Ghisi, Federico

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Ghisi, Federico

Ghisi, Federico, Italian musicologist and composer; b. Shanghai, Feb. 25, 1901; d. Luzerna San Giovanni, July 18, 1975. His father was in the diplomatic corps in China. After the family settled in Italy in 1908, he studied harmony and counterpoint at the Milan Cons., and also piano privately with Faggioni; later he pursued training in chemistry at the Univ. of Pavia (graduated, 1923). While employed as a chemist, he took courses in composition with Ghedini at the Turin Cons, and in music history with Torrefranca at the Univ. of Florence (libera docenza, 1936). He then taught at the latter (1937-40), at the Universita per Stranieri in Perugia (1945-74), and at the Univ. of Pisa (1963-70). Ghisi wrote many articles on Florence during the Renaissance era. Among his compositions were the operas II dono dei Re Magi (1959) and II Vagabondo e la guardia (1960), and the oratorio L’ultima visione (1967-72).

Writings

7 canti camascialeschi mile fonti musicali del XV e XVI secolo (Florence, 1937); Lefeste musicali delta Firenze Medicea (Florence, 1939); Alle Fonti delta Monodia:Nuovi brani della “Dafne” di J. Peri e “II fuggilotio musicale” di G. Caccini (Milan, 1940).

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire