Andrés Segovia (1893-1987) was one of the most important musicians of the twentieth century. Perhaps the greatest testament to what he accomplished for the guitar was the renaissance in music composed for it by important composers.

He established the guitar as an important concert instrument, made prolific recordings, and inspired generations of guitarists. Many composers began using the instrument in their works, including Manuel de Falla, Heitor Villa-Lobos, Manuel Ponce, Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco, Joaquín Turina, and Joaquín Rodrigo. This astounding enrichment of the guitar's repertoire stands in stark contrast to the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, when practically none of the major composers--like Mozart, Hayden, and Beethoven--wrote music for the guitar.

Renaissance of the Guitar

In the first part of the nineteenth century, the guitar, which for centuries had been considered an accompanying instrument for singing and dancing, staked out its own territory as...