| Biographical Information: Carulli was a prolific composer, an early pioneer who pre-dated Sor and Giuliani, and was considered by many to be the father of the modern 6-string guitar. Some of his best pieces are exceptional, and are among the finest works of this era. In many ways, Carulli is under-rated as a composer and should be re-examined. Carulli’s compositional abilities are demonstrated in the many large-scale works for guitar with violin, flute, piano, and many fine guitar duets. Despite this, very little Carulli material is in print: and unfortunately, like Carcassi, only the beginner pieces for amateurs by Carulli can be found in print today, which leaves the mistaken impression that this was the extent of Carulli’s capabilities. Today, this situation is starting to be corrected by available free facsimiles from REX, and a few fine recordings of these serious, extended works by Saracino and Savino, among others.It is often stated, and I agree, that Carulli’s output varies in quality considerably, varying from masterpiece gems to tired formulas. However, I believe a composer should be judged by the quality of the concert pieces, not of the pieces published expressly for beginners. I have found upon examining dozens of original facsimile manuscripts and listening to recordings of Carulli’s works for guitar with violin/flute/piano, that in general, Carulli made a clear distinction in his publications between beginner pieces and concert pieces. The beginner pieces were clearly indicated as such, and thus they are more limited to the first positions on the guitar, lesser difficulty, and simpler musical ideas, to allow development of the amateur player. The concert pieces are more developed, more difficult, and musically more complex. I also share the firm belief of Richard Savino and others, that Carulli was a top-tier 19th century guitar composer, and vastly under-rated. With a little patience and access to many scores, the gems in Carulli’s repertoire are worth the search.Stylistically, Carulli follows the classical period mold in the style of Mozart and Haydn – it sounds like the late 18th-century style, fast and light with appropriate “affect” and interpretation. In that style, emotions and moods were called “affects” and were confined to a section of a piece. The “affect” did not change until a new section: thus, in accordance with most “classical” period music, individual variations would be major or minor, and consistent in their “affect” – resolute, sad, joyful, etc.. In the later romantic period, “affects” changed frequently and flowed capriciously. In the year 1810, Carulli was already 40 years old – and clearly in 1810, published music followed the classical style. Carulli was very active as a composer from 1800-1820: a true “classical” guitarist. The “romantic” period did not start until at least 1820-30, and we do find evolution in Carulli’s later opus numbers to change with the times somewhat. While modern guitarists sometimes think of this music as “cliché” – it must be noted how early this music was published, and as Richard Long points out, Carulli invented many effects and portions of the guitar’s language that were new and innovative at the time, and widely copied to the point that today they seem clichés. Another point of interpreting Carulli, is that the pieces will surely sound dull if you play it dull. In other words, add dynamics, phrasing, color, intensity, and emotion to bring out the music. Carulli’s writing was not confined to solo guitar. In fact, solo guitar was the smallest percentage of Carulli’s output. Carulli’s serious works for guitar duet are among the finest in the entire repertoire (one such duo was recorded by John Williams and Julian Bream), and there are many suites to choose from. Carulli’s works for piano and guitar were recently recorded by Leopoldo Saracino (guitar) and Massimo Palumbo (piano): these works comprise fully 8 CD ROM’s! Carulli also recorded numerous duos for guitar and flute, guitar and violin, and Guitar Trio (e.g. for Guitar, Flute, and Violin – not for 3 guitars), in addition to various other combinations, including chamber works. In those days, Carulli’s vision was to treat the guitar just like any other orchestral instrument, and ensemble playing was a huge part of its purpose. |
Biographical notes by George C. Krick. See also The Italian Guitar in the 19th-Century: Sixty biographies – Sixty biographies of Italian guitarist composers of Nineteenth century in alphabetic order (edited by Marco Bazzotti).Mario Torta’s book about Carulli is a catalog which lists the complete Carulli works and their location: http://www.lim.it/cataloghi/musicalia003torta.htmWikipedia Article listing Carulli’s opus numbers and their year: Carulli Compositions List Difficulty Level and Scope: Carulli was a capable composer who was able to write many large scale works for other instruments in addition to solo guitar pieces. As was common practice, Carulli composed mostly arrangements or fantasies of operas or folk songs, in addition to a few original themes, and many theme & variation pieces. Like most guitarists of this era, Carulli’s music can be classified into 2 categories: virtuoso concert works, and amateur pieces. Carulli also gave us a third category, that of “intermediate” pieces for good amateur players – as no doubt there was a sizeable number of classical guitarists in Paris looking for good and playable music. Many of Carulli’s virtuoso works are superb concert pieces and real gems of the repertoire. The difficulty level varies considerably; the concert works are usually Medium difficulty, but several works require very advanced technique to play at full speed with the intended interpretation. The music was written idiomatically to the guitar. Carulli also published many short and easy pieces for beginners, including pieces for first year students. Given the variety of output (concert solos, concert duets, beginner duets, beginner solos, concert chamber works, beginner chamber works), Carulli wrote compositions to appeal a wide audience. I firmly believe that Carulli should be elevated in status as one of the finest principal composers for the guitar. Available Repertoire: Around 45 Works by Carulli are available for free PDF download from REX. Tuscany Guitar Publications has a few pieces of Carulli. The GFA Archives also has a few Carulli pieces, including a number of flute, violin, viola, and guitar duets. A large collection of extended operatic fantasies is available from Donald Sauter in the Guitar music in the Library of Congress. Orphee Editions has 2 Carulli editions not available elsewhere (Solo and Variations on Nel cor più, Op. 107), and (Raccolta di Sonate Diverse) – both newly engraved: Orphee Editions (Carulli Page link).