Vera Franceschi (May 5, 1926 – July 12, 1966) was an Italian American

pianist A pianist ( , ) is a musician who plays the piano. A pianist's repertoire may include music from a diverse variety of styles, such as traditional classical music, jazz piano, jazz, blues piano, blues, and popular music, including rock music, ...

who had a prolific career during the 1950s.

Life and career

The daughter of Italian parents (both of Tuscan origin), she was born in

San Francisco, California San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

. She began her studies in the United States; but in 1936 moved with her family to

Rome, Italy Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

. In 1939, at a very young age, she graduated from the

Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia The Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia () is one of the oldest musical institutions in the world, founded by the papal bull ''Ratione congruit'', issued by Sixtus V in 1585, which invoked two saints prominent in Western musical history: Gre ...

(Santa Cecilia Conservatory), where she was able to study with

Alfredo Casella Alfredo Casella (25 July 18835 March 1947) was an Italian composer, pianist and conductor. Life and career Casella was born in Turin, the son of Maria (née Bordino) and Carlo Casella. His family included many musicians: his grandfather, a f ...

and Germano Arnaldi. She debuted at eighteen as a soloist at the

Teatro alla Scala La Scala (, , ; officially , ) is a historic opera house in Milan, Italy. The theatre was inaugurated on 3 August 1778 and was originally known as (, which previously was a church). The premiere performance was Antonio Salieri's ''Europa r ...

Milan Milan ( , , ; ) is a city in northern Italy, regional capital of Lombardy, the largest city in Italy by urban area and the List of cities in Italy, second-most-populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of nea ...

. During the same time, she began recording for Parlophon. Later she moved to Cetra Records. After

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, she perfected her training at the

Manhattan School of Music The Manhattan School of Music (MSM) is a private music conservatory A music school is an educational institution specialized in the study, training, and research of music. Such an institution can also be known as a school of music, music a ...

in New York, studying with

Harold Bauer Harold Victor Bauer (28 April 1873 – 12 March 1951) was an English-born pianist of Jewish heritage who began his musical career as a violinist. Biography Harold Bauer was born in Kingston upon Thames; his father was a German violinis ...

and Carl Friedberg, and in 1948 she made her debut with the

San Francisco Symphony Orchestra The San Francisco Symphony, founded in 1911, is an American orchestra based in San Francisco, California. Since 1980 the orchestra has been resident at the Louise M. Davies Symphony Hall in the city's Hayes Valley neighborhood. The San Franci ...

under the direction of

Pierre Monteux Pierre Benjamin Monteux (; 4 April 18751 July 1964) was a French (later American) conductor. After violin and viola studies, and a decade as an orchestral player and occasional conductor, he began to receive regular conducting engagements in 1 ...

. She became one of the most acclaimed interpreters of Chopin during those years. In the early 1950s, she signed with

RCA RCA Corporation was a major American electronics company, which was founded in 1919 as the Radio Corporation of America. It was initially a patent pool, patent trust owned by General Electric (GE), Westinghouse Electric Corporation, Westinghou ...

and then

Victrola The Victor Talking Machine Company was an American recording company and phonograph manufacturer, incorporated in 1901. Victor was an independent enterprise until 1929 when it was purchased by the Radio Corporation of America (RCA) and became ...

, and recorded many albums performing the compositions of the Polish composer. During the same time, she met the tenor Daniele Barioni, whom she married on October 28, 1957 in New York and with whom she had a son in 1958. He was named Giulio Barioni. After a long hospitalization for leukemia at Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center in New York, she died in July 1966.

Partial discography

78 rpm

*1949: Sonata in sol minore n° 5/Sonata in do minore n° 1/Sonata in mi bemolle maggiore n° 2 (Cetra, CB 20273) *1949: Sonata/Toccata (Cetra, CB 20274)

33 rpm

*1955:

Muzio Clementi Muzio Filippo Vincenzo Francesco Saverio Clementi (23 January 1752 – 10 March 1832) was an Italian-British composer, virtuoso pianist, pedagogue, conductor (music), conductor, music publisher, editor, and piano manufacturer, who was mostly ac ...

- 4 Sonatas for Piano (Westminster, WN 18091) *1956:

Luigi Cherubini Maria Luigi Carlo Zenobio Salvatore Cherubini ( ; ; 8 or 14 SeptemberWillis, in Sadie (Ed.), p. 833 1760 – 15 March 1842) was an Italian Classical and Romantic composer. His most significant compositions are operas and sacred music. Beethov ...

- 6 Sonatas for Clavier (Westminster, XWN 18276) *1959:

Domenico Cimarosa Domenico Cimarosa (; 17 December 1749 – 11 January 1801) was an Music of Italy, Italian composer of the Neapolitan School and of the Classical period (music), Classical period. He wrote more than eighty operas, the best known of which is ''Il ...

- 32 sonate per pianoforte vol. 1 (Victrola, KV 104) *1966: Chopin - VALZER - Raccolta completa (RCA Victrola, KV 159)

Bibliography

*Pianista Vera Franceschi, published on ''Musica e dischi n° 31'' of January 1949, pag. 1 {{DEFAULTSORT:Franceschi, Vera 1926 births People of Tuscan descent Musicians from San Francisco 1966 deaths Deaths from leukemia in California 20th-century American pianists American classical pianists American women classical pianists 20th-century American women pianists Classical musicians from California Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia alumni