Progetto Italiano 2 A

The paradox of Italy is that it largely invented instrumental music - and its corollary, virtuosity - in the Baroque period, but then more or less left it in foreign hands until the 20th century. Opera, invented at the same time as the sonata at the beginning of the baroque era, then reigned supreme. Despite the memory of Paganini or the efforts of the Florence Quartet (which would do much to promote Beethoven’s last quartets), at the end of the 19th century composers still needed some courage to dedicate themselves to instrumental music, which brought little in the way of prizes or rewards. Giuseppe Martucci was born in Capua in 1856 and died in Naples in 1909, and with Giovanni Sgambati was one of the pioneers of a revival of instrumental music in Italy.