Spanish composer and violinist or perhaps Portuguese.2 Most of the information that we have today about his life comes from his own treatises, the Prontuorio musician for the violinist and singer (Málaga, 1771) and the Art of playing the Spanish guitar for music (Madrid, 1779). According to Felipe Pedrell and others, he was probably from Zamora, since he himself claims that he learned music at the school in that city.1 Also in the cathedral of Zamora there are documents that attest to his presence in the seminary school for child singers and musician chaplains in 1750.3 It is also known that he lived for some time in Cádiz. In 1763 he is located as a violinist in the chapel of the cathedral of Oviedo, and in 1771 exercising the same job in the cathedral of Málaga. Later, in 1799, and probably in 1816, he would be a music teacher in Madrid. Both in his technique and in the terms with which he describes it, Ferandiere is a fully classical composer and theorist dedicated, in addition to the violin, to the guitar, an instrument for which he is remembered today and to which the outstanding composers of this period had paid little attention. And even despite his patent classicism, his preference for sudden modulations also make him a clear precursor of Romanticism. Therefore, despite the little work that survives from this author, Ferandiere's importance in Spanish music is not insignificant, since his commitment to the modernization of guitar performance was a decisive step in establishing a clear distinction between the craftsmanship of the popular guitar and the art of the classical guitar, which he raises to the level of any other cultured concert instrument. Ferandiere was already aware that the possibilities of the instrument had not been exploited to their full capacity and established himself as an example, providing a school and constituting a wake-up call for later composers to carry out his proposals.
