An analysis of Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco's contributions to guitar music through his selected works

Italian-American composer Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco was a highly productive composer throughout his life. Among his vast body of work, which includes operas, songs, film scores, and compositions for various instruments, guitar music occupies one significant aspect of his career. His solo, chamber, and orchestral compositions for the guitar form the cornerstone of 20th-century guitar music. Rather than adopting the contemporary approaches of his time, the composer, in his own words, used an antimodernist approach in his music, often employing a neo-classical style. This study is structured to understand the composer's musical perspective through analyses of selected guitar music works by Castelnuovo-Tedesco. The first section provides insights about the atmosphere of the guitar world during the years when the composer began to compose works for the guitar. It delves into the composer's journey with guitar music and the atmosphere of the guitar world during that period. The second section covers the composer's biography, general musical perception, and the characteristics of his guitar music works. The third section is based on the analysis and description of the themes and form structures present in the selected guitar music works by the composer. The focus is on the form structure and the use of thematic materials within the subject works, which are contributed to the guitar literature by a composer who wasn't a guitarist himself. Providing access to these detailed analyses on the composer's musical understanding, the language employed in his guitar works, and their utilization constitute the main perspective of this study. The aim of the descriptions made in this study is to guide academics and students who will work on the composer's music.