Barcarolle
Napoleon Coste
This Barcarolle -a song which you should play while poling a gondola in Venice- comes from the Recreation pour le Guitariste by Napoleon Coste. A nice piece to play in clear phrasing and a romantic mood. Somehow this piece reminds me of Schubert. Note that this Barcarolle has a bit more of a technical challenge.
Specifically the passages in harmonics are a matter of discussion. The original score states that you have to play them as natural harmonics on e.g. the fourth and third frets. Well, there is not much of as sound at these positions, so I would suggest to play them as artificial harmonics, or just play these notes straight.
The Frenchman Napoleon Coste (1806 - 1883) started playing as a kid with his mother as teacher. In his teens he became a popular concert guitarist and a well-sought teacher. Unfortunately his career suffered from the decline of the guitarmania which took place in Paris during Sor's life time. A broken arm became the end of his career.
Coste has left a large repertoire of guitar music, which is largely forgotten, although guitarists like Pavel Steidl and Raphaella Smits have done much to bring Coste’s music on stage and record again.
One of his works -Recreation pour le Guitariste- offers short and relatively simple pieces with nice melodies. These pieces are nice to play and far apart from the dazzling but very demanding endless introductions and finales of Coste's concert pieces.