E' CON IMMENSO PIACERE CHE
ANNUNCIO LA PUBBLICAZIONE DI
Ulisse Matthey (Torino, 1876 - Loreto, 1947)
Visione per Grand'Organo
[prima edizione a stampa
a cura di Michele Bosio-Hiroko Miura ]
Num. 5175 delle Edizioni Carrara.
L'organo Tamburini del Conservatorio di Torino
Ulisse Matthey negli anni della maturità
FONTE
Ms. cart., sec. XX, cm 34x25, cc. 4; senza numerazione. Autografo con dedica «Al distint. mo Maestro V.zo Germani/in segno di stima ed amicizia/Ulisse Matthey»; attualmente custodito a Casalmaggiore (Cr), presso l'archivio privato di Vincenzo Germany (1).
NOTES
addition to the above-mentioned manuscript version of Matthey, there is also a copy, Vincent from Germany to study needs and performance: Ms. cart., 1943, 35x25 cm, cc. 4, without numbering. After the title is specified, "the original copy / 10 - April 943.
For the present edition has been chosen to operate a collation between the two samples, since the version of the Germans, while identical to that of Matthey, it adds to the pedaleggiatura, also reported in full in this edition.
ULYSSES MATTHEY (Torino, 1876 - Loreto, 1947) (2)
organ virtuoso, pianist, composer and scholar, reformer, Ulisse Matthey was born in Turin on April 17, 1876. Child prodigy, he studied at the Liceo Musicale of his city. Studied Remondi organ with Robert (1850-1928) and graduated from Parma in the class of Arnaldo Galliera (1871-1934). Perfected in the following disciplines of counterpoint, the fugue and composition in Milan with Vincenzo Ferroni (1858-1934). Moreover, he went to Paris to study organ with the great Alexandre Guilmant (same Guilmant had to declare these lessons: "exchange of advice ').
In 1902 he was appointed organist of the Holy House of Loreto, which took place until 1923, when he was called to teach organ at the Liceo Musicale "Giuseppe Verdi" of Turin, a position he held from 1923 to 1943.
concerted effort by the exceptional musical talent, the Matthey held around the world an impressive number of concerts and tests (526 concerts between 1898 and 1946) while maintaining a flawless execution level from all points of view. He was also the designer of important instruments, among them the fivefold organ of the Cathedral of Bologna (three keyboards, 60 records, 3500 pipes) was built in 1929 by Giuseppe Rotelli. He was a prolific composer, after all, but with melodic vein and ease of writing. The song most representative of its transcendental virtuosity is certainly Studio Concerto for Pedal , probably composed for the inauguration of the great Tamburini organ of the Turin Conservatory, designed by Matthey and opened May 10, 1933. Several compositions of Maestro - handwritten and printed - are housed in the Library of the Conservatory of Turin and the archives of the Holy House of Loreto, as well as in private collections of former students. Matthey was also the author of several transcripts, which is organ piano.
Knowing it to be sick and to die, he asked that destroyed his own compositions and his most trusted students, Pietro Ferrari and Bernard Offida father, chose works to be saved. Of course, nothing was destroyed, but in the last months of his life he had burned a lot of their music. He died in Loreto, after a long illness, July 6, 1947.
PRESENTATION
The Vision for Grand'organo that the teacher gave his student Vincenzo Cremona Germans (probably on the occasion of its 500th organ concert held on 18 January 1942 at the Tamburini organ della chiesa di Sesto Cremonese) si presenta come un Adagio in si [maggiore] che vive dei colori eterei e violeggianti dell'organo ceciliano, legato, denso di estenuante cromatismo, basato su una figura ritmica ostinata che per tre volte cede il passo alla melodia-corale - ma non completamente - poiché frammenti della cellula ritmica ritornato come accompagnamento al canto.
Si potrebbe definire un modo di comporre “cerebrale”, poco orecchiabile, quello del Matthey - come del resto quasi tutte le sue composizioni dimostrano - sempre e comunque particolarmente impegnative per l'esecutore, uscite dalla penna penna di un autentico virtuoso, per il quale nulla risulta impossibile. Brani altalenanti tra una scrittura di stampo improvvisativo e vicina alla tradizione tedesca di un Max Reger ( Tempo di Sonata in re minore ), a volte suggestionata da fuggevoli “tocchi impressionisti” ( Visione ) e stilemi armonici del tardoromanticismo francese ( Armonie Lauretane ), ma sempre di solida struttura, saldamente ancorata alla forma.
Michele Bosio
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1) A big thank you to Dr. Mina Clare, grandson of the master Germans, for having allowed the publication of Vision for Grand'organo Ulysses Matthey.
2) The more substantial contribution to the figure of Ulysses Matthey is still the volume of Father Bernard Offida Ulisse Matthey , Loreto, 1951, Libreria Editrice St. Francis of Assisi. Reprinted in 1987 by Father Julian roads by adding, among other things, the various tracks offered in its 526 official concerts.