# Romantic Guitar, Bardenklenge op13 n°10 by Johann Kaspar Mertz



## Riccardo Giubilato

Hi guys! I feel like to share a recording i made of a Bardenklenge by Johann Kaspar Mertz (1806-1856) played with a romantic guitar made in Trieste (Italy) around the beginning of the 19th century. It's not a commonly heard piece so i hope you like it


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## ComposerOfAvantGarde

Really beautiful sound and a great, stylistic interpretation! I'm a big fan of Mertz (and a guitarist myself) so I'm familiar with a few of his massive op. 13 set of pieces. Brilliant work! :clap:

I'm thinking of getting a 19th century guitar in the near future and I have a few questions about the strings....how often do they need to be changed on a 19th century guitar? How expensive is a good set of gut strings? How easy or hard is it to get hold of the appropriate strings?


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## Riccardo Giubilato

Hi! Thanks for your kind words, i agree on the beauty of Mertz's op.13, it's a massive collection of pieces and some of them are really elegant in their simplicity! 
Oh strings, i actually used a set of Augustine Black (low tension), nylon carbon treble strings.. 
If you want to experience what is like to play with actual gut you must be prepared for the expense since they are made by specialised artisans, there also may be no such thing as "sets", you might need to buy the strings individually.. Btw i strongly don't recommend to approach 19th guitar studies using gut strings because they are very hard to control both in term of sound and tuning.. also a gut string lasts for about 2-3 days before disgregating and destroing itself! 
You might want to use them if your conscious of what you're doing..! Go with a good set of nylgut strings if you want or a simple nylon set which tends to be less clear and brilliant of a carbon-nylon one..
Btw, don't waste too much time with strings, get a good guitar and play it


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