John W. Duarte

John William Duarte (2 October 1919 – 23 December 2004) was a British composer, guitarist and writer.

Duarte was born in Sheffield, England, but lived in Manchester from the age of six. Although his surname is of Portuguese origin, he considered himself 100% British – his father was Scottish and his mother was English – a fact that echoed throughout his music.

Duarte was educated at Manchester Central High School (1931–35) and Manchester University Faculty of Technology (1936–40). He worked as a professional chemist until 1969, then abandoned chemistry in favour of full-time dedication to music, after having been persuaded by Len Williams, father of John Williams. His only formal musical education consisted in jazz guitar lessons with Terence "Terry" Usher (1934–6); the rest he learned by self-instruction. He also worked professionally as a player of the trumpet and double bass, performing music of many kinds, and regularly worked as a jazz musician until 1953, among others in the company of Coleman Hawkins and Django Reinhardt.

Duarte taught at the London-based Spanish Guitar Centre, which Williams senior had founded and where the young John Williams studied with him for a period of three years before entering the Royal College of Music. Williams acknowledged the early influence of Duarte by including his transcriptions of cello suites by Bach in his first recordings, along with Variations on a Catalan Folk Song, Op. 25, one of the most enduring and most recorded of Duarte's compositions.

He sustained several lasting friendships with great musicians, including a 39-year-long relationship with Andrés Segovia and another with Ida Presti, who died prematurely at the age of 42. Duarte also wrote a memoir of his relationship with Andres Segovia, Andrés Segovia, As I Knew Him (1998). For Presti and her husband Alexandre Lagoya, Duarte wrote Variations on a French Nursery Song, Op. 32 ("J'ai du bon tabac"), a difficult work that tested even that legendary duo's abilities. As late as 1985, Duarte wrote a piece in Ida Presti's memory, Idylle pour Ida, Op. 93, for guitar solo.

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