VALABREGA, CESARE

VALABREGA, CESARE (1898–1965), Italian pianist, critic, and musicologist. Born in Pesaro, Valabrega studied piano and composition in Bologna. He took a diploma in piano at Pesaro conservatory (1916) and an arts degree at Bologna University. He toured as a concert pianist and critic in Italy and abroad and gave lecture recitals throughout his life. He founded in 1950 the Associazione Romana dei Concerti Storici and became its artistic director in 1953. He taught the history of music at Naples Conservatory (1953) and the University of Perugia (from 1954); he was head of music for the Associazione Nazionale per l'Educatione Artistica at Rome University. He published Schumann arte e natura (1934, 3/1956), Il clavicembalista Domenico Scarlatti (1937, 2/1957), and Johann Sebastian Bach (1950), and he edited in 1959–63 the historical anthology of 40 long-playing records, Storia della Musica Italiana, with explanatory booklet, sponsored by the Italian government, the International Council for Music, and UNESCO. He was awarded a silver medal by the government for his contribution to Italian music. -BIBLIOGRAPHY: Grove Music Online. (Amnon Shiloah (2nd ed.)