La Chambre de la Musique
Les guitares entre les XVIIIe et XIXe siècles

The period between the 18th and 19th Century is characterized by important musical and structural transformations upon the guitar in Italy and France. From a baroque instrument equipped with five double strings and gut frets, the late 18th century guitar reduced the strings to single courses, before adding the sixth string typical of the romantic guitar. This repertoire represents a pioneering moment for the development of the guitar music of the following Centuries. The music we present in this project covers c. 60 years between the end of the  ́50s of the 18th Century and the first decade of 19th Century, the period in which the five single-strings guitar mainly developed.

A mon Ami F. Carulli
Guitar duets by Ferdinando Carulli and Filippo Gragnani in the Parisian early 19^th Century

Ferdinando Carulli (1770-1841) is considered one of the most prolific guitar composers of his time, and a distinguished master and virtuoso. After the short Milanese period in 1801, Carulli moved to Paris where he settled for the entire life. He left an innumerable amount of duets for two guitars. The first works have a strong classical and chamber music connotation, features that will lead later on to his personal romantic style. In 1810, Filippo Gragnani (1768-1820) moved to Paris also. Gragnani was a virtuoso Tuscan violinist, pupil of the celebrated violinist and composer Giulio Maria Lucchesi (? – c.1799). As an amateur guitarist and intrigued by the potential of this instrument, Gragnani became Carulli’s favorite pupil. The two made a deep friendship, so much so that both of them dedicated several music works to each other.

Con capotasto al terzo…
Duets for guitar and terz-guitar in Italy

This new project celebrates and investigates the unknown Italian repertoire dedicated to the terz-guitar in the early 1800. More info will be delivered soon.