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BUSONI, Ferruccio
b Empoli, near Florence, 1 April 1866;
d Berlin, 27 July 1924, aged fifty-eight

He was of Italian/Austrian parentage. His father was a clarinettist and his mother a pianist. He studied piano, attaining concert standard by his midteens. He stayed in Leipzig for some years, then travelled to teach in Helsinki, Moscow and the USA. After giving up teaching he worked as a virtuoso pianist, based in Berlin, until 1914. During the war he refused to perform in any of the warring countries, retiring to Switzerland to compose. After the war he returned to Berlin and to concert-giving, but his health failed and he died of a kidney disease.

1880-1 (14-15)

String Quartet No 1 in C major

1882 (16)

Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter, for male voice and orchestra

Il Sabato del villagio, for solo voices, chorus and orchestra

Serenata, for cello and piano

1883 (17)

Piano Sonata in F minor

1886 (20)

String Quartet in C minor

Little Suite for cello and piano

1888 (22)

Symphonic Suite

Konzert-Fantasie, for piano and orchestra; later (1892)

called

'Symphonisches Tongedicht'

1889 (23)

String Quartet No 2 in D minor

1890 (24)

Konzertstucke, for piano

Violin Sonata No 1

1895 (29)

Orchestral Suite No 2

1896-7 (30-1)

Violin Concerto in D major

1897 (31)

Comedy Overture

1898 (32)

Violin Sonata No 2

1903-4 (37-8)

Piano Concerto (using male choir)

1907 (41)

Elégien, for piano

1908-11 (42-5)

The Bridal Choice, for orchestra

1909 (43)

Berceuse élégiaque, for orchestra

1912 (46)

Nocturne Symphonique, for orchestra

1913 (47)

Indian Fantasy, for piano and orchestra

1914-16 (48-50)

Arlecchino, opera

19116-24 (50-8)

Doktor Faust, opera (completed by Jarnach after Busoni's death and produced in Dresden in 1925)

1917 (51)

Turandot, opera

Die Brautwahl, orchestral suite

1919 (53)

Concertino for clarinet and small orchestra

1920 (54)

Divertimento for flute and orchestra

Sonatina No 6 for piano (chamber fantasy on Bizet's Carmen)

1921 (55)

Romance and Scherzo for piano

Elegy for clarinet and piano

1923 (57)

Ten Variations on a Chopin prelude

Busoni also composed many piano solos and a Fantasia Contrappuntista for two pianos, based on Bach's Art of Fugue.

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