Mauro Giuseppe Sergio Pantaleo Giuliani was born on July 27, 1781, and died on May 8, 1829. He was an Italian musician who played the guitar, cello, and sang. He also wrote music. Giuliani was one of the most skilled guitar players in the early 1800s. His most famous piece is the Grand Overture, which is now considered a standard part of early Romantic classical guitar music.

Biography

Giuliani was born in Bisceglie but moved to Barletta with his brother Nicola during his early childhood. He first studied the cello, an instrument he continued to play throughout his life. He may have also learned the violin before focusing on the guitar, quickly becoming a skilled performer. The names of his teachers are not known.

He married Maria Giuseppe del Monaco, and they had a son named Michael, born in Barletta in 1801. Later, Giuliani may have lived briefly in Bologna and Trieste. By 1806, after completing his studies in Italy, he moved to Vienna without his family. There, he formed a relationship with Anna Wiesenberger, a Viennese woman, and they had four daughters: Maria Willmuth (born 1808), Aloisia Willmuth (born 1810), Emilia Giuliani-Guglielmi (born 1813), and Karolina Giuliani (born 1817).

In Vienna, Giuliani learned about classical music styles. In 1807, he began publishing his own compositions. He traveled across Europe for concerts and was praised for his musical skill and talent. He became a well-known musician, equal in fame to other top performers and composers in Vienna during the early 1800s.

Giuliani helped change how the guitar was used in European music. He met important people in Austrian society and worked with composers like Rossini and Beethoven. He also performed with other famous musicians in Vienna. In 1815, he joined Johann Nepomuk Hummel, Joseph Mayseder, and Joseph Merk in a series of concerts called the "Dukaten Concerte" in the Schönbrunn Palace botanical gardens. These concerts, named after the ticket price (a ducat), helped raise Giuliani’s reputation. In the same year, he was the official musician for the Congress of Vienna celebrations. Earlier, in 1813, he may have played the cello in an orchestra for the first performance of Beethoven’s Seventh Symphony.

In Vienna, Giuliani had limited success as a composer. He worked mainly with the publisher Artaria, who printed many of his guitar pieces. He also collaborated with other publishers to share his music across Europe. He taught many students, including Jan Nepomucen Bobrowicz and Felix Horetzky.

In 1819, Giuliani left Vienna, mainly because of financial difficulties. He hoped to earn money through concerts in Bohemia and Bavaria. He returned to Italy, staying in Trieste and Venice before settling in Rome. In 1822, he brought his daughter Emilia, born in Vienna in 1813, to Italy. Emilia and his other daughter, Maria Willmuth, were educated at a nunnery in Rome from 1821 to 1826. In Rome, Giuliani had little success, publishing few works and giving only one concert.

In July 1823, Giuliani visited Naples to care for his seriously ill father. In Naples, he found greater acceptance for his guitar playing and published more works with local publishers. In 1826, he performed for King Francesco I and the Bourbon court in Portici. During this time, he often performed in duets with his daughter Emilia, who became a skilled guitarist. By late 1827, Giuliani’s health worsened, and he died in Naples on May 8, 1829.

— Philip James Bone, The guitar and mandolin, 1914 (page 127)

Works

As a guitar composer, he was very interested in the theme and variations—a popular musical form in Vienna. He had a special talent for creating melodies that sounded beautiful on the guitar while staying true to the style of the instrument.

• One example of his skill is his Variations on a Theme of Handel, Op. 107. This well-known theme, called "The Harmonious Blacksmith," comes from an Aria in Handel's Suite No. 5 in E for harpsichord.
• Another example is Giuliani’s Sei variazioni sull'aria "A Schisserl und a Reindl", Op. 38. This set of variations is based on an Austrian folk song titled A Schisserl und a Reindl, which appears in the plays Der Kaufmannsbude (1796) and Der Marktschreyer (1799). The song was written with music by Johann Baptist Henneberg and Franz Xaver Süssmayr, and text by Schikaneder and Friedrich Karl Lippert. Beethoven also used the same theme in his work, Op. 105, No. 3, for flute and piano.
• His three-movement sonata, Op. 15, is a clever and well-crafted piece and one of the most advanced examples of its kind for guitar.
• His sets of extended Rossiniana are considered the best examples of operatic music for guitar from the 19th century.

Giuliani created many compositions for guitar. His 150 works with opus numbers form the main part of 19th-century guitar music. He wrote difficult pieces for solo guitar, as well as works for orchestra and for duos with violin and flute.

Important pieces by Giuliani include three guitar concertos (Op. 30, 36, and 70); six fantasias for solo guitar, Op. 119–124, based on music from Rossini’s operas and called the Rossiniane; several sonatas for violin and guitar, and flute and guitar; a quintet, Op. 65, for strings and guitar; collections for voice and guitar; and a Grand Overture in the Italian style. He also adapted many symphonic works for solo guitar and guitar duos. One example is his arrangement of the overture to The Barber of Seville by Rossini for two guitars. He also wrote many teaching materials, including a guitar method still used by modern teachers.

Today, Giuliani’s concertos and solo pieces are often performed by professional musicians.

Giuliani arranged many 19th-century opera themes for guitar, such as those from Rossini’s opera Semiramide. His work Le Rossiniane includes themes from Rossini’s operas.

• Rossiniana I, Op. 119
• Rossiniana II, Op. 120
• Rossiniana III, Op. 121
• Rossiniana IV, Op. 122
• Rossiniana V, Op. 123
• Rossiniana VI, Op. 124

The "Introduction" from Rossiniana No. 2 is now well known because it appears in a popular video game map called Counter Strike Italy.

Pedagogy

Giuliani is the only guitarist from the first generation of classical guitar players who did not write a teaching method. However, he created a large collection of studies and exercises that are still used today to help guitarists learn early skills:

• Op.1: Studio per la chitarra ("Studio for the Guitar") – Part One: 120 Right Hand Studies; Part Two: Left Hand Studies; Part Three: Ornaments and other techniques; Part Four: Twelve progressive lessons
• Op.48: Esercizio per la chitarra, contenente 24 pezzi della maggiore difficoltà, diversi preludi, passaggi, ed assolo (Exercise for the Guitar, containing 24 pieces of great difficulty, including various preludes, passaggi, and solo pieces)
• Op.51: XVIII Leçons Progressives (Eighteen Progressive Lessons)
• Op.98: Studi Dilettevoli ossia Raccolta di vari Pezzi Originali (Delightful Studies, or, Collection of various Original Pieces)
• Op.100: Etudes instructives, faciles, et agréables… contenant un Recueil de Cadences, Caprices, Rondeaux, et Préludes (Instructive, easy, and agreeable studies… containing a collection of cadences, caprices, rondos, and preludes)
• Op.139: 24 Prime Lezioni, Parte prima (24 First Lessons, Part 1) – Only six studies were published in this collection, not 24, and there is no Part 2.

Instruments used by Giuliani

Of the instruments used by Giuliani, there are guitars made by:

• Possibly: Gennaro Fabricatore (Naples, 1809) (now in the collection of Gianni Accornero). The bottom of the guitar has the initials M G. The guitar case also has the initials M G.

• Briefly: Pons l'Aîné (Joseph Pons) (Paris, 1812). This guitar was made for Archduchess Marie Louise of Austria in Paris in 1812 and later given to Giuliani. It was in Giuliani’s possession for only a short time. Giuliani later gave it as a gift to the amateur guitarist Christopher Bilderbeck de Monte. However, Giuliani rarely played this 1812 guitar, and it shows little sign of use.

• Unlikely: Pons l'Aîné (Joseph Pons) (Paris, 1825) (now in the collection of Gianni Accornero). A CD’s liner notes claim it is "Giuliani’s original Guitar Pons l'Aîné 1825." This claim is likely misleading or unclear. Gianni Accornero wrote the CD’s liner notes and stated that the instrument is identical to the one Joseph Pons made for Empress Marie-Louise of Habsburg, who later gave it to Giuliani. Accornero claims the guitar’s model and wood types match the one Giuliani owned. However, Paul Pleijsier has found problems and contradictions in Accornero’s claims. Pleijsier says there is no proof Giuliani ever played the 1825 Pons. Eduardo Catemario, the performer on the CD, notes, "It is interesting to note that this Pons is very similar (if not identical) to that of Giuliani."