Today we celebrate the anniversary of the death of Italian pianist and composer Ferruccio Busoni, who died on July 27th, 1924. Busoni is frequently considered an enigma, a composer whose work largely consists of transcriptions conceived in what is perceived today as an ‘old-fashioned’ style. But the historical importance of the pianist and composer is certainly revealing itself more with the passage of time. During his lifetime, he was predominantly known as a virtuoso pianist and arranger of music written by Johann Sebastian Bach and Franz Liszt. But, to some, Busoni stands alongside such composers as Schoenberg and Stravinsky as one of the twentieth century’s most formative musical figures.
Generally overshadowed by the developments of the avant-garde establishment after the First World War, Busoni’s huge contribution to music can be seen through his original works, arrangements, transcriptions, scholarly editions, and scholarly writing about numerous musical topics. He was a sought-after piano and composition teacher, and his influence on students, by all accounts, was profound and far-reaching. Amongst many celebrated pupils was the musical theatre composer Kurt Weill who thought his teacher the ‘spiritual European of the future’, and he commented further on the first anniversary of Busoni’s death; “I will never forget the feeling of relief which we experienced when, in 1920, after an absence of six years, Busoni returned to Berlin. . . . He came like a fresh gust of air. He was able to transcend the distortions in which we had sought escape.”
Ferruccio Dante Michelangiolo Benvenuto Busoni (1866–1924) was a child prodigy. Born in Tuscany to two professional musicians, he was initially taught by his Italian father, a clarinettist, and his mother, a pianist of German heritage. He began performing aged seven and went on to study at the Vienna Conservatory and then privately with Wilhelm Mayer and Carl Reinecke. The pianist/composer commenced his professional musical life as a piano teacher working at various music conservatoires and institutes in Helsinki, Boston, and Moscow (he was a piano professor at the famed Moscow Conservatoire) where he was employed as an ‘advanced piano instructor.’ On feeling unsuited to working within the confines of musical institutes, he quit these jobs and began composing, teaching, conducting, and touring as a virtuoso pianist mainly in Europe and America.
From 1894, Busoni settled in Berlin and spent much of his time earning a living as a touring virtuoso which undoubtedly led to this comment “I have great success as a pianist, the composer I conceal for the present.” The composer’s six Liszt recitals which took place in Berlin in 1911 are viewed as the climax of his pre-war career as a pianist; Busoni had heard the elderly Franz Liszt perform, hence began a life-long fascination with the illustrious Hungarian pianist and composer’s music, and he was regarded in many ‘piano quarters’ as Liszt’s successor, such was his virtuosity and command of the instrument. Busoni’s eight acoustic piano recordings of 1922, one of which I’ve linked below, elucidate his deep affinity for core composers such as Johann Sebastian Bach, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Ludwig van Beethoven, and Frédéric Chopin.
During his time spent as a touring concert pianist, Busoni still managed to write works such as the epic Piano Concerto, lasting well over an hour in length, it includes of an offstage male voice choir, the Turandot Suite, the opera Die Brautwahl, and a large selection of solo piano music.
A fervent champion of other Contemporary (usually non-German) composers’ music, Busoni would include an eclectic selection in his own series held at the Beethoven Hall in Berlin, where he usually conducted performances. Performing and promoting his own music at these events, critics were not always praise-worthy of his sometimes eccentric renditions. At around this time, Busoni was invited to teach a series of masterclasses in Weimar, Vienna, and Basel, which he found suited his temperament considerably more than weekly teaching at musical institutes. He held regular musical soirees and recitals of other composers’ music at his apartment in Berlin, including a performance of Arnold Schoenberg’s Pierrot Lunaire in 1913. These events attracted the colourful musical literati of the day.
Busoni’s writings on music were influential, and covered not only aesthetics but also topical discussions including favourite subjects such as microtones. Based in Berlin from 1894, he spent much of World War I in Switzerland, moving back to Berlin to take up a teaching post after the war was over. The German capital often enjoyed performances of Busoni’s works, including his operas, and he continued to give concerts subjecting himself to many punishing tours even during the years leading up to his death.
Ill-health pervaded Busoni’s final years and he died without finishing his beloved last opera Doktor Faust, which was completed by his student Philipp Jarnach and later performed in Berlin in 1925. He wrote over 300 works alongside a large number of cadenzas, transcriptions, and editions.
Busoni made piano transcriptions of countless J S Bach organ works, notably of the Fantasie and Fugue in A Minor. He also wrote the great Fantasia Contrappuntistica on an unfinished fugue by Bach (two versions in 1910, one further version in 1912, and a fourth version for two pianos in 1922), which sums up his lifelong love affair with Bach’s music. Arrangements of Liszt piano pieces such as La Campanella and La Chasse, adding polyphony to already fiendishly tricky pieces, demonstrates his respect for the Hungarian’s music. Other works include the Konzertstück (1890) and Indianische Fantasie (1914), both for piano and orchestra, and he was the author of the highly-regarded Ästhetik der Tonkunst (1907; Sketch of a New Esthetic of Music).
Busoni’s biographer, Edward Dent, who knew him well, describes his generous nature: “He was . . . of warmly affectionate temperament and irrepressible humour; his married life with Gerda Sjostrand brought them both thirty-four years of unclouded happiness, and his kindness and thoughtfulness for his pupils were inexhaustible.” The couple had two sons, Benvenuto and Lello, the latter a well-known illustrator.
His musical legacy has been honoured by a collection of events held around the world in celebration of his life this year including a symposium at City, University of London, which took place earlier this month: The Busoni Centenary Symposium – Busoni and His World.
The aims of this conference were clearly defined in the following website statement: ‘to re-examine the work and legacy of Ferruccio Busoni who remains a famous yet enigmatic presence in music history to this day and whose work is still largely unknown beyond a circle of initiates.’ The Symposium also sought to ‘challenge preconceptions, reset frames of reference and close knowledge gaps, embracing all aspects of Busoni’s life, work, influence and legacy, as well as wider contexts for Busoni and his world with a questioning spirit in the manner of Busoni himself.’ The programme of events included a mixture of academic papers, keynote addresses, and lecture recitals, all focusing on various aspects of the composer’s work.
One of my students is captivated by Busoni’s life and work, and has been since I started working with him aged just 11. Yipeng Xu (now 16) studies with me at Junior Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London, and spotted this London-based symposium last year. Knowing Yipeng’s love for this composer, I encouraged him to audition to give a recital as part of the conference. Fortunately, he was accepted and his lunchtime concert took place at the university on July 16th – on the proviso that he included Busoni’s music, of course!
Yipeng’s 45-minute programme consisted of Sonata in E major Op. 109 by Beethoven, The Lark by Mikhail Glinka arr. Mily Balakirev, and Paganini Etude No. 6 by Liszt, as well as three works by Busoni: an original composition, the Elegy no. 4 Turandots Frauengemach, which is an extremely effective transcription on the theme Greensleeves, complete with striking harmonic twists and turns, followed by two transcriptions of J S Bach’s Chorale Preludes: Wachtet auf, ruft uns die Stimme BWV 645 and In dir ist Freude BWV 615. I’ve linked his live performances below and hope you enjoy them.
I knew fairly little about Busoni and have only ever played and performed one work by the Italian composer; a two-piano piece, Improvisation on the Bach Chorale Wie wohl ist mir, o Freund der Seele. But working on these pieces with Yipeng over the past term has been an enriching experience, and has definitely made me reconsider this music. Busoni left an important legacy and was far more influential on composers of the twentieth century than we perhaps realise.
If you are inspired to explore the music a little more, I suggest starting with the Sonatina № 6 Fantasia da Camera super Carmen, the Toccata, and, in my opinion, his exceptional transcription, the Chaconne in D minor, after J S Bach’s glorious solo violin work.
Top Image: Ferruccio Busoni – Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. (Digital File Number: cph 3c26592)
