Matteo Marangoni

Born in Florence, Italy, to Maria Augusta Malvisi and her physics-teacher husband Carlo Marangoni, he took his secondary school diploma in 1896 but did not continue with his studies straight away, instead moving to London to indulge his passion for music.

There he performed as a pianist and composed short pieces for voice and piano – Barcarola in 1897, Serenata in 1900, Le pastorelle montanine di Franco Sacchetti in 1901, Tre canti di Giacomo Leopardi in 1902 and Gavotta, also in 1902.

He then moved to Paris and back to London as well as travelling in Germany, becoming interested in the figurative arts.

On his second return to Italy in 1909 he took an art history course in Bologna and in 1910 married Drusilla Tanzi, with whom he had a son, Andrea.

In 1953 he published Capire la musica (How to understand music), spending his final years in Pisa, where he also died and where a street is named after him.