BOSSI, MARCO ENRICO. – Organist and composer, b. at Salò on 25 Apr. 1861; d. on the steamship on 20 Feb. 1925 while returning from America.
His father Pietro, a skilled organist, gave him his first grounding in the elements of musical art. In 1861 he joined his brother Adolfo in Bologna, where he attended the music lyceum and, in 1873, enrolled at that of Milan. In the autumn of 1878 he took part as pianist and composer in the concerts at the Crystal Palace in London. On his return to Italy he won the competition for organist at Como Cathedral, and in the Gazzetta musicale di Milano he began a series of articles in which he advocated the need for a reform in the study of the organ, pointing out its inferior status in the progress of the reform of sacred music. Through a large number of highly acclaimed organ recitals in Italy and abroad he indicated the path to be followed. In 1890 he took up the chair of organ and harmony at the Naples conservatory; from 1895 to 1902 he directed the music lyceum in Venice, teaching organ and composition; in the same year he succeeded Martucci as director of the music lyceum in Bologna, where he taught advanced composition, founded and directed the P. Martini Choral Society. In 1911 he left the Bologna music lyceum to devote himself exclusively to composition and organ recitals; in 1916 he was appointed director of the S. Cecilia conservatory in Rome, a post he held until 1920.
His activity as an organist was extraordinary and won him high international renown. As a composer
Bosto, Antonio - Autograph letter to Abbot Crescenzi (28 Feb. 1629) - Rome, Biblioteca Vallicelliana, ms. G. 20, fol. 231.
he first essayed the theatre, but soon abandoned that genre to turn to the symphonic, and with various works of grand style he made his worth as a composer known throughout the world. The Canticle of Canticles (Leipzig 1900) and Paradise Lost (Augsburg 1903) rank among his most substantial compositions and met with admirable reception in all their performances. St Joan of Arc (a mystery in the form of a symphonic poem) on verses by L. Orsini in a prologue and three parts was performed in Cologne on 20 Jan. 1914 and repeated in Turin, Berlin, New York, Rome. His organ compositions occupy an important mystical section of the modern repertoire and many of them are frequently included in organ recital programmes: two Sonatas in D and F, two Scherzos in G minor and F, Theme and Variations, Symphonic Study, Pastoral Scenes, Heroic Piece, Legend, Alleluia, Franciscan Moments, etc. For organ teaching he wrote a theoretical-practical method in collaboration with G. Tebaldini. For organ and orchestra he composed Concerto in A minor, Concert Piece, Symphonic Fantasy, etc. He also wrote many compositions for liturgical use: Masses, motets, hymns, etc., which made a notable contribution to the progress of the reform of sacred music.