Busoni - Fantasia Contrappuntistica, BV 256

My donation link: Composer: Ferruccio Busoni (1 April 1866 – 27 July 1924) Work Title: Fantasia contrappuntistica, BV 256 Performer: Wolf Harden (piano) 0:01 - 1. Preludio corale 8:13 - 2. Fuga I 12:08 - 3. Fuga II 14:17 - 4. Fuga III (on B-A-C-H) 20:12 - 5. Intermezzo 21:18 - 6. Variazione I 22:34 - 7. Variazione II 23:34 - 8. Variazione III 24:36 - 9. Cadenza 26:06 - 10. Fuga IV 27:52 - 11. Corale 28:47 - 12. Stretta Ferruccio Busoni (given names: Ferruccio Dante Michelangiolo Benvenuto) was an Italian composer, pianist, conductor, editor, writer, and teacher. His international career and reputation meant that he met and had close relations with many of the leading musicians, artists and literary figures of his time, and he was sought-after both as a keyboard instructor and a teacher of composition. Busoni was born in Empoli, just south of Florence; he was the son of professional musicians. Initially trained by his father, he later studied at the Vienna Conservatory and then with Wilhelm Mayer and Carl Reinecke. In the ensuing years, after brief periods teaching in Helsinki, Boston, and Moscow, he devoted himself to composing, teaching, and touring as a virtuoso pianist in Europe and the United States. His writings on music were influential; they covered not only aesthetics but considerations of microtones and other innovative topics. He was based in Berlin from 1894 but spent much of World War I in Switzerland. Busoni was an outstanding (if sometimes controversial) pianist from an early age. He began composing in his early years in a late romantic style, but after 1907, when he published his Sketch of a New Esthetic of Music, he developed a more individual style, often with elements of atonality. His visits to America led to interest in North American indigenous tribal melodies which were reflected in some of his works. His compositions include works for piano, including a monumental Piano Concerto, and transcriptions of the works of others, notably Johann Sebastian Bach which appeared in the Bach-Busoni Edition. His other compositions include chamber music, vocal and orchestral works, and also operas, one of which, Doktor Faust, was left unfinished at the time of his death. Busoni died in Berlin at the age of 58. Fantasia contrappuntistica (BV 256) is a solo piano piece composed by Ferruccio Busoni in 1910. Busoni created a number of versions of the work, including several for solo piano and one for two pianos. It has been arranged for organ and for orchestra since the composer’s death. The work is in large part a homage to Johann Sebastian Bach’s Die Kunst der Fuge. Conversely, Kaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji’s Opus clavicembalisticum appears to be a homage to Fantasia contrappuntistica. Busoni dedicated the work to Wilhelm Middelschulte, “Meister des Kontrapunktes“. The composer Kenneth Leighton (1929–1988) also wrote a Fantasia Contrappuntistica (“Homage to Bach“, ) for piano, which won the first prize at the Bolzano Piano Competition (1956), premiered by Maurizio Pollini. The first ten pages of the introductory “Preludio corale“ are nearly identical to the Third Elegy with a few small cuts and alterations, including the removal of all German expression marks or their translation into Italian. In the third fugue, there is a returning melody composed of four notes, which are B♭, A, C, and B♮. These four notes spell Bach in German, where the H is the B♮, and are commonly known as the B-A-C-H motif. Sources: Source videos: 1/4: 2/4: 3/4: 4/4: