24 Preludes for Guitar

Main source of the present editions is the manuscript by Manuel M. Ponce, kept in the Manuel M. Ponce Archive, located in the Cuicamatini library of the Facultad de Música de la Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México.

The preludes were composed around 1929 after the invitation of Segovia who, urged by the publishers to write a method, asked Ponce to compose some short pieces to include in this didactic project. In April 1930 Segovia published only 12 preludes with Schott publishing house.

Many of Ponce’s manuscripts remained unknown for a long time, until 1977, when the Mexican guitarist and musicologist Miguel Alcázar, thanks to the collaboration of Carlos Vázquez, pupil and heir of Manuel Ponce’s manuscripts, began an important recovery of Ponce’s guitar music by preparing the first complete edition of the preludes.