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Home » Francisco Tárrega (1852 – 1909) Sheet Music

Composer library · 1852–1909

Francisco Tárrega

Sheet music, performances, and lessons for classical guitar.

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22 free PDF scores8 linked videos4 pieces with teaching resources
Francisco Tárrega portrait

Explore the teaching

LágrimaBring out the melodyLesson + free study guide →Capricho ÁrabeWork through the introductionWatch the lesson →Mazurka for two guitarsLearn each partLessons + backing tracks →

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Tárrega sheet music & resources

Free scores, available without signing up. These archive editions vary in print quality and fingering.

Scores from CGC’s existing Tárrega archive. Open the backup collection in Google Drive.

From the score to the music

Make Lágrima more expressive.

Listen to Simon’s performance, then explore the lessons on melody, balance, phrasing, and shifting. The free study guide gives you examples and exercises to work through with your guitar.

Get the free Lágrima study guide

Read the expression lesson → Explore the full piece lesson →

The composer behind the music

Francisco Tárrega: biography

Francisco Tárrega (1852 – 1909) was perhaps the most important Spanish composer and guitarist of the late nineteenth century. The young Tárrega took an interest in guitar very early and by the age of 10 he ran away from home several times in an attempt to begin a musical career. Eventually he settled back at home before beginning musical studies at the Royal Conservatory in Madrid in 1874. It was around this time that he purchased a guitar in Sevilla by the luthier Antonio de Torres.

After conservatory, Tárrega began performing throughout Spain and composing his own works. Around this time he also began teaching. His pupils included some of the most important guitarists and composers of the burgeoning early modern era: Miguel Llobet, Daniel Fortea, and Emilio Pujol.

While Tárrega only published 19 compositions during his lifetime, more than 80 original compositions survive. Among the most important are a prelude called “Lágrima” and a serenade called “Capricho Árabe.” In addition, he wrote more than 100 transcriptions and arrangements of other composers’ works, including those of J.S. Bach, Beethoven, Chopin, and other Spanish composers.

Related lessons: see the complete sheet-music collection · a full lesson on Lágrima.

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