Composer Biography: Ferdinando Carulli (1770-1841)

Ferdinando Carulli (1770-1841) was an Italian composer and guitar teacher. Born in Naples, Italy, he was taught cello and music theory by a priest. Due to a lack of guitar teachers, and certainly a lack of musical appreciation and awareness around the guitar, Carulli had to teach himself to play the guitar.

Carulli was talented as a performer and soon began touring Europe. He lived in Milan for a short period of time before moving to Paris in 1809 and living there for the remainder of his life. It was during his time in Paris that he was at his most productive in terms of composition. In total, he wrote more than 400 works for guitar and wrote his Méthode Complète which details exercises, scales and studies for the development of learning guitarists. Carulli played on guitars made by the famous Romantic guitar luthier, René François Lacôte.

Fun fact: Carulli’s Duo in G Op. 43 was famously used as the theme song for 1980s British TV show, “The Adventure Game”. Check out John Williams and Julian Bream play it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QqNuYhu9G0o

Notable compositions:

Duo in G Op. 43 (Theme for 1980s British TV show “The Adventure Game”)

Méthode Complète, Op.27 (exercises, scales, studies)

Fantasia in D Minor

All the best for now - see you in the next blog!