Ferdinando Carulli

Italian composer and guitarist Ferdinando Carulli (1770-1841) was a founding father of the classical guitar tradition. Originally a cellist, Carulli switched to guitar at age 16 and devoted himself to its development as a concert instrument. He resettled in Paris around 1801 and allegedly touched off the "guitar mania" there beginning in the first decade of the nineteenth century. Carulli published the first of several guitar methods in 1810, Méthode complette, Op. 27, which became a standard text for generations of guitarists to follow. Carulli published more than 350 works, all of which make use of the guitar in some way.