(Empoli, April 1, 1866 - Berlin, 27 July 1924)
Son of musicians, he learned to play the piano at the most tender age, and at seven years old, he already performed in public. Established in Graz with the family, composition studies began. Then he held Tourées of concerts, and in 1886, he settled in Leipzig, where he was appointed piano teacher at the Helsinki Conservatory two years later. In 1890, he taught at the Moscow Conservatory, then moved to the United States, where from 1891 to '94, he taught in Boston while his fame as a concertist increased worldwide. In 1894, he settled in Berlin (Germany became his second home), where young musicians were eager to learn the piano technique from one of the significant living concertists and get in touch with one of the world's most fascinating and open artists. In 1913, he was appointed director of the Bologna Music High School, but disgusted by the environment, he went to Zurich, where he remained until 1920, when he returned definitively to Berlin. The vigorous activity continues not only of a pianist but also of conductor, and in 1924, he was broken, in an age not yet forwarded, by a kidney disease. He was a composition teacher at the Music Academy; at his death, his place passed to Arnold Schonberg.
With a multiform personality, exceptional virtuoso, vivid mind, and openness to the new, first-floor pedagogue, Busoni dedicated most of his care and energy to the composition. In numerous theoretical writings - among which we only remember the essay on a new musical aesthetic, which appeared in 1907 - debated the problem of the music of our time, formulating bold and new ideas that he tried to apply in his production, placing himself in the sense of the Out of predominant currents in the music of the beginning of the century, to pursue its own ideal of "unity" between music and text, in its aspiration to create a "new classicism" shuns from specific trends of contemporary music, and also all its production It is affected by the complex developments and problems that tormented the music of the time; Inspired by the example of the classics (Bach was for him very high master of style and compositional rigor) reached a significant expressive and constructive balance.
Busoni was the author of theatrical works still performed today, such as Turandot and Dr. Faust (the latter remained unfinished and ended by Jarnach), various choral and vocal music with orchestra, and many pieces for piano and two pianos. He also reviewed all the piano compositions of Bach, of which he masterfully transcribed numerous original songs by organ and violin by piano.
Composed twelve years before the homonymous "musical fairy tale" in two acts also on the text of Gozzi, this suite has long set itself in the concert repertoire as one of the happiest scores of the musician, even if only rarely is performed in full but come chosen some of the most significant songs.
An easy, exotic appeal to Chinese music is not found in this music: it is a dense, busy score where external influences merge into an entirely personal conception. It is a music that, undoubtedly, shows every year today. Still, it remains attractive because of his courageous conception and the refusal of old modules in favor of new research in melody, instrumentation, and harmony.
The pieces that form the suite are titled in the order:
l) "the capital execution, the city door, the farewell";
2) "Truffaldino";
3) "Altoum";
4) "Turandot";
5) "The Dame Apartment";
6) "Dance and singing";
7) "Night waltz";
8) "In a funeral and final marching of the Turkish."
