Editing Ferruccio Busoni (section)

{{Short description|Italian composer, pianist, and conductor (1866–1924)}}
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[[File:FerruccioBusoni1913.jpg|thumb|upright=1|Busoni in 1913]]
'''Ferruccio Busoni''' (1 April 1866 – 27 July 1924) was an Italian [[composer]], [[pianist]], conductor, editor, writer, and teacher. His international career and reputation led him to work closely with many of the leading musicians, artists and literary figures of his time, and he was a sought-after keyboard instructor and a teacher of composition.

From an early age, Busoni was an outstanding, if sometimes controversial, pianist. He studied at the [[University of Music and Performing Arts, Vienna|Vienna Conservatory]] and then with [[Wilhelm Mayer (composer)|Wilhelm Mayer]] and [[Carl Reinecke]]. After brief periods teaching in [[Helsinki]], [[Boston]], and [[Moscow]], he devoted himself to composing, teaching, and touring as a virtuoso pianist in Europe and the United States. His writings on music were influential, and covered not only [[aesthetics]] but considerations of [[microtones]] and other innovative topics. He was based in Berlin from 1894 but spent much of [[World War I]] in Switzerland.

He began composing in his early years in a late [[Romantic music|romantic]] style, but after 1907, when he published his ''Sketch of a New Esthetic of Music'', he developed a more individual style, often with elements of [[atonality]]. His visits to America led to interest in [[Indigenous music of North America|North American indigenous tribal melodies]] which were reflected in some of his works. His compositions include works for piano, among them a monumental [[Piano Concerto (Busoni)|Piano Concerto]], and transcriptions of the works of others, notably [[Johann Sebastian Bach]] (published as the [[Bach-Busoni Editions]]). He also wrote [[chamber music]], vocal and orchestral works, and operas—one of which, ''[[Doktor Faust]]'', he left unfinished when he died, in Berlin, at the age of 58.