Caudella studied with his father, cellist Francisc Candella, and later with Vieuxtemps, Reiss, Massard, and Allard. He toured throughout Europe as a violinist, was violinist at Prince Alexandru Ioan Cuza's court, served as a teacher at the conservatory, and conductor for the theater orchestra in Iasi. Caudella helped develop Romanian music through his compositions and musical studies. His opera Petru Rares is one of the first Romanian operas. Caudella's research resulted in his identification of three scales in Romanian folk song, including the often-used "acoustic" scale consisting of C-D-E-F#-G-A-B-C.