BUSONI, FERRUCCIO (1866-1924), Italian composer

BUSONI, FERRUCCIO (1866-1924), Italian composer and pianist. Autograph musical manuscript in folio "Bach-Busoni Chaconne", dated Boston 1892, dedicated to Eugen d'Albert. Consists of title-page and pp. 1-15. Very worn in the margins with some loss of a few notes. Some foxing and spotting. With blue stamp from Breitkopf & Härtel, Leipzig, on title leaf. Text in upper part of page i: "Chaconne aus der vierten Sonate fuer Violin allein von Johann Sebastian Bach. Zum Concertvortrage fuerdas Pianoforte bearbeitetund Herrn Eugen d'Albert zugeignet von Ferruccio Busoni". Busoni made a transcription of Bach's famous Chaconne in the years between 1891 and 1892, while living in Boston. He dedicated it to the composer and virtuoso pianist Eugen d'Albert, who unfortunately found the transcription too controversial and never performed it. Busoni himself premiered the piece in Boston on the 30th of January, 1893. There are four versions, each more complicated than the last. The first edition was published by Breitkopf & Härtel, soon after the premiere. It was longer than the final version of 1916 by five measures. (Marina Fabrikant: Bach-Busoni Chaconne: A Piano Transcription Analysis, University of Nebraska-Lincoln 2006 [http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1002&context=musicstudent])