Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli: Villa Togni

I came across this passage in Musica (an online Italian music journal), August 27, 2025

'Villa Togni (in Gussago), formerly known as Villa Averoldi, dates back to the late 14th century and remains one of the most significant historic residences in Northern Italy, from its role in the 1426 Conspiracy to conquer Brescia and the Venetian Republic to the years of the Second World War, when the family of composer Camillo Togni hosted the celebrated pianist Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli for a long time to protect him from the dangers of the times. With a final renovation in 1910, the contemporary, precious English Park designed by Pierre André and the rare French Garden designed in the late 17th century according to the principles of André Le Nôtre, Villa Togni is certainly an unmissable event for those who love European art and architecture from the 17th to the 20th century, an essential stop for garden and landscape architecture enthusiasts, as well as a true place of pilgrimage for music lovers thanks to the vast library and the vast plethora of memorabilia and mementos preserved in its rooms.' [translated from Italian]

In 1989, ABM recorded Mozart's Concerto in C major No. 25 KV 503 for DG, and in it he plays a cadenza by Camillo Togni (1922-1993) who was also one of his students. "It's the work of a boy written many years ago, but which still seems good to me. It will be a surprise for him too when he receives the record because I didn't tell him anything."

​'The Cadenza for the first movement, dating from 1949, still in manuscript form, was sent to Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli, at the request of the pianist, in 1959 (see Togni’s letter of 27 April 1959 to Benedetti Michelangeli, Carteggi e scritti di Camillo Togni sul Novecento italiano, Leo S. Olschki (2001)'. [Paolo Petazzi]