Giorni, Aurelio
Giorni, Aurelio
Giorni, Aurelio, Italian-American pianist, teacher, and composer; b. Perugia, Sept. 15, 1895; d. (suicide) Pittsfield, Mass., Sept. 23, 1938. He studied piano with Sgambati at the Accademia di Santa Cecilia in Rome (1909-11) and composition with Humperdinck in Berlin (1911-13). He emigrated to the U.S. in 1914 and was active mainly as a teacher; he was on the faculty at Smith Coll., the Philadelphia Cons, of Music, and the Hartford School of Music. He was also a fairly prolific composer; his Sym. in D minor was performed in N.Y. on April 25, 1937, but had such exceedingly bad reviews that he sank into a profound state of depression; several months later, he threw himself into the Housatonic River. Among his other works were Orlando furioso, symphonic poem (1926), Sinfonia concertante (1931), 3 trios, 2 string quartets, Cello Sonata, Violin Sonata, Piano Quartet, Piano Quintet, Flute Sonata, Clarinet Sonata, 24 concert études for Piano, and songs.
Bibliography
E. Giorni Burns (his daughter), The Broken Pedal (Whittier, Calif., 1986).
—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire