Barrios' Guitar Sold at Auction

by Richard Brune

Agustin Barrios publicity photograph On June 22, 2002, the 1911 Jose Ramirez guitar used by Agustin Barrios to record what many scholars have said were the first commercial classical guitar recordings on the Artigas and Atlanta record labels, was sold at auction at my Evanston workshop to an anonymous American collector.

As described in the Rico Stover Biography of Barrios, Six Silver Moonbeams, this was the instrument acquired by Barrios from his first major patron, Carlos Trapani, who owned a music store in Montevideo, Uruguay. Trapani sponsored Barrios in his first public appearance in Montevideo in 1912. Later in 1921, Trapani was the first to publish Barrios' compositions. During his stay in Montevideo, Barrios also went to a photography studio where he had a publicity photo taken holding this same guitar, which is illustrated in the Barrios biography.

According to the legend surrounding this guitar, Barrios was crossing a river with his car tied to a ferry when the car lost its moorings and fell off the ferry into the river, taking the guitar with it. The guitar was retrieved from the river and repaired, the repairmen writing a date of 1913 on the inside end block. However, it was not until 1914 that Barrios made his first recordings, so it was in this repaired condition that the guitar was used for the historic first commercial recordings.

On July 6, 1915, in the small town of Tranqueras in northern Uruguay, Barrios gave this guitar to a justice of the peace named Modesto J. Ipar, writing on the sound board, "Dear Modesto, I leave you this piece of my wandering soul in testimony of the affection I have for you and your family." Modesto J. Ipar and his wife had no children, but were very good friends with a local family, who asked Modesto to be the godfather of their son, Heber Rico Monteverde, who was born in 1920. For various reasons, Modesto was not able to complete this request, but nonetheless treated young Heber as if he were his godson. In 1936, when Heber turned 15, he received the guitar from Modesto and owned it until it was sold at auction on June 22, 2002.

In 1985 this instrument was played in Montevideo by the Barrios student and scholar, Sila Godoy, on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the birth of Barrios. As Heber Rico Monteverde described this performance, Mr. Godoy played "with tears in his eyes." Having been lost for nearly 50 years, this instrument has finally rejoined the fraternity of guitarists once again, and it is the wish of Mr. Rico that it once again be used to play and record the music of Barrios.

I was contacted by the Ambassador from Paraguay prior to the sale of this instrument, and I found out that news of the sale had made the front page of the ABC newspaper in Asuncion, Paraguay, where the name of Barrios is revered today more than ever. The notice of the sale was also posted to their website, abc.com.py, which also featured an interview with Sila Godoy. My thanks to Rico Stover, whose biography of Barrios was instrumental in identifying and authenticating this instrument, and also to Chris Laughlin, who attended the auction and played a Barrios waltz on this instrument prior to the commencement of the bidding. Chris has previously recorded an album entitled "Simplicio: Music from the era of Barrios and Segovia" using a 1927 Simplicio previously owned by Barrios which I had restored several years ago.

Reprinted from Chicago Guitar, July-August, 2002.

Guitar Tablature for Barrios compositions

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