Abramo Basevi (December 1818 – November 1885) was an Italian

musicologist Musicology is the academic, research-based study of music, as opposed to musical composition or performance. Musicology research combines and intersects with many fields, including psychology, sociology, acoustics, neurology, natural sciences, f ...

and composer.

Early life

Basevi was born in

Livorno Livorno () is a port city on the Ligurian Sea on the western coast of the Tuscany region of Italy. It is the capital of the Province of Livorno, having a population of 152,916 residents as of 2025. It is traditionally known in English as Leghorn ...

. He began as a physician in Florence (1858) but then devoted himself exclusively to music. His first attempts as a composer failed but in time he composed operas (''Romilda ed Ezzelino'' 1840; and ''Enrico Howard'', 1847) and other music.

Professional career

Basevi was editor of the musical journal ''L'Armonia''. He founded the Beethoven Matinées (1859), which developed into the Società del Quartetto, a source of influence upon the musical life of Florence and Italy in general. Basevi offered an annual prize in this connection for the best

string quartet The term string quartet refers to either a type of musical composition or a group of four people who play them. Many composers from the mid-18th century onwards wrote string quartets. The associated musical ensemble consists of two Violin, violini ...

. In 1863, Basevi founded the Concerti Popolari di Musica Classica. He was a frequent contributor to musical periodicals, and was the author of ''Studio sulle Opere di G. Verdi'' (1859), ''Introduzione ad un Nuovo Sistema d'Armonia'' (1862), and ''Compendio della Storia della Musica'' (1866).

Death

He died in

Florence Florence ( ; ) is the capital city of the Italy, Italian region of Tuscany. It is also the most populated city in Tuscany, with 362,353 inhabitants, and 989,460 in Metropolitan City of Florence, its metropolitan province as of 2025. Florence ...

Sources

Abramo Basevi article
in Jewish Encyclopedia
Studio sulle opere di Giuseppe Verdi, di A. Basevi
from the Sibley Music Library Digital Score Collection 1818 births 1885 deaths Italian opera composers Italian male opera composers Italian classical musicians 19th-century Italian Jews Jewish classical composers 19th-century Italian classical composers 19th-century Italian writers Livornese Jews 19th-century Italian male writers 19th-century Italian male musicians 19th-century Italian musicologists Musicians from the Grand Duchy of Tuscany {{Italy-composer-stub