Castelnuovo-Tedesco had a long artistic association with Andrés Segovia going back to their meeting in 1932, and had written a great many guitar compositions with Segovia in mind.[2][4] From the mid-1950s he also dedicated solo guitar pieces to guitarists such as Siegfried Behrend, Christopher Parkening, Oscar Ghiglia, Alirio Díaz, Laurindo Almeida and others.[4] However, this work was both inspired by and dedicated to the husband-wife duo guitar team of Alexandre Lagoya and Ida Presti.[1][4][5]
Castelnuovo-Tedesco wrote the work between 8 March and 3 June 1962.[1][5]
Both the title and the structure of the work were inspired by Johann Sebastian Bach's The Well-Tempered Clavier, a double set of 48 preludes and fugues for keyboard in all 24 major and minor keys.[6] Bach proceeded in ascending semitones starting at C major, following each major key with its parallel minor. Instead, Castelnuovo-Tedesco used a schema based on the circle of fifths - but not the same solution as used by Chopin in his 24 Preludes, Op. 28 and Shostakovich in his 24 Preludes and Fugues, Op. 87.
Castelnuovo-Tedesco's order for Books I and II was:
- G minor, D major, A minor, E major, B minor, F-sharp major, C-sharp minor, A-flat major, E-flat minor, B-flat major, F minor, C major
For Books III and IV, the major and minor tonalities were reversed:
- G major, D minor, A major, E minor, B major, F-sharp minor, C-sharp major, G-sharp minor, E-flat major, B-flat minor, F major, C minor.[1]
Presti died suddenly in April 1967, aged only 43. Castelnuovo-Tedesco paid tribute to her in a 25th prelude and fugue for two guitars, called Fuga Elegiaca – to the Memory of Ida Presti, which was written in G minor, a return to the starting key of Les Guitares bien tempérées.[1]
Castelnuovo-Tedesco died in 1968. Les Guitares bien tempérées was not published until 1974, by Aldo Bruzzichella.[4]
The work has been recorded by duos such as MoNo Guitar Duo, Duo Tedesco, Duo Favori, Brasil Guitar Duo, Duo Pace Poli Cappelli and Matteo Mela & Lorenzo Micheli.