Joaquín Rodrigo (1901-1999) – Fantasía para un gentilhombre, I: Villano y ricercar

Joaquín Rodrigo Vidre, 1st Marquis of the Gardens of Aranjuez, was a Spanish composer and a virtuoso pianist.

Fantasía para un gentilhombre (Fantasia for a Gentleman) is a concerto for guitar and orchestra.

The four movements were based on six short dances for solo guitar by the 17th-century Spanish composer Gaspar Sanz, taken from a three-volume work (1674, 1675, 1697) now commonly known as Instrucción de música sobre la guitarra española (Musical Instruction on the Spanish Guitar). Most of the movements retain the names that Sanz originally gave them. Rodrigo expanded on Sanz’s themes to produce a work lasting more than 20 minutes.

Rodrigo composed the concerto in 1954 at the request of guitarist Andrés Segovia, who was evidently the gentilhombre referenced in the title. Segovia took the solo part at the premiere performance on March 5, 1958, in San Francisco.