Fantasia on Themes from La Traviata by Tarrega arr. Wei-Chen Lin

“Fantasia” was written by Spanish guitarist and composer Franceso Tárrega (1852-1909) in 1888, and incorporates some of the most well-known melodies from Giacomo Verdi’s great opera La Traviata, rendered in romantic musical language. Fantasia includes five sections, each exploring a different aspect of the aesthetics of guitar music. The original version for guitar is transcribed here for marimba. For me, the acoustics of the piece is uniquely suited for marimba, and the new arrangement requires advanced technique to showcase the character of the instrument.