Editing Ferruccio Busoni (section)

===Works===
{{See also|List of compositions by Ferruccio Busoni|List of adaptations by Ferruccio Busoni}}
Busoni's works include compositions, adaptations, transcriptions, recordings and writings.

====Opus numbers====
Busoni gave many of his works [[opus number]]s; some numbers apply to more than one work (after the composer dropped some of his earlier works from his acknowledged corpus). Furthermore, not all the composer's numbers are in temporal order.<ref>Dent (1933), p. 37.</ref> The musicologist Jürgen Kindermann has prepared a thematic catalogue of his works and transcriptions which is also used, in the form of the letters '''[[List of compositions by Ferruccio Busoni#Catalog numbers|BV]]''' (for ''Busoni Verzeichnis'' ("Busoni Index"); sometimes the letters '''KiV''' for ''Kindermann Verzeichnis'' are used) followed by a numeric identifier, to identify his compositions and transcriptions. The identifier '''B''' (for ''Bearbeitung'', "[[arrangement]]") is used for Busoni's transcriptions and [[cadenza]]s. For example, '''BV B 1''' refers to Busoni's cadenzas for Beethoven's [[Piano Concerto No. 4 (Beethoven)|Piano Concerto No. 4]].<ref>Kindermann (1980)</ref>

====Early compositions====
In 1917, [[Hugo Leichtentritt]] suggested that the Second Violin Sonata Op. 36a ([[List of compositions by Ferruccio Busoni#BV244|BV 244]]), completed in 1900, "stands on the border-line between the first and second epochs of Busoni",<ref>Leichtentritt (1917), p. 76.</ref> although van Dieren asserts that in conversation Busoni "made no such claims for any work written before 1910. This means that he dated his work as an independent composer from the piano pieces ''[[An die Jugend]]''&nbsp;... and the ''[[Elegies (Busoni)|Berceuse]]'' in its original version for piano." (These works were actually written in 1909.)<ref>van Dieren (1935), p. 52.</ref> The Kindermann ''Busoni Verzeichnis'' lists over 200 compositions in the period to 1900, which are met with very rarely in the contemporary repertoire or in recording, mostly featuring piano, either as solo instrument or accompanying others, but also including some works for [[chamber music|chamber]] ensemble and some for orchestra, amongst them two large-scale [[Suite (music)|suites]] and a [[violin concerto]].<ref name="robbv">Roberge (1991), pp. 8–63</ref>

[[Antony Beaumont]] notes that Busoni wrote virtually no chamber music after 1898 and no songs between 1886 and 1918, commenting that this was "part of the process of freeing himself from his Leipzig background&nbsp;... [evoking] worlds of middle-class respectability in which he was not at home, and [in which] the shadows of Schumann, Brahms and [[Hugo Wolf|Wolf]] loomed too large."<ref>Beaumont (1985), p. 42.</ref> The first decade of the 20th century is described by Brendel as being for Busoni "a creative pause" after which he "finally gained an artistic profile of his own" as opposed to the "easy routine which had kept his entire earlier production on the tracks of eclecticism".<ref name="brendel208">Brendel (1976), p. 208.</ref>

During this period, Busoni wrote his Piano Concerto, one of the largest such works he ever wrote in terms of duration and resources. Dent comments "In construction [the Concerto] is difficult to analyse&nbsp;... on account of the way in which themes are transferred from movement to another. The work has to be considered as a whole, and Busoni always desired it to be played straight through without interruption."<ref>Dent (1933), p. 142.</ref> The press reaction to the premiere of the concerto was largely one of outrage: the ''{{Interlanguage link|Tägliche Rundschau|de|Tägliche Rundschau (1881–1933)}}'' complained of "Noise, more noise, eccentricity and licentiousness", while another journal opined that "the composer would have done better to stay within more modest boundaries".<ref>Couling (2005), pp. 195–196.</ref> The other major work during this "creative pause" was the ''Turandot Suite''. Busoni employed motifs from Chinese and other oriental music in the suite, though, as Leichtentritt points out, the Suite is "in fact the product of an Occidental mind, for whom the exact imitation of the real Chinese model would always be unnatural and unattainable&nbsp;... the appearance is more artistic than the real thing would be."<ref>Leichtentritt (1917). p. 79.</ref> The suite was first performed as a purely musical item in 1905; it was used in a production of the play in 1911, and was eventually transformed into a two-act opera in 1917.<ref>Dent (1933), pp. 152–153, 233.</ref>

====Busoni and Bach====
[[File:Bach-Busoni- Well-Tempered Clavichord (1894) cover.jpg|thumb|upright=0.8|Cover of first edition of Busoni's edition of Bach's ''[[The Well-Tempered Clavier]]'', Book I, 1894]]{{Broader|Bach-Busoni Editions}}
1894 saw the publication in Berlin of the first part of Busoni's edition of the music of Johann Sebastian Bach for the piano; the first book of ''[[The Well-Tempered Clavier]]''.<ref>Dent (1933), p. 348.</ref> This was equipped with substantial appendices, including one "[[:File:Busoni-On the Transcription of Bach Organ-works Schirmer English.pdf|On the Transcription of Bach's Organ Works for the Pianoforte]]". This was eventually to form a volume of the [[Bach-Busoni Edition]], an undertaking which was to extend over thirty years. Seven volumes were edited by Busoni himself; these included the 1890 edition of the ''Two- and Three-Part Inventions''.<ref>Beaumont (1985), pp. 375–376.</ref>{{efn-lr|Busoni's work was also included in a 25-volume comprehensive "Busoni Edition" of Bach's keyboard works, the other volumes of which were undertaken by Petri and Bruno Muggelini.<ref>see Beaumont (1987), p. 111.</ref>|group= n}} Busoni also began to publish his concert [[piano transcription]]s of Bach's music, which he often included in his own recitals. These included some of Bach's [[chorale prelude]]s for organ, the organ [[Toccata and Fugue in D minor, BWV 565|Toccata and Fugue in D minor]], and the [[Chromatic Fantasia and Fugue]].<ref>Dent (1933), pp. 318–319.</ref>

These transcriptions go beyond literal reproduction of the music for piano and often involve substantial recreation, although never straying from the original rhythmic outlines, melody notes and harmony.<ref>Leichentritt (1914), p. 88.</ref> This is in line with Busoni's own concept that the performing artist should be free to intuit and communicate his divination of the composer's intentions.<ref>Busoni (1907), p. 11.</ref> Busoni adds tempo markings, articulation and phrase markings, dynamics and metronome markings to the originals, as well as extensive performance suggestions. In his edition of Bach's ''[[Goldberg Variations]]'' (BV B 35), for example, he suggests cutting eight of the variations for a "concert performance", as well as substantially rewriting many sections. [[Kenneth Hamilton]] comments that "the last four variations are rewritten as a free fantasy in a pianistic style which owes far more to Busoni than to Bach."<ref>Hamilton (1998), pp. 66–67.</ref>

On the death of his father in 1909, Busoni wrote in his memory a ''Fantasia after J. S. Bach'' ([[List of compositions by Ferruccio Busoni#BV253|BV 253]]); and in the following year came his extended fantasy based on Bach, the ''[[Fantasia contrappuntistica]]''.<ref>Beaumont (1985), pp. 137, 160.</ref>

====Writings====
Busoni wrote a number of essays on music. The ''Entwurf einer neuen Ästhetik der Tonkunst'' (''Sketch of a New [[Aesthetics|Esthetic]] of Music''), first published in 1907, set out the principles underlying his performances and his mature compositions. A collection of reflections which are "the outcome of convictions long held and slowly matured", the ''Sketch'' asserts that "The spirit of an artwork&nbsp;... remains[s] unchanged in value through changing years" but its form, manner of expression, and the conventions of the era when it was created, "are transient and age rapidly". The ''Sketch'' includes the maxim that "Music was born free; and to win freedom is its destiny".<ref>Busoni (1911), p. 3.</ref> It therefore takes issue with [[conventional wisdom]] on music, caricatured by Busoni as the constricting rules of the "lawgivers".<ref>Busoni (1911), p. 1.</ref> It praises the music of Beethoven and JS Bach as the essence of the spirit of music ("Ur-Musik") and says that their art should "be conceived as a ''beginning'', and not as an unsurpassable finality."<ref>Busoni (1911), p. 4.</ref> Busoni asserts the right of the interpreter vis-à-vis the purism of the "lawgivers". "The performance of music, its ''emotional interpretation'', derives from those free heights whence descended Art itself&nbsp;... What the composer's inspiration ''necessarily'' loses through notation, his interpreter should restore by his own."<ref>Busoni (1911), p. 7.</ref> He envisages a future music that will include the division of the octave into more than the traditional 12 [[semitone]]s.<ref>Busoni (1911), p. 10—12.</ref> However, he asserted the importance of musical form and structure: His idea of a 'Young Classicism'{{efn-lr|Busoni's concept of 'Young Classicism' (in his original German 'Junge Klassizität') should be distinguished from the later inter-war movement of [[Neoclassicism (music)|Neoclassicism]], although his interest in [[musical form]] may have influenced the latter.<ref>See Brendel (1976), pp. 114—115.</ref>|group= n}} "aimed to incorporate experimental features in "firm, rounded forms"&nbsp;... motivated each time by musical necessity." (Brendel).<ref>Brendel (1976), p. 108.</ref>

Another collection of Busoni's essays was published in 1922 as ''Von der Einheit der Musik'', later republished as ''Wesen und Einheit der Musik'', and in 1957 translated as ''The Essence of Music''.<ref>{{in lang|de}} Busoni, Ferruccio. [https://archive.org/details/vondereinheitder00buso ''Von der Einheit der Musik: von Dritteltönen und junger Klassizität, von Bühnen und Bauten und anschliessenden Bezirken''.] Berlin: M. Hesse, 1922</ref><ref>Busoni, Ferruccio, translated by Rosamond Ley. ''The Essence of Music: And Other Papers''. London: Rockliff, 1957. {{OCLC|6741344}} (digitized: {{OCLC|592760169}})</ref> Busoni also wrote the librettos of his four operas.<ref>Wirth (1980), p. 510</ref>

====Mature compositions====
[[File:Fantasiabusoni.JPG|thumb|left|Sketch by Busoni of the structure of his ''Fantasia Contrappuntistica'', 1910]]Writing in 1917, Hugo Leichtentritt described Busoni's mature style as having elements in common with those of Sibelius, Debussy, [[Alexander Scriabin]], and Schoenberg, noting in particular his movement away from traditional major and minor scales towards [[atonality]].<ref>Leichtentritt (1917), p. 95.</ref>

The first landmarks of this mature style are the group of piano works published in 1907–1912 (the ''Elegies'', the suite ''An die Jugend'' and the first two piano sonatinas) and Busoni's first completed opera, ''Die Brautwahl''; together with the rather different Bach homage, the 1910 ''Fantasia contrappuntistica'', Busoni's largest work for solo piano. About half an hour in length, it is essentially an extended fantasy on the final incomplete fugue from Bach's ''[[The Art of Fugue]]''. It uses several melodic figures found in Bach's work, most notably the [[BACH motif|B-A-C-H motif]]. Busoni revised the work a number of times and arranged it for two pianos.<ref>Beaumont (1985), pp. 160–176.</ref>

Busoni also drew inspiration from North American indigenous tribal melodies drawn from the studies of Natalie Curtis, which informed his ''Indian Fantasy'' for piano and orchestra of 1913 and two books of solo piano sketches, ''Indian Diary''.<ref>Beaumont (1985), pp. 190–203.</ref> In 1917, Busoni wrote the one-act opera ''[[Arlecchino (opera)|Arlecchino]]'' (1917) as a companion piece for his revision of ''Turandot'' as an opera. He began serious work on his opera ''[[Doktor Faust]]'' in 1916, leaving it incomplete at his death. It was then finished by his student [[Philipp Jarnach]], who worked with Busoni's sketches as he knew of them.<ref>Beaumont (1985), pp. 349–352.</ref> In the 1980s Antony Beaumont created an expanded and improved completion by drawing on material to which Jarnach did not have access; [[Joseph Horowitz]] has described the Beaumont completion as "longer, more adventurous and perhaps less good."<ref>Horowitz (2000).</ref>

In the last seven years of his life Busoni worked sporadically on his [[Klavierübung (Busoni)|''Klavierübung'']], a compilation of exercises, transcriptions, and original compositions of his own, with which he hoped to pass on his accumulated knowledge of keyboard technique. It was issued in five parts between 1918 and 1922<ref>Beaumont (1985), p. 295, pp. 302–307.</ref> An extended version in ten books was published posthumously in 1925.<ref>Busoni (1925).</ref>

====Editions, transcriptions and arrangements====
Apart from his work on the music of Bach, Busoni edited and transcribed works by other composers. He edited three volumes of the 34-volume Franz Liszt Foundation's edition of Liszt's works, including most of the études, and the ''[[Grandes études de Paganini]]''. Other Liszt transcriptions include his piano arrangement of Liszt's organ ''[[Fantasy and Fugue on the chorale "Ad nos, ad salutarem undam"]]'' (BV B 59) (based on a theme from [[Giacomo Meyerbeer]]'s opera ''[[Le Prophète]]'') and concert versions of two of the ''[[Hungarian Rhapsodies]]''.<ref>Beaumont (1985), p. 377.</ref>

Busoni also made keyboard transcriptions of works by Mozart, [[Franz Schubert]], [[Niels Gade]] and others in the period 1886–1891 for the publisher [[Breitkopf & Härtel]].<ref>Leichtentritt (1917), p. 72.</ref> Later, during his earliest contacts with Arnold Schoenberg in 1909, he made a 'concert interpretation' of the latter's atonal [[Drei Klavierstücke (Schoenberg)|Piano Piece, Op. 11]], No. 2 (BV B 97) (which greatly annoyed Schoenberg himself).<ref>See Beaumont (1997), pp. 314–318.</ref> Busoni's own works sometimes feature incorporated elements of other composers' music. The fourth movement of ''An die Jugend'' (1909), for instance, uses two of [[Niccolò Paganini]]'s [[24 Caprices for Solo Violin (Paganini)|Caprices for solo violin]] (numbers 11 and 15),<ref>Beaumont (1985), pp. 152–153.</ref> while the 1920 piece ''Piano Sonatina No. 6'' (''Fantasia da camera super Carmen'') is based on themes from [[Georges Bizet]]'s opera ''[[Carmen]]''.<ref>Beaumont (1985), pp. 275–277.</ref>