Giovanni Sgambati

Giovanni Sgambati

Giovanni Sgambati (born May 28, 1841 in Rome , † December 14, 1914 there ) was an Italian pianist , conductor and composer .

Life

Sgambati came from a middle-class background, his father was a lawyer in Rome, his mother the daughter of the English sculptor Joseph Gott (1786–1860). He received his first piano lessons at an early age and performed publicly at the age of six. After his father's death in 1849, he continued his education in Trevi . In 1860 he returned to his hometown and performed publicly as a pianist. When Liszt came to Rome shortly afterwards , Sgambati came under his influence and became his pupil. He now began to make symphonic music, especially the works of Beethoven , but also those of Liszt, known in Rome. In 1869 he followed his teacher to Germany. Here he met Anton Rubinstein and also got to know and appreciate Wagner's music . Shortly afterwards he also performed his works - albeit only excerpts - in his homeland. Via Wagner, Sgambati also came to the Mainz publishing house Schott . He met the composer himself in Rome in 1876 and was encouraged by him to try his hand at larger symphonic works. However , he did not follow the advice to write operas .

In the 1880s he traveled extensively, which took him to England, France and Germany in concerts. At the same time, he remained true to his principle of repeatedly performing little-known instrumental works in his hometown, for example by Bach , Mozart or Haydn .

In 1891 he turned down the offer to be Rubinstein's successor at the St. Petersburg Conservatory because he felt too close to his hometown. In 1893 he was appointed artistic director of the Società Filarmonica Romana, which named the concert hall of its new headquarters after him after his death. In 1903 he resigned from all public offices and was only active as a teacher.

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Sgambati was a staunch advocate of Italian instrumental music and has refused to write an opera all his life. This also explains his endeavor to make the development of non-Italian music, especially symphonic, known in his homeland. In his work he was completely under the influence of the music of Beethoven, Wagner and Liszt, the further development around the turn of the century and afterwards did not affect him.

He created two symphonies, a number of chamber music and piano works, songs and some church music compositions, including a requiem.

Discography

Messa da Requiem: J. Wilsing (baritone); Philharmonic Choir Heilbronn, members of the Stuttgart State Orchestra; U. Walddörfer (Carus 83.121)

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• Alfredo Casella : Giovanni Sgambati . In: Music and letters, Oct. 1925, pp. 304-312, Oxford University Press, 1925
• Sergio Martinotti, Music in Past and Present, Vol. 12, p. 612, Bärenreiter 1986

Documents

Letters from Giovanni Sgambati are in the holdings of the Leipzig music publisher CF Peters in the Leipzig State Archives .

Web links

• Sheet music and audio files by Sgambati in the International Music Score Library Project