The complete works of Søffren Degen (1816-1885)
ISMN M-706787-47-3



This edition is sold to The Royal Conservatory and the Royal Library in Denmark,

Complete solos for guitar, Volume I ISMN M-706787-40-4
Complete guitar duets, Volume II ISMN M-706787-41-1
Complete duets for guitar and cello, Volume III ISMN M-706787-44-2

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The complete works for guitar
Søffren Degen was born in Copenhagen, Denmark, on October 12th 1816. His father committed sui-cide before the young Søffren had reached the age of two. Degen’s introduction to music came through his stepfather Andreas Hallager who was a professional composer, conductor and an oboe player. Andreas Hallager had a strong affection for the guitar. Degen gave his first public performance as a 13-year-old student at the conservatory, when he recited a poem by the poet Christian Wilster. The young Søffren Degen considered the guitar as his primary study, but the conservatory did not accept the guitar as a serious instrument for the students, so Degen was trained as a cellist and a composer. The great Danish composer J. P. E. Hartmann was responsible for most of Degen’s training. Degen was heavily inspired in his compositions by Hartmann. Degen fought all his life for a serious attitude to-wards the guitar, so that the guitar could be accepted in the higher circles of music society and enter the concert stage as a serious concert instrument. He toured around Europe as a very successful guitar virtuoso, and he supplemented his income with engagements as a cellist and as an actor. Degen is the only Danish guitarist from the 19th century who we know for sure was seriously involved with the main international guitar community. He had very close ties to Napoléon Coste, and two letters from Coste to
Degen have survived. Degen strongly believed in the future of the heptachord guitar (seven-string guitar). He was convinced that it was superior to the usual six-string guitar. Coste might have been his main source of inspiration in this belief. All of Degen’s compositions and transcriptions are written for the heptacord. Degen’s involvement with the international guitar environment is obvious, and the traces of Coste, Mertz and Giuliani in his compositions and transcriptions leave us with the impression of a great 19th century guitar virtuoso. His exceptional instrumental sense is seen, for example, in the strange and interesting composition “ Sorgmarsch” (Funeral March). The surprising and original way of imitating church bells in this composition indicates how far he had reached as a guitar player and composer. Degen’s greatest contribution to the guitar repertoire is to be found in his unusual compositions and transcriptions for cello and guitar. These are all major concert works. Degen was trained as a cellist and he mastered the cello, as did many other great 19th century guitarists. His transcriptions are based on well-known music by Mozart, Haydn, Schubert and cello virtuosos such as Dotzauer, Flotow and Bockmühl. Degen was not like his colleague Henrik Rung (1807-1871), a highly important composer with strong influence on the Danish tradition. Degen’s importance is mainly as an instrumentalist and an interna-tional figure in the guitar world. Degen’s compositions are well crafted and written in highly romantic style, often program music, and nearly always in a (for the guitar) unusually large-scale form. That large-scale form was no doubt inspired by Coste. Many of Rung’s compositions have a touch of the Danish national Romantic style. Degen died in 1885 in Copenhagen. A few traces of his work still survive in the guitar world today. It was a student of his, Thorvald Rischel, who gathered one of the world’s most important collections of
guitar music, today in the Royal Library in Copenhagen, thanks to which many nineteenth centuryguitar works have survived until today. The cello part schuold be performed in way that to a cetai degree imitates the guitar.


To see some of the scores contact..................................................http://hebeonline.com

Jens Bang-Rasmussen
Frejasgade 14 2, tv
DK-2200 Copenhagen N.
Fax/tlf +45 35811963
e-mail : jensb-r@vip.cybercity.dk
The complete works can also be ordered from Jens Bang-Rasmussen.

 

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Complete solo works for guitar
Volume I
ISMN M-706787-40-4

 

Opus 1
No. 1 Walz No. 1a Walz
No. 2 Walz No. 3 Walz
No. 4 Walz No. 5 Walz No. 6 Walz

Opus 2
No. 1Gallopade walz No. 2 Gallopade walz No. 3 Gallopade walz No. 4 Gallopade walz No. 5 No. 6 The 29 of Febrary walz

Opus 3
No. 1 Zapateado No. 2 Rigel
No. 3 Rigel No. 4 Andante Pastorale, Scherzo No. 5 Small

Marsch for guitare
Romanse (Romance)
Serenade
Sorgmarsch
Tempo di marcia
Allegro
Andante
Piece facile pour guitare (Sept Morceuax par Sor Giuliani og Degen WH. 1899 en samlig af på 7 stykker af de nævnte komponister)

Transskriptions

Felix Mendelsohn (1809-1847)
3 movements from Lieder ohne worte


 

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Complete guitar duets

Volume II
ISMN M-706787-41-1

March for two guitars

Second parts for famous soloworks and duets

Napoléon Coste (1805-1883)
La source de lyson
Rondau de concert
Les Passage des Alpes

 

Mauro Giuliani (1781-1829)
Grandes variatione
Concerto op. 70

J. K. Mertz (1806-1856)
Einsiedlers Waldglöcklein

Primier parts ISMN M-706787-42-8

Score ISMN M-706787-43-5

 

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Complete duets for cello and guitar
Volume III
ISMN M-706787-44-2

Pastorale melanconico op. 11
Un ricordanza op. 12
En Sommeraften op. 15 ( a summer evening)
Melodisk Vals op. 16
Notturno op. 17
Blandt Bjergene op. 19 (among the mountains)

 

Transcriptions

Daniel Francois Esprit Auber (1782-1871)
Den Stumme i Portici (The dumb in Portici)
Andante con moto

J. S. Bach/ Gounod (1688-1750)
Meditation

Robert Emil Bockmühl (1820-1881)
Soire Musicales, Quatre Serenades op. 43
1. Valse Melancolique
2. Au Bord de la Mer, Chant du Pêcher
3. la Gavotte
4. Plasites Amoureuses du Gondoler

J. F. L. Dotzauer (1783-1864)
Potpurri op.21

Franz von Flotow (1812-1883)
Arie fra operaen Martha

George Goltermann (1824-1898)
Quatre Morceaux Caracteristiques op. 43
2. Inglitude
3. Notturno
4. Humoresque

J. Haydn (1732-1809)
Andante. II mov. from op. 33 no. 6

W. A Mozart (1756-1791)
Larghetto op 87. II mov. from k. 581

F. Schubert (1797-1828)
Ständschen /Dotzauer/Degen

Ludwig Spohr (1784-1859)
Die Rose/Dotzauer/Degen

J. W. Ludwig Zinck (1776-1851)
Barcarole from the opera Prindsesse Isabelle

 

Cello part ISMN M-706787-45-9

Guitar part ISMN M-706787-46-6




 

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