Junto Al Generalife Guitar

Rodrigo wrote this lyrical piece based on the Generalalife , the country estate for the King of Granada, and a place of beauty and relaxation. It is an important part of the classical guitarists Spanish guitar repertoire. The piece starts off in a slow, smooth singing style. The main motivic idea is the first five scale degrees of e minor. One major aspect of Spanish guitar music is the use of scales. Rodrigo develops this scalar motif starting in measure five and continues this melodic idea throughout the first section. Rodrigo incorporates the different tone colors of the guitar by using “dolce” and “metallico” to make the melodic content more interesting and contrasting. These colors of the guitar are very important to the classical guitarists for interpreting a melody. The next section of this piece also incorporates mostly scalar melodic content. Rodrigo uses “staccato”,”tenuto”, and “pizzicato” to vary the melodic content.