Piero Buscaroli (21 August 1930 – 15 February 2016) was an Italian

musicologist Musicology (from Greek μουσική ''mousikē'' 'music' and -λογια ''-logia'', 'domain of study') is the scholarly analysis and research-based study of music. Musicology departments traditionally belong to the humanities, although some mu ...

, journalist and essayist.

Life

Born in

Imola Imola (; rgn, Jômla or ) is a city and ''comune'' in the Metropolitan City of Bologna, located on the river Santerno, in the Emilia-Romagna region of northern Italy. The city is traditionally considered the western entrance to the historical re ...

, the son of a

Latinist Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

, Buscaroli studied organ, harmony and counterpoint at the

Conservatorio Giovanni Battista Martini 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 ...

, and later he graduated in Law with a thesis about the Italian legal history. From 1955 to 1977, Buscaroli collaborated with the magazine ''

Il Borghese ''Il Borghese'' is a monthly cultural and political magazine with a right-wing stance published in Rome, Italy. The magazine has been in circulation since 1950 and is named after the conservative Borghese family. History and profile ''Il Borg ...

'', writing articles of music criticism, international politics and modern history and often using the pseudonym "

Hans Sachs Hans Sachs (5 November 1494 – 19 January 1576) was a German ''Meistersinger'' ("mastersinger"), poet, playwright, and shoemaker. Biography Hans Sachs was born in Nuremberg (). As a child he attended a singing school that was held in the churc ...

". From 1972 to 1975 he was director of the newspaper ''Roma'', and in 1979 he began a long collaboration with the newspaper ''

Il Giornale ''il Giornale'' ( en, The Newspaper) is an Italian language daily newspaper published in Milan, Italy. History and profile The newspaper was founded in 1974 by the journalist Indro Montanelli, together with the colleagues Enzo Bettiza, Ferenc ...

'' directed by

Indro Montanelli Indro Alessandro Raffaello Schizogene Montanelli (; 22 April 1909 – 22 July 2001) was an Italian journalist, historian and writer. He was one of the fifty World Press Freedom Heroes according to the International Press Institute. A voluntee ...

, where he used the pseudonym Piero Santerno for his not-music-related articles. Buscaroli wrote several books on the history of music, notably ''Bach'' (1985), which got over twenty editions, ''Beethoven'' (2004), a 1350 pages book which was the result of five years of continuous study, and ''La morte di Mozart'' ("The death of Mozart", 1996), in which he suggested that

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 ...

Requiem A Requiem or Requiem Mass, also known as Mass for the dead ( la, Missa pro defunctis) or Mass of the dead ( la, Missa defunctorum), is a Mass of the Catholic Church offered for the repose of the soul or souls of one or more deceased persons, ...

was not left unfinished because of the death of its author, but because of a deliberate choice of Mozart himself, due to reluctance on his part to fulfill the contractual clause, imposed on him by the client, which prevented him to claim authorship of his work.

References

Sources

* 1930 births 2016 deaths Conservatorio Giovanni Battista Martini alumni People from Imola University of Bologna alumni Italian musicologists 20th-century Italian non-fiction writers 20th-century Italian male writers Italian non-fiction writers Italian male non-fiction writers {{Italy-writer-stub