Description

MARIO BRAGGIOTTI (FLORENCE, ITALY NOVEMBER 29, 1905 – WEST PALM BEACH, FLORIDA, USA MAY 18, 1996)

Mario Braggiotti was a United States pianist, composer and raconteur. His career was launched by George Gershwin, who became his friend and mentor. Braggiotti was born in Florence, Italy; his father was an Italian tenor, Isidore Braggiotti, born in Smyrna, Turkey; his mother was an American mezzo-soprano from Boston. His musical abilities were evident early. As a child, nicknamed “Tunti,” he would return from attending an opera, sit at the piano, and recreate by ear the arias he had just heard performed. He was the fourth of eight children. One sister, Francesca, became the wife of Ambassador John Davis Lodge, another sister, Gloria, married artist Emlen Etting and was for decades a leading socialite in Philadelphia as well as a published author. After Mario’s mother died in 1919, the Braggiotti family returned to Boston. Mario attended The New England Conservatory in Boston then at 17 entered the Paris Conservatoire and the summer Fontainebleau Music School outside Paris. He studied piano with Alfred Cortot and Isidor Philipp and composition with Nadia Boulanger. While in Paris, Braggiotti teamed up with pianist Jacques Fray to become the duo piano team, Fray and Braggiotti. Mario arranged all the music for the fledgling duo to perform, and they began playing at the Left Bank club “Boeuf sur le Toit”. When George Gershwin came to Paris to compose An American in Paris, the young men introduced themselves to their idol, who immediately put them to work trying out the famous taxi horns he was writing into that composition. In 1928 Gershwin helped launch their careers by hiring them to play in his London production of Funny Face with Fred and Adele Astaire. Mario became a good friend of Gershwin and Braggiotti introduced the Rhapsody in Blue, both with orchestra and in its solo version, in various parts of Europe. The Rhapsody became his signature piece in all his performances. In 1929 Fray and Braggiotti came to New York, touring and making guest appearances on radio. Braggiotti was the first to combine both classical and popular music on the same program. The team became hugely popular and was billed as “The First Team — the Last Word.” They debuted at Carnegie Hall, played in New York’s Town Hall and subsequently were featured on a tour with Maurice Chevalier. In the 1930s the duo became a household name when hired by William Paley. Fray and Braggiotti performed three nights a week on CBS’s nationally broadcast Kraft Music Hall, and Radio City Music Hall. The team toured extensively throughout the US in those years, appearing at the Hollywood Bowl and at the White House, among other notable venues. When World War II broke out, Braggiotti, an American citizen despite his Italian birth, enlisted in the US Army and was put in the Psychological Warfare Branch of the Office of War Information. As the Allies began their campaign in Casablanca and moved up through the Italian peninsula, Braggiotti took charge of the local and national radio stations and began broadcasting American music and information. After the war, Braggiotti returned to the US and developed a one-man show that blended comedy and music.  In the 1950s Braggiotti wrote his Gettysburg Cantata, based on Lincoln’s speech and scored for baritone solo, chorus, and orchestra. It premiered at Carnegie Hall with Izler Solomon conducting and Lawrence Winters as soloist. In 1963 Braggiotti took over the radio program To France with Music (previously Listening with Jacques Fray) on New York’s WQXR after the death of Mr. Fray, its original host. Braggiotti continued to compose. His body of work over the subsequent years includes a children’s musical, Lisa, with Joan Javits, and a musical comedy based on his sister Gloria Braggiotti Etting’s family memoir, Born in a Crowd. In 1972 Braggiotti began collaborating with the pianist Susan Snodgrass Andis. Together they wrote the musical I Danced with a Tree and revised Born in a Crowd. Braggiotti and Andis married and formed a new duo-piano team. Together they founded the Braggiotti Music School based in Tuscany. Their collaboration ended with his death on May 18, 1996.

TRACKLIST

1. At a little church affair (Silver-Sherman-Lewis) with his orchestra Columbia 3101-D CO18231
2. Bolero (Ravel) with Jacques Fray Victor 24563-A
3. Dark eyes with Jacques Fray Decca 336B
4. Don’t mention love to me from In Person (Fields-Levant) with his orchestra Columbia 3102-D CO18230
5. Don’t Hold Everything Hold everything (De Sylva-Brown-Henderson) with Jacques Fray HMV B3057 2-8011
6. I’m the echo You’re the song that I sing (Fields-Kern) from I dream too much with his orchestra Columbia 3102-D CO 18229
7. It’s dangerous to love like this (Seymour-Lawnhurst) with his orchestra Columbia 3101-D CO 18232
8. L’Isle Joyeuse-Part 1 (Joyous Isle) (Debussy) with Jacques Fray Decca 23087 A 64857
9. L’Isle Joyeus-Concluded (Joyous Isle) (Debussy) with Jacques Fray Decca 23087 B 64858A
10. Manhattan Serenade (Alter) with Jacques Fray Decca 336A
11. Reverie (Debussy) with Jacques Fray Decca 23085 A 64853
12. Selections from Roberta When your heart’s On fire smoke get’s in your eyes, Let’s begin (Harbach-Kern) with Jacques Fray Victor 24578-A
13. Sweet is the word (Robin-Rainger) with his orchestra Master MA104
14. S’Wonderful Funny Face-Medley (Gershwin) with Jacques Fray HMV K-5600
15. S’Wonderful My one and only (Gershwin) with Jacques Fray Master 2875 A 66607B
16. The trouble with me is you from Withlove and kisses (Tomlin-Poe) with his orchestra Master MA104
17. Variations on Who’s afraid of the big bad wolf (Frank E. Churchill-Ann Ronell) with Jacques Fray Victor 24563-B
18. Who Cares-Winter (Gershwin) with Jacques Fray Master 2875 B 66053A
19. Why Not from Columbia film Social Register (Heyman-con Conrad) with Jacques Fray Victor 24578-B
20. You’re the cream in my coffee Hold everything (De Sylva-Brown-Henderson) with Jacques Fray HMV B3057 2-8010