The inspiration behind this programme is the forgotten music of Spanish composer from Sevilla, Blasco de Nebra. The heir to Scarlatti in many respects, he was a composer aware of what was happening elsewhere in Europe in the 1770s. When he died his sisters sold an impressive collection of 1833 pieces for harpsichord/organ/pianoforte – 172 works of his and others by German, Italian and French composers. His expressive world is far more searching than Scarlatti, a quality that reminds us of Mozart and Haydn and pre announces Schubert and even Chopin.
Scarlatti’s 555 keyboard sonatas are single movements, mostly in binary form, some in early sonata form, and mostly written for harpsichord or the earliest pianofortes. Some display harmonic audacity in their use of discords, and unconventional modulations to remote keys.
Scarlatti’s introverted Sonata in B minor K 197 displays the recurring streaks of pathos that Neapolitan music revels in. The melodic line whimpers with plaintive little appoggiaturas as harmonic tension accumulates from the use of stubbornly immovable pedal points in the bass.
In Sonata K. 386 we can find again some Hispanic elements in the form of a toccata.
i Fantasia, ii Fugue
Fantasy No. 1 with fugue in C major is a piece of music for solo piano composed by Mozart in 1782 which he wrote down at the insistence of his wife Constanze (Mozart usually improvised fugues; the title “Fantasia” is not Mozart's and is misleading in view of the obviously baroque structure of the piece). The work was written at a time in Mozart's life when his preoccupation with the polyphonic techniques of the Baroque era had triggered a lasting creative crisis, forcing him to come to terms individually with his great idols Johann Sebastian Bach and Georg Friedrich Händel.
Both K. 396 and K. 394 Fantasias were written in 1782, even if K.396 was first published in 1802 when Maximilian Stadler completed the 28 bars fragment manuscript that Mozart hadn’t finished. The title “Fantasia” comes from him and seems appropriate. Both works, from the same period, were written at a time when Mozart was having a Baroque moment, discovering the music of J.S. Bach and Handel. In a letter to his father he mentioned that he was collecting Bach’s fugues. He even transcribed some of them for string quartet. Mozart took to the style immediately and earned a reputation for his virtuosic keyboard improvisations. These two pieces, written in a free form, as “fantasias” offer, or so we imagine, a sense of Mozart the improviser, and the Fantasia and Fugue K.394 was one of the results from his interest in counterpoint.
Spanish composer from Sevilla Manuel Blasco de Nebra (1750-1784) is considered the heir to Scarlatti in many respects. He was moreover a composer well aware of what was happening elsewhere in Europe in the 1770s. When he died his sisters sold an impressive collection of 1833 pieces for harpsichord, organ and pianoforte – 172 pieces being his own works, the rest were pieces by German, Italian and French composers. His expressive world is far more searching than Scarlatti, a quality that sometimes reminds us of the music of Mozart and Haydn and pre announces Schubert and even Chopin.
i No. 1 in E flat minor, ii No. 2 in E flat major, iii No. 3 in C major
F.Schubert, as Blasco de Nebra, lived in a period of musical evolution, and he explored the connecting way between Classicism and Romanticism, never reaching a full reconciliation of the two, as this wasn’t his artistic aim. Often added to the “First Viennese School” – originally listing Mozart, Haydn and Beethoven only – Schubert (1797-1828) is actually the only Vienna-born member of this group. Vienna, a central musical hub at this time, as was Seville for Spain during the life of Blasco de Nebra.
Ida Pelliccioli - Piano
Ida Pelliccioli was born in Bergamo, Italy. She studied at the Nice Conservatoire de Région and at the Ecole Normale de Musique de Paris – Alfred Cortot in the class of Serguei Markarov, Unesco Artist for Peace. During her studies, Ida Pelliccioli was awarded several scholarships, amongst them, one from the Zygmunt Zaleski Foundation and one from Fondation Albert Roussel.
Ida Pelliccioli participated in number of master-classes, among others with Jean-Claude Pennetier, Gerard Wyss and received a double diploma in interpretation and pedagogy, at the École Normale in Paris.
She received artistic guidance from Norma Fisher who teaches at the Royal College of Music in London and she is one of the rare pianists to have received guidance from the cuban concert pianist Jorge Luis Prats.
Ida chose to avoid the international competition circuit and, before becoming a full-time pianist, received a double master diploma at the Sorbonne University – in Italian Literature and in Ancient Greek History, specializing for the latter in the practice of music during the Hellenistic period.
Ida has been performing throughout Europe, Canada, Australia and South Africa. In 2024 she has debuted in Sweden, Lithuania, Austria, Iceland and Australia. She will make her debut in New Zealand and Thailand in 2025.
Ida shows a great interest in contemporary music: in 2023 she has performed music by Polish composer Elżbieta Sikora with soprano Joanna Freszel live on French radio – France Musique – in September 2023.
Ida has always been opened to other forms of art and collaborations. She appeared on screen, playing the role of a pianist, for the american TV Series “Find me in Paris” – Season 1 and 2 (2017/2018) and the french one “Munch” (2018).
In 2019, she has been casted to double the role of the pianist in the short movie „Quand on ne sait pas voler” directed by Thomas Keumurian and produced by FILMO.
In 2022 she performed a quintet programme and in 2023 she has collaborated with clarinetist Ann Lepage during a tour in the Netherlands.
In 2021 Ida also took up a teaching position at Paris Conservatoire du 8ème arrondissement.
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