Life
Trained at the height of Neoclassicism, his long career as a famous guitarist led him to reach full artistic maturity in the heart of the Romantic period, representing a link between the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.
Ferdinando Carulli was born in Naples in 1770. He began studying music as a self-taught student and soon approached the guitar, which was then gaining popularity. After experiences in Naples and other Italian cities, he moved to Paris in 1808, where he became the most famous guitarist in the French capital.
He published over 400 works, including sonatas, concertos, and especially chamber music for guitar, often paired with other instruments. His influence was decisive for the spread of the classical guitar. In 1810 he published the Méthode complète pour la guitare, which remains a cornerstone of guitar pedagogy.
Carulli was also an esteemed teacher and trainer of numerous pupils. His music, characterized by its cantability and formal clarity, remained popular even after his death, which occurred in Paris in 1841.
Aneddoto
A universal method
Carulli's Méthode complète pour la guitare was so widespread that it was reprinted countless times throughout Europe, becoming an indispensable manual.Works
In addition to the Méthode complète pour la guitare (1810), Carulli composed concertos for guitar and orchestra, numerous sonatas and variations on popular and operatic themes, as well as duets for guitar and flute. His production exceeded four hundred opus numbers, a sign of his tireless activity and his importance in the history of the guitar.