Mauro Giuliani at the Congress of Vienna: Musical Representations of Political Power and Conversation

This essay presents an alternative narrative of musical events surrounding the Congress of Vienna through the career of the guitarist-composer Mauro Giuliani (1781–1829). Although Giuliani’s creative activity is not associated with the monumentality typically attributed to the Congress’s large public events, I argue that his performances alongside Vienna’s other notable instrumentalists nonetheless served as musical embodiments of the Congress’s mandate of cooperation and conversation. By examining Giuliani’s Congress-era performances and publications meant to tap the market for memorabilia, I consider how the guitarist engaged with aspects of the Congress’s political agenda. While music was associated with some of the more frivolous activities that took place during this momentous event in diplomatic history, it nevertheless played an integral role in communicating the goals of the Congress, as well as those of the emerging Austrian state.