Bartolomeo Bortolazzi

Bartolomeo Bortolazzi (born Toscolano-Maderno 1772; died 1846[1]) was a performing musician, composer, author, and virtuoso of both the guitar and the mandolin.

"This artist, by his extraordinary talent, produced the most wonderful and unheard-of nuances of tone and charms of expression, at that time deemed scarcely possible on so small an instrument.

Instead of the monotonous, nasal tone which had hitherto been produced he so manipulated the strings and plectrum that he opened an enlarged sphere of capabilities for the instrument.

The guitar method was published in French and German by Haslinger, Vienna; it was a standard work in Austria during the first part of the nineteenth century, and met with such success that it passed through eight editions up to the year 1833.

After these twelve introductory chapters, follow scales, cadenzas, and studies in all keys, arranged progressively, and thirty exercises on arpeggios, the work is concluded with a fantasia of three pages for guitar solo.

[2] The mandolin method, which was issued by Breitkopf & Hartel, of Leipzig, in 1805, also passed through many editions, including one revised by Engelbert Rontgen and published in German.