Antonio Tusa

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Antonio Tusa (* 26 April 1900 in Zurich; † 21 January 1982 in Winterthur) was a Swiss cellist and composer.

Biographie

Tusa began playing the cello at the age of 12 and became a pupil of Joachim Stutschewsky from 1914. From 1918 he studied cello in Fritz Reitz's class at the Zurich Conservatory and had theory and composition lessons with Lothar Kempter . After graduating, he took private lessons with Hugo Becker and Emanuel Feuermann. In 1926 Tusa took up a position as second cellist in the Winterthur City Orchestra and in 1927 was elected solo cellist of the Winterthur City Orchestra and of the Winterthur String Quartet. He occupied these positions for 46 years. From 1938 to 1967 he also was a member of the Swiss Festival Orchestra Lucerne and played in the Orchestra della Svizzera italiana in 1977/78. Tusa was a sought-after soloist and chamber musician. On 13 April 1934 he played the cello solo part in Winterthur's symphonic poem Don Quixote under the direction of Richard Strauss. Pablo Casals expressed himself as follows about Tusa: "Il est diablement doué" (He is devilishly talented). The compositional estate of Antonio Tusa can be found in the Winterthur Collection of the Winterthur Libraries as well as in the collections of the Music Department of the Zurich Central Library.

Compositions (selection)

Cello and Orchestra

• AVE MARIA for cello solo and small orchestra (1930)
• Ballade on BACH for cello and orchestra (1960)
• BERCEUSE in E Major for cello solo and small orchestra (1929)

Cello and piano

• 7 VARIATIONEN on a own theme for cello und piano (1932)

Cello and organ

• Aria nello stile religioso, op. 4 for cello and organ or Piano
• Geistliches Lied in c-Moll for cello and organ or Piano (1965); 'in memoriam John F. Kennedy'

Chamber music

Duo

• Ballata espagnola, Duo for 2 cellos (1981)

Quintet

• SCHERZO for string quintet for 2 violins, viola and 2 cellos (1970)

Arrangements

• David Popper: Polonaise op. 17 for cello and piano; orchestrated for solo cello and large orchestra (1956)
• Franz Schubert: Arpeggione-Sonata for cello and piano; orchestrated for solo cello and chamber orchestra; dedicated to Hermann Scherchen (1935)

Weblinks

• compositions by Antonio Tusa on IMSLP
• recordings of Antonio Tusa on Youtube
• recodrings of Antonio Tusa in the Swiss National Sound Archives
• Tusa Antonio, Cellist, Composer, 1900-1982 (German)
• 13. Juli 2018 (SRF Klassiktelefon): 13:38 Choral Melody by ANTONIO TUSA
• 11. August 2014 (Der Landbote): Antonio Tusa's passion for anthems (German)

References

This article "Antonio Tusa" is from Wikipedia. The list of its authors can be seen in its historical and/or the page Edithistory:Antonio Tusa. Articles copied from Draft Namespace on Wikipedia could be seen on the Draft Namespace of Wikipedia and not main one.

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