Carlo Alfredo Piatti

Alfredo Piatti (* January 8, 1822 at Borgo Canale in Bergamo, † July 18, 1901 in Mozzo in Bergamo ) was an Italian cello virtuoso and composer.

Life and work

Alfredo Piatti was trained by his father Antonio Piatti and Gaetano Zinetti; 1832-1837 he studied at the Conservatory of Milan. Already in 1834 he made his debut in Milan as a cello virtuoso. In 1838 he undertook his first tour of Europe. In 1843 he appeared with Franz Liszt in Munich, 1844, he debuted first in Paris, then in London, where he performed under Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy, who allegedly wanted to write a cello concerto for him. It is not known whether this work was ever written.

He married the singer and pianist Mary Ann Lucey and made London for most of his life to his principal residence. Nevertheless, he was from 1859 to 1898 principal cellist and soloist of the Paris Saturday and Monday concerts and undertook extensive concert tours abroad. In 1898, Alfredo Piatti ended his active concert life and his teaching, left England and returned " to retire " back to Italy. He died in 1901 at the Villa Crocetto at Mozzo near Bergamo.

In England, became popular Alfredo Piatti as an artist and as a teacher. He was one of the leading musicians of the London "Popular Concerts" and played a long time in a string quartet with Joseph Joachim, Louis Ries and Ludwig Strauss at the London Beethoven Quartet Society. He taught at the Royal Academy of Music and included the cellist Robert Hausmann, Hugo Becker and WE White House to his circle of students.

He composed two cello concertos, a concertino for cello, six cello sonatas, a " Quartettino 'for four celli (" In Vacanza ", 1891), songs with cello accompaniment and solo pieces and wrote a cello school. Particularly well known are his 12 Caprices for solo cello, also called the "New Testament" (as opposed to the 6 suites by Bach - the "Old Testament" ) are referred to the cello literature.

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