"Wolf-Ferrari's Piano Quintet is a solid work. The first movement, Tranquillo ed espressivo, makes a deep impression by virtue of its seriousness. The Canzona adagio, which follows, is rather pleasing, while the fiery third movement, Capriccio, is very effective--its middle section providing an excellent contrast to the main part. The big finale, Sostenuto molto - Allegro moderato, is superb."
—this was the opinion of the famous chamber music critic Wilhelm Altmann, writing in his Guide to Piano Quintets.
Born in Venice, Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari (1876-1948) was the son of a German father and an Italian mother. Throughout his life, he felt torn between the two cultures, uniting in himself the deep-felt German seriousness of purpose with sunny, Italian bel canto melody. His father was a painter, and initially Ermanno wanted to follow in his footsteps. However, after studying painting in Rome and Munich, he enrolled in the Royal Conservatory there and studied composition with Joseph Rheinberger. He spent the rest of his life between Munich and Venice, never entirely satisfied in either place. This tension was, however, an important source of creativity for him. Wolf-Ferrari enjoyed his greatest success while still rather young, winning international fame for several of his operas between 1900 and the First World War. He served as Choral Director in Milan and later became the director of the Marcello Music Academy in Venice and taught at the Mozarteum in Salzburg. The First World War created an emotional crisis in that his "two fatherlands" were fighting on opposite sides. He chose to live in neutral Switzerland for the duration.
Though mainly known for his operas, he was quite fond of chamber music and wrote a fair amount, including two piano trios, a string quartet, a string quintet, and several other works. The Piano Quintet dates from 1900, when he was at the height of his first surge of creativity.
