Giulio Briccialdi

Giulio Briccialdi ( born March 2, 1818 in Terni, † December 17, 1881 in Florence ) was an Italian flautist, composer and flute maker.

Life and work

Briccialdi received his first flute lessons from his father, who died early, however. After his death he should be on family desire clergyman, the eleven year old Giulio to this suggestion, however, escaped by flight to Rome. There he became a theater flutist and took composition lessons from a singer in the Sistine Chapel.

At 17, he received the diploma of the Accademia di Santa Cecilia. In 1836 he moved to Naples, where he was temporarily flute teacher of the Count of Syracuse (brother of Ferdinand II of Sicily). Travel as a virtuoso led him to Milan ( 1839 ), Vienna ( 1841) and later to America. For a long time he stayed in London. In 1847 he met with the flute maker Theobald Boehm together in Munich and built in the sequence -based models whose development (adding a - to use today - Thumb - Double flap ). 1870 until his death he was professor of flute at the Conservatory of Florence. There he founded a workshop, were produced in the Böhm flutes according to his own designs.

Briccialdi wrote especially teaching works for Flute and numerous operatic fantasies for flute and piano, as well as three flute concertos. Among his chamber works, there are also two wind quintets. His only opera Leonora de ' Medici ( Milan 1855) was unsuccessful.