Ferdinando Giorgetti
Fourth String Quartet Opus 32
edited by Claudio Paradiso
(Musica Strumentale, 3)

XVIII, 72 p., 1 ill.; 4 parts (21, 20, 18, 19 p.); 29,7 x 21 cm
Italian/English Introduction and Apparatus

Ferdinando Giorgetti (1796-1867) was a leading musical figure in 19th-century Florence. A violinist, composer, and respected teacher, he helped innovate and disseminate instrumental music through writing and transcribing, as well as having Viennese and Italian masterpieces performed. He left an oratorio, sacred music, orchestral overtures, violin and flute concertos, and, most of all, chamber music—variations and polonaises for violin and piano, violin duets, string trios, quartets, quintets, and sextets. His seven string quartets, written between 1849 and 1862, are especially worthy of consideration. The Fourth Quartet, published by Oreste Morandi, is cast in the usual four movements—Allegro moderato; Scherzo fantastico, Vivace; Adagio molto sostenuto; Finale, Allegro vivace. A quite demanding work, it was dedicated to a younger violinist, the great Antonio Bazzini, from Brescia.

Claudio Paradiso, a flautist and leader of the “Fiati di Parma” ensemble, teaches Wind Ensemble Music at Perugia Conservatory. He has been researching 18th- and 19th-century Italian instrumental music for many years. Has edited works for or with woodwinds by Giovanni Bolzoni, Benedetto Carulli, Domenico Cimarosa, Michelangelo Dotti, Jiří Družecký, Giuseppe Gariboldi, Luigi Hugues, Teodulo Mabellini, Saverio Mercadante, Francesco e Pietro Morlacchi, Luigi Pagani, Gioachino Rossini, Antonio Scontrino, Camillo Sivori, Giovanni Tadolini, and Giovanni Battista Viotti, published by Suvini-Zerboni, Ut Orpheus, L’Oca del Cairo, and Anteo. He has produced scholarly studies on Luigi Hugues (Casale Monferrato, 2001), Il flauto in Italia (Rome, 2005), Teodulo Mabellini (Pistoia, 2005), Arrigo Tassinari (Cento, 2009), and I virtuosi di Roma (in preparation). He has recently launched a projected Dizionario della musica in Italia (DMI), sponsored by Italian research centers, institutions, and foundations (2009).