Costantino De Crescenzo – Prima Carezza – spartito, sheet music, Noten, partitura

Costantino De Crescenzo – Prima Carezza – spartito, sheet music, Noten, partitura, partition #smlpdf

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Here’s an image that appears connected with Costantino De Crescenzo, likely showing an autograph of his famous composition Prima carezza—a glimpse into his musical legacy captured in manuscript.

Who Was Costantino De Crescenzo?

Early Life and Education

• Born in Naples on 24 August 1847 to parents Gaetano and Luisa Riccardi. (Treccani)
• Began his musical training early at the Conservatorio San Pietro a Maiella under director Saverio Mercadante. He honed his piano technique with F. Valente and studied composition with C. Conti, who later assisted the increasingly blind Mercadante. (Treccani, Viquipèdia)

Career Highlights

• In 1868, he became orchestra director at the Teatro Zizinia in Alexandria, Egypt, though his tenure was short. He returned to Naples in 1869, where he earned acclaim as a concert pianist. (Treccani, Viquipèdia)
• In 1870, encouraged by the Princess of Galitzine, he moved to Moscow, where he remained for about eight years.
  • There he performed alongside Nikolay Rubinstein and even earned recognition from Tsar Alexander II.
  • He also taught advanced piano at the Imperial College of St. Nicholas and the Evenius Institute, and met his future wife, Caterina Voljensky, with whom he had several children. (Treccani, Viquipèdia)

Later Life in Italy

• De Crescenzo returned to Naples in 1878, choosing family over a touring life to care for his elderly mother.
• He focused on teaching and composing up until his death on 29 June 1911. (Treccani, Viquipèdia)

Compositions and Style

• A prolific creator, he composed many short, lyrical piano pieces—serenades, nocturnes, “romances without words,” barcaroles, capriccios—often intended as accessible, melodic works useful in teaching. (Treccani, Viquipèdia)
• Among his most celebrated works is “Prima carezza” (First Caress), which he arranged for small orchestra and piano four-hands. Other notable titles include Retour des hirondelles, Fine d’un sogno, Farfalletta gentile, Nel golfo di Napoli, Pecché m’o’ffaje, Desiderio, Cielo d’argento, and many more. Most were published by leading Italian publishers such as Ricordi, Cottrau, Maddaloni, Izzo, Schmidl, Perrone. (Treccani)
• He also created vocal pieces, including refined “romanze da salotto”, and engaged with the Neapolitan song tradition. Additionally, he produced transcriptions and variations—e.g., a piano four-hand version of Thalberg’s transcription of Mendelssohn’s “Scherzo” from A Midsummer Night’s Dream, plus adaptations from Verdi’s Aida. (Treccani)

Costantino De Crescenzo (1847–1911) was a Neapolitan pianist and composer of the late Romantic era. After early training in Naples and a brief career in Egypt, he flourished in Russia—both as an admired performer and pedagogue. Upon returning home, he devoted himself to composing and teaching. His enduring legacy rests in his charming, lyrical piano works, especially “Prima carezza,” which remain valued examples of accessible Romantic salon music bridging the grand opera tradition with popular Neapolitan melodic forms.

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