Luigi Hugues (27 October 1836 – 5 March 1913) was an Italian academic

geographer A geographer is a physical scientist, social scientist or humanist whose area of study is geography, the study of Earth's natural environment and human society, including how society and nature interacts. The Greek prefix "geo" means "earth" a ...

and accomplished amateur

musician A musician is a person who composes, conducts, or performs music. According to the United States Employment Service, "musician" is a general term used to designate one who follows music as a profession. Musicians include songwriters who wri ...

. He is best known today as a composer and arranger of virtuoso works for the

flute The flute is a family of classical music instrument in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, meaning they make sound by vibrating a column of air. However, unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is a reedless ...

, and for his contributions to the teaching and history of geography. Hughes was born in

Casale Monferrato Casale Monferrato () is a town in the Piedmont region of Italy, in the province of Alessandria. It is situated about east of Turin on the right bank of the Po, where the river runs at the foot of the Montferrat hills. Beyond the river lies the v ...

, today in the

Province of Alessandria The Province of Alessandria ( it, Provincia di Alessandria; pms, Provincia ëd Lissandria; in Piedmontese of Alessandria: ''Provinsa ëd Lissändria'') is an Italian province, with a population of some 425,000, which forms the southeastern part o ...

Piedmont it, Piemontese , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demographics1_title2 ...

. He trained originally as an

engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who invent, design, analyze, build and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while considering the l ...

, and taught in various technical institutes before becoming a professor of geography within the Faculty of Letters at the

University of Turin The University of Turin (Italian: ''Università degli Studi di Torino'', UNITO) is a public research university in the city of Turin, in the Piedmont region of Italy. It is one of the oldest universities in Europe and continues to play an impo ...

in 1897. Luigi Hugues died in Casale Monferrato at the age of 76. ''Viale Luigi Hugues'', a street in

Turin Turin ( , Piedmontese language, Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in Northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital ...

, is named in his honour. Although Hugues’ musical works are recognized for their instrumental virtuosity, they are not always taken entirely seriously. Flautist and teacher

Fenwick Smith Fenwick Smith (1949 – July 19, 2017) was an American flutist. He studied under Joseph Mariano at the Eastman School of Music, graduating from there in 1972. Shortly thereafter he became a member of the New England Woodwind Quintet and began a ...

refers to their “brilliance and vacuity” and writes of the ''Grand Concert Fantasy on Verdi’s Ballo in Maschera'':

“With a flutist’s knowledge of the instrument, which permits him to conjure more notes per square inch than Verdi ever dreamed of, and with the Italians’ sure sense of drama, Hugues has concocted a paragon among potboilers.”

Notes

References

* * '' "Contributo alla prima biografia di Pietro Eugenio Luigi Hugues '' (Casale Monferrato, 27 ottobre 1836-ivi, 5 marzo 1913)." ed. Comune di Casale Monferrato - A cura di Claudio Paradiso. Casale Monferrato (Alessandria), 2001; pp. 366, 12 ill., cm 16x23

External links

* * /* Claudio Paradiso*/ 1836 births 1913 deaths People from Casale Monferrato Musicians from Turin Italian composers Italian male composers Italian flautists Italian geographers 19th-century Italian musicians 19th-century Italian male musicians Academic staff of the University of Turin {{flautist-stub