Preparation to the Composition Degree at the Conservatory of Music Santa Cecilia in Rome, (1967), under the guidance of Maestro Armando Renzi.
His personality, ever since our first encounter, was fascinating and encouraged me quite a bit, because rather than only assigning already known themes of Sonatas, Quartets, Overtures and so on, he suggested that I prepared my own thematic material, and therefore provided me with the necessary hint to create a musical composition in its entirety.
The Maestro, with is high conception of the teaching activity, worked tirelessly to get out of the student what his intuition would allow, enabling that happy understanding so useful to my growth as a musician.
Wonderful and thrilling the read-through practices: he at the piano, with his baritone voice, surrounded by students (also family) or colleagues all attracted by the Music Shop’s alluring air with a teacher happy to convey to his listeners that incredible emotion that magically derives from the greatest music (be it a Perosi’s Oratorios, or one page of the greatest Verdi).
He would not refrain from suggesting to utilize three different themes, one for each instrument, for my Trio for violin, cello and piano, as Pizzetti had done with his Trio some time earlier (an homage to his beloved Maestro Ildebrando).
I would have other endearing stories to share with Armando Renzi’s admirers, but I will just recall those times when we saw one another in the Choir loft in St. Peter, with the welcome visits by Nino Rota to his friend Armando, and the unconditional appreciation that the author of the “Cappello di Paglia a Firenze” felt towards our unforgettable Maestro, so much that he normally submitted for his judgment the works that he was composing, with the usual prosperity and brilliance.
Maestro Giovanni Sorrentino
