Chopins reception in Italy up to the First World War

The vast repertoire of contributions focused on reception of Fryderyk Chopin's work and personality in Europe still lacks of an overview on evolution of those from Italian perspective. The article illustrates the reception of Fryderyk Chopin in this country from composer’s lifetime until World War I, as a part of a study aimed to present an outline ranging to the first Italian musicological contributions in the context of international chopinology (1968). The importance of statements by foreign critics - mainly French - is shown. Upon their appearance in Italian press, they served as a starting point for the Italian reflection about Chopin, giving almost prominent place to Polish composer in Italian musical print - both scientific and popular press - as well as in the concert life of the country. The aim of the research is to offer an outline of Chopin's reception in Italy as complete as possible, based on different kind of references, among others: periodical press concerning music, literature and culture in general, monographies and contributions as they appeared in the first Italian musicological journal. The article offers direct contact with some textual sources not published earlier in scholarly literature.