Zani de Ferranti, Marco Aurelio

(b Bologna, 23 Dec 1801; d Pisa, 28 Nov 1878). Italian guitar

virtuoso and composer. When he was 12, he heard Paganini and
took up music, learning the violin, which he abandoned for the
guitar four years later. In 1820 he went to Paris, where he gave
guitar lessons, had some compositions published and gave his first
concert, but attracted little notice. He then became librarian to
Senator Miatleu in St Petersburg, and later secretary to Prince
Naryshkin; he gave concerts and more of his compositions were
published, but in 1824 was expelled because of his political
involvement. He subsequently lived in Denmark, Hamburg,
Brussels, Paris and London, and in 1827 settled in Brussels. There
he laboriously perfected what he called the art of sustaining notes
on the guitar. He made his improved technique public in 1832, to
considerable acclaim; in 1834, when he was championed by Ftis,
his career began to flourish, and he was appointed honorary
guitarist to the King. Paganini declared him superior to all other
guitarists he had heard, and he toured the Netherlands, England
and France with considerable success. Later his interests turned to
literature: he published poetry, became a Dante scholar and started
reviewing concerts, and in 1843 became professor of Italian at the
conservatory in Brussels. He met and befriended the violinist
Camillo Sivori and in 1846 went to the USA as his agent; he stayed
for six months, giving concerts and having some of his music
published. In 1855 he toured Italy with the soprano Euphemie
Wittmann, whom he married, but who died during the tour. Ferranti
returned to Paris, giving solo concerts as he travelled, a practice
thought hitherto to have been exclusive to Liszt. In the 1860s he
gradually abandoned his concerts for Dante lectures, readings
which he gave in Paris, Brussels, London and Liverpool; he also
twice returned to Italy, where he died. He composed more than 100
pieces for guitar, at least 50 songs and 48 Mlodies bibliques for
violin, cello and piano. He also wrote several books, among them a
noted commentary on Dante. Some of his works have appeared in
modern editions (see Wynberg).
BIBLIOGRAPHY
FtisB
Quelques Articles concernant M.-A. Zani de Ferranti, premier
guitariste de S.M. le Roi des Belges, ex-professeur au
Conservatoire Royal de Bruxelles (Milan, c1860)
F.-J. Ftis: La guitare et Zani de Ferranti, Revue musicale (1834),
27; Ger. trans., Der Gitarrefreund, xxvi (1925), 348
H. Berlioz: Mmoires (Paris, 1870/R; ed. and Eng. trans. by D.
Cairns, 1969, 2/1970); ed. P. Citron (Paris, 1969, 2/1991))
M. Battistini: Marco Aurelio Zani de Ferranti, di Bologna,
musicista e letterato (Bologna, 1931)
R. Ferrari: Zani de Ferranti, Marco Aurelio (Modena, 1933)

M. Van de Cruys: Der Paganini der Gitarre: Marco Aurelio Zani de

Ferranti, Gitarre & Laute, ix (1987), no.4, pp.1718, 379;
no.5, pp.4952; x (1988), no.4, pp.2024
S. Wynberg: Marco Aurelio Zani de Ferranti: Guitarist (18011878)
(Heidelberg, 1989) [incl. checklist of Ferranti's compositions]
M. Van de Cruys: Compiling the Zani de Ferranti catalogue,
Gendai Guitar Magazine, xxxi (1997), no.11, pp.3641 [incl.
complete catalogue of guitar works]
MARC VAN DE CRUYS