Fantasia in F minor & Adagio-Capriccio for Solo Flute, Op 25

From the Publisher

De Lorenzo was born in 1875 in Viggiano near Potenza (Italy). He began studying the flute at the age of eight and departed for the New World for the first time at the age of sixteen. His peregrinations brought him to travel then to Germany, England, South Africa and back to his native Italy, until, on the strength of his experiences abroad and disillusioned by the Italian musical establishment, in 1909, at the age of 34, he once again set off for the United States. In the following year his worth was finally recognized: he became first flute in the New York Philharmonic Orchestra, at the time conducted by Gustav Mahler. De Lorenzo went on to occupy other important posts in the orchestras of Minneapolis, Los Angeles (the Symphony and Philharmonic) and finally Rochester. During the years spent in Rochester (1923-1935) De Lorenzo also accepted the honoured post of flute professor at the Eastman School of Music. There are interesting eyewitness accounts of both his lessons and his occasional demonstrations of virtuoso technique. But perhaps the profoundest aspects of his teaching were the search for a broad tone suited to massive orchestral forces, the extension of the instrument's range and the awareness of the harmonic and vertical element required of the wind player. Fortunately, De Lorenzo's approach was well represented in his methods, still today an inexhaustible source of discovery. They stand out not only for their practical utility and for their potential in obtaining results, but also because they include elements that were to form the basis - and the fortunes - of the most celebrated twentieth-century methods. In 1935, at the age of sixty, De Lorenzo retired and embarked on a new stage of his career, dedicating himself entirely to composition and theoretical writings on the flute. After settling in California with his wife (the pianist Maude Peterson) he set about writing a work in the style of Rockstro. Apart from furnishing technical and historical information, it was also to give a direct account of his encounters and friendships with the world's greatest flautists, from whom he frequently had first-hand reports of the lives of such personalities as Briccialdi, Ciardi, Köhler, Zamperoni and Rabboni, to name but a few. The book, entitled "My Complete Story of the Flute", was completed in 1947; owing to a series of mishaps, however, it had to wait until 1951 before it found someone willing to back it and publish it. The success of the book was due not only to the wealth of information included, but also to its unique vision of the musical world in the first half of the twentieth century, seen through the eyes of an immigrant whose training in the "old world" using "old system" flutes had been only barely sufficient for the challenge of a great career in America. Although De Lorenzo had already made a name for himself, his popularity increased with the publication of the volume.

Performance duration (approx): 3'

Item Details

Instrumentation

• Part 1: Flute