El Noi de la Mare (The Son of Mary)
A short Christmas carol based on a traditional song from the Catalonia region of northeast Spain, arranged for solo piano by Nigel Edmund-Jones (Fullscore Publishing). Spanish virtuoso guitarist Miguel Llobet made an arrangement of this traditional Spanish tune, which was then often performed as an encore by the great virtuoso Spanish guitarist, Andrés Segovia. That sealed its place in the classical guitarist's repertoire. Llobet's harmonisation of the tune is included, note-for-note, in the third verse of this Fullscore edition.
 
Biography of Miguel Llobet
Llobet originally trained as an artist and continued to paint throughout his life. Born in 1878 in Barcelona, he studied guitar from the age of 11. After meeting Francisco Tárrega, in 1892, he began to study with him at the Municipal Conservatory of Music in Barcelona.
 
In 1901 he performed his first public concert at the Conservatory of València, and followed this with concerts at conservatories in Seville and Málaga. After his first concert outside of Spain, in Paris in 1904, he temporarily relocated in 1910 to Buenos Aires, from where he played concerts throughout South and Central America and the Caribbean. He returned to live and perform in Paris in 1905. After that he toured extensively in the Americas and throughout Europe. In 1915, he taught 22-year-old Andrés Segovia, who subsequently immortalised Llobet's arrangements of works by Isaac Albéniz. 
 
Llobet’s recordings around 1930 were some of the first of the classical guitar. He continued to tour extensively around Europe. He had a quiet retirement, frequented concerts and hosted guests such as Emilio Pujol and Manuel de Falla. The Spanish civil war began in 1936 and Barcelona was besieged, during which his health spiralled downwards. He died of pleurisy in 1938.
 
The full song lyrics (and English translation) are included in the pdf download of El Noi de la Mare (The Son of Mary)
 
Què li darem a n'el Noi de la Mare?
Què li darem que li sàpiga bo ?
Panses i figues, i nous i olives,
Panses i figues, i mèl i mató...
 
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/El_Noi_de_la_Mare
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Recordings:
- The classic guitar version by maestro Andrés Segovia: YouTube link.
- A recording of the piece cannot be found as a solo piano arrangement.
- Most choral singers will probably know it in this arrangement by Ernest Cervera: YouTube link
- Freely arranged version by Jordi Domènech for girl's voices: (sung by the Cor de Noies de l'Orfeó Català): YouTube link
- John Rutter's modern Christmas arrangement of the traditional tune ('Carol of the Gifts'): YouTube link
 
Cover image: Nativita (1655) by Italian painter Carlo Maratta (1625-1713). Location: The Dresden State Art Collection, Germany. 
 
Inside cover portrait by Ramon Casas (1866-1932). Held in the National Art Museum of Catalonia. 
 
More Christmas piano music published by Fullscore Music:
[Free downloads] fullscoremusic.co.uk/christmas
Two other Catalan carols: La Nit de Nadal (Miguel Llobet), Villancico de Navidad (Agustín Pio Barrios [Mangoré], 
+ The Cradle in Bethlehem (Roger Quilter), Gebet in der Christnacht (Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel), Mariä Wiegenlied (Max Reger), The Little Girls' Dance (Niels Gade), Julstämning (Elfrida Andrée), Chant de Noël (De Séverac), Waltz (The Christmas Tree) (Rebikov), Don oíche úd i mBeithil (That star-lit night in Bethlehem) (Trad. Irish, arr. Nigel Edmund-Jones) - and more Christmas works for choir or flute and piano (Silent Night by Hans Sitt). and Christmas Sonatina by Carl Reinecke.
 
The following songs are also arranged for solo piano and published by Fullscore Publications (full versions are included in Songs without Words, Book 1, available only from Amazon here):
Morgen! (Richard Strauss): Score preview & download link
A Mirage (Amy Beach): Score preview & download link
Au bord de l'eau (Gabriel Fauré): Score preview & download link