Luciano Sgrizzi
Encyclopedia
Luciano Sgrizzi was an Italian harpsichordist, organist, pianist and composer.
, from whose Philharmonic Academy he graduated as a pianist in 1923. He toured South America for three years, then returned to Italy to continue his organ and composition studies. He gained a second piano diploma in 1931 from the Conservatory of Parma
. Not wishing to be associated with the Fascist
regime, he left Italy and studied musicology and composition with Albert Bertelin in Paris.
He settled in Switzerland
, where he remained throughout the Second World War, working as pianist and organist for Swiss-Italian Radio
in Lugano
(with which he worked until 1974), and also being a literary critic and writing plays and arranging literary works for the radio.
In 1946 he discovered an interest in the harpsichord
, and devoted himself thereafter to the study of early music. He performed with the Società Cameristica di Lugano from 1950 to 1960. Salzburg, Ascona, Stresa, Spoleto, Rome, Milan, Paris, Liege, Flanders and Geneva were some of the festivals at which he appeared as harpsichordist or pianist.
He had been publishing his own compositions since 1933, but in 1960 he devoted himself full time to the transcription and editing of 17th and 18th century Italian music. His editions included the Sonates pour clavecin of Benedetto Marcello
, and Neuf toccates pour clavier by Alessandro Scarlatti
.
He made a number of recordings, of which seven were awarded the Grand Prix du Disque
. These included the complete concertos of Antonio Vivaldi
and Johann Sebastian Bach
for solo harpsichord, and many of the sonatas of Domenico Scarlatti
.
In 1980 he was named Commendatore of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic
and in 1985 was named Officier of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres
by French Cultural Minister Jack Lang
.
Luciano Sgrizzi had a special interest in trains and train timetables. He died in Monte Carlo
, Monaco
, where he had lived for the last few years of his life.
Biography
Luciano Sgrizzi was born in BolognaBologna
Bologna is the capital city of Emilia-Romagna, in the Po Valley of Northern Italy. The city lies between the Po River and the Apennine Mountains, more specifically, between the Reno River and the Savena River. Bologna is a lively and cosmopolitan Italian college city, with spectacular history,...
, from whose Philharmonic Academy he graduated as a pianist in 1923. He toured South America for three years, then returned to Italy to continue his organ and composition studies. He gained a second piano diploma in 1931 from the Conservatory of Parma
Parma
Parma is a city in the Italian region of Emilia-Romagna famous for its ham, its cheese, its architecture and the fine countryside around it. This is the home of the University of Parma, one of the oldest universities in the world....
. Not wishing to be associated with the Fascist
Italian Fascism
Italian Fascism also known as Fascism with a capital "F" refers to the original fascist ideology in Italy. This ideology is associated with the National Fascist Party which under Benito Mussolini ruled the Kingdom of Italy from 1922 until 1943, the Republican Fascist Party which ruled the Italian...
regime, he left Italy and studied musicology and composition with Albert Bertelin in Paris.
He settled in Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
, where he remained throughout the Second World War, working as pianist and organist for Swiss-Italian Radio
Radiotelevisione svizzera di lingua italiana
Radiotelevisione svizzera di lingua italiana is a Swiss public broadcasting organisation, part of SRG SSR. RSI handles production and broadcasting of radio and television programs in Italian for Switzerland...
in Lugano
Lugano
Lugano is a city of inhabitants in the city proper and a total of over 145,000 people in the agglomeration/city region, in the south of Switzerland, in the Italian-speaking canton of Ticino, which borders Italy...
(with which he worked until 1974), and also being a literary critic and writing plays and arranging literary works for the radio.
In 1946 he discovered an interest in the harpsichord
Harpsichord
A harpsichord is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It produces sound by plucking a string when a key is pressed.In the narrow sense, "harpsichord" designates only the large wing-shaped instruments in which the strings are perpendicular to the keyboard...
, and devoted himself thereafter to the study of early music. He performed with the Società Cameristica di Lugano from 1950 to 1960. Salzburg, Ascona, Stresa, Spoleto, Rome, Milan, Paris, Liege, Flanders and Geneva were some of the festivals at which he appeared as harpsichordist or pianist.
He had been publishing his own compositions since 1933, but in 1960 he devoted himself full time to the transcription and editing of 17th and 18th century Italian music. His editions included the Sonates pour clavecin of Benedetto Marcello
Benedetto Marcello
Benedetto Marcello was a Venetian composer, writer, advocate, magistrate, and teacher.-Life:...
, and Neuf toccates pour clavier by Alessandro Scarlatti
Alessandro Scarlatti
Alessandro Scarlatti was an Italian Baroque composer especially famous for his operas and chamber cantatas. He is considered the founder of the Neapolitan school of opera. He was the father of two other composers, Domenico Scarlatti and Pietro Filippo Scarlatti.-Life:Scarlatti was born in...
.
He made a number of recordings, of which seven were awarded the Grand Prix du Disque
Grand Prix du Disque
The Grand Prix du Disque is the premier French award for musical recordings. The award was inaugurated by l'Académie Charles Cros in 1948 and offers prizes in various categories. The categories vary from year to year, and multiple awards are often made in any one category in the same year...
. These included the complete concertos of Antonio Vivaldi
Antonio Vivaldi
Antonio Lucio Vivaldi , nicknamed because of his red hair, was an Italian Baroque composer, priest, and virtuoso violinist, born in Venice. Vivaldi is recognized as one of the greatest Baroque composers, and his influence during his lifetime was widespread over Europe...
and Johann Sebastian Bach
Johann Sebastian Bach
Johann Sebastian Bach was a German composer, organist, harpsichordist, violist, and violinist whose sacred and secular works for choir, orchestra, and solo instruments drew together the strands of the Baroque period and brought it to its ultimate maturity...
for solo harpsichord, and many of the sonatas of Domenico Scarlatti
Domenico Scarlatti
Giuseppe Domenico Scarlatti was an Italian composer who spent much of his life in the service of the Portuguese and Spanish royal families. He is classified as a Baroque composer chronologically, although his music was influential in the development of the Classical style...
.
In 1980 he was named Commendatore of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic
Order of Merit of the Italian Republic
The Order of Merit of the Italian Republic was founded as the senior order of knighthood by the second President of the Italian Republic, Luigi Einaudi in 1951...
and in 1985 was named Officier of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres
Ordre des Arts et des Lettres
The Ordre des Arts et des Lettres is an Order of France, established on 2 May 1957 by the Minister of Culture, and confirmed as part of the Ordre national du Mérite by President Charles de Gaulle in 1963...
by French Cultural Minister Jack Lang
Jack Lang (French politician)
Jack Mathieu Émile Lang is a French politician. A member of the Socialist Party, he served as France's Minister of Culture from 1981 to 1986 and 1988 to 1992, and as Minister of Education from 1992 to 1993 and 2000 to 2002. He was also the Mayor of Blois from 1989 to 2000...
.
Luciano Sgrizzi had a special interest in trains and train timetables. He died in Monte Carlo
Monte Carlo
Monte Carlo is an administrative area of the Principality of Monaco....
, Monaco
Monaco
Monaco , officially the Principality of Monaco , is a sovereign city state on the French Riviera. It is bordered on three sides by its neighbour, France, and its centre is about from Italy. Its area is with a population of 35,986 as of 2011 and is the most densely populated country in the...
, where he had lived for the last few years of his life.
Compositions
- Dancing Song: Valzer (1933)
- Concerto for piano and orchestra (1935)
- String trio (1935)
- Concerto per orchestra (1936)
- Impressioni (1936)
- Introduction and Scherzo, flute and piano (1937)
- Paesaggi (1951)
- Suite Napoletana (1951)
- Englische Suite nach Werken der Virginaliste (English Suite; 1952, orchestra)
- Suite Belge (1952; orchestra; d'après des œuvres de clavecinistes belges du 18ème siècle)
- ViottianaGiovanni Battista ViottiGiovanni Battista Viotti was an Italian violinist whose virtuosity was famed and whose work as a composer featured a prominent violin and an appealing lyrical tunefulness...
, divertimento (1954) - Sinfonietta Rococo (1956)
- Elegy and Scherzo, flute, bassoon and piano (1957)
- Suite-Serenata (1958)
- Ostinati, piano (1958).
Recordings
- Eighteenth-century Italian harpsichord music (1966)
- Gioachino Rossini: Péchés de vieillessePéchés de vieillesseIn Gioachino Rossini's Péchés de vieillesse , the opera composer gathered together 150 vocal and solo piano pieces into fourteen unpublished albums, under his self-deprecating and ironic title. The grouping of pieces in albums do not reflect the sequence or the dates of their composition, which...
(1967; 9 selections, played on piano) - Rossini: Petite Messe SolennellePetite Messe SolennelleGioachino Rossini's Petite Messe Solennelle was written in 1863, "the last", the composer called it, "of my péchés de vieillesse" .....
(1969; with Hanneke van Bork, Margaret Lensky, Serge Maurer, James Loomis, Chorus of the Società Cameristica di Lugano; Luciano Sgrizzi, Georges Bernand, pianos; Bruno CaninoBruno CaninoBruno Canino is an Italian classical pianist and composer.-Early life:Bruno Canino was born in Naples, Italy in 1935, where he studied piano with Vincenzo Vitale. He continued his musical education in Milan, studying both piano and composition. His teachers included Enzo Calace and Bruno Bettinelli...
, harmonium; Edwin Loehrer, conductor) - Music for two harpsichords (1970; with Huguette DreyfusHuguette DreyfusHuguette Dreyfus is a French harpsichordist born on November 30, 1928 in Mulhouse, Alsace, France.-Biography:Huguette Dreyfus began taking piano lessons at four years old. In 1946, she began working with renowned piano teacher Lazare Lévy...
; works by Johann Christoph BachJohann Christoph BachJohann Christoph Bach was a German composer and organist of the Baroque period. He was born at Arnstadt, the son of Heinrich Bach, Johann Sebastian Bach's great uncle, hence he was Johann Sebastian's first cousin once removed. He was also the uncle of Maria Barbara Bach, J.S...
, Johann Sebastian BachJohann Sebastian BachJohann Sebastian Bach was a German composer, organist, harpsichordist, violist, and violinist whose sacred and secular works for choir, orchestra, and solo instruments drew together the strands of the Baroque period and brought it to its ultimate maturity...
, Wilhelm Friedemann BachWilhelm Friedemann BachWilhelm Friedemann Bach , the second child and eldest son of Johann Sebastian Bach and Maria Barbara Bach, was a German composer and performer...
, and Johann Ludwig KrebsJohann Ludwig KrebsJohann Ludwig Krebs was a Rococo musician and composer primarily for the pipe organ.-Life:Krebs was born in 1713 in Buttelstedt, Germany to Johann Tobias Krebs, a well-known organist. J. Tobias had at least three sons who were considered musically talented, and J...
) - Muzio ClementiMuzio ClementiMuzio Clementi was a celebrated composer, pianist, pedagogue, conductor, music publisher, editor, and piano manufacturer. Born in Italy, he spent most of his life in England. He is best known for his piano sonatas, and his collection of piano studies, Gradus ad Parnassum...
: 3 Sonatas and 10 Waltzes (1970) - Joseph HaydnJoseph HaydnFranz Joseph Haydn , known as Joseph Haydn , was an Austrian composer, one of the most prolific and prominent composers of the Classical period. He is often called the "Father of the Symphony" and "Father of the String Quartet" because of his important contributions to these forms...
: Sonatas for piano; Fantasia in C major (1970; 4 sonatas, played on hammerklavier) - The Iberian followers of Domenico Scarlatti (1970; harpsichord; works by Padre Antonio SolerAntonio SolerAntonio Francisco Javier José Soler Ramos, usually known as Padre Antonio Soler, known in Catalan as Antoni Soler i Ramos was a Spanish Catalan composer whose works span the late Baroque and early Classical music eras...
, Carlos SeixasCarlos SeixasJosé António Carlos de Seixas, , was a Portuguese composer, the son of the cathedral organist, Francisco Vaz and Marcelina Nunes.Seixas was born in Coimbra...
, and Manuel Biasco de Nebra) - Clementi: Clementi interprété au piano par Luciano Sgrizzi (1973)
- Carl Philipp Emanuel BachCarl Philipp Emanuel Bachright|250pxCarl Philipp Emanuel Bach was a German Classical period musician and composer, the fifth child and second son of Johann Sebastian Bach and Maria Barbara Bach...
: Concertos in F major and E flat major, for piano, harpsichord, and orchestra (1973; with Robert Veyron-LacroixRobert Veyron-LacroixRobert Veyron-Lacroix was a French harpsichordist and pianist whose post-war career was defined by his musical partnership with the celebrated French flautist Jean-Pierre Rampal....
, piano; Jean-François Paillard Chamber Orchestra, Jean-François PaillardJean-François PaillardJean-François Paillard is a French conductor.He was born in Vitry-le-François and received his musical training at the Paris Conservatory, where he won first prize in music history, and the Salzburg Mozarteum....
, conductor) - C. P. E. Bach: Six sonatas with varied repeats (1980)
- Francesco CavalliFrancesco CavalliFrancesco Cavalli was an Italian composer of the early Baroque period. His real name was Pietro Francesco Caletti-Bruni, but he is better known by that of Cavalli, the name of his patron Federico Cavalli, a Venetian nobleman.-Life:Cavalli was born at Crema, Lombardy...
: Ercole amanteErcole amanteErcole amante is an opera in a prologue and five acts by Francesco Cavalli. The Italian libretto was by Francesco Buti, based on Sophocles' The Trachiniae and on the ninth book of Ovid's Metamorphoses....
(1981; 3 discs; with Felicity PalmerFelicity PalmerDame Felicity Joan Palmer, DBE , is an English mezzo-soprano and music professor. She sang soprano roles until 1983....
, Patricia MillerPatricia MillerPatricia L. Miller is a Republican member of the Indiana Senate, representing the 32nd District since 1983. She is the Chairman of Senate Committee on Health and Provider Services. Miller was a member of the Indiana House of Representatives from 1982 to 1983...
, Yvonne MintonYvonne MintonYvonne Fay Minton CBE is an Australian opera singer. She is variously billed as a soprano, mezzo-soprano or contralto.Yvonne Minton was born in Sydney, New South Wales. She studied voice on a scholarship at the New South Wales Conservatorium of Music. She won the National Eisteddfod in Canberra,...
, Ulrik ColdUlrik ColdUlrik Cold was a Danish operatic bass. In 1963 he made his professional opera debut at the Royal Danish Theatre as Seneca in Claudio Monteverdi's L'incoronazione di Poppea...
, English Bach Festival Chorus, English Bach Festival Baroque Orchestra, Michel CorbozMichel CorbozMichel Corboz is a Swiss conductor.Corboz was born in Marsens, Switzerland and educated in his native canton of Fribourg. He founded the Ensemble Vocal de Lausanne, with which he has recorded and toured extensively...
, conductor) - Domenico ScarlattiDomenico ScarlattiGiuseppe Domenico Scarlatti was an Italian composer who spent much of his life in the service of the Portuguese and Spanish royal families. He is classified as a Baroque composer chronologically, although his music was influential in the development of the Classical style...
: Complete works for harpsichord (1982; 11 discs containing 185 sonatas)