Quaderni dell'Istituto Liszt View larger

Nuovi contributi alla biografia di Antonio Bazzini

Author Guido Salvetti
Editor Rossana Dalmonte
Series Quaderni dell'Istituto Liszt
Nr. 18
Size 15×21, pp. 132 (105-117)
Year 2018
ISBN 9788870969559

Price 7,00 €

The article gives details of three recent acquisitions by the Fondazione Istituto Liszt on the antiques market: two letters and a postcard signed by Antonio Bazzini, dating respectively from his period as a traveling concert artist (1859), to the moment when he was a respected teacher at the Conservatorio di Milano (1878) and finally to the years when he became director of the same Institution (1886). Careful research revealed that the first letter is addressed to the soprano Carolina Ungher — a close friend of Liszt’s — and that many references to places and people regard the environment in Florence during those years. The second letter informs us of the existence — previously unknown — of a committee for the reform of the Conservatories, comprised of Luigi Ferdinando Casamorata, Lauro Rossi and Bazzini, that was to convene in Florence in 1878. Finally, the postcard tells us how Giacomo Puccini, having taken refuge in Caprino Bergamasco after eloping from Lucca with Elvira, was trying to have his younger brother Michele, who had been expelled because of too many absences, readmitted to the Conservatory.

Keywords: Antonio Bazzini, Luigi Ferdinando Casamorata, Italian Conservatories, Giacomo Puccini, Carolina Ungher