Carlo Munier

Carlo Munier (15 July 1858 – 11 February 1911) was an Italian musician who advocated for the mandolin's acknowledgement among as an instrument of classical music and focused on "raising and ennobling the mandolin and plectrum instruments". He wanted "great masters" to consider the instrument and raise it above the level of "dilettantes and street players" where it had been stuck for centuries. He expected that the mandolin and guitar would be taught in serious orchestral music schools and incorporated into the orchestra. A composer of more than 350 works for the mandolin, he led the mandolin orchestra Reale circolo mandolinisti Regina Margherita named for its patron Margherita of Savoy and gave the queen instruction on the mandolin. As a teacher, he wrote Scuola del mandolino: metodo completo per mandolino (School for the mandolin, a complete method), published in 1895. Silvio Ranieri described Munier in 1925 as one of the principal pioneers in the revival of the mandolin repertoire – a repertoire that with Munier began to move away from the limitations of the popular style (waltzes, serenades and fashionable marches) in order to approach the "art music" forms.