Luciano Sgrizzi

Luciano Sgrizzi (30 October 1910 – 11 September 1994) was an Italian harpsichordist, organist, pianist and composer.

Life and career

Luciano Sgrizzi was born in Bologna, from whose Philharmonic Academy he graduated as a pianist in 1923. He toured South America for three years, then returned to Italy to continue his organ and composition studies. He gained a second piano diploma in 1931 from the Conservatory of Parma. Not wanting to be associated with the Fascist regime, he left Italy and studied musicology and composition with Albert Bertelin in Paris.

He settled in Switzerland, where he remained throughout the Second World War, working as pianist and organist for Swiss-Italian Radio in Lugano (with which he worked until 1974), and also as a literary critic, writing plays and arranging literary works for the radio.

In 1946 he became interested in the harpsichord, and devoted himself thereafter to the study of early music. He performed with the Società Cameristica di Lugano from 1950 to 1960. Salzburg, Ascona, Stresa, Spoleto, Rome, Milan, Paris, Liege, Flanders and Geneva were some of the festivals where he appeared as harpsichordist or pianist.

He had been publishing his own compositions since 1933, but in 1960 devoted himself full time to the transcription and editing of 17th and 18th century Italian music. His editions included the Sonates pour clavecin of Benedetto Marcello,[1] and Neuf toccates pour clavier by Alessandro Scarlatti.[2]

He made a number of recordings, of which seven were awarded the Grand Prix du Disque. These included the complete concertos of Antonio Vivaldi and Johann Sebastian Bach for solo harpsichord, and many of the sonatas of Domenico Scarlatti.

In 1980 he was named Commendatore of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic and in 1985 was named Officier of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by French Cultural Minister Jack Lang.

He was particularly interested in trains and train timetables.[3] He died in Monte Carlo, Monaco, where he had lived for the last few years of his life.

Compositions

Recordings

Sources

Notes

  1. ↑ University of Virginia Library
  2. ↑ University of Virginia Library
  3. ↑ Sgrizzi site
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Universal Edition
  5. ↑ (Features works by Piero Scarlatti, Domenico Scarlatti, Zipoli, Cimarosa, Paradies, and others.) University of Virginia Library
  6. ↑ University of Virginia Library
  7. ↑ University of Virginia Library
  8. ↑ University of Virginia Library
  9. ↑ University of Virginia Library
  10. ↑ University of Virginia Library
  11. ↑ University of Virginia Library
  12. ↑ University of Virginia Library
  13. ↑ University of Virginia Library
  14. ↑ University of Virginia Library
  15. ↑ University of Virginia Library
  16. ↑ University of Virginia Library