Florimo, Francesco
Florimo, Francesco
Florimo, Francesco, Italian music historian; b. S. Giorgio Morgeto, Calabria, Oct. 12, 1800; d. Naples, Dec. 18, 1888. In 1817 he entered the Collegio di Musica at Naples, numbering Furno, Elia, Zingarelli, and Tritto among his teachers. From 1826 to 1851 he was librarian there. He was Bellini’s closest friend, and in 1876 escorted the latter’s remains from Paris to Catania. He publ. the pamphlet “Trasporto delle ceneri di Bellini a Catania.” He composed Sinfonia funebre per la morte di Bellini, and also founded the Bellini Prize, a competition open to Italian composers not over 30. His chief work is Cenno storico sulla scuola musicale di Napoli (2 vols., Naples, 1869–71; republ. 1880–84, in 4 vols., as La scuola musicale di Napoli e i suoi Conservator?), a complete musical history of Naples and its conservatories, their teachers and pupils, etc. Despite numerous errors, it remains an extremely valuable guide. He also wrote Riccardo Wagner ed i Wagneristi (Naples, 1876), Bellini, Memorie e lettere (Florence, 1882), Album Bellini (Naples, 1886), which contains opinions by many eminent musicians on Bellini’s works, and Metodo di canto, which was adopted by the Paris Cons, and described as “magistrale” by Rossini. Florimo was also an excellent singing teacher.
Bibliography
G. Megali del Giudice, F. F. (Naples, 1901).
—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire