Alessandro Longo: The Art of Pianism between Pedagogy and Poetry
This disc marks a fundamental stage in the process of rediscovery and reappraisal of the work of Alessandro Longo (1864-1945). With the recording of the complete Études for piano (op. 35, op. 42 and op. 48), the project aims to restore dignity to a musical corpus which, although born with pedagogical intent, reveals an expressive depth and a constructive mastery of rare authority. This publication is not an isolated episode, but forms part of a broader and systematic plan to record the complete works of the Calabrian composer. The journey began in 2019 with the successful publication of the Sonatas in the journal Amadeus, an event conceived by the pianist Giacomo Pellegrino which brought renewed attention to a central figure in the Italian musical landscape between the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. In the three collections presented here, Longo succeeds in synthesising the heritage of the great harpsichord tradition – of which he was a tireless editor and promoter – with the impulses of European late Romanticism. Op. 35, Op. 42 and Op. 48 represent a constant stylistic and technical evolution. If formal rigour is the pillar on which these compositions rest, it is melodic richness and the variety of pianistic colour that transform each “étude” into a true sound picture. Through this recording, the listener will have the opportunity to explore the creative workshop of an author who was able to steer Italian pianism towards modernity, uniting the severity of the contrapuntal school with a refined Mediterranean melodic sensibility.
Francesco Perri © 2026
Director of the Conservatory of Music
“S. Giacomantonio” of Cosenza
The project to record and publish the complete Études for piano by Alessandro Longo (op. 35, op. 42 and op. 48) forms part of the “Progetto Longo”, an initiative through which institutional bodies such as the Cosenza Conservatory, the Rotary Club of Amantea, as well as other entities supporting the proposal, commit themselves to rediscovering and disseminating the cultural heritage of A. Longo.
BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES
Born in Amantea, in the province of Cosenza, on 30 December 1864, Alessandro Longo was the son of Achille Longo (1832 – 1919), composer and organist, and Maria Teresa Russo. He studied piano at the Naples Conservatory “San Pietro a Majella” with B. Cesi (1845 – 1907) and P. Serrao (1830 – 1907), obtaining in 1885 diplomas in piano, composition and organ. He became a piano teacher at the same institution from which he graduated, initially substituting for his teacher B. Cesi, and later obtaining a permanent post in 1897. His pupils include G. Laccetti, F. Alfano, G. Napoli, T. Aprea, and L. De Barberiis. Before retiring from teaching, Longo spent a brief period teaching at the private school of Alfonso Rendano (1853 – 1931), an experience that saw him as a colleague of F. Cilea (1866 – 1850). He was also a promoter of numerous significant cultural initiatives, taking part as a pianist in many concerts for the Società del Quartetto between 1909 and 1915; he founded the musical journal L’arte pianistica, which eleven years later would take the name Vita musicale italiana, active until 1926; he also founded the Circolo musicale “D. Scarlatti” in 1891, by virtue of his attention to and interest in D. Scarlatti (1685 – 1757), which led him to publish the edition Domenico Scarlatti: Opere complete per clavicembalo, Milan, 1906 – 1910, comprising in eleven volumes the roughly five hundred Scarlatti sonatas, catalogued according to defined harmonic criteria. From 1944 he became acting director of the Naples Conservatory, dying shortly thereafter, on 3 November 1945 in Naples, worn down by the worries of war. In recognition of his commitment to writing pedagogical texts, Longo was awarded the gold medal at the music-history conference held within the framework of the Exposition Universelle in Paris (1889).
The musical and cultural legacy of A. Longo, of outstanding artistic value, constitutes an innovative and balanced blending of the stylistic features of Italian vocal music and German instrumental music. His inventiveness and multifaceted temperament enabled him to practise his art by juxtaposing two compositional manners: one deriving from the past – one thinks of the sonatas of L. V. Beethoven (1770 – 1827), at times cited in his Piano Sonatas, or the recall of the compositional forms of F. Chopin (1810 – 1849), among them the études, mazurkas, and ballades; the other, albeit with moderate diffidence, oriented towards the output of composers contemporary with him, such as C. Debussy (1862 – 1918) or A. Casella (1883 – 1947), another celebrated representative of twentieth-century Italian instrumental music.
A. Longo authored around three hundred works for piano (Sonatas op. 32, 36, 63, 66, 67, 70 and 72; Études op. 35, 42, 48 on thirds, sixths and octaves, etc.), chamber music (Quintet op. 3 for strings and piano; Suites op. 33, 44, 53, 62, 63, 68, 69, etc.) and chamber vocal music (Idillio di un anno op. 41). He also wrote some poetic texts, including Symphonia, a poem published in his journal, and a text dedicated to D. Scarlatti, D. Scarlatti e la sua figura nella storia della musica, published in Naples in 1913 and held at the Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale di Firenze. In Longo’s compositions it is possible to discern a path that begins in the pedagogical sphere (Facili composizioni per fanciulli and Pagine d’album op. 1), and provides technical indications that prepare the pupil for a far more demanding output, in which classical form fuses with elements of novelty. A good part of Longo’s compositions remained in manuscript and are preserved in the Library of the Naples Conservatory.
THE WORK OF REAPPRAISAL
In 1995, thanks to the commitment of Maestro Giorgio Feroleto (former director of the Cosenza Conservatory), a Library-Museum dedicated to A. Longo was inaugurated in Amantea (CS), and the International Study Conference Alessandro Longo: l’uomo, il suo tempo, la sua opera was organised, promoted by the Associazione Amantea Musica, the University of Calabria, the Federico II University of Naples, the Istituto Nazionale di Musicologia and the Istituto di Bibliografia musicale calabrese. In recent years the work of reappraisal and rediscovery of A. Longo has received a fundamental contribution from the Rotary Club of Amantea, through the figure of Giacomo Pellegrino, past president for the year 2018-19 of the same Rotary Club and piano teacher at the Conservatory “Stanislao Giacomantonio” of Cosenza, who supported the initiative with enthusiasm. A significant stage in the undertaken path was the world-premiere recording of the complete Piano Sonatas of A. Longo at the Auditorium “Casa della Musica” in Cosenza (January 2018), on a Steinway & Sons concert grand. The project was born from a fruitful collaboration between the Cosenza Conservatory and the Accademia “Incontri col Maestro” of Imola; the performers were in fact selected from the Cosenza conservatory and the Imola academy. The following year saw the publication of the Sonatas, as downloads, in the national monthly journal “Amadeus” (June 2019 issue); the presentation of the first-ever recording was held at the Conservatory Auditorium. The “Progetto Longo” was subsequently shared with the wider public in the form of a public conference, within the framework of the XXV Edizione Giornate Studi Storici in Amantea.
LISTENING GUIDE
12 Studies in Thirds, Op. 35
Edition: Milan, Ricordi, 1924 (reprint in 1946)
Dedication: Giovanni Sgambati
In the collection of Études op. 35, A. Longo addresses the technical problem of thirds with great singularity and originality; while not departing from Chopin’s tradition as regards timbral investigation and an understanding of harmonic development, these études are manifestly “Chopinesque” in inspiration, a composer to whom Longo dedicates the title of the eleventh étude, drawing, for the compositional style of the thirds, on the sixth étude of op. 25. The harmonies prove significant in the relationship among the études: the first four proceed according to a tonic-dominant linkage, then also explore other keys. In order to allow mastery of the specific technical complexity, the études present a single rhythmic figuration (triplets, quadruplets or sextuplets), proceeding chromatically and often accompanying the thirds with a supporting bass or a melody, which fuse carefully with a new musical atmosphere generated by the very execution of the thirds, which finally fade away in possible codas of modest dimensions.
Six Studies in Sixths, op. 42
Edition: Milan, Ricordi, 1906 (reprint in 1945)
Dedication: Beniamino Cesi
The Études op. 42, dedicated to Beniamino Cesi, Longo’s teacher, focus on resolving the difficulty of sixths; the famous precedent is once again an étude by Chopin, the eighth of op. 25 in D-flat major, a key sometimes also used by A. Longo. As with op. 35, the composer chooses to employ a single rhythmic figuration from beginning to end of each étude, thus dispensing with any codas, and instead concluding by means of a long chord with a fermata, with the sole exception of the fourth étude.
Six Studies in Octaves, op. 48
Edition: Milan, Ricordi, 1909
Dedication: Federico Bufaletti
The last collection of études, op. 48, is dedicated to Federico Bufaletti, a pupil of B. Cesi and G. Martucci at the Naples Conservatory, where he most probably had occasion to cross paths pedagogically with A. Longo. The harmonic evolution connected to the general structure of the collection stands out for its originality: the composer effectively alternates one étude written in a minor key with two études written in the relative major key. The first and third are composed in C major, the second in A minor; the fourth and sixth are composed in E major, the fifth in C-sharp minor. In the writing for octaves A. Longo recovers the technique adopted by Carl Czerny (Études in octaves op. 553), fusing it with a late-Romantic style that allows the listener to transcend the mere technical exercise, entering an authentic sonic environment, at times dramatic, at times solemn and grand.
Lorenzo Stasi © 2026