Filippo Gragnani (3 September 1768 – 28 July 1820) was an Italian guitarist and composer. Gragnani was born in

Livorno Livorno () is a port city on the Ligurian Sea on the western coast of Tuscany, Italy. It is the capital of the Province of Livorno, having a population of 158,493 residents in December 2017. It is traditionally known in English as Leghorn (pronou ...

, the son of

Antonio Gragnani Antonio Gragnani (17401794) was an Italian violin maker. Some sources claim he has studied in Florence, Italy, although his craftsmanship style differed from that of other 18th century Florentine makers. He worked in the city of Livorno, his home ...

. Coming from a family of notable

luthier A luthier ( ; AmE also ) is a craftsperson who builds or repairs string instruments that have a neck and a sound box. The word "luthier" is originally French and comes from the French word for lute. The term was originally used for makers o ...

s and musicians, he studied music in his home town with Giulio Maria Lucchesi, first studying the violin then later devoting himself to the

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

, becoming known as a virtuoso performer. Chiesa di San Martino, Salviano, Livorno 3

Gragnani first published works for guitar and

chamber music Chamber music is a form of classical music that is composed for a small group of instruments—traditionally a group that could fit in a palace chamber or a large room. Most broadly, it includes any art music that is performed by a small numb ...

in Milan around the beginning of the 19th century with the publishers Ricordi and Monzino. During these times he travelled to Germany and eventually settled in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

by 1810. There he befriended and became a pupil of

Ferdinando Carulli Ferdinando Maria Meinrado Francesco Pascale Rosario Carulli (9 February 1770 – 17 February 1841) was an Italian composer for classical guitar and the author of the influential ''Méthode complète pour guitare ou lyre'', op. 27 (1810), which co ...

, to whom he dedicated three of his guitar duetsDolmetsch Online
/ref> and who in turn also dedicated some duets to Gragnani. Little is known about Gragnani after 1812. The "Registro dei Morti" (Register of Deaths) of the Church of St. Martino di Salviano in Livorno indicates he died on 28 July 1820.

Works

Some twenty compositions are known by Gragnani, of which fifteen have opus numbers. *Tre Sonate *Tre Duetti *Sinfonia *Sonata Sentimentale *Tre Divertimenti *Tre Duetti *Trois Duos, Op. 1 *Trois Duos, Op. 2 *Trois Duos, Op. 3 *Trois Duos, Op. 4 *Fantasia (solo guitar), Op. 5 *Opus 6 **Tre Sonatine e un Tema con Variazioni, Op. 6 **Trois Duos, Op. 6 *Trois Duos, Op. 7 *Opus 8 **Tre Dui (for violin and guitar), Op. 8 **Quartetto for clarinet, violin, and two guitars, Op. 8 *Sestetto (for flute, clarinet, violin, 2 guitars & cello in A major), Op. 9 *Variazioni, Op. 10 *Trois Exercices, Op. 11 *Trio (for three guitars), Op. 12 *Trio (for flute, violin and guitar), Op. 13 *Trois Duos, Op. 14 *Opus 15 **Sonata Sentimentale (solo guitar), Op. 15 **Divertimenti (solo guitar), Op. 15

Sources

Sheet Music

Rischel & Birket-Smith's Collection of guitar music
Det Kongelige Bibliotek, Denmark

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Gragnani, Filippo 1768 births 1820 deaths 18th-century composers 18th-century Italian male musicians 19th-century Italian composers Composers for the classical guitar Italian classical composers Italian male classical composers 19th-century Italian male musicians