Concierto de Aranjuez

Concierto de Aranjuez is a guitar concerto composed by Joaquín Rodrigo in 1939. Its lyrical second movement, the Adagio, is its best-known passage.

Guitar concerto: A concerto in which a guitar performs as soloist with an accompanying orchestra. This work is among the best-known concertos written for classical guitar.
Joaquín Rodrigo: A Spanish composer (1901–1999) known for works that brought the classical guitar into concert music. He composed the concerto in Paris in 1939, near the end of the Spanish Civil War.
Narciso Yepes: A Spanish classical guitarist known for his virtuosity and for popularizing the ten-string guitar. His recordings helped establish the concerto in the international guitar repertory.
Sketches of Spain: A 1960 album by Miles Davis and Gil Evans drawing on Spanish musical material. Its adaptation of the Adagio recasts Rodrigo’s orchestral writing for jazz trumpet and ensemble.
Classical guitar repertoire: The body of music written or arranged for the classical guitar. Rodrigo’s concerto became a central orchestral work in the instrument’s repertoire.
Adagio (Concierto de Aranjuez): The slow second movement of Joaquín Rodrigo’s Concierto de Aranjuez. Its plaintive melody and orchestral dialogue give the concerto its most recognizable passage.
Palace of Aranjuez: A royal palace and gardens in Aranjuez, Spain, built beside the Tagus River. The palace and its gardens supplied the concerto’s title and an evocation of Spanish courtly life.
Miles Davis: An American jazz trumpeter and bandleader who helped shape several major styles of modern jazz. His 1960 recording of “Concierto de Aranjuez” brought the Adagio to a jazz audience.
Rodrigo’s Fantasía para un gentilhombre: A guitar concerto composed by Joaquín Rodrigo in 1954, based on themes by Gaspar Sanz. It is Rodrigo’s other major guitar concerto, drawing more explicitly on older Spanish dances.
Popular music: Music created for broad public audiences and circulated through mass media and commercial performance. The Adagio’s melody has been quoted and adapted widely outside concert music.

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CadenzaBroader topic: Its second movement features an extended guitar cadenza that intensifies the concerto’s central lyrical episode.