Raffaele Calace (1863-1934)

The long, productive period of activity of the Neapolitan musician Raffaele Calace, because of its timing (1863-1934), fell in an era of great social and political transformations that had important consequences also on a cultural level.
At the end of the Bourbon domination, while the most important Neapolitan theatres were beginning to have problems, a radical cultural renewal took place, concentrating chiefly on a gradual increase of musical interest in instrumental production.
Raffaele Calace, second son of the luthier Antonio, received his musical education at the Conservatory of Naples, where he studied violin; but he graduated in composition under the guidance of Paolo Serrao and Francesco Ancona. His musical activity was devoted above all to plucked string instruments, and he became a virtuoso performer on them and a composer of music for them. Calace – contrary to what one might expect, considering the great number of pieces that have been published for this combination of instruments – composed a version for mandolin and guitar only of the works presented here: they are still present and available, for this combination of instruments, in the present-day catalogue of the Calace Editions.