Between 1883 and 1911, Ferruccio Busoni wrote a letter, some postcards and short messages to Antonio Zampieri and his sons in Trieste. Antonio Zampieri was a good musician and close friend to Busoni during his youth; he often helped him in the difficult relationship with his father Ferdinando. In this paper, besides giving the necessary pieces of information about Zampieri, his family and musical life in Trieste during Busoni’s childhood, the author takes the opportunity to analyse all life relations between father and son, with a particular attention to money matters.
In fact, Ferruccio’s letter to Zampieri dating from 1883 originates from Ferdinando’s request for a loan. In the following years, Busoni senior asks his son for more and more money, due to his being totally unable to organize everyday life, and his bad habit of making continuous debts. From Ferruccio’s letters 1884-1909 (the year of Ferdinando’s death) we can see the development of this very uneasy situation. Only in Busoni’s preface to one of his Bach Editions we can learn another, unexpected side of his musical education, and of his father’s role in it.