseppe Sergio Pantaleo Giuliani was an Italian guitarist, cellist and composer, and is considered by many to be one of the leading guitar virtuosi of the early 19th century.- Biography :...
, Joaquín Turina
Joaquín Turina
Joaquín Turina was a Spanish composer of classical music.-Biography:Turina was born in Seville but his origins were in northern Italy . He studied in Seville as well as in Madrid...
, Llobet, Heitor Villa-Lobos, Falla and Tárrega).
Mid career health issues
Around 1961, right at a time when his career was flourishing, he suffered a setback: the middle finger of his right hand became less responsive and was a challenge for a number of years until Marianne Eppens, a physical therapist, was able to isolate the cause and offer a remedy. In 1969 they were married and moved to California. In 1975 at the zenith of his career Rey was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritisRheumatoid arthritis
Rheumatoid arthritis is a chronic, systemic inflammatory disorder that may affect many tissues and organs, but principally attacks synovial joints. The process produces an inflammatory response of the synovium secondary to hyperplasia of synovial cells, excess synovial fluid, and the development...
, a disease which ended his performing career a year later.
Rey combined a teaching career with his active concert life until his retirement from the stage, at which point he devoted all of his efforts to teaching. He spent a brief period (1975–1977) teaching in New York, before relocating to San Francisco, where he spent the final two decades of his life, teaching in spite of a spiraling debilitation caused by his rheumatoid arthritis.
Sources
- Danner, Peter. Rey de la Torre. Soundboard, XXI, 2, Fall 1994, pg. 7.
- Phillips, Robert. The Influence of Miguel Llobet on the pedagogy, repertoire, and stature of the guitar in the twentieth century. Doctoral dissertation. 2002, OCLC 51796355.
- Rey de la Torre, José. Miguel Llobet, El Mestre. Guitar Review no. 60, Winter 1985, pg. 22-32.
- Turner, Zane: MusicWeb International.
- Weller, Anthony. 2006. Program notes for Rey de la Torre, Guitar. Bridge Records, Inc. 9188.
