Classical guitarists---both students and professional performers---require the same high-quality editions that their pianist colleagues have come to expect from Alfred Music. Our Classical Guitar Masterworks Editions continue the Alfred Music tradition of providing carefully edited, beautifully presented music for practice and performance. French guitarist and composer Napoléon Coste's best-loved concert works have been expertly collected here. In this edition, editor and acclaimed classical guitarist Jeffrey McFadden, a leading proponent of Coste's repertoire, looks between the lines to see exactly what the composer intended, ultimately making Coste's intentions explicit and clear for the modern performer. Coste was a great melodist who had full command of the rich harmonic palate of the mid-to-late 19th century. Perhaps most importantly, Coste had a powerful guitaristic intuition and a deep understanding of the guitar fretboard, which he used with great creativity in crafting concert music. This performance edition of Coste's works aims to provide the performer with fully fingered, easy-to-read scores, demonstrating not only how charming these pieces are for audiences but also how enjoyable they are to play for the accomplished guitarist!

Coste's life and works. Born in 1805 as the son of an officer in the Napoleonic army, Coste went to Delfzijl, Holland with his father as a child of 8. In 1813 the French withdrew from this fortress, passing the Zuiderzee and the Rhine. Later, he would dedicate his Souvenirs to these places. He grew up in Valenciennes, where he already developed musical activities. In December 1828 he settled in Paris and made his career, giving concerts, lessons and composing. He studied harmony and counterpoint with Sor. As a member of the Société académique des Enfants d'Apollon he played in its concerts, most notably in 1843 with his Le Tournoi in the Salle du Conservatoire. He also became a member of the Freemasons lodge and participated in a concert in 1852. He entered his most important works in the Makaroff guitar competition in Brussels in 1856, where he took second prize with Grande Sérénade. Back in Paris he continued his activities but had to take an administrative job in order to support himself. He married his pupil Louise Olive Pauilhé in 1871, after the German invasion. He injured his left shoulder in 1873, just as he had in 1863. Nevertheless he continued to give concerts up to 1880, when he could no longer play due to the extreme cold that winter. A year later he was struck by a 'cerebral congesture'. He died on 14 January 1883 and was buried at the Cimetière de Montmartre. This biography is the retail edition of the narrative part of the English translation of Ari van Vliet's dissertation upon the subject, which is reviewed as such: "...which must be the definitive work on the influential and important French composer." - Classical Guitar, Summer 2016 "... impressive two-volume tome... detailed, heavily illustrated biography, extensive analysis of 45 of his works for solo guitar." - Classical Guitar, Winter 2016 "It is the magisterial modern biography that Napoléon Coste and the guitar have deserved." - Soundboard Scholar, 2017 The CD mentioned in the book is no longer included. It is available as a separate order directly from DGA Editions.

"Napoléon Coste was a composer of guitar music in the nineteenth century. He was well known in musical circles of his time, but was later forgotten... He is said to be one of the best composers of that time for the instrument."--back cover.

The first book devoted to the composers, instrument makers and amateur players who advanced the great guitar vouge throughout Western Europe during the early decades of the nineteenth century.Contemporary critics viewed the fashion for the guitar with sheer hostility, seeing in it a rejection of true musical value. After all, such trends advanced against the grain of mainstream musical developments of ground-breaking (often Austro-German) repertoire for standard instruments. Yet amateur musicians throughout Europe persisted; many instruments were built to meet the demand, a substantial volume of music was published for amateurs to play, and soloist-composers moved freely between European cities. This book follows these lines of travel venturing as far as Moscow, and visiting all the great musical cities of the period, from London to Vienna, Madrid to Naples. The first section of the book looks at eighteenth-century precedents, the instrument - its makers and owners, amateur and professional musicians, printing and publishing, pedagogy, as well as aspects of repertoire. The second section explores the extensive repertoire for accompanied song and chamber music. A final substantive section assembles chapters on a wide array of the most significant soloist-composers of the time. The chapters evoke the guitar milieu in the various cities where each composer-player worked and offer a discussion of some representative works. This book, bringing together an international tally of contributors and never before examined sources, will be of interest to devotees of the guitar, as well as music historians of the Romantic period.