Composer Profile: A Music Project For Grades 4-8

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A project that involves the student in reading, researching, organizing information, and sharing the final product with the rest of the class. Works best if done in a group of 2-3 students.

Can be used with any composer of any musical era. 

I have used this successfully with students in grades 4-8. 

Ferdinando Carulli (1770-1841)

Ferdinando Carulli (1770-1841)

In today's guitar scene, the music of Carulli often goes unnoticed, and even purposely ignored sometimes. With so many available resources online and offline, with so many offers for all musical tastes of each guitarist, some of the music which was once highly regarded, has gradually been moved to the back shelf, while some have placed it in the recycling bin…

It is true that even in Carulli's day there were some guitarists that looked down upon his music. Fernando Sor, a guitarist/composer of the same period, was such an example, and some of his writings indirectly attack the simplicity found in Carulli's and Carcassi's works. This, however, has happened to virtually every composer that ever lived: there have always been critics that surrounded all composers, no matter when they lived and what type of music they wrote. 

The fact that Carulli was very much involved with teaching, and unlike today, there was a great need for creating new didactic materials for the instrument, was clearly part of the motivation for him to write music the way he did. In fact, some of his publishers were known to complain that the music was too complicated - too hard for an amateur to play. 

All criticism aside, it is clear that Carulli's guitar music presents players of his day and ours with great material for learning, developing technique and public performance. His method alone (Opus 27) is a great example. Many self-taught guitarists of the past generation have used this material to learn how to play: it is a great way to study the instrument in an organized, progressive manner. 

There are many great features of the work, but I will mention only two in this article: First, there is a great amount of repertoire for the player, collected in one book. Instead of having to go from publication to publication, the student has easy access to hundreds of pieces, at different playing levels, all in the same publication. Second, the work is very progressive in nature: note reading, techniques, repertoire, position playing, are all presented in a progressive, logical order. 

There are plenty of guitar students today who can make their way through Bach's Boure, but could not read an easy scale in the third position on the instrument. Completing a method like Carulli's presents the student with lots of repertoire, but also with a more complete, a more thorough understanding of how the instrument works. 

Unfortunately, Carulli's reputation for writing 'easy music' is often caused by the fact that many players only look at that: his easy music. When we look at Carulli's entire output, we discover a great variety of works, written for different levels of playing. A great example is his Opus 320, which is a collection of "Six Andantes", dedicated to Matteo Carcassi, one of his contemporaries. While the set is not extremely difficult to play, it clearly could not be classified as 'easy' music. 

So whether you are looking for sight-reading material, some new technical exercises, a fresh look at your fingerboard, or perhaps a new encore piece for your next performance, consider the music of Carruli. There's a little bit for everybody in there!

George Frederick Handel: The Messiah

 Messiah is one of the most celebrated sacred works of the last three centuries. Written by George Frederick Handel (1685-1759), it has been performed by ensembles of different formats, with the Hallelujah chorus being the most famous chorus of all time.

Written in 1741, it took Handel only 24 days to complete the entire oratorio. The libretto (text) was created by Charles Jennens and it was inspired by the King James version of the Bible. The entire work focuses on Christ's work in his birth, life, death, resurrection, and ascension, with a great emphasis on Old Testament prophecies regarding Christ, and their fulfillment.

The musical score is immense and has proven to be not only great performance material, but alos great material for serious music study. At the end of the manuscript, Handel wrote the letters "SDG" which stand for "Soli Deo Gloria" ("To God Alone The Glory"). This is an inscription also used by the great J.S. Bach in his own manuscripts. It should be noted that the original score was much smaller than many versions we hear performed today. Later composers wanted to give the work a bigger sound, and many added instruments to the orchestration. Lately, there have been some acclaimed ensembles that returned to the original score, which is much smaller than what we are used to hear. Just as an example, the original arrangement called for thirty-two chorus members: sixteen men and sixteen boys, plus the four solos. Not the big sound we are used to hearing during the holidays on TV and Radio!

The first performance was give in Dublin and it raised a considerable amount of revenue, and Handel donated all of it to three charities:

• prisoner's debt relief
• local Mercer hospital
• local charitable infirmary

Besides helping the Mercer hospital and the local infirmary, Handel's contribution freed 142 indebted prisoners.

There were seven hundred people in the audience at the first performance on April 13. In order to allow as many people in the audience as possible, it is said that all men were asked to remove their swords, and all the ladies were asked not to wear hoops in their dresses... The local press praised the performance using these approximate words: "Words are wanting to express the exquisite delight in afforded to the admiring and crouded Audience" (Luckett, pp. 127-28).

A local clergyman, Rev. Delaney, was supposedly so overcome by the performance of "He Was Despised" (an alot solo) that he jumped to his feet and shouted: "Woman, for this be all thy sins forgiven thee!" (Hogwood, pp. 22-25).

Below is a drawing of the Great Music Hall in Dublin, where the Messiah was first performed. 

Many performances followed in the years and decades to follow, and especially after Handel's death, music performance venues always gathered large audiences eager to hear the Messiah. Today, the Hallelujah chorus and most of the oratorio Messiah is celebrated and performed around the world. 

Domenico Cimarosa (1749-1801)

Domenico Cimarosa (1749-1801)

Italian composer of the Classical Period.
Wrote more than 80 operas, and other works, instrumental and vocal.

Domenico came from a very poor family.
He attended a free school in Naples.
Impressed by the boy's intellect, his teachers kept him in school and
introduced him to the rudiments of music.

During the French Republic occupation, he was imprisoned and
given a death sentence. However, he was later freed.

He later died, due to health problems acquired during his imprisonment.


Cimarosa's best-known work is Il Matrimonio Segreto which was written in 1792.