Zani da Ferranti, Marco Aurelio

1800-1878

Born in Bologna. His first musical study was on the violin but he exchanged it for the guitar, becoming a virtuoso upon it, producing much more of a singing tone with it than had ever been heard before. In 1820 he was playing in Paris, but the next year he went to St. Petersburg, where for three years he held the position of a private secretary. From 1824 to 1827 he was giving concerts in Hamburg, Paris, Brussels, London and elsewhere; then settled in Brussels, where he gave lessons on the guitar. He was appointed professor of Italian at the Brussels Conservatory in 1846. He returned to Italy in 1855 and died at Pisa.