Ephemera relating to Ferruccio Busoni

Cuttings and pages from German newspapers, 1924-1953, relating to the composer, Ferruccio Busoni; with associated postcards, photographs and opera programme. Several of the news articles are written by friends and pupils, including Luc Balmer (b 1898), Philipp Jarnach (1892-1982) and Adolf Paul (1863-1943). These materials were presumably collected by an unknown admirer, possibly Fraulein Susanne Friedburg. One of the newscuttings has been annotated with her name.

Ferruccio Dante Michelangiolo Benvenuto Busoni (1866-1924) was born in Italy, the son of an Italian clarinettist and a pianist of German descent. After being trained by his mother he completed his education at Vienna and Leipzig. In 1888 he took up a post teaching the pianoforte at the Institute of Music in Helsinki; in 1890 he moved to Moscow and later the United States. He lived in Berlin from 1894 to 1914, later moving to Zurich where he lived during World War I. He returned to Berlin in 1920 where he taught a Master Class in Composition at the Akademie der Kunste [Academy of Arts]. He married Gerda Sjöstrand in 1890.

He was a pianist of considerable repute and also conducted, including works by his contemporaries. His works include four operas: 'Die Brautwahl', 1911, 'Turandot' and 'Arlecchino', 1917, and 'Doktor Faust' an opera left unfinished in his lifetime but later completed by friend and follower, Philipp Jarnach. He composed numerous pieces, mainly for the piano, and also made transcripts of Bach's organ works for piano.

Source: Levitz, T. Teaching New Classicality. Ferruccio Busoni's Master Class in Composition. Frankfurt: Peter Lang, 1996. European University Studies, Series 36 [Musicology], vol 152. Online. Available: http://www.rodoni.ch/busoni/levitz/levitz.html. 8 April 2008; Chamber Music for Trios, Quartets and Quintets. Online. Available: http://www.sibelius.fi/english/musiikki/kamari_triot.htm. 10 April 2008; Daniel M. Raessler, untitled review of Tamara Levitz's, 'Teaching New Classicality: Ferruccio Busoni's Master Class in Composition'. Online. Available at: http://www.jstor.org/stable/899474. 15 April 2008.

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Found in the Music Library and passed to the Special Collections Department in July 2007

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Busoni's correspondence with Fraulein Susanne Friedburg of Hamburg and later of Berlin was acquired by the Music Library in 1982/83; it is possible that this collection was acquired at the same time and that the materials were collected by Friedburg.

Correspondence of Ferrucio Busoni was acquired in 1982/83: see MS16