Carulli, Ferdinando

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Carulli, Ferdinando

Italian guitar player and composer; b. Naples, Feb. 20, 1770; d. Paris, Feb. 17, 1841. He went to Paris in 1808 and prospered there as a guitar teacher. He is generally regarded as the first guitarist to use his instrument for artistic performances. He publ. a method, L’Harmonie appliquée à la guitarre (Paris, 1825). His works number nearly 400 items, including concertos, quartets, trios, duos, fantasias, variations, and solos of all descriptions. In 1830 he composed a piece of program music for guitar entitled Les Trois Jours, descriptive of the days of the July 1830 revolution.

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire

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