Agustín Pío Barrios (also known as Agustín Barrios Mangoré) was born in San Juan Bautista de las Missiones, southern Paraguay on 5 May 1885, and died on 7 August 1944, in San Salvador, El Salvador. He was a member of a large family - the fifth of seven sons – and all of them played at least one instrument each. Both of his parents placed great value on cultural arts, particularly literature, drama and music.
Agustín’s father, Don Doroteo Barrios, was born in Corrientes, Argentina and played the guitar himself. It is known that Doroteo, by playing together with his brothers, used to entertain the local people of San Juan Bautista. Naturally inspired by his father's guitar playing, Barrios began to play the instrument at a very young age learning what he could from his father’s “folk” skills.
His mother, Dona Martina Ferreira, was a native of Humaitá, Paraguay. She was a teacher who was very fond of literature and theatre. Agustín’s affinity for other areas such as poetry and languages must have been partly inherited by his mother (although more decisive is the social surroundings to which the young guitarist have been exposed throughout his life).
Barrios birth’s place was and still is a small and quite town. A visitor can today walk on its unpaved streets and admire the two monuments dedicated to him in the same park which is located in the main square of San Juan Bautista. One can easily assume that a young talented guitarist, as Barrios was about to become, wouldn’t conform himself to the simplicity and little cultural opportunities that this small and humble town could provide him.
Barrios would prove himself to be a multi-talented man who was a passionate for culture, once he said: “One cannot become a guitarist without having bathed himself in the fountain of culture”. Besides Spanish, he spoke Guaraní, the native language of Paraguay. He understood French, English and German. His other interests where philosophy, poetry and theology. Barrios also became a good calligrapher and a talented caricaturist.
As a young man, Barrios never studied in a formal music conservatory. In 1898, he was formally introduced to the classical guitar repertoire by Gustavo Sosa Escalada – maybe the most influent person in Barrios’ life. At that time, young Barrios had already composed works for the guitar, and also performed pieces written by his former teacher Alias, such as: La Chinita and La Perezosa.
Under the influence of his new teacher, Barrios went on to perform and study the works of Tárrega, Vinas, Sor and Aguado. Sosa Escalada was so impressed with his new pupil, that he convinced Barrios' parents to let him move to Asunción to continue his guitar education.
Now, in the capital of Paraguay, Barrios was living with his two older brothers Hector and Virgilio. At the age of 15 (by March 1901) he enrolled in the Colegio Nacional (“National High School”). Although he did quite well, particularly in languages and arithmetic, there is no evidence that he studied in the Colegio for more than two years. Obviously his interest was strongly directed to the music and by the time he quitted school he had become much more serious and involved with the guitar.
Beyond borders
By 1908 Agustín Barrios was already well known in all Paraguay. Very famous were his performances with his brother, the poet Francisco Martín Barrios. While Agustín played the guitar, Francisco recited his own poems.
After receiving his training from Gustavo Sosa Escalada, Barrios left Paraguay for the first time to give a couple of concerts in Corrientes, Argentina. So enormous was his success that his return, which was planed to happen one week after his performances, got postponed for nothing less than 12 years, during which he toured throughout South America.
In this period beautiful pieces of music came into life such as: La Catedral, Estudios y Preludios, Madrigal, Allegro Sinfónico and Las Abejas. International critic considered him as one of the greatest guitarists in the world and called him magician of the guitar. That what meant to be a simple journey to Corrientes in 1910 for two or so weeks ended up to be a turning point in Barrios life.
Since then he never settled down in a particular country. He took periodic residence in Argentina, Uruguay, Brazil, Venezuela, Costa Rica, and at last in El Salvador where he would suffer from a heart attack that was fatal to him. Besides the places where Barrios lived he also gave concerts continually in Chile, Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, Panama, Colombia, Cuba, Haiti, Dominican Republic and Trinidad. In short, he conquered Latin America.
However, there was a time when Agustín, together with his brother Francisco, returned to Paraguay. It was in 1922, 12 years after leaving to Corrientes for that “short period of time”, and it was a turbulent time because Paraguay was under a civil war. Nevertheless, the Barrios brothers still gave several performances in Asunción and other places of Paraguay. The musicologist Juan Max Boettner recalls one of their performances under a full moon evening in San Bernadino. According to him, Francisco recited his poem “Oyendo a Beethoven” (Listening to Beethoven), while Agustín accompanied him with his own transcription for guitar of Beethoven’s Moonlight Serenade.
In January 1925 he had one of his last performances in Paraguay. The event took place in the Plaza Uruguaya. It was in that occasion that Barrios presented his famous poem “El Bohemio” (The Bohemian). In 25 of February 1925 he left Paraguay forever.
In 1929 Barrios initiated a tour around Brazil. This year came to be a very significant one to him; he fell in love with Gloria Seban who stayed his companion for the rest of life. No one knows exactly where the two met for the first time. Possibly it was in Pelotas or in Rio de Janeiro.
Barrios escaped from Latin America in 1934 to visit Europe thus being the first Latin-American guitarist of stature to perform in the “Old Continent”. During that period he performed in Belgium, Germany, Spain and England. In a concert in Brussels Barrios premiered his first transcription of Bach’s 1st Suite for Lute. It is reported that the event received lots of critics.
In 1936 he returned from his European tour and kept on performing around Latin America. But his lifetime goal was to reach the United States, something that he never came to concretize because of the failure in getting a visa for his companion Gloria.
Last years
After leaving Cuba, where he spent 6 months in 1938 and wrote the famous Preludio (subtitled “Saudade”), Barrios had a difficult and ran out of money. To make things worse his health started declining. During his stay in Mexico he was victim of a heart attack and respiratory failure. The medics who assisted him advised him to slow down with his activities.
At the invitation of some friends Agustín and Gloria went to Costa Rica in August of 1938 where they practically lived under patronage. These were difficult times that resulted in marital problems between Agustín and Gloria as the tension of the situation increased. Employment was scarce and Barrios health was retreating. One of Barrios masterpieces was written in that year, the barcarole Julia Florida.
Last years of Barrios’ life were spent in El Salvador. The very president, General Martínez, had invited him to recover his health in that country. Once Barrios felt better he got nominated Professor of guitar in the National Conservatory of Music.
In August 7, 1944, Barrios suffered an infarct that ended his life. He was 59 years old. The priest that accompanied Barrios’ last moments in agony recalls what he heard from the dying artist:
"I do not fear the past, but I do not know if I can overcome the mystery of the night."
Barrios was buried in the following day in the Cementerio de Los Ilustres (Pantheon of Distinguished Men) in San Salvador.
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