A charming addition to the ICAMus Archive: Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco’s early score of Alghe, for piano (1920) inscribed by the composer to Pietro Margarito 18 years before Castelnuovo emigrated to the US. Margarito was a conductor, choirmaster and pianist in Tuscany, and collaborated with the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino. His archive, once holding important manuscripts and autographs, has been recently dispersed. This inscribed score offers a glimpse at a regional musical culture of the early 1900s, that is increasingly difficult to recompose, and a look at the roots of Castelnuovo-Tedesco, a major American and international composer of the 20th century.

Gift of Italian artist Dr. Pietro Antonio Bernabei, Florence, January 4th, 2016.

Thank you!

In the photo: Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco (Florence 1895 – Beverly Hills, CA, 1968). Score of Alghe, for piano; composed 19 March 1920, published by A. Forlivesi & C. (Florence, 1920). Autograph inscription on title page: “a Pietro Margarito / in ricordo di / M. Castelnuovo / 10 Ottobre 1921” (For Pietro Margarito, in remembrance, from M. Castelnuovo, 10 October 1921). ICAMus Archive, The ICAMus Studio, Ann Arbor, MI, USA. Gift of Dr. Pietro Antonio Bernabei, Florence, January 4, 2016.

In the image below: Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco, Photographic studio portrait; A. Cattani & Figli, Florence, 10 October 1921; Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco Papers, The Library of Congress Music Division, Washington, D.C., currently [Jan.. 2014] Unprocessed Box No. 1, donated by Lisbeth and Diana Castelnuovo-Tedesco, March 11, 2014; received at Library of Congress 03/21/2014; the same portrait and another one, taken in the same studio session, in Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco Papers, Box 143, Folder 6; reproduced by permission. Interestingly, this photo was taken exactly on the same day when the score was inscribed by the composer to Pietro Margarito.