Giuliana Guidetti recalls husband Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli

Una cosa che fece andare in visibilio il nostro gruppo fu quando Benedetti Michelangeli fece il pianista nella Fedora di Giordano al Teatro Grande: l'avevano tutto truccato, era bellissimo, ed era bravo, usciva in palcoscenico e suonava divinamente. A me sembrava il giovane Werther.

'One thing that made our group go wild was when Benedetti Michelangeli played the pianist in Giordano's Fedora at the Teatro Grande: they had him all made up, he was beautiful, and he was good, he would come out on stage and play divinely. To me, he seemed like Young Werther.'

• Do you have any idea how he chose his repertoire?

'I refer to a phrase he often said and which he expressed very well: "You have to know everything, then choose what's worth playing for yourself and what's worth playing in public." For example, he played Tchaikovsky's First Concerto magnificently, but he didn't perform it because it seemed like a "trombone." He did, however, say: it should be studied, and he had people study it. He played Brahms's concertos, wonderfully well, but not in public because he considered them "not very pianistic"; he played Chopin's concertos equally magnificently, but not in public because he found them "too pianistic".'

• He also often played the Absil concerto, the obligatory piece at the Brussels Competition.

'Yes, he once played it at a celebration in honour of Giovanni Anfossi, his teacher, to whom he was very close, as he was with his Milanese professor, Paolo Chimeri, and his violin teacher, Francesconi. The latter criticised him for being too worldly, a playboy. Indeed, he did so a little at first, for example, when he taught for a year at the Venice Conservatory, where he was happy because his two dear friends, Sergio Lorenzi and Gino Gorini, were there, Labroca, the Cinis, the Gaggias, and the Titos. It was a fantastic environment of artists, painters, musicians, and poets who lived "romantically." However, with the humidity of the lagoon, Michelangeli went from one bout of bronchitis to another, and so Nordio, who had been his first director in Bologna, called him to Bolzano, where he lived for many years and where he maintained his residence untilhis death.'

Giuliana Giudetti to Alberto Spano (October, 1996)

This has been added to the WAR YEARS page. Any help with the names? "Sergio Lorenzi and Gino Gorini, were there, Labroca, the Cinis, the Gaggias, and the Titos."

Source link to a PDF