SAGGI
Angela Buompastore
Dalle Lettres d’un bachelier ès-musique: la Milano musicale di Liszt e Marie d’Agoult
Mariateresa Dellaborra
«Farò quanto potrò come i tenori indisposti»: la corrispondenza tra Antonio Bazzini e Ugo Bassani
Teresa Chirico
Il Concorso Liszt della Casa Boisselot di Marsiglia al Liceo musicale di Roma
Giacomo Franchi
Le tracce della forma sonata in Après une lecture du Dante di Franz Liszt
COMUNICAZIONI
Liszt musicista transculturale / Liszt as a transcultural composer
RECENSIONI
Liszt in context, a cura di Joanne Cormac, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2022 (Mariateresa Storino)
FRÉDÉRIC CHOPIN, Appunti per un metodo di pianoforte, testi riuniti e presentati da Jean-Jacques Eigeldinger, Lucca, LIM, 2023, (Valentina Trovato)
MAŁGORZATA GAMRAT, Franz Liszt’s songs for voice and piano. The composer’s approach to poetry and music, Leiden – Boston, Brill, 2023 (Emanuela Marcante)
ABSTRACTS
Angela Buompastore
Dalle Lettres d’un bachelier ès-musique: la Milano musicale di Liszt e Marie d’Agoult
Liszt’s letters, published in the Parisian «Revue et Gazette Musicale» between 1838 and 1839, are the starting point of this research which, using diaries, private letters and memoirs, shows what kind of musical society Liszt and composers passing through Italy, such as Glinka, were welcomed into. It included professionals, amateur musicians, organizers and guests of events in which music played a very significant role. The personages mentioned by Liszt, about whom biographical and musical information is provided, include Nina Vanotti, Countess Giulia Samoyloff, the Belgiojoso, Medici di Marignano and Branca families, the Rovelli sisters, the famous pianist and composer Francesco Pollini, Countess Angela della Somaglia, Duchess Camilla Litta and Marchioness Teresa Visconti d’Aragona. The picture that emerges is that of a society in which music was an integral and substantial part of the lives of nobles and aristocrats, almost always linked by kinship, interests, dedicatees, music teachers, places frequented, and political tendencies.
Mariateresa Dellaborra
«Farò quanto potrò come i tenori indisposti»: la corrispondenza tra Antonio Bazzini e Ugo Bassani
Through the correspondence between Antonio Bazzini and Ugo Bassani (1851-1914), his beloved pupil, we approach a wide range of topics concerning various areas of art and music. We learn about the concert life of various cities (not only Milan and Venice, the two centres in which the two composers’ lives took place), the teaching activities of some important institutions (the conservatories in Milan, Florence, Naples, Venice), the repertoire in vogue, the publishers active at the time and their choices; we learn about the opera seasons in Milan and Turin, about emerging composers and the outcome of their new compositions. While in some cases the contents of the missives only serve to clarify already known information, in others they address previously unpublished topics and thus open up multiple perspectives of investigation into late 19th century society, artistic habits and repertoire. The precious corpus of just over sixty letters is kept at the Library of the Liszt Institute Foundation in Bologna and covers approximately two decades (1876-1895).
Teresa Chirico
Il Concorso Liszt della Casa Boisselot di Marsiglia al Liceo musicale di Roma
The unpublished correspondence between the Ministry of Public Education and the Accademia di Santa Cecilia, preserved in the Archivio Centrale dello Stato in Rome, documents the annual events of the Liszt Competition (or Prize) at the Liceo Musicale of that academic institution between 1885 and 1891. The events of the competition are framed in the broader history of the Liceo Musicale, the teaching of piano in that institution and the careers of some competitors who later became concert pianists (Francesco Baiardi, Giuseppe Cristiani, Giuseppe Ferrata, etc.). The Liszt Competition was of considerable prestige, as evidenced by the Minister’s regular congratulations to the Academy directors and the winners. The prize of the competition consisted of a piano specially made by the company «Boisselot Fils & C.ie» in Marseille, managed by Franz Boisselot, a friend of Liszt, which went to the best performance of a work by Liszt played by a pupil of the Liceo’s advanced course held by Giovanni Sgambati. The proceedings of the Liszt Competition reveal many details, such as the compulsory pieces, commissioners, contestants and winners, gender issues; they also show how Sgambati’s teaching aimed at enhancing his students’ creativity and skills through free individual expression. In the absence of any information on the origins of the prize, the reasons for its establishment and its design, it is natural to think that Sgambati was its creator, also considering his friendly relations with Liszt.
Giacomo Franchi
Le tracce della forma sonata in Après une lecture du Dante di Franz Liszt
The article delves into the enigmatic relationship between Liszt’s Après une lecture du Dante and the sonata form, offering new insights into its structural, harmonic, and interpretative dimensions. It proposes that the piece’s connection to sonata form is less about adherence to a classical model and more about a gradual evolution influenced by its improvisational genesis. The analysis focuses on the exposition, development, and recapitulation, revealing their unique roles in shaping the narrative.
Firstly, the exposition introduces key motifs, such as the tritone, a rhythmic figure, and chromatic scalar passages, which recur throughout the work. These elements set a dramatic stage, aligning with Dante’s infernal imagery. Then, the development diverges, reinterpreting earlier material with increasing complexity and tonal shifts, reflecting Liszt’s Romantic aesthetic. Finally, the recapitulation eschews any predictable scheme, offering a gradual return of the secondary theme in a transformed major key, embodying the resolution of the Dantesque journey.
The article concludes that the structural evolution of Après une lecture du Dante demonstrates Liszt’s innovative approach to sonata form. Instead of adhering to rigid conventions, Liszt integrates elements of sonata form within an improvisatory framework, reflecting both the compositional practices of the mid-19th century and his personal artistic trajectory. The reinterpretation of key motifs, the unconventional tonal plan, and the deliberate ambiguity in the structure of the finale collectively highlight Liszt’s intention to reshape formal boundaries. This work not only challenges traditional analytical paradigms but also exemplifies the Romantic ethos of blending structural innovation with emotive depth, cementing its place as a significant contribution to the evolution of sonata form in the 19th century.