Francesco Molino (1768–1847) was born into a family of violinists in Ivrea, near Turin. There, and for a time in Genoa as well, he made a career as a virtuoso violinist himself, until at the age of 50, he moved permanently to Paris.

Once in the French capital, Molino began a new phase of his musical career, which coincided with a significant increase in the number of works he published – almost all of which were dedicated to the guitar, both as a solo instrument and as part of chamber formations.


The works presented in this recording were all published as ‘sonatas’ by Molino, who explicitly stated that they were intended for performance by solo guitar. He uses three main structural types for these sonatas.

The first has a romance as a first movement, followed by a rondo (Sonatas op.1 no.1, op.15 no.2 and op.51). The second begins with a short maestoso introduction that is characterised by initial chords and octaves in succession, evoking the orchestral colour of certain operatic overtures. This movement ends with an interrupted cadence and is followed by a theme with variations, before a final rondo (Sonatas op.1 no.2, op.15 no.1 and no.3). The third type begins with an allegro first movement in sonata form (in bipartite 18th-century style, featuring two distinct themes with a tonic-dominant relationship) that is followed immediately by a final rondo (Sonatas op.1 no.3, op.6 no.1 and no.2).

All the sonatas reflect Molino’s evident mastery of the art of composition as well as a certain freedom in his approach to musical form. These elements, combined with a refined use of harmony and a deep understanding of the instrument, give the composer a highly personal stylistic language and make Molino one of the most interesting figures in the guitar repertoire of the 19th century.