Aldo Ciccolini (; 15 August 1925 – 1 February 2015) was an Italian

pianist A pianist ( , ) is an individual musician who plays the piano. Since most forms of Western music can make use of the piano, pianists have a wide repertoire and a wide variety of styles to choose from, among them traditional classical music, ja ...

who became a naturalized French citizen in 1971.

Biography

Aldo Ciccolini was born in

Naples Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...

. His father, who bore the title of Marquis of Macerata, worked as a typographer. Aldo Ciccolini took his first lessons with Maria Vigliarolo d'Ovidio, and entered Naples Conservatory in 1934 at the age of 9, with special permission of the director,

Francesco Cilea Francesco Cilea (; 23 July 1866 – 20 November 1950) was an Italian composer. Today he is particularly known for his operas ''L'arlesiana'' and ''Adriana Lecouvreur''. Biography Born in Palmi near Reggio di Calabria, Cilea gave early indicatio ...

. There he studied piano with Paolo Denza, a pupil of

Ferruccio Busoni Ferruccio Busoni (1 April 1866 – 27 July 1924) was an Italian composer, pianist, conductor, editor, writer, and teacher. His international career and reputation led him to work closely with many of the leading musicians, artists and literary ...

, and harmony and counterpoint with

Achille Longo Achille Longo (March 28, 1900 – May 28, 1954) was an Italian composer and music teacher. Biography Achille (junior), son of Alessandro and Luisa Todisco, was born in Naples on 28 March 1900. He was a pupil first of his father, and then of A. ...

. He began his performing career playing at the

Teatro San Carlo The Real Teatro di San Carlo ("Royal Theatre of Saint Charles"), as originally named by the Bourbon monarchy but today known simply as the Teatro (di) San Carlo, is an opera house in Naples, Italy, connected to the Royal Palace and adjacent t ...

at the age of 16. However, by 1946 he was forced to play in bars to support his family. In 1949, he won, ''ex-aequo'' (tied) with

Ventsislav Yankov Ventsislav Yankov ( bg, Венцислав Янков) (24 March 1926 – 8 January 2022) was a Bulgarian pianist and pedagogue. He was born in Sofia on 24 March 1926. Trained in Berlin, he settled in France in 1946; three years later he won ex-a ...

, the Marguerite Long - Jacques Thibaud Competition in Paris (among the other prizewinners were

Paul Badura-Skoda Paul Badura-Skoda (6 October 1927 – 25 September 2019) was an Austrian pianist. Career A student of Edwin Fischer, Badura-Skoda first rose to prominence by winning first prize in the Austrian Music Competition in 1947. In 1949, he perform ...

and

Pierre Barbizet Pierre Barbizet (20 September 1922 – 19 January 1990) was a 20th-century French pianist. Barbizet was born in Arica, Chile, and died in Marseille. 1922 births 1990 deaths 20th-century French male classical pianists Chevaliers of the L� ...

). He became a French citizen in 1971 and taught at the

Conservatoire de Paris The Conservatoire de Paris (), also known as the Paris Conservatory, is a college of music and dance founded in 1795. Officially known as the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris (CNSMDP), it is situated in the avenue ...

from 1970–88, where his students included

Akiko Ebi is a Japanese-French pianist. Ebi was born in Osaka. She studied at the Tokyo University of the Arts, and won the piano prize of the 41st Music Competition of Japan. Her international career began with her winning second prize in the 1975 Marg ...

Jean-Yves Thibaudet Jean-Yves Thibaudet (born 7 September 1961)Michael & Joyce Kennedy, 2007. is a French pianist. Early life and studies Jean-Yves Thibaudet was born in Lyon, France, to non-professional musical parents. His father played the violin, and his mother, ...

Artur Pizarro Artur Pizarro (born Lisbon, 1968) is an internationally-acclaimed Portuguese concert pianist.Kennedy, Michael and Joyce Bourne. "Pizarro, Artur" ''The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Music''. Oxford University Press: 1996. Designated with the presti ...

Géry Moutier Géry Moutier (born 1957) is a French classical pianist, music educator, and director. Life Born in Normandy in 1957, Moutier explored the piano at the age of four, with a mother who loved literature and a father - a graduate of the Van Der Kel ...

, Nicholas Angelich, André Sayasov and Jean-Luc Kandyoti. Other students included

Fabio Mengozzi Fabio Mengozzi (born May 12, 1980, in Asti) is an Italian composer and pianist. Biography Fabio Mengozzi studied piano with Aldo Ciccolini, orchestral conducting and composition, masterclasses with Azio Corghi at the Accademia Nazionale di Sa ...

Francesco Libetta Francesco Libetta (born 16 October 1968) is an Italian pianist, composer and conductor. Biography Born in Galatone, Southern Italy, Francesco Libetta studied music in Italy (piano with Vittoria De Donno; contrapoint with Cosimo Colazzo and ...

Antonio Pompa-Baldi Antonio Pompa-Baldi (born December 1, 1974) is an Italian-American pianist. Described by Donald Rosenberg of ''The Plain Dealer'' as "a musician of myriad superlative qualities" and by Allan Kozinn of ''The New York Times'' as a "a poised, assured ...

Domenico Piccichè Domenico Picciché () (born 18 July 1970), is an Italian pianist, composer and jurist. Biography Originary from Alcamo, in the Province of Trapani, he started the study of piano when aged only six and got his secondary school diploma, with ho ...

Ivan Donchev Ivan Donchev (born August 11, 1981, Burgas) is a Bulgarian pianist. Biography He began his musical studies at the age of five at “Pancho Vladigerov” National Music School in the class of Julia Nenova. From 2007 to 2013 he studied with Aldo ...

and

Jean-Marc Savelli Jean-Marc Savelli (born 18 October 1955) is a French pianist known for his interpretations of works by Franz Liszt, Frederic Chopin, Ludwig van Beethoven, the classical repertoire of Johann Sebastian Bach, and the impressionist repertoire of ...

. Ciccolini was a celebrated interpreter and advocate of the piano music of the French composers

Camille Saint-Saëns Charles-Camille Saint-Saëns (; 9 October 183516 December 1921) was a French composer, organist, conductor and pianist of the Romantic music, Romantic era. His best-known works include Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso (1863), the Piano C ...

Maurice Ravel Joseph Maurice Ravel (7 March 1875 – 28 December 1937) was a French composer, pianist and conductor. He is often associated with Impressionism along with his elder contemporary Claude Debussy, although both composers rejected the term. In ...

Claude Debussy (Achille) Claude Debussy (; 22 August 1862 – 25 March 1918) was a French composer. He is sometimes seen as the first Impressionist composer, although he vigorously rejected the term. He was among the most influential composers of the ...

Charles-Valentin Alkan Charles-Valentin Alkan (; 30 November 1813 – 29 March 1888) was a French Jewish composer and virtuoso pianist. At the height of his fame in the 1830s and 1840s he was, alongside his friends and colleagues Frédéric Chopin and Franz Lisz ...

and

Erik Satie Eric Alfred Leslie Satie (, ; ; 17 May 18661 July 1925), who signed his name Erik Satie after 1884, was a French composer and pianist. He was the son of a French father and a British mother. He studied at the Paris Conservatoire, but was an und ...

as well as that of less prominent composers such as

Déodat de Séverac Marie-Joseph Alexandre Déodat de Séverac (; 20 July 1872 – 24 March 1921) was a French composer. Life Séverac was born in Saint-Félix-de-Caraman, Haute-Garonne. He descended from a noble family, profoundly influenced by the musical trad ...

Jules Massenet Jules Émile Frédéric Massenet (; 12 May 1842 – 13 August 1912) was a French composer of the Romantic era best known for his operas, of which he wrote more than thirty. The two most frequently staged are '' Manon'' (1884) and ''Werther' ...

and

Alexis de Castillon Marie-Alexis de Castillon de Saint-Victor (13 December 1838 – 5 March 1873) was a French composer. Life and career Born in Chartres into an old aristocratic family from Languedoc, his parents initially intended him to pursue a military caree ...

. Ciccolini was known for his having played the music of the Spanish composers

Isaac Albéniz Isaac Manuel Francisco Albéniz y Pascual (; 29 May 1860 – 18 May 1909) was a Spanish virtuoso pianist, composer, and conductor. He is one of the foremost composers of the Post-Romantic era who also had a significant influence on his conte ...

Enrique Granados Pantaleón Enrique Joaquín Granados y Campiña (27 July 1867 – 24 March 1916), commonly known as Enric Granados in Catalan or Enrique Granados in Spanish, was a composer of classical music, and concert pianist from Catalonia, Spain. ...

, and

Manuel de Falla Manuel de Falla y Matheu (, 23 November 187614 November 1946) was an Andalusian Spanish composer and pianist. Along with Isaac Albéniz, Francisco Tárrega, and Enrique Granados, he was one of Spain's most important musicians of the first hal ...

, as well as of

Franz Liszt Franz Liszt, in modern usage ''Liszt Ferenc'' . Liszt's Hungarian passport spelled his given name as "Ferencz". An orthographic reform of the Hungarian language in 1922 (which was 36 years after Liszt's death) changed the letter "cz" to simpl ...

. Soprano Dame

Elisabeth Schwarzkopf Dame Olga Maria Elisabeth Friederike Schwarzkopf, (9 December 19153 August 2006) was a German-born Austro-British soprano. She was among the foremost singers of lieder, and is renowned for her performances of Viennese operetta, as well as the op ...

said of him "I have hardly met a more wonderful partner and a more delightful companion." On 9 December 1999, he celebrated a career in France spanning 50 years with a recital at the Théâtre des

Champs-Élysées The Avenue des Champs-Élysées (, ; ) is an avenue in the 8th arrondissement of Paris, France, long and wide, running between the Place de la Concorde in the east and the Place Charles de Gaulle in the west, where the Arc de Triomphe is lo ...

in Paris. In 2008, he was appointed commander of the French National Order of Merit.

Death

Aldo Ciccolini died on 1 February 2015 at his

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

residence, aged 89.

Recordings

Ciccolini made more than a hundred recordings for EMI-Pathé Marconi and other record companies, including the complete sonata cycles of

Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 17565 December 1791), baptised as Joannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart, was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period (music), Classical period. Despite his short life, his ra ...

and

Beethoven Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. Beethoven remains one of the most admired composers in the history of Western music; his works rank amongst the most performed of the classical ...

, the complete solo piano work of

Debussy (Achille) Claude Debussy (; 22 August 1862 – 25 March 1918) was a French composer. He is sometimes seen as the first Impressionist composer, although he vigorously rejected the term. He was among the most influential composers of the ...

and two separate cycles of the complete piano works of

Satie Eric Alfred Leslie Satie (, ; ; 17 May 18661 July 1925), who signed his name Erik Satie after 1884, was a French composer and pianist. He was the son of a French father and a British mother. He studied at the Paris Conservatoire, but was an und ...

. In 2002, Ciccolini was awarded the ''

Diapason d'Or The Diapason d'Or (French for "Golden Tuning Fork") is a recommendation of outstanding (mostly) classical music recordings given by reviewers of '' Diapason'' magazine in France, broadly equivalent to "Editor's Choice", "Disc of the Month" in the ...

'' for his recording of the entire solo piano works of Janáček for Abeille Music and of

Schumann Robert Schumann (; 8 June 181029 July 1856) was a German composer, pianist, and influential music critic. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest composers of the Romantic era. Schumann left the study of law, intending to pursue a career a ...

for Cascavelles. His complete

sonata cycle was re-published by the Cascavelle label in 2006. He also recorded such unusual repertoire as selections from the '' Péchés de vieillesse'' by

Rossini Gioachino Antonio Rossini (29 February 1792 – 13 November 1868) was an Italian composer who gained fame for his 39 operas, although he also wrote many songs, some chamber music and piano pieces, and some sacred music. He set new standards f ...

and the complete piano music of

Massenet Jules Émile Frédéric Massenet (; 12 May 1842 – 13 August 1912) was a French composer of the Romantic era best known for his operas, of which he wrote more than thirty. The two most frequently staged are ''Manon'' (1884) and ''Werther'' ...

References

Sources

* Article on Aldo Ciccolini in French Wikipedia *Bellamy, Olivier. ''Courage and silence''. Essay included in ''Aldo Ciccolini: Enregistrements EMI 1950–1991'' EMI 2009

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ciccolini, Aldo 20th-century French male classical pianists Italian classical pianists Italian emigrants to France 1925 births 2015 deaths Long-Thibaud-Crespin Competition prize-winners EMI Classics and Virgin Classics artists Musicians from Naples Conservatoire de Paris faculty 20th-century Italian musicians Officiers of the Légion d'honneur Commandeurs of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres Commanders of the Ordre national du Mérite 21st-century French male classical pianists Erato Records artists