Waltz by Bartolomé Calatuyud

The Spanish classical guitar composer Bartolomé Calatayud lived from 1882 to 1973 (almost to his 91st birthday). He was born on one of Spain’s Balearic Islands, Mallorca. As a teenager, the Workers Instructive Center Palma awarded him the Diploma of Honour 1st Class for his “superior musical knowledge in guitar playing. He was a contemporary and friend of Miguel Llobet (1878-1938) and Andrés Segovia (1893-1987). His first teacher was Pedro Antonio Alemany Palmer. He then studied with Antonio Gomez Melters (1839–1908). He studied harmony and composition with the great Majorcan musicologist and composer D. Antonio Noguera. Bartolomé also had the privilege to study with Francisco Tárrega in Valencia.

As a performer, he gave concerts in Spain, France, Switzerland, Portugal and Algiers and toured South America with Spanish Chorus and Dance groups. In Majorca he composed many works for the classical guitar and taught the instrument. Like Llobet, many of his guitar works are based on popular Catalan/Majorcan folk music.

He is an underappreciated figure in the history of classical guitar music. One day I may take it upon myself to record his pieces. A favorite piece of mine is Calatuyud’s “Danza Mora.” You can listen to it here.

Reference Video of Waltz

About Waltz

This “Waltz” became popular through its inclusion in the Suzuki guitar books. Any search of this piece will result in many young players’ videos. The original was published in Calatuyud’s Cuatro piezas faciles para guitarra. The piece is in E minor. The only chord that beginners struggle to form is the B7. It uses the classic thumb played with the annular finger at the beginning of each measure followed by thirds played by the index and middle fingers. There is a nice chromatic run returning to the A section. Finally, Calatuyud includes an E minor chord in harmonics to conclude the composition.

If you missed some of our reference videos, you can find them here.

Also, check out our other useful articles:

• Las Primeras Lecciones de Guitarra (Sagreras): Lesson 61
• Open Position A Major Scale and F Sharp Minor Scale Guitar
• Dreams by Richard Summers
• Siciliano By Matteo Carcassi
• Étude No. 1 By Leo Brouwer

Some of the links in this article may be affiliate links. This can compensate me at no cost if you decide to purchase. You can read my affiliate disclosure in my privacy policy.

Chadwick Becks

I have two degrees in guitar performance and was privileged to study under Aaron Shearer, Tom Kikta, David Skantar, Ken Karsh, Tim Bedner, and currently Christopher Berg. Outside my editorial work on this blog, I teach full-time across many genres including classical, jazz, blues, rock, funk, and metal.