About this ebook
However, even though I didn’t want to do him an injustice, I didn’t use it, on the one hand because of the little time I had available to read, on the other because of my lack of experience which led me to prefer texts that I already knew to feel more confident in the explanations, even though I promised myself and my father that I would read it as soon as I had a free moment.
And then, when the free moment arrived in 2010, thanks to a house move and the consequent confusion, I couldn’t find it anymore and then I even forgot about it, until I found it by chance in 2023 inside a box of books, and after two more house moves.
After 16 years, finally, those nine yellowed and dusty typewritten sheets appeared before me. I immediately recognized the Quartet and was very happy, but my joy was soon dampened by the fact that my father had left this world in 2019 and I could no longer share this happiness with him.
This time, however, I scanned the Quartet, I read it, and I realized that, as I already imagined, it was an absolutely valid text because I knew that my father, in everything he did, starting from tying his shoes, was always very precise and he never did anything without first having studied all the notions (and quibbles, having also been a lawyer) of the case.
After reading it, I can say that this story is shockingly actual: in just a few pages it highlights all the baseness, hypocrisy, and silence code of our society and, wanting to stay within the musical metaphor, the four characters play reluctantly because they haven’t the depth of soul to give meaning to what they play and, therefore, their music is out of tune, good only for an audience that prefers to pretend not to listen, an audience that applauds for personal gain.
I don't know if my father would have liked it, but I decided that I couldn’t avoid publishing it under his name because I’m convinced that a story like this, in which all the disvalues that my father taught me to despise are described, deserves to be known and, for the record, I haven’t changed any single comma... otherwise, poor me!
Francesco Sgrò, September 30th 2023
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About the author
A composer and conductor, he was a pupil of Gino Contilli and Valentino Bucchi for composition and of Franco Ferrara for conducting. A graduate of the Conservatories of Turin and Perugia, he attended specialisation courses for conductors held at the Mozarteum in Salzburg by Erich Leinsdorf, Lovro von Matacic and Herbert von Karajan. He was Giorgio Favaretto’s collaborator in the specialisation courses in concert vocal art at the Accademia Chigiana and the Accademia Nazionale di S. Cecilia; he teached History of Music and History of the Performing Arts at the Accademia di Belle Arti in Reggio Calabria. He directed the Istituto musicale pareggiato in Teramo (1977) and was an active member of the Central Commission for Music as an exponent of musical culture (1977-1980). He is the artistic director of the Francesco Cilea Municipal Theatre in Reggio Calabria, the stable conductor of the chamber orchestra of Catania, the founder and stable conductor of the Reggio Calabria chamber orchestra sponsored by the region and the local authorities of Reggio Calabria; he was awarded the “Gelsomino d’oro 1974” for the following reason: “for his passionate and appreciated work in popularising Opera and symphonic music in Calabria, in which he has lavished his highest qualities as a conductor, composer and writer”. Since 1958, he has conducted symphonic concerts and Opera performances throughout Europe, and has dozens of compositions to his credit, including symphonic pieces, ballets and an opera in three acts. He is a collaborating pianist in vocal and instrumental chamber music concerts, has published books and essays on music history and aesthetics, and has supervised various cycles of broadcasts for Rai TV.
Director, actor, screenwriter, videomaker. Graduation from the Calabria Academy of Dramatic Art. Bachelor's Degree in Italian Literature. Master in Opera Direction from the National Academy of Dramatic Art "Silvio D'Amico" / Verona Opera Academy. Principal director of the Opera company "Teatro Lirico Europeo". Professor of Direction at the Academy of Fine Arts of Reggio Calabria, Italy.
