Giorgio Federico Ghedini (1948) - Archivio Storico Ricordi FOTO001865

Giorgio Federico Ghedini (11 July 189225 March 1965) was an Italian

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and Defi ...

. In addition to orchestral works, in 1949 he premiered a one-act opera based on the American novella ''

Billy Budd ''Billy Budd, Sailor (An Inside Narrative)'' is a novella by American writer Herman Melville, left unfinished at his death in 1891. Acclaimed by critics as a masterpiece when a hastily transcribed version was finally published in 1924, it quick ...

'' by Herman Melville.

Life

Ghedini was born in Cuneo in 1892. He studied organ, piano and composition in Turin, then graduated in composition from the

Bologna Conservatory The Conservatorio Giovanni Battista Martini (previously known as the Liceo Musicale di Bologna, and sometimes referred to in English as the Bologna Conservatory) is a college of music in Bologna, Italy. The conservatory opened on 3 December 1804 ...

under Marco Enrico Bossi in 1911. He worked as conductor for a certain time, then he gave up to devote himself to teaching. He worked as a teacher of composition in Turin (1918–1937), Parma (1937–1941), and finally Milan, where he directed the local Conservatory (1951–1962). Among his pupils, the most eminent were Marcello and Claudio Abbado, Luciano Berio, Guido Cantelli, Niccolò Castiglioni, Carlo Pinelli, and

Fiorenzo Carpi Fiorenzo Carpi (19 October 1918 – 21 May 1997) was an Italian composer and pianist, probably best known for the "Pinocchio" theme. Biography Born in Milan as Fiorenzo Carpi De Resmini, in 1945 he graduated at the Milan Conservatory, pupil of ...

. Guido Cantelli conducted the

NBC Symphony Orchestra The NBC Symphony Orchestra was a radio orchestra conceived by David Sarnoff, the president of the Radio Corporation of America, especially for the conductor Arturo Toscanini. The NBC Symphony performed weekly radio concert broadcasts with Tosca ...

in a 2 February 1952 broadcast concert of Ghedini's ''Pezzo concertante for two violins, viola, and orchestra''. He died in Nervi, near Genoa, in 1965.

Style

The composer was a deep lover of ancient music; he transcribed many works by such composers as Girolamo Frescobaldi,

Claudio Monteverdi Claudio Giovanni Antonio Monteverdi (baptized 15 May 1567 – 29 November 1643) was an Italian composer, choirmaster and string player. A composer of both secular and sacred music, and a pioneer in the development of opera, he is considered ...

, and Andrea and Giovanni Gabrieli. Ghedini's works are often inspired by music from the Renaissance and Baroque eras, but combined with a very personal language which combines ancient and modern styles. Among his masterworks are a ''Concerto for orchestra'' (in memory of Guido Cantelli), two violin concertos ''Il Belprato'' and ''Concentus Basiliensis'', and a concerto for two cellos ''L'Olmeneta (The Elm Grove)'' and ''Musica Notturna'' (''Night Music''). Ghedini's most celebrated concert piece is ''Concerto dell'Albatro'' (''Albatross Concerto'') for violin, cello, piano, narrator and orchestra, which includes fragments from Herman Melville's novel '' Moby-Dick'' in its final movement. He wrote a large number of chamber, vocal and choral works. He also wrote a one-act opera based on Melville's novella ''

'', which was first performed in 1949.

Works

Orchestral * ''Partita'' (1926) * ''Pezzo Concertante'', for two violins, viola and orchestra (1931) * ''Marinaresca e bacchanale'' for orchestra (1933) * ''Concerto for Orchestra "Architetture"'' (1939–40) * ''Invenzione'', concerto for cello, timpani, cymbals and orchestra (1940) * ''Concertato'', for flute, viola and harp (1941) * ''Concerto dell'albatro'', for violin, cello, piano, narrator and orchestra (1943) * ''Il belprato'', violin concerto'' ''(1947) * ''L'olmeneta'' ''(The Elm Grove)'', concerto for two cellos and orchestra (1951) * Concerto for viola, viola d'amore, and string orchestra (1953) * ''Musica da Concerto'', for Viola and String Orchestra (1953) * ''Studio da concerto'', for guitar (1959) * ''Contrappunti'', for violin, viola, cello and orchestra (1962) * ''Musica concertante'', for cello and orchestra (1962) Piano * ''Mazurka'' (1908) * ''29 Canoni'' (1910) * ''Tema con variazioni sulla parola "Fede"'' (1911) * ''La ballerina del circo equestre che salta sulla corda'' (1912) * ''Minuetto del galletto nano'' (1912) * ''Gavotta ''(1912) * Sonatina in D major (1913) * ''Nove pezzi ''(1914) * ''Minuettocaricatura'' (1916) * ''Puerilia. 4 little pieces on 5 notes'' (1922) * Sonata in A flat major (1922) * ''Fantasia'' (1927) * ''Divertimento contrappuntistico'' (1940) * ''Capriccio'' (1943) * ''Ricercare super “Sicut cervus desiderat ad fontes aquarum”'' (1944, rev. 1956) Operas * ''Gringoire'' (1915) * ''Maria d'Alessandria'' (1937) * ''Re Hassan'' (1939) * ''La pulce d'oro'' (1940) * ''Le baccanti'' (1948) * ''Billy Budd'' (1949), one act * ''Lord Inferno'' (1952) * ''Girotondo'' (1959) * ''La via della croce'' (1961) Film scores * '' Don Bosco'' (1935) * '' Pietro Micca'' (1938) * '' The Widow'' (1939)

Bibliography

* *

References

External links

Biographical sketch at Operone.De
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ghedini, Giorgio Federico 1892 births 1965 deaths Conservatorio Giovanni Battista Martini alumni Italian classical composers Italian male classical composers People from Cuneo Italian opera composers Male opera composers Academic staff of Milan Conservatory Italian male conductors (music) Pupils of Marco Enrico Bossi 20th-century Italian conductors (music) 20th-century classical composers 20th-century Italian composers 20th-century Italian male musicians