Busoni, Ferruccio

Ferruccio Busoni (1866 – 1924) was an Italian composer, pianist, teacher of piano and composition, writer on musical questions, and conductor.

Dante Michelangelo Benvenuto Ferruccio Busoni was born in Empoli in Tuscany, the only child of two professional musicians: his Italian/German mother a pianist, his Italian father a clarinetist. They were often touring during his childhood, and he was brought up in Trieste for the most part.

Busoni was a child prodigy. He made his public debut on the piano with his parents, at the age of seven. A couple of years later he played some of his own compositions in Vienna where he heard Franz Liszt play, and met Liszt, Johannes Brahms and Anton Rubinstein.