Carmine De Laurentiis
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Carmine de Laurentiis was a 19th-century Italian mandolinist, musical educator, author and composer who taught
mandolin A mandolin (, ; literally "small mandola") is a Chordophone, stringed musical instrument in the lute family and is generally Plucked string instrument, plucked with a plectrum, pick. It most commonly has four Course (music), courses of doubled St ...
and
guitar The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...
in
Naples Naples ( ; ; ) is the Regions of Italy, regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 908,082 within the city's administrative limits as of 2025, while its Metropolitan City of N ...
. His only well-known student was Carlo Munier. He wrote a mandolin method, ''Metodo per Mandolino'', that was published in
Milan Milan ( , , ; ) is a city in northern Italy, regional capital of Lombardy, the largest city in Italy by urban area and the List of cities in Italy, second-most-populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of nea ...
in 1874, reported the following year in the ''Musical World''. The article mentioning Laurentiis' method talked about the decline of the mandolin, calling the mandolin "entirely out of fashion." He is significant because his efforts helped to bring the mandolin back to international prominence after a period of international indifference, by teaching and promoting the instrument. His mandolin method was accessible not only for Italian speakers, but with the English addition compiled by Federico Sacchi, people in England as well.


Decline of the mandolin

The mandolin was used internationally on the European continent in the mid 18th century up through the early 19th-Century, by Italian
virtuoso A virtuoso (from Italian ''virtuoso'', or ; Late Latin ''virtuosus''; Latin ''virtus''; 'virtue', 'excellence' or 'skill') is an individual who possesses outstanding talent and technical ability in a particular art or field such as fine arts, ...
-players touring Europe and giving concerts. Among them was Bartolomeo Bortolazzi Alexandro Marie Antoin Fridzeri, Pietro Vimercati, Luigi Castellaci, and
Giovanni Vailati Giovanni Vailati (24 April 1863 – 14 May 1909) was an Italian proto-analytic philosopher, historian of science, and mathematician. Life Vailati was born in Crema, Lombardy, and studied engineering at the University of Turin. He went on to ...
. When the Napoleonic wars broke out, the mandolin went into a rapid decline, to the point that it was rarely seen in Europe outside of Italy. In Italy it was relegated to a
folk instrument A folk instrument is a traditional musical instrument that has remained largely restricted to traditional folk music, and is not usually used in the classical music or other elite and formal musical genres of the culture concerned, though relate ...
, frequently encountered in the hands of young men
courting Courtship is the period wherein some couples get to know each other prior to a possible marriage or committed romantic, ''de facto'' relationship. Courtship traditionally may begin after a betrothal and may conclude with the celebration of marria ...
young women, and in cities it was in the hands of
street musicians Street performance or busking is the act of performing in public places for gratuities. In many countries, the rewards are generally in the form of money but other gratuities such as food, drink or gifts may be given. Street performance is pr ...
and
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, a lower-class instrument. The untrained musicians concentrated on the romantic elements in the music, attempting to imitate a guitar's strum with
arpeggios An arpeggio () is a type of chord in which the notes that compose a chord are individually sounded in a progressive rising or descending order. Arpeggios on keyboard instruments may be called rolled chords. Arpeggios may include all notes ...
, or a
violin The violin, sometimes referred to as a fiddle, is a wooden chordophone, and is the smallest, and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in regular use in the violin family. Smaller violin-type instruments exist, including the violino picc ...
by use of
tremolo In music, ''tremolo'' (), or ''tremolando'' (), is a trembling effect. There are multiple types of tremolo: a rapid repetition of a note, an alternation between two different notes, or a variation in volume. Tremolos may be either ''measured'' ...
. Having become a folk instrument, the techniques demonstrated by the virtuosic mandolin masters disappeared.


The mandolin's dark age and sudden rise

In the period from the end of the
Napoleonic Wars {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Napoleonic Wars , partof = the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars , image = Napoleonic Wars (revision).jpg , caption = Left to right, top to bottom:Battl ...
until 1880 the mandolin was a forgotten fad, although mandolin music was made and consumed in Italy. It was seen on the streets in the hands of street musicians, and
emigrants Emigration is the act of leaving a resident country or place of residence with the intent to settle elsewhere (to permanently leave a country). Conversely, immigration describes the movement of people into one country from another (to permanentl ...
took it with them when they left Italy.
Pasquale Vinaccia Pasquale Vinaccia (1806 – c. 1882) was an Italian luthier, appointed instrument-maker for the Queen of Italy, and maternal grandfather to Carlo Munier. In 1835 he improved the mandolin, creating a version of the instrument that used steel wir ...
developed a more advanced mandolin, louder and with steel strings, now known as the Neapolitan Mandolin. Pasquale's grand-nephew, Carlo Munier, took lessons on the mandolin from "Maestro" Laurentiis. Laurentiis wrote his 1874 mandolin method, ''Metodo per Mandolino''. for an instrument that was labeled "entirely out of fashion." Six years later, the Golden Age of the Mandolin sprang seemingly out of nowhere, with performances at world exhibitions, new Italian virtuosos touring across Europe (especially
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and
Prague Prague ( ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in the Czech Republic, largest city of the Czech Republic and the historical capital of Bohemia. Prague, located on the Vltava River, has a population of about 1.4 million, while its P ...
) and settling in the United States. Young women were buying up mandolins; music teachers needed methods to use in teaching the instruments. The virtuosos could write their own methods, but for those that didn't, methods like Laurentiis' were already available.


References


External links


1886 newspaper article talking about the rise of the mandolin in the United States. Newspapers.comMandolin madness in women, newspaper clipping, 1886, Philadelphia. Newspapers.com.Mandolin use disproportionate in women, Pennsylvania, 1887. Newspapers.com.Mandolin replaces banjos among society women, St. Paul, Minnesota, 1886. Newspapers.com.
{{DEFAULTSORT:De Laurentiis, Carmine 19th-century Italian composers Italian mandolinists Composers from Naples Year of birth missing Year of death missing