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).BIBLIOGRAPHYFtisBQuelques 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
