Ferdinando Giorgetti
Seventh String Quartet Opus 39
ed. by Franco Sciannameo 
(Musica Strumentale, 4)

XXII, 114 p., 5 parts (17, 16, 16, 16, 12 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 Classic 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, dated 1849-62, are especially worthy of consideration. The Seventh Quartet, written in 1862 and never published, follows the classic four-movement plan—Allegro mosso; Scherzo, Vivace; Adagio quasi Largo; Finale, Allegro vivace. It also includes an extra double-bass part, to be used in performance for expanded ensembles or in large halls. It is dedicated at the Società del Quartetto, Florence, founded in 1861 to promote instrumental music in Italy through performances of the standard classic and Romantic chamber repertoire. This edition is based on the autograph copy, recently retrieved at the Carnegie Mellon University Library, Pittsburgh, Penn.

Franco Sciannameo graduated in violin at Santa Cecilia Conservatory, Rome, under Lilia D’Albore and Arrigo Pelliccia. He was a member of the Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, Solisti di Roma, and Quartetto di Nuova Musica, which prèmiered and recorded Giacinto Scelsi works. After moving to the USA, he took advanced degrees in Historical Musicology and Cultural Studies at the University of Pittsburgh. He is currently professor of Interdisciplinary Studies and Principal Faculty at the College of Fine Arts, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh. He has recorded Felix Draeseke’s viola sonatas and published essays on Filippo Trajetta (1777-1854), Giuseppe Mazzini, Ferdinando Giorgetti, Ildebrando Pizzetti, Franco Alfano, Giacinto Scelsi, and Nino Rota. He recently focused on Italian Futurismo, producing virtual reconstructions of works by Fortunato Depero, Giacomo Balla, Filippo Tommaso Marinetti and Antonio Sant’Elia, documenting a fusion of art and technology well ahead of its times.