Francesco Pollini
Metodo per pianoforte / Piano Method
edited by Leonardo Miucci

(Treatises and methods, 1)

LXX, 134 pp.; ill.; 21 x 29 cm
Introduzione e apparato in italiano e inglese; Metodo con testo a fronte in inglese

Francesco Pollini (Ljubljana, 26 March 1762 – Milan, 17 September 1846) was the preeminent figure among Italian pianists of the early nineteenth century. A student of Mozart, he enjoyed considerable fame not only as a pianist and composer but also – and above all – as a pedagogue. In 1811, he was commissioned by the Milan Conservatory to author a piano method, the first of its kind to be published in Italy. Printed by Ricordi in 1812 and reprinted in 1834 by the same publisher, the Method develops several aspects of pianistic technique and performance practice. This critical edition, provided with a parallel English translation, presents the Method’s text and its 400 examples and exercises based on the most complete edition of 1834. The introduction retraces the complex publishing history of the Method, discusses in detail the typology of the instrument, and examines several technical and performance practice issues addressed in Pollini’s text (articulation, touch, rhythmic flexibility, improvisation, ornamentation, pedaling, etc.). The Apparatus presents the differences between the several editions and their different states.

Leonardo Miucci got his degree in chamber music at the Perugia Conservatory and his Master's Degree in piano at the Hochschule Royale, The Hague. He is very active as a piano and fortepiano concert artist. He has devoted many years to researching 18th- and 19th-century instrumental music performance practice. From 2010 he is a researcher at the Hochschule der Künste, Bern, Switzerland. From 2012 is a Ph.D. student at the Bern University.

[LISTEN: Interview with Leonardo Miucci on RTV4]