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Home » Composers » Carulli, Fernando (1770-1841 Italy-France)

Carulli, Fernando (1770-1841 Italy-France)

Sunday, 11 September, 2005

Biography
Ferdinando Maria Meinrado Francesco Pascale Rosario Carulli
(b Naples, 9 Feb 1770; d Paris, 14 Feb 1841). Italian guitarist and composer. He was born into a well-to-do family (His father, Michele, was a distinguished literator, secretary to the delegate of the Neapolitan Jurisdiction) and was taught the rudiments of music by his cello teacher, a priest, who was also an amateur musician. Though around the age of 16 his interest shifted decisively to the guitar. The leading Italian guitarist of his time, he moved to Paris some time after the birth of his son (1801) with his French-born wife Marie-Joséphine Boyer. The first indication of his presence outside Italy dates from around 1803, when Gombart of Augsburg brought out a handful of publications; other works were published in Paris and Vienna in 1806–7, principally by Leduc, Pleyel and Artaria, and in Hamburg (Böhme) and Milan (Monzino). From 1809 Carulli made Paris his permanent home, where he was at the centre of the phenomenon known as guitaromanie, establishing himself as a virtuoso, composer and teacher. According to contemporary music critics, Carulli was the first to reveal to Paris audiences what the guitar was capable of in terms of expressivity, timbre, harmony and virtuosity, and he brought about a change in taste and performing practice. Within a few years he also published dozens of the manuscripts which he had brought with him from Italy. The work which signalled his success more than any other was the Méthode complette op.27 (1810 or 1811), which was soon being reprinted repeatedly both in France and abroad, and for decades was the basic teaching work for entire generations of guitarists. For years he had practically no serious rival, except for his two fellow Italians Matteo Carcassi and Francesco Molino. His privileged position lasted at least until 1823, when Fernando Sor arrived in Paris. In 1826 he built and patented, together with the Paris instrument-maker René Lacote, an unusual, ten-string guitar, which he called a decacordo (popularized by Narciso Yepes in the 20th century), for which he also wrote a Méthode complete, op.293 (1826).

A pioneer in the evolution of the six-string guitar and its use as a solo instrument, Carulli was one of the founders of the guitar’s modern expressive vocabulary. His guitar music displays elements borrowed from contemporary piano and violin writing, with virtuoso passages as unusual as they were technically demanding: rapid arpeggio figurations, rising phrases and scales in single or double lines along the entire length of the fingerboard, rapid passages in 3rds, 6ths and octaves (both broken and together), and the use of left-hand legato technique, glissandos and harmonics. Another important current in Carulli’s work as a composer was his programme music on pastoral, mythological, ‘meteorological’, military and political themes, e.g. the Sonata sentimentale (Napoleone il Grande) (1807), La Paix, pièce historique op.85 (1814), the divertimento La girafe à Paris op.306 (1827) and La prise d’Alger op.327 (1830). But compared with the work of other contemporary guitarist-composers the defining character of Carulli’s output is the strong showing of chamber music, which accounts for more than half of his total of 366 opus numbers. It is written for a variety of instrumental combinations – duos, trios and even quartets – which evoke a clientele very different from the stereotype of the lone amateur. Various songs and arias for soprano and guitar date from this Italian period. Carulli was tireless as a teacher: in addition to his Méthode op.27 and its successors, his most successful educational collections include L’utile et l’agréable op.114 (?1817), which contains the famous 24 Preludes, the Morceaux faciles op.120 (1817 or 1818) and the series entitled Un peu de tout op.276 (1825). Carulli also published a treatise on transcription, called L’harmonie appliquée à la guitare (1825), a unique document in guitar literature.

Gustavo Carulli (b Livorno, 15 June 1801; d Boulogne-sur-mer, 27 Oct 1876), the son of Ferdinando, studied singing and composition with Paër and Isouard. Like his father, he was a guitarist and teacher and published a guitar Méthode, op.4 (Paris, 1825). He taught singing at the Paris Conservatoire, and wrote a Méthode de chant (Paris, 1838) dedicated to his friend Gilbert Duprez. He also made transcriptions and composed vocal and instrumental chamber works and a farsa on a libretto by Gaetano Rossi, I tre mariti (Milan, 1825), which was performed at La Scala on 18 March 1825. After pursuing a career as an opera composer in France with no success, he lived in London from 1845 for a few years and then retired to Boulogne, where he continued to teach singing and harmony until his death. One of his pupils was the organist Alexandre Guilmant.

Mario Torta: 'Ferdinando Carulli, Grove Music Online ed. L. Macy (Accessed [1/29/2007])

Works for Guitar

24 pieces
29 Pieces
6 Preludes
Allegretto
Amour
Andante
Andante
Autant qu'il m'en souvient
Duet in g
Duo in G I
Duo in G II
I. 18 duos brillants et faciles pour deux guitares
II. 18 duos brillants et faciles pour deux guitares
IV rondeaux pour la guitarre
Je revenais de mon village
L'angelus
L'inquietude
La coquette du village
La lanterne magique
La mere et l'amant
La petite mendiante
Larghetto espressivo
Le bon pasteur
Le Nid et la Rose
Le petit doigt
Lento in E minor
Les trois ages du troubadour
Moderato
Mosaique des morceaux favoris de l'opéra Les huguenots des G. Meyerbeer
Nocturne de salon
Ouverture aus der Oper Die heimliche Ehe Musik von Cimarosa Für Guitarre und Flöte eingerichtet
Ouverture aus der Oper Iphigenia in Aulis Musik von Gluck für Guitarre und Flöte eingerichtet
Partie I-IV - Grand recueil pour la guitare contenant 48 preludes et 24 morceaus
Polonaise
Prelude in A minor
Rondeau pour 2 guitarres
Rondo
Rondo Recueil
Rossini collection des ouvertures arrangées pour violon & guitarre No. 2 Cenerentola
Sarabande
Scherzo
Siciliana
Solo pour guitare
Study
Theme et variations
Tondo in G major
Trois divertissements pour guitare et flûte ou violon sur des motifs des Huguenots de Meyerbeer
Vals allegretto

Lessons / Exercises
Guitar school, öfversättning efter den nyaste omarbetade upplagen af C. F. Bock
Lesson and Exercises by Carulli Op. 241
Neue praktische Guitarre Schule

Op. 002
L'Orage - Sonate Sentimentale pour Guitare

Op. 004
Trois duos pour guitarre et violon

Op. 005
Largo
Rondo
Sonata

Op. 007
Serenade pour deux guitarres
Trois Sonates non difficiles (?)

Op. 009
Trois Walzes pour la guitarre

Op. 016
Sonata in C (Moderato, Adagio, Rondo Allegretto)

Op. 21, No. 1
Sonata in A pour Guitarre (Moderato, Largo, Rondo Allegretto)

Op. 21, No. 2
Sonata in D pour Guitarre (Moderato)

Op. 027
Duo concertant pour le violon et guitare

Op. 028
Heft II - Meisterwerke für zwei Gitarren

Op. 034
Six Petites Duos Dialogues
I - Meisterwerke für zwei Gitarren
II - Meisterwerke für zwei Gitarren
No. 02 - Duo

Op. 042
Les Amours de Adonis et Venue

Op. 072
Troisieme Divertissement pour les commencans

Op. 073
Airs Nationaux de tous les Peuples d'Europe:
- Fandango (Danse Espagnole)
- Italian Tarantella

Op. 076
Trois Solos pour Guitarre

Op. 081, No 1
Sonata in C pour Guitarre (Larghetto, Rondo - Poco Allegretto)

Op. 085
Paix

Op. 089
Trois duos pour deux guitarre

Op. 090
Trois Nocturnes

Op. 096
No. 02 - Serenade D
No. 03 - Serenade G
Sérénade favorite A dur

Op. 102
Fantaisie pour violon et guitare sur un air national anglais

Op. 109
No. 01 - Sérénade pour guitarre et flûte
No. 02 - Sérénade pour guitarre et flûte

Op. 110
Deux Airs Russes Variées

Op. 121
24 Pièces

Op. 124
No. 12 - Rondo

Op. 128
Six Petits Duos nocturnes faciles et brillans
Six petits duos nocturnes pour deux guitarres I
Six petits duos nocturnes pour deux guitarres II

Op. 138
Divertissement a 1'Espagnole (Etrennes a Mes Eleves)

Op. 141
(Grand) Polonaise

Op. 143
No. 02 - Trois nocturnes concertans pour deux guitares
No. 03 - Trois nocturnes concertans pour deux guitares

Op. 146
Trois petits duos

Op. 155
Andante varié et Rondeau aus der Sonate in As dur - Op.26 von L. van Beethoven

Op. 166
Trois airs variés pour deux guitarres

Op. 189
I Trois duos nocturnes pour pianoforte et guitare composés par Gustave et Ferd. Carulli

Op. 191
Trois petits duos pour flûte et guitarre

Op. 194
Thème avec variations op. 194
Que ne suis-je la fougère" de Jean-Baptiste Pergolése
(Giovanni-Battista Pergolesi 1710-1736

Op. 197
Fantaisie avec variations sur des airs de La gazza ladra de Rossini

Op. 209
Trois divertissements à l'espagnole pour la guitarre

Op. 211
18 petits morceaux, faciles et progressives

Op. 218
Nocturne brillant et non difficile pour deux guitarres

Op. 323
Fantaisie sur la dernière pensée musicale de Weber

Op. 241
Méthode complète pour parvenir à pincer de la guitare

Op. 246
Poco Allegretto

Op. 264
Morceaux progressifs pour la guitare à l'usage des commençants

Op. 306
La Girafe a Paris

Op. 317
No. 02 - Divertissement

Op. 320
No. 02 - Sei Andanti

Op. 330
La Marseillaise variée pour la guitare

Op. 331
Les trois jours pièce analogue aux événemens de trois mémorables journées 27, 28 et 29. juillet 1830

Op. 332
La Parisienne (Marcha nationale variée)

Op. 333
Grand recueil de morceaux progressifs pour la guitare Ie partie

Op. 335
Choix de plusieurs morceaux d' Haydn, Mozart, ...

Op. 337
Fantaisie pour flûte et guitare sur deux motifs du Pirate , de Bellini

Op. 363
La Folie, Fantaisie

Op. 364
Ma Normandie, romance variée , de Fréderic Bérat

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