Ferruccio Benvenuto Busoni

Busoni was born at Empoli, near Florence, April 1, 1866. His father was a clarinet player, and his mother (Anne Weiss) gave him his first piano lessons. He made his first public appearance at the age of nine in Vienna, and afterwards studied there with Hans Scmitt and in Graz with Remy. He ws so successful at the age of 17 that a medal was struck in his honor by the city of Florence, and he was elected a member of the Academia Filamonica at Bologna. In 1886 he went to Leipsiz, and then for a while Busoni was engaged in teaching at Helsingfors, 1888; Moscow, 1890; Boston, Mass., 1891-93, and Berlin 1894. He has achieved a high reputation as a concert pianist all over the musical world, and has recently come to the front as a composer of opera. One of his greatest gifts is his ability to interpret the music of Bach. Busoni has also edited the works of Bach in a way that in some respects surpasses all previous attempts. Wherever possible, for instance, he has not failed to take advantage of modern developments, so as to give the music of the old Cantor of Leipzig a richness more in keeping with its character. During a recent tour of the United states, Busoni became immensely popular with American audiences wherever he went.