Dawn Charles V Palace Alhambra Granada Andalusia Spain

''Recuerdos de la Alhambra'' (Memories of the Alhambra) is a

classical guitar The classical guitar, also known as Spanish guitar, is a member of the guitar family used in classical music and other styles. An acoustic wooden string (music), string instrument with strings made of catgut, gut or nylon, it is a precursor of the ...

piece composed in

Málaga Málaga (; ) is a Municipalities in Spain, municipality of Spain, capital of the Province of Málaga, in the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia. With a population of 591,637 in 2024, it is the second-most populo ...

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine **Spanish history **Spanish culture ...

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and def ...

and

guitar The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...

ist

Francisco Tárrega Francisco de Asís Tárrega y Eixea (21 November 185215 December 1909) was a Spanish composer and classical guitarist of the late Romantic period. He is known for such pieces as '' Capricho Árabe'' and '' Recuerdos de la Alhambra''. Biography ...

.Library of Guitar Classics, AMSCO Publications, 1998 It requires the

tremolo In music, ''tremolo'' (), or ''tremolando'' (), is a trembling effect. There are multiple types of tremolo: a rapid repetition of a note, an alternation between two different notes, or a variation in volume. Tremolos may be either ''measured'' ...

technique and is often performed by advanced players. The piece was written for and dedicated to Tárrega's patron Concepción Gómez de Jacoby in 1899, commemorating their visit to the

Alhambra The Alhambra (, ; ) is a palace and fortress complex located in Granada, Spain. It is one of the most famous monuments of Islamic architecture and one of the best-preserved palaces of the historic Muslim world, Islamic world. Additionally, the ...

palace and fortress complex in

Granada Granada ( ; ) is the capital city of the province of Granada, in the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia, Spain. Granada is located at the foot of the Sierra Nevada (Spain), Sierra Nevada mountains, at the confluence ...

, Spain. It was originally titled ''Improvisación ¡A Granada! Cantiga Árabe.'' It became known through an early 20th-century publication edited by Tárrega and dedicated as an homage to the French guitarist .

Performance notes

The piece showcases a challenging guitar ''

'', wherein a single melody note is plucked consecutively by the ring, middle and index fingers in such rapid succession that the result is an illusion of one long sustained note. The thumb plays an

arpeggio An arpeggio () is a type of Chord (music), chord in which the Musical note, notes that compose a chord are individually sounded in a progressive rising or descending order. Arpeggios on keyboard instruments may be called rolled chords. Arpe ...

-pattern accompaniment simultaneously. Many who have heard the piece but not seen it performed mistake it for a

duet A duet (italian language, Italian: ''duo'') is a musical composition for two Performing arts, performers in which the performers have equal importance to the piece, often a composition involving two singers or two pianists. It differs from a har ...

. The A-section of the piece is written in A-minor and the B-section is written in the

parallel major In music theory Music theory is the study of theoretical frameworks for understanding the practices and possibilities of music. ''The Oxford Companion to Music'' describes three interrelated uses of the term "music theory": The first is the ...

(A-major).

Arrangements

Ruggiero Ricci Ruggiero Ricci (24 July 1918 – 5 August 2012) was an American violinist known for performances and recordings of the works of Paganini. Biography He was born in San Bruno, California, the son of Italian immigrants who first named him Woodr ...

arranged this piece for solo violin and often performed it as an encore. Chris Freeman and John Shaw recorded the song for their album ''Chris Freeman and John Shaw'' (May 1981, EMI Custom Records YPRX 1828, MAC 126).

Nana Mouskouri Ioanna "Nana" Mouskouri ( ; born 13 October 1934) is a Greek singer and politician. Over the span of her career, she has released an estimated 450 albums in at least thirteen languages, including Greek language, Greek, French language, French, ...

recorded a vocal version for her 1989 album ''Classical''.

Sarah Brightman Sarah Brightman (born 14 August 1960) is an English classical crossover soprano singer and actress. Brightman began her career as a member of the dance troupe Hot Gossip and released several disco singles as a solo performer. In 1981, she made ...

recorded a re-adapted vocal version for her album ''

Classics Classics, also classical studies or Ancient Greek and Roman studies, is the study of classical antiquity. In the Western world, ''classics'' traditionally refers to the study of Ancient Greek literature, Ancient Greek and Roman literature and ...

''.

Alex Jacobowitz Alex Jacobowitz (born 19 May 1960 in New York) is a classically trained concert artist and street performer who plays the marimba and xylophone. New York During the early 1980s he studied music at the State University of New York at Bingham ...

frequently performs a version of the song on his marimba and xylophone. He recorded it for several of his albums: ''Spanish Rosewood'' (1996), ''The Art of Xylos ''(2002), and ''Aria'' (2010). Luiza Borac arranged this piece for solo piano on her 2014 CD "Chants Nostalgiques" (Avie AV-2316). Xavi Ganjam made a special arrangement for sitar on his EP ''Soham'' (2019, Ganjam Records, Spain). Italian violist

Marco Misciagna Marco Misciagna (; born 5 February 1984) is an Italian violinist and violist internationally renowned for his performances and contributions to classical music. Biography Musical education Marco Misciagna was born in Bari, Italy. He graduated ...

published the arrangement of this piece for solo viola.

Soundtrack use

''Recuerdos de la Alhambra'' has been used as title or incidental music in many films, including the soundtrack for

René Clément René Clément (; 18 March 1913 – 17 March 1996) was a French film director and screenwriter. He is known for directing the films ''The Battle of the Rails'' (1946), ''Forbidden Games'' (1952), ''Gervaise (film), Gervaise'' (1956), ''Purple No ...

's ''

Forbidden Games ''Forbidden Games'' () is a 1952 French war drama film directed by René Clément and based on François Boyer's novel ''Les Jeux Interdits''. While not initially successful in France, the film was a hit elsewhere. It won the Golden Lion at the ...

'' (as played by

Narciso Yepes Narciso Yepes (14 November 19273 May 1997) was a Spanish classical guitar, guitarist. He is considered one of the finest virtuoso classical guitarists of the twentieth century. Biography Yepes was born into a family of humble origin in Lorca, ...

), for '' The Killing Fields'' (under the title ''

Étude An étude (; ) or study is an instrumental musical composition, designed to provide practice material for perfecting a particular musical skill. The tradition of writing études emerged in the early 19th century with the rapidly growing popu ...

'' as performed by

Mike Oldfield Michael Gordon Oldfield (born 15 May 1953) is an English retired musician, songwriter and producer best known for his debut studio album ''Tubular Bells'' (1973), which became an unexpected critical and commercial success. Though primarily a gu ...

), and in the films ''

Sideways ''Sideways'' is a 2004 American comedy-drama directed by Alexander Payne and written by Jim Taylor and Payne. A film adaptation of Rex Pickett's 2004 novel, ''Sideways'' follows two men in their forties, Miles Raymond ( Paul Giamatti), a de ...

'' and ''

Margaret Margaret is a feminine given name, which means "pearl". It is of Latin origin, via Ancient Greek and ultimately from Iranian languages, Old Iranian. It has been an English language, English name since the 11th century, and remained popular thro ...

''. Performed and arranged by Jonathon Coudrille, it was used as the title music for the British television series '' Out of Town'' and a version performed by

Pepe Romero Pepe Romero (born 8 March 1944, in Málaga, Spain) is a classical and flamenco guitarist. Biography Early life Pepe Romero was born in Spain, the second son of celebrated guitarist and composer Celedonio Romero, who was his only guitar ...

was used as incidental music in ''

The Sopranos ''The Sopranos'' is an American Crime film#Crime drama, crime drama television series created by David Chase. The series follows Tony Soprano (James Gandolfini), a New Jersey American Mafia, Mafia boss who suffers from panic attacks. He reluct ...

'' episode " Luxury Lounge".

Gideon Coe Gideon Jon Quantrill Coe (born 22 September 1967) is a radio DJ, presenter, sportscaster, voiceover artist and journalist. Early career He began his broadcasting career in 1976 as a child presenter on the BBC One TV programme '' Why Don't You? ...

on BBC Radio 6Music uses this tune as a musical background at approximately the half-way point of his evening weekday show. A sung version appears in the

Studio Ghibli is a Japanese animation studio based in Koganei, Tokyo."Studio Ghibli Collection - Madman Entertainment". ''Studio Ghibli Collection - Madman Entertainment''. Retrieved 2020-12-14. It has a strong presence in the animation industry and has exp ...

film '' When Marnie Was There''. It is also the theme used for

Philip II of Spain Philip II (21 May 152713 September 1598), sometimes known in Spain as Philip the Prudent (), was King of Spain from 1556, King of Portugal from 1580, and King of Naples and List of Sicilian monarchs, Sicily from 1554 until his death in 1598. He ...

in the 4X strategy game ''

Civilization VI ''Sid Meier's Civilization VI'' is a 2016 4X turn-based strategy video game developed by Firaxis Games and published by 2K (company), 2K. The mobile and Nintendo Switch ports were published by Aspyr Media. It is the sequel to ''Civilization V'' ...

'', with the track progressing from a simple guitar arrangement to an entire orchestral performance as Spain advances through the ages. The theme was part of the soundtrack and storyline for the eponymous 2018 Korean television series ''

Memories of the Alhambra ''Memories of the Alhambra'' () is a 2018 South Korean television series, starring Hyun Bin and Park Shin-hye. Primarily set in Spain (and in South Korea in later episodes), the series centers on a company CEO and a hostel owner who get enta ...

.''

Selected recordings

Augustin Hadelich Augustin Hadelich (born April 4, 1984) is an Italian-German-American Grammy-winning classical violinist. Early life and education Augustin Hadelich was born in Cecina, Italy, to German parents. His two older brothers were already playing cello ...

: ''Recuerdos'' - arranged for violin solo

References

External links

* * {{Authority control Compositions for guitar Compositions by Francisco Tárrega 1896 compositions Compositions in A minor Alhambra (Spain)