Claude Antoine Jean Georges Napoléon Coste (27 June 1805 – 14 January 1883) was a French

classical guitar The classical guitar, also known as Spanish guitar, is a member of the guitar family used in classical music and other styles. An acoustic wooden string (music), string instrument with strings made of catgut, gut or nylon, it is a precursor of the ...

ist and composer.

Biography

Napoléon Coste was born in Amondans (

Doubs Doubs (, ; ; ) is a department in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region in Eastern France. Named after the river Doubs, it had a population of 543,974 in 2019.Besançon Besançon (, ; , ; archaic ; ) is the capital of the Departments of France, department of Doubs in the region of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté. The city is located in Eastern France, close to the Jura Mountains and the border with Switzerland. Capi ...

, France. He was first taught the guitar by his mother, an accomplished player. As a teenager he became a teacher of the instrument and appeared in three concerts in the

Franche-Comté Franche-Comté (, ; ; Frainc-Comtou dialect, Frainc-Comtou: ''Fraintche-Comtè''; ; also ; ; all ) is a cultural and Provinces of France, historical region of eastern France. It is composed of the modern departments of France, departments of Doub ...

. In 1829, at the age of 24, he moved to Paris where he studied under

Fernando Sor Fernando Sor (baptised 14 February 1778 – 10 July 1839) was a Spanish classical guitarist and composer of the Classical period (music), late Classical era and Romantic music, early Romantic era. Best known for writing solo classical guitar mu ...

and quickly established himself as the leading French virtuoso guitarist. Despite declining demand in Paris for guitarists during the years after he arrived, Coste achieved financial stability as a professional musician and composer. Unable to find a publisher, he had to self-publish his works. Napoléon Coste was influenced by the Early Classical-Romantic composers of the time including Hector Berlioz. Coste's Opus no.47, La Source du Lyson is inspired by nature much like Berlioz's program music. Coste injured his left shoulder in 1863, though was able to continue public performances until 1881, two years before his death. After Sor's death, Coste edited and republished Sor's original method for guitar as ''Méthode complète pour la Guitare par Ferdinand Sor, rédigée et augmentée de nombreux exemples et leçons par N. Coste'' (translated, the title is ''"Complete Method for Guitar by Ferdinand Sor, Refingered and Expanded with numerous Examples and Lessons by N. Coste"''). Coste was a member of the

masonic Freemasonry (sometimes spelled Free-Masonry) consists of fraternal groups that trace their origins to the medieval guilds of stonemasons. Freemasonry is the oldest secular fraternity in the world and among the oldest still-existing organizati ...

lodge Les Frères Unis Inséparables. Coste had a special fondness for playing the

seven string guitar The seven-string guitar adds one additional string to the more common six-string guitar, commonly used to extend the bass range (usually a low B) or also to extend the treble range. The additional string is added in one of two different ways: ...

. He was famous for his unique seven string guitar with a “floating” 7th string typically tuned to D or C called the Lacôte Heptachord. Tonally this invention created more depth when played as the floating string would vibrate sympathetically even as the other strings were plucked. He is known as one of the first composers to transcribe guitar music of the 17th century into modern

musical notation Musical notation is any system used to visually represent music. Systems of notation generally represent the elements of a piece of music that are considered important for its performance in the context of a given musical tradition. The proce ...

. He died at age 77, leaving a significant catalogue of original compositions.

List of works

Works published with opus numbers

*Op. 2: ''Variations et Finale... sur un motif favori de la Famille Suisse de Weigl'' ("Variations and Finale ... on a favorite theme of the Swiss Family Weigl") *Op. 3: ''2 Quadrilles de contredanses'' ("2 Contredance Quadrilles") *Op. 4: ''Fantasie ... composée sur un motif du 'Ballet d'Armide ("Fantasy ... Composed on a Theme from ''Armida's Ball''") *Op. 5: ''Souvenirs de Flandres'' ("Memories of Flanders") *Op. 6: ''Fantaisie de concert'' ("Fantasy Concert") *Op. 7: ''16 Valses favorites de Johann Strauss'' ("16 Waltz Favorites by Johann Strauss") *Op. 9: ''Divertissement sur 'Lucia di Lammermoor ("Divertissement on

he opera He or HE may refer to: Language * He (letter), the fifth letter of the Semitic abjads * He (pronoun), a pronoun in Modern English * He (kana), one of the Japanese kana (へ in hiragana and ヘ in katakana) * Ge (Cyrillic), a Cyrillic letter cal ...

''Lucia di Lammermoor''") *Op. 10: ''Scherzo et pastorale'' (for two guitars) *Op. 11: ''Grand caprice'' *Op. 12: ''Rondeau de concert'' *Op. 13: ''Caprice sur … La Cachucha'' *Op. 14: ''Deuxième Polonaise'' ("Second Polonaise") *Op. 15: ''Le Tournoi fantaisie chevaleresque'' ("The Fantasy Chivalry Tournament") *Op. 16: ''Fantaisie sur deux motifs de la 'Norma ("Fantasy on Themes from

''Norma''") *Op. 17: ''La Vallée d'Ornans'' ("The Ornans Valley") *Op. 18: ''Les Bords du Rhin'' ("The Banks of the Rhine") *Op. 19: ''Delfzil'' *Op. 19b: ''La Romanesca'' *Op. 20: ''Le Zuyderzée'' ("The Zuyderzee") *Op. 21: ''Les Cloches'' ("The Bells") *Op. 22: ''Meulan'' *Op. 23: ''Les Soirées d'Auteuil'' ("Evenings in Auteuil") *Op. 24: ''Grand solo'' *Op. 25: ''Romance pour hautbois et piano'' *Op. 27: ''Le Passage des Alpes'' ("The Trail in the Alps") *Op. 28b: ''Fantaisie symphonique'' ("Symphonic Fantasy") *Op. 29: ''La Chasse des sylphes'' ("The Hunt of the Sylphes") *Op. 30: ''Grande sérénade'' *Op. 31: ''Le Départ, fantaisie dramatique'' ("The Departure, Dramatic Fantasy") *Op. 33: ''Mazurka'' *Op. 34: ''Le Montagnard'' Divertissement Pastoral pour Hautbois ou Violon et Piano ou Guitare *Op. 36: ''Cantilène pour hautbois et piano'' *Op. 37: ''Cavatine pour hautbois et piano'' *Op. 38: ''25 Études de genre'' ("25 Typical Études") *Op. 39: ''Andante et menuet'' *Op. 41: ''Feuilles d'automne'' ("Autumn Leaves") *Op. 42: ''La Ronde de Mai'' ("May Rondo") *Op. 43: ''Marche funèbre et rondeau'' ("Funeral March and Rondo") *Op. 44: ''Andante et polonaise (Souvenirs du Jura)'' ("Memories of Jura") *Op. 45: ''Divagation'' ("Wandering") *Op. 46 ''Valse Favorite'' ("Favorite Waltz") *Op. 47: ''La Source du Lyson'' ("The Lyson River Spring") *Op. 48: ''Quatre Marches'' *Op. 49: ''Six Préludes'' *Op. 50: ''Adagio et divertissements'' *Op. 51: ''Récréation du Guitariste'' ("The Guitarist's Break"). *Op. 52: ''Le Livre d'or du guitariste'' ("The Guitarist's Golden Book"). *Op. 53: ''Six Pièces originales (Rêverie, Rondeau, 2 Menuets, Scherzo, Étude)''

Works without opus numbers

*''Méditation de nuit'' ("Night Meditation") *''Andante et allegro'' *''Divertissement'' *''Introduction et variations sur un motif de Rossini'' ("Introduction and Variations on a Theme by Rossini") *''Berceuse'' ("Lullaby") *''Kleines Tonstück'' *''Pastorale'' *''Valse en ré majeur '' ("Waltz in D major") *''Valse en la majeur'' ("Waltz in A major") *''Valse des roses'' ("Waltz of the Roses") *''Duetto''

Sources

Instruments

Photos of Coste's guitar made by René Lacote
(Museum ''Cité de la Musique'' in Paris)

by Gregg Miner (www.harpguitars.net)
Lacôte / Coste Heptacorde
by Bernhard Kresse (www.harpguitars.net)
Nine-string guitar, 1827 by René Lacôte
(belonged to Eugène Peletin of Paris, a student of Napoleon Coste. It was part of Coste's collection.)
The Lacôte-Coste guitar
by Bruno Marlat (see page 6

Sheet music

Rischel & Birket-Smith's Collection of guitar music1
Det Kongelige Bibliotek, Denmark
Boije Collection
The Music Library of Sweden *
Free scores
at the

Mutopia Project The Mutopia Project is a volunteer-run effort to create a library of free content sheet music, in a way similar to Project Gutenberg's library of public domain books. It started in 2000. The music is reproduced from old scores that are in th ...

Napoléon Coste Complete Works

Bibliography

* Noël Roncet: ''Napoleon Coste, Composer, 1805-1883'' (London: Tecla Editions, 2008) * Ari van Vliet: ''Napoléon Coste: Composer and Guitarist in the Musical Life of 19th-Century Paris'' (Zwolle: Cumuli Foundation, 2015) * Ingrid & Werner Holzschuh (editors): ''Napoleon Coste. Späte Briefe, 1867-1882'' (Hamburg: Trekel, 2016)

References

External links

Brief biography of Napoléon Coste
on

Naxos Records Naxos comprises numerous companies, divisions, imprints, and labels specializing in classical music but also audiobooks and other genres. The premier label is Naxos Records, which focuses on classical music. Naxos Musical Group encompasses about ...

site. {{DEFAULTSORT:Coste, Napoleon 1805 births 1883 deaths 19th-century French classical composers 19th-century French male musicians Composers for the classical guitar French classical guitarists French male classical composers French male guitarists French Romantic composers People from Doubs 19th-century guitarists