This rare postcard of previously unknown harp guitarist Alpinolo Nunzi was donated to the site by Alessandro Nobis from Verona (thanks again!).
I found little on Nunzi other than a couple references to compositions by him, and only this brief entry in the Dizionario dei Chitarristi e Liutai Italiani:
Solista di chitarra contemporaneo, umbro. Si conoscono sue composizioni edite dalla Casa Cocchi di Bologna, Maurri di Firenze e Vizzara di Milano. Da molti anni applaudito esecutore risiede attualmente in Terni ove prosegue la sua attivita di solista e d’insegnante. (So he was “currently a soloist and teacher in Terni” in 1937)
I’ve added him to the Encyclopedia of Harp Guitar Players of the Past but would like to add more info if any of our Italian guitar friends know anything.
His instrument could be by a couple of different makers – it could be an early Giulietti, I suppose?
Thanks for these news. A big emotion.
Alpinolo Nunzi is the brother of my Grandfather Umberto.
Thanks for the ID Gregg. To bad I missed the concerts last year. Should’ve been more alert. At least I can now get her records.
Thanks for the info, all of you!
Thomas – in your last link, that is Raphaella Smits. She’s on our Players page: https://www.harpguitars.net/players/players.htm#historical
I’ll be seeing and meeting her in September at the La Guitarra festival up the California coast (driving with pal Frank Doucette)…
…the link in English being…
http://www.visitfanoe.dk/international/en-gb/menu/turist/events/events-northsea-fanoe/guitarfestival-northsea-fanoe/guitarfestival-westcoast-denmark.htm
By the way, do note the theorboed guitar in the top picture. Alas I do not know who she is. She is from last years festival.
Well, population isn’t always a measure to count on. I don’t know about contests but music festivals appear in the most unlikely of places and rarely correlate with size. More often, the location and its accessibility sets the scene. Just for the example, the Danish town of Sønderho has 275 inhabitants yet has been the center of a highly esteemed classical guitar festival for decades…
http://www.visitfanoe.dk/danmark/da-dk/menu/turist/begivenheder/eventsdk/fanoeguitarfestival/fanoguitarfestival.htm
That, of course, doesn’t change the fact, that in many ways having such colossal events in such minute places, does raise an eye brow or two.
I never heard of Alpinolo Nunzi before, and I also never heard of the “International Music Contest” in Luchsigen, Switzerland, which he won according to the postcard.
I have heard the name of the town before, and looked it up on wikipedia. It has less than 600 inhabitants. Not exactly the place where you’d expect an international contest. Unless you organize one yourself, which might be easy to win it due to lack of competition. But hey, maybe that place was hip 100 years ago. (I doubt it…)
It looks like here they have 3 of his compositions: http://digital-library.csun.edu/cdm4/item_viewer.php?CISOROOT=/IGRAScores&CISOPTR=17377&CISOBOX=1&REC=8