Alessandro Longo: Suite Op. 44, for Cello and Piano

Alessandro Longo
(b Amantea, 30 Dec 1864; d Naples, 3 Nov 1945). Italian pianist and composer. After studying with his father, the pianist and composer Achille Longo (b Melicuccà, 27 Feb 1832; d Naples, 11 May 1919), he attended Naples Conservatory (1878–85), where he studied the piano with Beniamino Cesi, composition with Paolo Serrao and the organ; he took a diploma in all three subjects in 1885. After teaching the piano there, initially as Cesi’s substitute and then as a regular member of staff from 1897, he taught briefly (1899) at Alfonso Rendàno’s private school; he retired in 1934 but returned in 1944 as interim director. He was also pianist for numerous concert organizations, including the Società del Quartetto (1909–15). Longo’s interest in the music of Domenico Scarlatti led to his founding a Domenico Scarlatti society at Naples (c1893) and to his publication of 11 volumes containing 544 sonatas and a fragment of Scarlatti’s keyboard music. He arbitrarily organized the sonatas into key-related suites and felt compelled to adjust some of their harmonic implications, but the edition (Domenico Scarlatti: Opere complete per clavicembalo, Milan, 1906–10) was long the most complete and did much to awaken interest in Scarlatti. He also wrote Domenico Scarlatti e la sua figura nella storia della musica (Naples, 1913). Longo was a dedicated teacher; his pupils included such pianists as Franco Alfano, Guido Laccetti, Paolo Denza and Tito Aprea. In 1914 he founded the journal Arte pianistica (later Vita musicale italiana), which continued until 1926. For his educational writings, among which are piano methods and anthologies, he received a gold medal at the music-history congress held at the Paris Exhibition. His compositions (over 300), which have been described as combining a Germanic instrumental style with Italian vocal characteristics, include works for piano, for strings, and suites for various instruments. He was a member of the Accademia Pontaniana and the Società Reale di Archeologia, Lettere e Belle Arti.