Leckie, as the dated manuscripts in Dr. Leckie’s two books reveal.

11 The men started their tour

together in Castellón in November, then on to Malaga (where he composed !A Granada¡), then
Algiers, then Naples, and finally Marseilles. He was not back in Barcelona at the end of May
1900.
Pujol’s account of the break is problematic in other ways. Pujol begins with a
contradiction when he writes that “Those who, having known Tárrega intimately, knew from
experience of the delicate, loyal, affective and respectful tact with which he treated his friends.”
Pujol continues that “his friends, surprised at their breakup, did not fail to attribute it to the
dominant and fickle character of said lady, the origin of so many compromising situations.” If
Tárrega treated his friends with respectful tact, how could they know that a “compromising
situation” caused the break? And if Tárrega’s friends found her character to be so obviously
flawed the way Pujol suggests, why did the break surprise them? It is clear that Pujol did not
know the actual reason for the break, and the idealization of Tárrega may have influenced him
and the individuals he consulted, leading them to entirely blame Concepción. His statements
about Concepción spreading stories about Tárrega cannot be assessed as to its veracity either. He
never cites any specific examples and his wording again suggests he was repeating hearsay and
rumor. Since we only have Pujol’s second- or thirdhand accounts to assess Concepción’s
character, perhaps we will learn something of this woman from investigating the surviving
archival documentation and publications that concern her and her family, some of which also had
role in Tárrega’s life.
Concepción Gómez y Bataller de Jacoby
Pujol provides little precise information on Concepción, some of it inaccurate. He mentions that
Concepción Gómez had been a singer and actress in zarzuelas. He states that in Mexico “Concha
met the German Jew Jacoby and married him. After a year of marriage, they had a son.” He
notes that after the death of her sister, she took over the upbringing of her niece Clara. But there
is much more to this history, which in some aspects does not conform to the account Pujol
presents. A review of documentary sources will help to clarify these aspects.
According to the civil register of 1845-1854 in the Ajuntament de València, Concepción
seems to have been given the name Luisa when she was born on April 27, 1848 (see Figure 3).12
Perhaps this was an error or perhaps the full name was Luisa Concepción. In any event, the civil
register of 1851 lists the 3-year-old Concepción as the child of these parents living in this
household at the time, three years after the birth of “Luisa.” Her father, Juan Bautista Gomez y
Molines, was from the small Valencian coastal town, Santa Pola; he was blind. Her mother, Ana
Bataller y Fort was from an equally small Valencian inland town, Benifairó. Concepción most
likely grew up in poverty.
In 1867, when she was 19 years old, Concepción and her older sister Amalia were both
performing at the Teatro Real in Madrid. They are praised in the journal El Artista, where the
two sisters are described as “Prima contraltos of the very first rank. A perfect fraternity: doña
Amalia Gómez y doña Concepción Gómez.”13 The sisters traveled to the Americas in 1868 as

11
The Tárrega Leckie Guitar Manuscripts; Lessons with the Maestro, edited by Brian Whitehouse (Halesowen:
ASG Music Limited, [2015]).
12
Ajuntament de València, Servici de Patrimoni Històric i Artístic, Arxiu Històric, Tècnics d´arxiu, Nacimientos
1848, April, No. So67. I wish to thank Alicia Martínez Alonso for providing these sources. The baptismal records of
the San Martín church for this period were destroyed in political violence of July 1936.
13
El Artista ii/13 (September 7, 1867), p. 991: “Primeras contraltos de primissimo cartello. A perfecta fraternidad,
doña Amalia Gómez y doña Concepción Gómez.” The same sentence appears in Revista y Gaceta Musical i/37
(September 13, 1867), p. 200.