- Joséf Pagés
Joséf Pagés, (born circa 1740 - died after 1822) was a notable Spanish guitar maker of the
Cádiz school.Life and Work
Joséf Pagés was probably born in
Ecija ,Sevilla around 1740. His brotherJuan Pagés also became a notableguitar maker . It is thought that Joséf was the first of the brothers to go to Cádiz around 1760. His workshop was in established in Calle de la Almargura by 1809. [Turnbull, H. "The Guitar From the Renaisance to the Present Day" (Bold Strummer, 1991)] A leading member of the Cádiz school, Joséf, followed very closely all the innovatory ideas already executed byFrancisco Sanguino , but with the additional facet of doming the soundboard with the struts, a facet which was followed by later makers such as Jose Recio,Antonio de Torres and others such as Francisco Gonzales. [Romanillos, J.L., Bream, J. "Antonio de Torres: Guitar Maker, His Life and Work" (Bold Strummer, 1997)] Pagés started with systems of three braces, like the early guitars ofSanguino andBenedid , his later instruments used five.His guitars greatly influenced
Louis Panormo , who used similar fan strutting designs and close similarity in the proportions of the body. [Turnbull, H. "The Guitar From the Renaisance to the Present Day" (Bold Strummer, 1991)]The great Spanish
composer andguitarist Fernando Sor thought highly of Pagés's guitars stating 'The guitars to which I have always given preference are those of Alonso of Madrid, Pagés and Benediz of Cádiz, Joseph and Manuel Martinez of Malaga...' [Turnbull, H. "The Guitar From the Renaisance to the Present Day" (Bold Strummer, 1991)] The Pagés brothers also are mentioned by the composerDionisio Aguado as among the makers he would recommend. His known surviving guitars date from the 1790s to 1822.Guitars
This is an incompleted list of the guitars Joséf Pagés made.
*1805 - In the collection of the
Royal Academy of Music ,London .
*1810 - (no.30) In the private collection of Timothy Lawrence Williams (MA).
*1811 - In the collection of Ringve Museum, Trondhjem, Norway.
*1818 - Mentioned in Romanillos, J.L., Bream, J. "Antonio de Torres: Guitar Maker, His Life and Work" (Bold Strummer, 1997) p.94
*1822 - (no.177) Previously belonging toAntonio Maria Galliano (1841-1903) of theGalliano Bank .Notes
References
*Galliano, A. "The Smallest Bank in the World 1855-1987" (2003)
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.
