Biographical notes
Matteo Carcassi was one of the leading
guitarist-composers of the Nineteenth Century. He was born in Florence in 1792.
Musically gifted, he devoted his earliest study to the piano; then while still
at a tender age he changed to the guitar, attaining on it a brilliant technique
in a few years.
In 1810 he began his concert career, moving to Germany, where he achieved his first critical success. There he met Antoine Meissonnier, who remained his friend for many years. He came back to Italy for a short period; by 1820 he was again living on foreign soil, mostly in Paris, which became his residence for the rest of the life.
In 1822 he was present in London for a series of concerts, which were a great success. He is next heard from in Paris. In the autumn of 1824 he moved again to Germany, and then to London, performing in the major concert halls. In June 1825 he played in the Theatre Réal of the Paris Opera, and on the 30th of June, 1828, in the Argyle Room, in a duo concert with the singer Stockausen.
When he came back to Paris, Carcassi's fame rivalled that of Ferdinando Carulli, whose mastery of the guitar had to this point remained uncontested in the French capital. Carcassi distinguished himself from the Neapolitan musician by using a different instrumental posture, by performing without touching the fingernails on the strings, and by showing a different musical taste, more melodic and allowing for a richer palette of effects.
Carcassi visited Italy in 1836 for a series of concerts. He returned to Paris shortly thereafter, and increased his work there as a teacher of guitar and piano. At about this time he printed the greater part of his works for guitar-- some of which had been printed previously, just after Carcassi's early tours in Germany.
Carcassi abandoned his concert activity around 1840. He died in Paris on the 16th of January, 1853. He left almost one hundred works calling for the guitar, all of romantic taste, brilliant and technically demanding. Among the numerous fantasias, themes with variations, potpourris, and sonatas for guitar, we feel the need to mention the “Method,” Op. 59, which is still considered among the best didactic works of the guitar masters of the Eighteenth Century, and the delightful “Studies,” Op. 60, that are regarded as having high pedagogic value.