Andrés Segovia: Champion of the Classical Guitar

Today, the classical guitar is recognized as a legitimate concert instrument: it is taught in most major music schools and conservatories across the world, but it has not always been this way. Before the twentieth century, the guitar was viewed as a simple instrument, incapable of being played in more prestigious venues than bars. In the nineteenth century, a handful of guitarists attempted to change this view of the guitar, but they were all ultimately unsuccessful. Around the dawn of the twentieth century, a man by the name of Andres Segovia decided to radically turn the guitar around and make it a prestigious concert instrument that could rival the violin or the piano. He used a variety of means to accomplish this: scheduling recitals in important venues to raise the public opinion, enlisting non-guitarists to compose new music for the instrument, transcribe important works by notable composers for the instrument, and convince music school and conservatories to teach the instrument at a high level. He was successful in all of these means, but ultimately failed to make the classical guitar as prominent an instrument as the violin or the piano. Andrés Segovia is the turning point for how the guitar is viewed in classical music.