Study in A Minor (Papillon) - Opus 50 No. 13
Mauro Giuliani
Opus 50 no. 13: Study Notes for Learners
Opus 50 no. 13 is a simple classical guitar study or 'etude' by the 18-19th century Italian composer and virtuoso classical guitarist, Mauro Giuliani. While most classical guitar pieces of this period sound best played on nylon strings, this one sounds pretty good on steel strings, too. If you've been playing long enough to hold simple nut-position chord shapes of A minor and E7, and can fingerpick the strings in a flowing arpeggio style, then you should find this piece well within your reach.
Classical guitar "studies" are designed to feature one or more aspects of guitar technique within a musical context, so that students can practice without being put off by the drudgery of practising exercises. Exercises provide valuable technique practice, but they're not so rewarding musically. At least a well-composed study by an established composer gives you (and anyone within earshot) something nice to listen to while at the same time providing you with the benefits of improved technique. The objective of this study is to make your arpeggio technique and melodic bass runs more fluent. The melody alternates between the treble part where it forms part of the arpeggio, and the bass part where it should be emphasised with strong thumb strokes. Play it fairly fast and try to emphasise the intense restless feel that the composer intended
Opus 50 no. 13 is one of a collection of pieces known as the "Papillon" set of studies. It has no official title other than its opus number but is generally called Study (or Etude) in A minor. It's sometimes (unofficially) called "the butterfly", which is just an English translation of the French "Papillon" - the name of the whole collection of 31 studies contained in Opus 50.
Tempo
Another unofficial name for Opus 50 no. 13 often seen in sheet music is "Allegro" in reference to its intended tempo as indicated on the original manuscript. Allegro means a tempo of around 120 BPM (beats per minute), but feel free to play it faster.
The piece features a treble (upper part) melody integrated with the arpeggiated chords, which alternates with melodic bass runs played with your thumb on the bass strings.
Fingering
Fretting-hand fingering is shown in the notation staff at various places as a suggestion (which you're free to ignore). You can also see in the notation staff (in case it isn't obvious) which notes are bass notes by their downward pointing stems. The picking-hand fingering isn't shown, but it's straightforward, typical arpeggio/ fingerstyle technique. That is, use your thumb for the bass notes and the first three fingers for the 3rd, 2nd and 1st strings, respectively.
Key and Chords
As the title makes clear, the key is A minor, which means there are no sharps in the key signature, but that there will be plenty of G sharp notes shown within the music. The chords are A minor, (notes A C E) D minor (notes D F A) and E (E G# B) and E7 (E G# B D).
Opus 50 no. 13 is a simple classical guitar study or 'etude' by the 18-19th century Italian composer and virtuoso classical guitarist, Mauro Giuliani. While most classical guitar pieces of this period sound best played on nylon strings, this one sounds pretty good on steel strings, too. If you've been playing long enough to hold simple nut-position chord shapes of A minor and E7, and can fingerpick the strings in a flowing arpeggio style, then you should find this piece well within your reach.
Classical guitar "studies" are designed to feature one or more aspects of guitar technique within a musical context, so that students can practice without being put off by the drudgery of practising exercises. Exercises provide valuable technique practice, but they're not so rewarding musically. At least a well-composed study by an established composer gives you (and anyone within earshot) something nice to listen to while at the same time providing you with the benefits of improved technique. The objective of this study is to make your arpeggio technique and melodic bass runs more fluent. The melody alternates between the treble part where it forms part of the arpeggio, and the bass part where it should be emphasised with strong thumb strokes. Play it fairly fast and try to emphasise the intense restless feel that the composer intended
Opus 50 no. 13 is one of a collection of pieces known as the "Papillon" set of studies. It has no official title other than its opus number but is generally called Study (or Etude) in A minor. It's sometimes (unofficially) called "the butterfly", which is just an English translation of the French "Papillon" - the name of the whole collection of 31 studies contained in Opus 50.
Tempo
Another unofficial name for Opus 50 no. 13 often seen in sheet music is "Allegro" in reference to its intended tempo as indicated on the original manuscript. Allegro means a tempo of around 120 BPM (beats per minute), but feel free to play it faster.
The piece features a treble (upper part) melody integrated with the arpeggiated chords, which alternates with melodic bass runs played with your thumb on the bass strings.
Fingering
Fretting-hand fingering is shown in the notation staff at various places as a suggestion (which you're free to ignore). You can also see in the notation staff (in case it isn't obvious) which notes are bass notes by their downward pointing stems. The picking-hand fingering isn't shown, but it's straightforward, typical arpeggio/ fingerstyle technique. That is, use your thumb for the bass notes and the first three fingers for the 3rd, 2nd and 1st strings, respectively.
Key and Chords
As the title makes clear, the key is A minor, which means there are no sharps in the key signature, but that there will be plenty of G sharp notes shown within the music. The chords are A minor, (notes A C E) D minor (notes D F A) and E (E G# B) and E7 (E G# B D).
Listen to Giuliani's Study in A Minor - Opus 50 no.13
Download Giuliani's Study in A Minor as a PDF file for offline viewing and printing.
giuliani_study_in_am_op50_no13.pdf |