He was also a classical pianist, teacher, author and composer, who performed at the chief courts of Europe, and received the royal appointment of mandolinist to the King of Italy.
He arrived Paris in 1882, where he was immediately recognised as the premier mandolinist of the day; he won a widespread and enviable reputation, and as a teacher, his services were in constant demand by French aristocracy.
During his residence in there, he appeared in public with the most prominent musicians of the time, including Charles Gounod, who, upon several occasions accompanied his solos with the pianoforte.
He repeated his visit to London during the following season giving mandolin recitals in which renowned mandolinist songwriter Luigi Denza and other eminent musicians took part.
He brought the higher mechanical attributes such as the shake, double stopping, the glissato and other effects peculiar to the instrument to perfection (which classed him among the virtuosi of the time).
He decided to write a melodramatic opera (following the storyline or libretto from the poet de Lauzieres), calling it Almina da Volterra.
[1] The following is an extract from the Italian music journal, Revista Musicale : "Neapolitans will doubtless remember Signor Ferdinando Cristofaro, the greatest of mandolinists, and, in fact, the only artist who has been able to bring this instrument up to the high standard of importance that it today enjoys.
He added that "It commences with the elements of the theory of music, and all the exercises are melodious and arranged with a definite object: they are well-graded and admirably suited for pupil and teacher, as the majority are written as duets for two mandolins."