Overview
Introduction
La Catedral is perhaps Agustín Barrios's best known and most played composition. Even though La Catedral is one of Barrios's early works (written in 1921), it didn't assume a final form until the last years of Barrios's life, when the Costa Rica (1939) and El Salvador (1943) manuscripts were written. Throughout his career, Barrios evolved how he played La Catedral , adding and removing parts, changing fingerings, and renotating entire movements. As a result, you will find that nobody plays it exactly the same way, depending on which transcription they are working from and how their preferences shape the bits they incorporate or omit to create their own unique renditions. Part of the joy of listening to or performing La Catedral is the variety of arrangements and interpretations it makes possible, providing something new to discover each time it is played.
Barrios wrote the original two movements, Andante Religioso and Allegro Solemne , in Uruguay in 1921. Preludio Saudade was added as the first movement in 1939, after having been written in Havana, Cuba in 1938. Although some people reject the first movement as being part of La Catedral , it fits perfectly with the rest of the work and is a great work in its own right.
Preludio Saudade was written originally in two voices (1939 Costa Rica manuscript), but later renotated in three voices (1943 El Salvador manuscript). My transcription combines the two because the three-voice notation can be more challenging to read and the two-voice notation is inaccurate, rendering some quarter notes as sixteenth notes. Combining the two provides the ease of reading of the two-voice notation with the accuracy of the three-voice notation. The grace note slide I added in measure 46 may be ignored. The rallentando starting in the same measure is placed above the staff, according to recommended notational practice for tempo markings
