Guitar Concerto No. 1 in D Major, Op. 99

• Castelnuovo-Tedesco composed this concerto in 1939.¹
• This concerto was written at the same time as Rodrigo’s Concierto de Aranjuez (both were begun in 1938 and finished in 1939). We’re not sure exactly which one was begun first, so they more or less tie for the first (known) guitar concerto composed in the 20^th century.²
• Andrés Segovia, the concerto’s dedicatee, played its premiere in October of 1939.³
• This was the last composition Castelnuovo-Tedesco completed before he had to flee his native Italy to escape Fascist antisemitic persecution. He resettled in the United States.⁴ 

“Strangely enough, although it was written at the most tragic period of my life, it is one of my most serene compositions.”

Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco⁵Qupte

1. James Westby, “Castelnuovo-Tedesco, Mario,” Grove Music Online (2001), accessed August 5, 2021,  https://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo-9781561592630-e-0000005128.
2. John W. Duarte, liner notes to Rodrigo / Villa Lobos / Castelnuovo-Tedesco: Guitar Concertos, Norbert Craft, Northern Chamber Orchestra, Nicholas Ward, Naxos 8.550729, CD, 1994.
3. Ibid.
4. Ibid.