Romanza de Amor (advanced version)

About This Song

Romanza de Amor guitar sheet music: “Romanza de Amor” (Romance of Love) is a piece for guitar, also known as “Estudio en Mi de Rubira” (Study in E by Rubira), “Spanish Romance”, “Romance de España”, “Romance of the Guitar”, “Romanza” and “Romance d’Amour” among other names. Its origins and authorship are currently in question. It is suspected of originally being a solo instrumental guitar work, from the 19th century. It has variously been attributed to Antonio Rubira, David del Castillo, Francisco Tárrega, Fernando Sor, Daniel Fortea, Miguel Llobet, Antonio Cano, Vicente Gómez and Narciso Yepes.

The style of the piece is that of the Parlour music of the late 19th century in Spain or South America, having a closed three-part form: the first in the minor key and the second being in the major key, with the third being a restatement of the first. This song has been studied by beginners, performed by intermediate guitarists and reinterpreted and improvised by advanced musicians. This version by Stevan Pasero includes some variations as well as an improvised interlude.

Romanza de Amor guitar sheet music for guitar: See the intermediate arrangement for guitar by Stevan Pasero here.

Early publications:

An early publication of the work, known as “Estudio para Guitarra” de Rovira was published by J.A. Medina e Hijo in Argentina probably in 1913, or with complete certainty before 1925, when the publisher ceased activities; which is attributed to Spanish guitarist Antonio Rubira. Guitarist and composer Isaías Sávio (Montevideo, 1900 — São Paulo, 1977) who published the work in 1959 titled “Romance de Amor (Estudo em Mi) Música de Antonio Rovira (Segunda metade do século XIX)” has published information which also cites Antonio Rubira as author (see “Violào e Mestres” Junio, 1966 / Sào Paulo, Brasil: Sávio gives information that Juan Pargas (who knew Rubira) gave the Estudio de Rovira to the guitarist Juan Valles in 1876 (1878?). Sávio also mentions that the work became popular in Buenos Aires, and began to be published by some, such as Spaniard Pedro Maza, and that the work appears in the method of Pedro Mascaró y Reissig (published in Montevideo in 1919), on page 14, with the title “Conocido por Estudio de Rovira”. Publishing company Ricordi of Argentina currently publishes the piece and attributes authorship to Antonio Rubira. Narciso Yepes (1927—1997) interpreted and is listed as the author of the piece in René Clément’s 1952 film Jeux interdits (Forbidden Games). The popularity of the film gave the piece worldwide fame. Yepes currently has the copyright of this composition in Spain although recordings and manuscripts of this song predate 1952. Newer publications show Yepes as the arranger and the piece being of anonymous authorship.