5 - Madame Catharina Josepha Pratten and Others

Summary

Catharina Pratten was the only exponent of the guitar to make a lifelong career from the instrument in Britain. A living link with the ‘Great Vogue’ for the guitar of the 1830s, she composed companionable solo pieces designed for the amateur, arranged songs, published methods, and taught a wide range of pupils, including some form the aristocracy, during almost the entire Victorian period. The considerable revival of interest in Madame Pratten during recent years, however, is in danger once more of the underestimating the importance of accompanied song to the Victorian fortunes of the guitar. About half of her many publications comprise guitar-accompanied vocal music including settings of nursery rhymes, opera favourites and English ballads. Although this was not the part of her legacy most valued by the coterie of advanced pupils she left behind, it undoubtedly inspired many who sought the services of this unique female musical entrepreneur.