Die Ausseer Tabulatur
reviews:
NÖN (04/2005): "Ein wahrer Schatz öst4erreichischer
Musikgeschichte!"
("A veritable treasure of Austrian musical
history!")
Eva Böhm (24.1.05): "Es ist Musik angenehmster Art, zum
Immer-Wieder-Hören, ausdrucksstark, doch
unaufdringlich. Ein Genuß!"
(This is music of the most pleasant kind, to listen to
again-and-again, expressive, yet unobtrusive. A delight!"
reviews:
NÖN (51/2002): "...stellt Haussners CD eine dankenswerte Bereicherung des gitarristischen Tonträger-Repertoires dar."
("...represents Haussners CD a commendable additiond to a guitarist repertoire.")
Mauro Giuliani
The past changes according to the perspective from which
we view it. Up until the middle of the 20th century,
whenever musical historians considered the Biedermeier
period in Vienna, they hardly gave a thought to any
musicians or composers other than Beethoven and
Schubert.
In this vein, the first edition of the encyclopedia "Music,
Past and Present", still the most comprehensive music
lexicon in the German language, only mentions Mauro Giuliani
as the composer of several guitar concertos and one heroic
sonata, as well as of some ìquestionable medleys,
strongly criticized at the time for their insipidity by
Robert Schumann in the music publication, "Die Neue Zeitung
für Musik".
The current trend towards performing old music in its
contemporary style and musicological studies afford us a
much clearer picture of early 19th century Vienna. This
turbulent, incredibly creative city was the residence of
innumerable composers, virtuosos and music teachers from the
most varied of backgrounds. Undoubtedly, the guitar played a
significant role in the music scene, being not only
appreciated by music aficionados, but also in widespread use
among the musicians themselves.
This was the "scene" in 1806, when Giuliani settled in
Vienna. Born in 1781 in the small village of Bisceglie, near
Bari, Italy, Giuliani achieved notable success, due to the
combination of his pleasing appearance, his fine voice and
his ability on the violin; but most of all, due to his
brilliant mastery of the "guitarre" and the large number of
compositions which he wrote while in Vienna.
In 1814, Empress Marie-Louise (Napoleon´s second wife)
gave him the honorary title of "virtuoso onorario di
camera"; concert tours brought him to London, Italy and
Germany. In 1819, he left Vienna to live in Venice, Rome and
finally in Naples, where he played concerts in the courts of
the "Kingdom of the two Sicilies".
As a composer, Giuliani created a large number of pieces for
solo guitar, chamber music, Lieder, and several concertos
for guitar and orchestra. The collection "La Tersicore del
Nord", op. 147, which appeared in 1828, is Giuliani´s
penultimate numbered composition and was advertised by its
Viennese publishers, Artaria, as a collection of "Pezzi
Ballabili" (good music to dance to). The collection is
intended for true connoisseurs of the guitar, and the
"catchy" melodic patterns are typical of Giuliani´s
style.
In some of the movements, the Viennese "flavor" is
unmistakable; impressions which Giuliani no doubt carried
back home with him, where he died on May 8, 1829.
Text by Martin Schwarz/Translation Mike Maloy
or www.extraplatte.at