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Giulio Briccialdi was born in Terni and died in Florence. Although his
flute-playing father gave him some lessons he also wanted him to enter
the church - where have we heard that before? Fleeing to Rome, the fledgling
flautist fast found employment in a theatre orchestra. His precocious
talents were further recognised when aged fifteen he was made a member
of the exclusive Accademia di S. Cecilia and four years later, chosen
as flute teacher to the King of Naples' brother. He gave concerts throughout
Europe and in America. Living for a time in London, he advised the firm
of Rudall and Rose on the construction of a flute with a special B key,
a device which became known as the Briccialdi B. By the year 1870, he
was the flute professor at the Florence Institute of Music, founding a
workshop for the making of flutes to his own patent. Sadly his one and
only opera, "Leonora de Medici", was a flop but his flute compositions
and treatises were popular. The "Carnival of Venice" has been the subject
of many varied arrangements and transcriptions yet none more virtuosic
than today's version from James Galway. For those of you who, like me,
are fond of curiosities, I have discovered that the unlikely pairing of
Paul Patterson, ("Comedy for Five Winds") and Giulio Briccialdi, (Wind
Quintet), features regularly in concert programmes given by the Galliard
Ensemble.
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