John Doan offers sheet music from his popular album, “Homage to Fernando Sor – A Musical Tribute to the Father of the Classical Guitar,” for sale. It is available as a complete sheet music collection or by individual pieces. All are available only as digital downloadable files.

This Homage to Fernando Sor is a timeless work by Emmy-Nominated guitarist John Doan who takes his listeners beyond the barriers of time into a dreamscape that will touch your heart as you relive the life and times of this legendary musician who is affectionately known today as the “Father of the Classical Guitar.

Many guitar historians have addressed the “What, Where, When, and How” about Sor but Doan is most interested in discovering “Who” he was. Doan refers directly to Fernando’s music, playing pieces as if they were like old love letters cast upon the sea of time. John’s very perception of time was altered by a sense of awe after encountering the magical tone of a nearly 200 year-old Panormo guitar (heard on “Homage to Fernando Sor”) that may have been made under the direction of Sor himself (1778-1839) while he lived in London. With this instrument in hand Doan finally answers Sor’s music with brilliant and consoling music of his own. This homage celebrates that the past was just the present at another time and expressions of the heart and soul are timeless.

View YouTube excerpts of a live performance of Homage to Fernando Sor.

Complete Sheet Music Collection

• 1. Homage to Fernando Sor I – From a dream
• 2. Homage to Fernando Sor II – Reaching and Becoming
• 3. Homage to Fernando Sor III – Les Folies – Making Sense of the Folly
• 4. Homage to Fernando Sor IV – The Night has Drifted into a World of Dreams
• 5. Homage to Fernando Sor V – If Only We Could Meet
• 6. Homage to Fernando Sor VI – He Could Feel Their Joy But Only From a Distance
• 7. Homage to Fernando Sor VII – Sleep Is Uneasy the Night
  Before Battle
• 8. Homage to Fernando Sor VIII – All Can Change So Suddenly Yet She Sleeps So Tenderly
• 9. Homage to Fernando Sor IX – Farewell Beloved Country
• 10. Homage to Fernando Sor X – As Music Consoled Him It Consoles Us Still
• 11. Homage to Fernando Sor XI – Expressions Of the Heart and Soul Are Timeless (Postlude)

“Homage to Fernando Sor” Complete Sheet Music Collection PDF files $35.00

All the music appears in standard notation with separate tablature provided.

Individual Sections from “Homage to Fernado Sor”

Individual Selections from “Homage to Fernando Sor” are available below:

Homage I: “From a Dream” from “Homage to Fernando Sor”

Homage I in Em quotes Sor’s Op. 6, No. 11, Allegro Moderato – published in London 1815-17 (Estudio XVII in Segovia’s “Twenty Studies for the Guitar”).

Listen to “Homage I: From a Dream“.

“Homage to Fernando Sor” began soon after Doan acquired one of the earliest known Panormo guitars from the world’s leading scholar of the Panormo Family. Playing it late into the night he was interrupted by his wife reminding him to come to bed by telling him that it was very late and that the guitar would still be there in the morning. It made sense to his mind but his heart wanted to keep on playing. Doan’s dreams were filled with music like Sor’s, but new music he had never heard before. While half awake and half asleep he ran to write it down as if he were capturing a dream in a jar. So began this journey “Homage to Fernando Sor.”

Direct Emailing: $7 PDF file

This music is in standard notation with separate tablature provided.

Sheet Music PDF: will normally be emailed to you within 24 hours (Please allow 2 to 3 days if John Doan is away on tour).

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Homage II: “Reaching and Becoming” from “Homage to Fernando Sor”

Homage to Sor II in Dm quotes Sor’s Op. 31, No. 16, Moderato – published in Paris 1828 (Estudio VIII in Segovia’s “Twenty Studies for the Guitar”).

Listen to “Reaching and Becoming“.

At eleven Fernando went from being a boy to a young man. In exchange for a musical education after his father died his mother gave him to the regional Monastery at Montserrat to sing in the still famous Boys Choir. His studies included composition and learning to play the various instruments of the orchestra. One Priest taught him the rudiments of the guitar but it was Fernando himself that developed his own insights to playing and composing for the instrument. He was like a young Spaniard in the center of a bullring or a Don Quixote off to battle windmills. Greatness was born from the will to find his own way, to follow his dreams and reach for the stars.

Direct Emailing: $7 PDF file

This music is in standard notation with separate tablature provided.

Sheet Music PDF: will normally be emailed to you within 24 hours (Please allow 2 to 3 days if John Doan is away on tour).

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Homage III: “Les Folies – Making Sense of the Folly” from “Homage to Fernando Sor”

Homage to Sor III in Am quotes Sor’s Les Folies D’Espagne Op. 15 published in Paris 1822-25.

Listen to “Homage III: “Les Folies – Making Sense of the Folly“.

A common practice since the 17th century was to improvise over a popular series of chords that became known as La Folias meaning literally “folly” or “madness” (view Doan’s live performance of La Folias on an early 19th century lyra guitar which starts 4 minutes into the video). It became a popular framework to melodically improvise over not unlike the 12 bar chord sequence of the blues. Rather than simply improvising melodically over chords in his Les Folies D’Espagne Op. 15 Fernando embellishes the harmonies and even creates contrasts in mood.

What came to Doan in this Homage was the Folias unfolding in a deeply personal manner reflecting quiet reserve, then great passion, moments of intense isolation, and yet perseverance through to the end. As Fernando passed from being 11 to 17 years of age in the Monastery he learned to be his own man. Doan imagined in this Homage that his restrained emotions found a welcome outlet in music that went beyond style and craft to reveal a vital spirit and a searching soul. View Doan’s live performance of Homage III – Les Folies Making Sense of the Folly” (starts 4 minutes into the video).

Direct Emailing: $7 PDF file

This music is in standard notation with separate tablature provided.

Sheet Music PDF: will normally be emailed to you within 24 hours (Please allow 2 to 3 days if John Doan is away on tour).

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Homage IV: “The Night has Drifted into a World of Dreams” from “Homage to Fernando Sor”
Listen to “Homage IV: “The Night has Drifted into a World of Dreams“.

Homage to Sor IV in Bm quotes Sor’s Op. 6, No. 11, Allegro Moderato – published in London 1815-17 (Estudio XVII in Segovia’s “Twenty Studies for the Guitar”).

Doan imagined in this next Homage Montserrat draped in moonlight as the priests and young boys are fast asleep. Fernando rests from a day of chores, prayers and music making. Crickets fill the still air with their clicking songs keeping time to the twinkling stars. The night has drifted into a world of dreams well beyond the waking imagination of a teenager’s thoughts. Little does he know that great challenges lay ahead of him with the intrigues of war, political exile, and living as a foreigner in foreign lands. Angels discuss his fate but only God knows his destiny.

Direct Emailing: $7 PDF file

This music is in standard notation with separate tablature provided.

Sheet Music PDF: will normally be emailed to you within 24 hours (Please allow 2 to 3 days if John Doan is away on tour).

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Homage V: “If Only We Could Meet” from “Homage to Fernando Sor”

Homage to Sor V in D quotes Sor’s Op. 35, No. 17, Moderato – Paris 1828 (Estudio VI in Segovia’s “Twenty Studies for the Guitar”).

Listen to “Homage V: “If Only We Could Meet“.

View John Doan as he performs live in concert describing Fernando Sor trying to pick up on a girl he would like to meet.

In this Homage Doan imagined Fernando after he left the Monastery at eighteen years of age to enter into schooling for the military. It is during this time he first encounters the presence of young women as a young man. In spite of all his training in military readiness he finds himself entirely unprepared for this most formidable and bewildering of life’s challenges. Trained to observe his opponent in the field and then to calculate a precise battle plan with appropriate force to subdue the enemy instead he finds his judgment to be clouded in indecision and debilitating despair.

He establishes his position standing beside the Opera house on the boulevard La Rambla as she approaches from the Plaça de Catalunya on her way to the sea. His thoughts are about what he should say.

“Hola, ¿cómo estás? (“Hello, How are you?). No, maybe, “¿Como se llama? Yo soy Fernando” (What is your name? I am Fernando”). Or maybe, “Creo que eres hermosa, ¿puedo hablar con cos?” (“I think you are beautiful, can I talk to you?”)

As she passes by completely in a world of her own he turns his head down and says to himself, “Esto es imposible” (this is impossible). He watches her disappear into a crowd of passersby. His gaze remains to the south long after she has passed in the mid day sun.

Direct Emailing: $7 PDF file

This music is in standard notation with separate tablature provided.

Sheet Music PDF: will normally be emailed to you within 24 hours (Please allow 2 to 3 days if John Doan is away on tour).

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Homage VI: “He Could Feel Their Joy But Only From a Distance” from “Homage to Fernando Sor”

Homage to Sor VI in C quotes Sor’s Op. 35, No. 13, Andantino – published in Paris 1828 (Estudio II in Segovia’s “Twenty Studies for the Guitar”).

Listen to “Homage VI: “He Could Feel Their Joy But Only From a Distance“.

Fernando wrote a number of short pieces that had an air of innocence mingled with melancholy. When he was in his twenties he became a commissioned officer in the Military and was free to move about Spain as a composer, and like Goya, he received patronage from the Duchess of Alba in Madrid among others. These were reasonably happy days creating symphonies, quartets, etc.

In this Homage Doan imagined a scene where Fernando looked on as others played on a swing. Perhaps as they swung and laughed his imagination drifted back to fond memories of childhood mixed with some sadness. Being an artist does not allow one to be both a participant and an observer. He could feel their joy but only from a distance.

Direct Emailing: $7 PDF file

This music is in standard notation with separate tablature provided.

Sheet Music PDF: will normally be emailed to you within 24 hours (Please allow 2 to 3 days if John Doan is away on tour).

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Homage VII: “Sleep Is Uneasy the Night Before Battle” from “Homage to Fernando Sor”

Homage to Sor VII in Am quotes Sor’s Op. 31, No. 20 and Op. 31, No. 19 – Paris 1828 (Estudio X, and IX in Segovia’s “Twenty Studies for the Guitar”).

Listen to “Homage VII: Sleep is Uneasy the Night Before Battle“.

In 1808 Fernando’s world was changed forever by the invasion and occupation of Napoleon’s army in Spain. In the coming months he, like Goya, would create works of rebellion of the French. Having achieved the rank of Captain by the age of thirty he would have been called back to his regiment with orders to confront the invaders in the morning.

In this Homage Doan imagined as night turned into early morning sleep was uneasy not knowing how events were going to unfold. All one knows is that there will be need for courage and resolve. Faith is challenged before the battle and there is no running away.

Direct Emailing: $7 PDF file

This music is in standard notation with separate tablature provided.

Sheet Music PDF: will normally be emailed to you within 24 hours (Please allow 2 to 3 days if John Doan is away on tour).

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Homage VIII: “All Can Change So Suddenly Yet She Sleeps So Tenderly” from “Homage to Fernando Sor”

Homage to Sor VIII in Bm quotes Sor’s Op. 35, No. 22, Allegro Moderato – published in Paris 1828 (Estudio V in Segovia’s “Twenty Studies for the Guitar”).

Listen to “Homage VIII: “All Can Change So Suddenly Yet She Sleeps So Tenderly“.

After two years of unrest by 1810 French forces occupied almost all of Spain. One had to decide to continue fighting the French or to join them in making a new Spain with new revolutionary ideals of freedom and a government of the people.

Fernando joined with the French occupation and became the principal commissary of Police of the province of Jerez from 1810-1812. That is very near Cadiz where he would have acquired a guitar from the famous maker Pages. He brings it with him to London in 1815 and has the Panormo family make a copy of it. The guitar heard on “Homage to Fernando Sor” may have been one of the earliest copies Joseph Panormo made.

Fernando may have married then and began a life together built upon fragile political times. I imagined an evening sky filled with the light of a full moon that was occasionally blotted out by ominous clouds from an approaching storm. He laid awake admiring how the moonlight poured in the window onto his beloved’s face. He says to himself, “All can change so suddenly and yet she sleeps so tenderly.”

Direct Emailing: $7 PDF file

This music is in standard notation with separate tablature provided.

Sheet Music PDF: will normally be emailed to you within 24 hours (Please allow 2 to 3 days if John Doan is away on tour).

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Homage IX: “Farewell Beloved Country” from “Homage to Fernando Sor”
Homage to Sor IX in Cm quotes Sor’s Fantasy Op. 7 – published in Paris 1814.

Listen to “Homage IX: “Farewell Beloved Country“.

Sor’s famous Fantasy Op. 7 upon which this Homage is based was likely written in the fit of political turmoil around 1812. Perhaps the words he wrote from his patriotic song of 1811 suggest the sensibility behind this masterpiece.

“Sad Spain has become the scene of the most atrocious unhappiness; behold her sons, divided! Oh how great a misfortune! One call another a fool, and in his turn he is called a traitor; may a bad end come to the ambitious one who caused this division.”

“O immense God, who reading in the hearts of men, knows what are my own feelings and desires, unite the prayers of Spain; bring to an end this wild dissension; let us all live together as brothers, that the nation may prosper thus.”

(excerpt from ‘Fernando Sor, Composer and Guitarist” Brian Jeffrey, pg. 17)

Doan imagined the scene with Spanish insurgents fueled by English weapons and munitions repelling the occupying French who are without reinforcements from Napoleon’s heavy losses in Russia. Despite having fought for the Spanish and written protest songs against the French his post as principal commissary of Police in Jerez since 1810 has labeled him an “Afancesado” (sympathizer to the French) that carries the penalty of death if he stays. Fernando realizes there is no avoiding the events that are eminent. It is hard to look upon his beloved country for the last time. Alas, in order to survive he must surrender to his fate, convince his young wife to leave, and join with the French in retreat. As one door closes another opens.

Direct Emailing: $7 PDF file

This music is in standard notation with separate tablature provided.

Sheet Music PDF: will normally be emailed to you within 24 hours (Please allow 2 to 3 days if John Doan is away on tour).

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Homage X: “As Music Consoled Him It Consoles Us Still” from “Homage to Fernando Sor”

Homage to Sor X in C quotes Sor’s Op. 6, No. 8, Andantino – published in London 1815-17 and Op. 31, No. 16, Moderato – published in Paris 1828 (Estudio I and VIII in Segovia’s “Twenty Studies for the Guitar”).

Listen to “Homage X: As Music Consoled Him It Consoles Us Still“.

Exiled for the rest of his days Fernando went on to live in London, Moscow, St. Petersburg and Paris. The one anchor in his life was his daughter Caroline who was a harpist and a painter. When she died in 1837 at the age of 22 it was too much for Fernando and he followed her two years later.

Doan imagined through this music a funeral scene with few people in immediate attendance yet in an eternal sense untold thousands of people celebrating his achievements each time they play his music. Perhaps God, just as Fernando sang out in his patriotic song, heard his prayer, read his heart, knew his feelings and desires and took great joy in his celebration of life through music. He said himself, “I love music, I feel it.” As it consoled him it consoles us still to this day and so with this project Doan says, ” I found consolation chasing after distant melodies and far away harmonic changes, and in waking dreams touched something of Fernando Sor as he touched me.”

Direct Emailing: $7 PDF file

This music is in standard notation with separate tablature provided.

Sheet Music PDF: will normally be emailed to you within 24 hours (Please allow 2 to 3 days if John Doan is away on tour).

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Homage XI: “Expressions Of the Heart and Soul Are Timeless (Postlude)” from “Homage to Fernando Sor”
Listen to “Homage XI: Expressions Of the Heart and Soul Are Timeless (Postlude)”

With this final Homage Doan put a lid on his jar of Sor dreams looking back upon a long journey feeling the lingering of musing that has come to rest. Doan concludes, “I found in Fernando Sor a mentor who encouraged me to muse about music and not just be amused or entertained by it. I learned that the past was just the present only at another time and expressions of the heart and soul are timeless. I believe that we, like Fernando, are special and excellent each in our own way and that there is purpose and meaning to our lives if we only knew what that was. Perhaps you, the guitarist, will collect a dream in a jar when a quiet voice or lingering melody comes to you. Don’t let it get away. It may lead you on the adventure of a lifetime.”

Direct Emailing: $7 PDF file

This music is in standard notation with separate tablature provided.

Sheet Music PDF: will normally be emailed to you within 24 hours (Please allow 2 to 3 days if John Doan is away on tour).