OUR SHOP
The Bongiovanni Store has specialized in classical music since it first opened for business in the centre of Bologna in 1905. Today we stock a huge range of CDs and DVDs on labels from all over the world and in all genres – opera, orchestral, chamber, medieval, renaissance, baroque and modern. And a large number of music scores, tutors, magazines and books on music are also available from us.
BONGIOVANNI MUSICA
Via Ugo Bassi 31/f
Bologna, Emilia-Romagna
Opening times:
Mon - Sat 10.00-13.30 / 15.30-19.30
THE BONGIOVANNI LABEL
Bongiovanni’s first recording was a live concert by soprano Mirella Freni which won the Italian Record Critics’ Prize in 1975. Until that time, live opera recordings had been strictly unofficial affairs ignored by the majors: if they have become standard among record companies today, whether multinationals or independents, it is in no small measure due to the trailblazing work of Bongiovanni Records.
That first Bongiovanni recording was followed by many more featuring recitals by world-famous opera singers such as Renato Bruson, Marilyn Horne, Sesto Bruscantini, Martine Dupuy, Carlo Bergonzi, Piero Cappuccilli, Mariella Devia and Giuseppe Giacomini. The Bongiovanni catalogue includes rare operas by both celebrated and less familiar composers such as Donizetti, Catalani, Cimarosa, Mercadante, Pergolesi, Bizet, Mascagni and Paisiello. And now those rare operas are also available on Bongiovanni’s own line of DVDs.
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BONGIOVANNI - est. 1905
It was presumably the year 1886 when the twenty-year-old Francesco Bongiovanni left San Piero Patti, a small town nestled in the Messina mountains, and went to carry out his military service in Bologna. He was accompanied by a remarkable spirit of enterprise and a deep love for music. In his suitcase: the flute he used to play in the village band. He would later play that flute in the Bersaglieri regiment and occasionally, under the direction of no less than Arturo Toscanini. Most likely, Francesco did not know that he would never return to Sicily again, and he certainly did not know that his flute would be jealously guarded by his children, his grandson, his great grandson and the next generation...
THEN & NOW
TESTIMONIALS
To my friend Bongiovanni without whose name the musical story of Bologna won’t be written.
-Alfredo Casella (1938)
