The first anecdote related to this work took place a few hours before the world premiere:


November 1940. On the eve of the premiere, Joaquín Rodrigo and the guitarist Regino Sáinz de la Maza were travelling to Barcelona on the night train, together in a sleeping car. In the middle of the night Regino woke the Maestro with these words: “I am obsessed by an idea that is keeping me awake. What if tomorrow at the concert you can’t hear the guitar?” As a result of that question, neither of the two slept that night.

Fortunately his fears were unjustified, the guitar was clearly heard and the audience applauded enthusiastically at the end of the work.

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March 3-15, 1986. Rodrigo Festival held in London. Queen Elizabeth Hall and the Purcell Room at London’s Festival Hall were the scene of seven concerts which were completely sold out, and included on the program 13 symphonic works and 29 chamber and voice works. Great soloists were the performers: Angel and Pepe Romero, Joaquín Achúcarro, Agustín León, Ara, Patricia Rozario, Julián Lloyd Weber, Iejuan Jones, among others, accompanied by the Bournemouth Sinfonietta, conducted by Raymond Calcraft. London vibrated with the music of the Spanish composer and there was advertising everywhere. The subway was plastered with posters showing the photo of the composer.

One morning Cecilia Rodrigo was walking down the stairs of the metro stop in Picadilly and heard in the distance the melody of Concierto de Aranjuez which came rumbling into a great roar. Suddenly she encountered a young violinist who was playing the Adagio of the Concierto, accompanied by a powerful synthesizer, which sounded like a large symphonic orchestra. Travellers hurried by, dropping a few coins in a box, and Cecilia stood quite still before the violinist who continued to play, becoming somewhat nervous seeing that Cecilia was staring at him. When he finished, this was their conversation:

Cecilia: Hello, what are you playing?
Violinist: Well, it is my own composition.
Cecilia: Really? It seems so familiar to me...
Violinist: Well, it is based on Rodrigo...
Cecilia: Ah...Joaquín Rodrigo is my father and you are playing the Adagio of the famous Concierto de Aranjuez. Here you have 2 pounds, but...next time you will pay royalties to the composer...

The young violinist, with a shocked expression, quickly gathered his coins, his violin and the rest of his things and ran off in a hurry...

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April 5, 1994. The Maestro was 93 years old. Teatro Monumental, Madrid. Special concert. Orchestra City of Málaga, conductor Olav Calleya. On the program: Concierto de Aranjuez, with soloist Ángel Romero.

Given his advanced age, the composer decided at the last minute to attend the concert. At the box office there were only a few remaining seats high up under the roof of the theater and they purchased three tickets, one for him, one for his daughter Cecilia and one for Cecilia, his granddaughter. They arrived at the scheduled time and people rapidly began to recognize the Maestro as he entered, since he was very popular and venerated.

Slowly they climbed the stairs to the last row on the third floor and sat in their seats. The news of where he was seated spread quickly and a few minutes before the concert began a loud voice shouted “Maestro Rodrigo is up under the roof!” A huge uproar followed. A few minutes later the manager of the Orchestra appeared to welcome the composer and propose that he come down to the ground floor seating area. To everyone’s amazement, the Maestro didn’t want to move, arguing that after climbing so many stairs, he wasn’t going to budge until the end of the concert. When Concierto de Aranjuez was finished, a spectacular ovation was heard from all parts of the Teatro Monumental, but the warmest applause came from those sitting near him under the roof, proud and honoured to have shared that section with the composer. 

The world premiere.

The world premiere of Concierto de Aranjuez took place on November 9th, 1940 in the Palau de la Música Catalana in Barcelona by the Philharmonic Orchestra of Barcelona under conductor César Mendoza Lasalle, with guitar soloist, Regino Sainz de la Maza, to whom it is dedicated.

Program of the premiere of Concierto de Aranjuez, November 9th, 1940 at the Palau de la Música, Barcelona.				Press review of the premiere in Destino, written by Xavier Montsalvatge. (Click here to read the article).

 
Rodrigo would remain faithful to aesthetics that he liked to call 'neocasticismo, practicing tonal tradition, reflecting his fondness for classical forms and incorporating refined elements as a way of joining Spanish tradition with the present, to create a style that is immediately recognizable.

Up to the present, when the 75 th anniversary of the premiere of the original concerto will be celebrated, the pop version of Concierto de Aranjuez, whose recognized title in Spanish is En Aranjuez con tu amor, is considered a pop classic. New versions in the most wide-ranging styles and diverse languages are constantly appearing on the market, making it a true classic.

 

The pop version of the famous melody of the second movement, Adagio.

In the decade of the nineteen sixties, in circumstances totally unrelated to the composer, whose consent was neves requested, a series of recordings of the Adagio were produced in versions quite different from the original one. The first one was most probably the historic recording by Miles Davis in 1960, in an album called Sketches of Spain, under its original title Concierto de Aranjuez on the Columbia label. In 1967, the song version appeared, under the title Aranjuez, mon amour, a creation of the French singer Richard Anthony.

These versions caused the composer great displeasure and distress as he did not agree to the transformation of his work which he considered a violation of moral rights. Joaquín Rodrigo and his wife tried to stop the recordings from being released and spreading. Bur it was useless; the more he tried to block them, the faster they spread and sales increased. In the end, the composer resigned himself to accept the fact that the pop versions reached a far greater public than that of classical music concertgoers, and led to much wider recognition of the original classical concerto for guitar and orchestra, Concierto de Aranjuez. Since that time, the concerto has become part of the universal repertoire for orchestras and guitarists, and is one of the contemporary works most performed throughout the world.

 

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The French press reported the following historical anecdotes:

Paris Match (7/5/1961): 'Rodrigo formally prohibits the sale'

ELLE (1/8/1961): '...Miles Davis has made a recording based on Concierto de Aranjuez and this record is going to be prohibited... The Spanish composer who wrote it for guitar and orchestra is very unhappy to see it turned into jazz (excellent), with the trumpet replacing the guitar. You better hurry to buy or listen to it'.

'...Final reappearance of Sketches of Spain, which includes the famous Concierto de Aranjuez by the Spanish composer Joaquín Rodrigo. The record was removed from the market in France and its sale was prohibited (probably for reasons of author's rights). It is not only directed to lovers of jazz, but to all those seeking different sounds in music. In any case, here's some advice: Listen to the classical recording of this concerto (Decca nº 178999) and compare them. The majority will probably opt for the latter one. Nevertheless, it is an interesting record.'

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In 1967, the first song version was produced and launched on the French market by Richard Anthony, under the title Aranjuez, mon amour, with lyrics in French. The song rapidly became a bestseller at the international level. Pop stars of the moment rivalled in bringing our their own version, and the theme was sung in a wide variety of languages.

As an anecdote, among the popular stars who performed the song was the French film actress Brigitte Bardot and a long list of famous faces including Dalida, Demis Rousos, Nana Mouskouri, Lola Flores, Amalia Rodrigues, Plácido Domingo, José Carreras, Montserrat Caballé...

The composer felt overwhelmed by the extraordinary popularity of the theme and was swamped by publishers and agents from all over the world who wanted rights to publish the pop version. The international press wrote about it and the following cartoon apeared in the Spanish press (1/12/1967).

Outsanding Pop Versions starting from the nineteen sixties:

Miles Davis Concierto de Aranjuez. Album Sketches of Spain (1960)		Richard Anthony - Aranjuez, mon amour (1967)		Dalida Aranjuez, la tua voce
Demis Roussos Follow me		The Modern Jazz Quartet With Laurindo de Almeida		Jim Hall
Amalia Rodrigues		Miguel Ríos		James Last and his Orchestra
The Boston Feelings Orchestra		Jean Christian Michel		Chick Corea, jazz version (Spain)
Al Jarreau		Lola Flores (See our YouTube Channel)		Frank Pourcel
Jean François Mauroic		Massimo Ranieri (See our YouTube Channel)		Fairuz
Manuel & The Music of the Mountains		José Feliciano (See our YouTube Channel)		Nana Mouskouri
The Swingle Singers		Stevie Wonder		Carlos Santana
Dyango		Maurice André		Paloma San Basilio
Paul Mauriat (Classic)		Sarah Brightman		Waldo de los Ríos
Helmut Lotti		Herb Alpert		The Shadows
Arielle Dombasle		Il Divo & Sarah Brightman (See our YouTube Channel)		Andrea Bocelli
Katherine Jenkins		Summer		Jan D. Dvorsky
The Planets		Casiopea and Jimsaku (jazz)		Rita
John Paul Jones (instrumental)		Isao Tomita (electronic version)		Leo Brouwer, Chucho Valdés y Trakere (jazz)
Chris Botty		Victoria Gydov		Larry Adler (armónica)
Plácido Domingo		Montserrat Caballé		Ana María Martínez
Carlos Núñez (gaita)		James Galway (flauta)		Hosu Senlendirici (clarinete)
Jake Shimabufuro (Dragón) (ukelele)		Myrna Chaker (mix)		Bebo Valdés y El Cigala
David Garret (violín)		The Ten Tenors (Los diez tenores) (See our YouTube Channel)		Gypsy Flamenco Masters
Samsung Chill out Sessions (flamenco)		André Rieu		Masafumi Akikawa
Gloria Laso		La Mala		José Carreras
Fernando Lima		Café del Mar		Coma feat (Instrumental mix)
Sax Chill out		Ikuko Kawai (violín)		Baster Williams (bajo)

The manuscript of Concierto de Aranjuez, as with all Joaquín Rodrigo's original manuscripts is written in the tactile system of reading and writing known as braille, created for the blind and called braille in honor of its French inventor, Louis Braille. The system was published in 1829 and in 1837 and is also adapted to musical notation.

Starting with his manuscript in braille, the composer would dictate each work subsequently to a copyist, note by note, instrument by instrument, modification by modification, and the copyist would produce a score in musical language. Afterwards, Rodrigo proceeded to make final corrections with the assistance of his wife.

For this reason, the only handwritten manuscripts of Joaquín Rodrigo's works are those written in braille.