Francesco Molino (also known as François Molino; 4 June 1768 – 1847) was an Italian

guitarist A guitarist (or a guitar player) is a person who plays the guitar. Guitarists may play a variety of guitar family instruments such as classical guitars, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and bass guitars. Some guitarists accompany themselve ...

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 ...

ist, and

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and def ...

Biography

Molino was born in

Ivrea Ivrea (; ; ; ) is a town and ''comune'' of the Metropolitan City of Turin in the Piedmont region of northwestern Italy. Situated on the road leading to the Aosta Valley (part of the medieval Via Francigena), it straddles the Dora Baltea and is ...

near

Turin Turin ( , ; ; , then ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. The city is main ...

. He often travelled to

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

to give concerts. He was orchestral conductor during 1796–97. In 1820 he settled in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

, where he lived for the remainder of his life. His works were largely neglected until the twentieth century, when many of them were republished. Among the best-known are his ''Three Sonatas'', ''18 Preludes'' and ''Terpsichore'' (a set of dances), all for solo guitar. He also wrote for other instruments in combination with the guitar, including

flute The flute is a member of a family of musical instruments in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, producing sound with a vibrating column of air. Flutes produce sound when the player's air flows across an opening. In th ...

and

. In 1830 he published a guitar method.

Works

Francesco Molino composed more than 60 works.

Guitar

* Opus 1: Trois sonates faciles * Opus 5: Six thèmes avec variations * Opus 6: Trois sonates pour la guitare (Three Sonates) ** Sonata No.1 in D major ** Sonata No.2 in G major ** Sonata No.3 in C major * Opus 9: 12 Waltzes * Opus 9: 12 Variations on "Ah! Vous dirai-je maman" * Opus 11: 6 Rondos * Opus 13: 2 Fantaisies * Opus 13: 3 Rondos * Opus 15: Trois sonates * Opus 17: Grande Ouverture * Opus 18: 4 Theme and variations * Opus 28: Trois Rondeaux brillants d'une exécution facile * Opus 31: Variations * Opus 34: Grand polonaise and 2 rondos * Opus 41: Brilliant variations * Opus 51: Grand sonata * Opus 58: Variations on a Scottish air * 18 Preludes * Romanc

* Sonatina

Violin

* Opus 68: Sonate

Guitar duo

* Opus 47: Grande Potpourri on themes of Rossini

Violin (or flute) and guitar

* Opus 2: 3 Sonatas * Opus 3: 3 Duets * Opus 7: Trois grande sonates * Opus 16: 3 Duets * Opus 22: Trois grande sonates * Opus 29: Trois grande sonates * Opus 37: Nocturne No. 1 * Opus 38: Nocturne No. 2 * Opus 39: Nocturne No. 3 * Opus 61: 3 Duets

Guitar and Piano

* Opus 36: Nocturne No. 1 * Opus 44: Nocturne No. 2 * Opus 57: Nocturne No. 3

Trio

* Opus 4: Trois Trios, for flute, viola, and guitar * Opus 19: Trois Trios, for flute, viola, and guitar * Opus 30: Grand trio concertant, for flute or violin, viola, and guitar * Opus 35: Second grand trio concertant, for flute or violin, viola, and guitar * Opus 45: Grand trio, for flute, viola, and guitar

Concertos

* Violin concerto No. 1 * Opus 25: Violin concerto No, 2 (dedicated to Kreutzer) * Opus 56: Guitar concerto

Method

* Opus 24: Méthode * Opus 33: Méthode * Opus 46: Grande méthode complette pour la guitare (Paris, 1830) (OCLC: 54138738)

Bibliography

* Otto Torp: ''Instruction Book for the Spanish Guitar'', selected from the works of F. Carulli, F. Molino & M. Giuliani (New York, E. Riley

829 __NOTOC__ Year 829 ( DCCCXXIX) was a common year starting on Friday of the Julian calendar. Events By place Byzantine Empire * October 2 – Emperor Michael II dies after an 8-year reign in Constantinople, and is succeeded by his ...

OCLC: 28429118 * Giovanni Del Lago, Giovanni Spataro: ''Lettere di diversi autori che trattano di musica'' (Austrian National Library, music collection (unpublished dissertation), OCLC: 12327433 * Jan W. J. Burgers: ''Francesco Molino (1768–1847), Guitarist and Violinist. Life and Works'' (Aarhus: Bergmann Edition, 2021); ISBN 978-87-980291-0-6. * ''Grande Potpourri über Themen von Rossini Op. 47'' - Urtext Edition - Edited by Carmelo Imbesi e Carmen Zangarà ( Duo Imbesi Zangarà ) - Num Cat. BE – 240605 , ISMN 979-0-706838-32-8, Bergmann Edition, 2024

External links

*

Tecla editions

Sheetmusic

Rischel & Birket-Smith's Collection of guitar music1
Det Kongelige Bibliotek, Denmark

The Music Library of Sweden {{DEFAULTSORT:Molino, Francesco 1768 births 1847 deaths Italian Classical-period composers Composers for the classical guitar Italian classical guitarists Italian male guitarists Italian male classical composers People from Ivrea Italian Romantic composers 19th-century Italian classical composers 19th-century Italian male musicians