Founded in 1977
The Valentino Bucchi Foundation, recognized by decree of the President of the Republic of April 17th 1990, upon proposal of the Minister for Cultural Heritage, constitutes a direct emanation of the Valentino Bucchi Musical Association, founded in 1977, shortly after the death in Rome of the Florentine composer (1916-1976) to whom it is dedicated.
Since 1978, first the Association,followed by the Foundation, has annually organized the Valentino Bucchi Prize in Rome, an international performance and composition competition for young musicians. It was the only active prize in Rome run by the World Federation of International Competitions in Geneva (UNESCO) from 1985 to 2000.
The Prize — 36 years, 35 editions to date — (the 35th edition was held in 2012) is linked to a series of initiatives in the fields of art, culture, information, publishing, education, and research, with particular reference, also due to its statutory purposes, to the 20th and 21st centuries. The conferences promoted are often linked to current international issues, such as publishing, copyright, bureaucracy, reforms in culture and education, and teaching in the field of Higher Education in Art and Music.
What we do
Our research focuses not only on musical art from the 20th century to the present day, but also on all forms of contemporary artistic expression and all humanistic cultural disciplines.
The Foundation places particular emphasis on publishing, as a prerequisite for enriching its private library, available to scholars for consultation, which is particularly rich in 20th-century works. To further enhance its library, it seeks the help of the countries with which it is connected to increase its archival and bibliographic collection with donations of works by foreign authors or Italian authors living abroad. The recovered material frequently flows into the Foundation's publications, all of which are "sold" today at the symbolic price of one cent, or in the past one lira in paper money, and distributed to academies, universities, conservatories, research centers, and so on. In a very different era, the Foundation has chosen to prioritize the social value of culture and its dissemination rather than its commercialization.
This approach also reflects our ongoing volunteer work in the cultural sector, which allows us to pursue a policy of expansion with minimal expenditure. Our main publishing series are those dedicated to music: 1) the statutory publication of Valentino Bucchi's complete works (over forty volumes have been published); 2) the publication of the works that have won first prize in international composition competitions, with a catalog of approximately 50 titles planned for 2013.
Francesco Telli
President of the
Valentino Bucchi Foundation