- d. May 18, 1996) was a pianist, composer and raconteur. His career was launched by George Gershwin

George Gershwin

George Gershwin was an American composer and pianist. Gershwin's compositions spanned both popular and classical genres, and his most popular melodies are widely known...

, who became his friend and mentor.

Early history

Braggiotti was the fourth of eight children born to Boston

Boston

Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...

ian expatriates. 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.

After Mario's mother died in 1919, the Braggiotti family returned to Boston. Mario attended St. George's School

St. George's School, Newport

St. George's School is a private, Episcopal, coeducational boarding school in Middletown, Rhode Island, USA, just east of the city of Newport. The school was founded in 1896 by the Rev. John Byron Diman, a member of a prominent Rhode Island family. It sits on a hill overlooking the Atlantic Ocean...

 in Newport, Rhode Island

Newport, Rhode Island

Newport is a city on Aquidneck Island in Newport County, Rhode Island, United States, about south of Providence. Known as a New England summer resort and for the famous Newport Mansions, it is the home of Salve Regina University and Naval Station Newport which houses the United States Naval War...

, then attended the Paris Conservatoire

Conservatoire de Paris

The Conservatoire de Paris is a college of music and dance founded in 1795, now situated in the avenue Jean Jaurès in the 19th arrondissement of Paris, France...

 and the summer Fontainebleau Music School

Fontainebleau Schools

The Fontainebleau Schools started in 1921 with the involvement of the United States in the First World War. At the instigation of General Pershing—who wished to improve the quality of US military band music—Walter Damrosch, then conductor of the New York Philharmonic, was asked to organize a...

 outside Paris

Paris

Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

. He studied piano with Alfred Cortot

Alfred Cortot

Alfred Denis Cortot was a Franco-Swiss pianist and conductor. He is one of the most renowned 20th-century classical musicians, especially valued for his poetic insight in Romantic period piano works, particularly those of Chopin and Schumann.-Early life and education:Born in Nyon, Vaud, in the...

 and Isidor Philippe and composition with Nadia Boulanger

Nadia Boulanger

Nadia Boulanger was a French composer, conductor and teacher who taught many composers and performers of the 20th century.From a musical family, she achieved early honours as a student at the Paris Conservatoire, but believing that her talent as a composer was inferior to that of her younger...

.

Friendship with George Gershwin

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

An American in Paris

An American in Paris is a symphonic tone poem by the American composer George Gershwin, written in 1928. Inspired by the time Gershwin had spent in Paris, it evokes the sights and energy of the French capital in the 1920s. It is one of Gershwin's best-known compositions.Gershwin composed the piece...

, 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

Funny Face (musical)

Funny Face is a 1927 musical composed by George Gershwin, with lyrics by Ira Gershwin, and book by Fred Thompson and Paul Gerard Smith.Originally called Smarty, it starred Fred Astaire and his sister Adele Astaire. It opened in Philadelphia to poor reviews, and amidst major re-writes,...

with Fred

Fred Astaire

Fred Astaire was an American film and Broadway stage dancer, choreographer, singer and actor. His stage and subsequent film career spanned a total of 76 years, during which he made 31 musical films. He was named the fifth Greatest Male Star of All Time by the American Film Institute...

 and Adele Astaire

Adele Astaire

Lady Charles Cavendish , better known as Adele Astaire, was an American dancer and entertainer. She was Fred Astaire's elder sister. Her birthdate was often given as 1897 or 1898, but the 1900 U.S...

.

Mario became a good friend of Gershwin, who once said, "Mario plays my music the way it should be played." Later Braggiotti introduced the Rhapsody in Blue

Rhapsody in Blue

Rhapsody in Blue is a musical composition by George Gershwin for solo piano and jazz band written in 1924, which combines elements of classical music with jazz-influenced effects....

, both with orchestra and in its solo version, in various parts of Europe. The Rhapsody became his signature piece in all his performances.

Pre-war appearances

In 1929 Fray and Braggiotti came to New York

New York City

New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

, 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

Carnegie Hall

Carnegie Hall is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, United States, located at 881 Seventh Avenue, occupying the east stretch of Seventh Avenue between West 56th Street and West 57th Street, two blocks south of Central Park....

, played in New York's Town Hall

The Town Hall

The Town Hall is a performance space, located at 123 West 43rd Street, between Sixth Avenue and Broadway, in New York City. It seats approximately 1,500 people.-History:...

 and subsequently were featured on a tour with Maurice Chevalier

Maurice Chevalier

Maurice Auguste Chevalier was a French actor, singer, entertainer and a noted Sprechgesang performer. He is perhaps best known for his signature songs, including Louise, Mimi, Valentine, and Thank Heaven for Little Girls and for his films including The Love Parade and The Big Pond...

.

In the 1930s the duo became a household name when hired by William Paley

William Paley

William Paley was a British Christian apologist, philosopher, and utilitarian. He is best known for his exposition of the teleological argument for the existence of God in his work Natural Theology, which made use of the watchmaker analogy .-Life:Paley was Born in Peterborough, England, and was...

. Fray and Braggiotti performed three nights a week on CBS's nationally broadcast Kraft Music Hall

Kraft Music Hall

The Kraft Music Hall was a popular variety program, featuring top show business entertainers, which aired on NBC radio and television from 1933 to 1971....

, and Radio City Music Hall

Radio City Music Hall

Radio City Music Hall is an entertainment venue located in New York City's Rockefeller Center. Its nickname is the Showplace of the Nation, and it was for a time the leading tourist destination in the city...

. The team toured extensively throughout the US in those years, appearing at the Hollywood Bowl

Hollywood Bowl

The Hollywood Bowl is a modern amphitheater in the Hollywood area of Los Angeles, California, United States that is used primarily for music performances...

 and at the White House

White House

The White House is the official residence and principal workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., the house was designed by Irish-born James Hoban, and built between 1792 and 1800 of white-painted Aquia sandstone in the Neoclassical...

, among other notable venues.

World War II service

When World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

 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

Allies of World War II

The Allies of World War II were the countries that opposed the Axis powers during the Second World War . Former Axis states contributing to the Allied victory are not considered Allied states...

 began their campaign in Casablanca

Casablanca

Casablanca is a city in western Morocco, located on the Atlantic Ocean. It is the capital of the Grand Casablanca region.Casablanca is Morocco's largest city as well as its chief port. It is also the biggest city in the Maghreb. The 2004 census recorded a population of 2,949,805 in the prefecture...

 and moved up through the Italian peninsula, Braggiotti took charge of the local and national radio stations and began broadcasting American music and information.

Post-war career

After the war, Braggiotti returned to the US and developed a one-man show that blended comedy and music. He wrote and performed his "Variations on the Theme 'Yankee Doodle

Yankee Doodle

"Yankee Doodle" is a well-known Anglo-American song, the origin of which dates back to the Seven Years' War. It is often sung patriotically in the United States today and is the state anthem of Connecticut...

'" in the styles of various classical composers, which were published by Schirmer. Continuing to include both classical and popular music on his programs, he intermingled the piano pieces with humorous anecdotes. He also worked his talent for improvisation into his program by taking three random notes from the audience and creating a composition around them. During this period, he toured throughout Western Europe and South America as well as the US.

In the 1950s Braggiotti wrote his Gettysburg Cantata, based on Lincoln

Abraham Lincoln

Abraham Lincoln was the 16th President of the United States, serving from March 1861 until his assassination in April 1865. He successfully led his country through a great constitutional, military and moral crisis – the American Civil War – preserving the Union, while ending slavery, and...

's speech

Gettysburg Address

The Gettysburg Address is a speech by U.S. President Abraham Lincoln and is one of the most well-known speeches in United States history. It was delivered by Lincoln during the American Civil War, on the afternoon of Thursday, November 19, 1863, at the dedication of the Soldiers' National Cemetery...

 and scored for baritone solo, chorus, and orchestra. It premiered at Carnegie Hall with Izler Solomon

Izler Solomon

Izler Solomon was an American orchestra conductor, active mostly in the Midwest....

 conducting and Lawrence Winters

Lawrence Winters

Lawrence Winters , bass-baritone, was an African American opera singer who had an active international career from the mid 1940s through the mid 1960s. He was part of the first generation of black opera singers to achieve wide success and is viewed as part of an instrumental group of performers who...

 as soloist. During this period Braggiotti was chosen by philanthropist Frank Hale to compose a ballet, "The Princess," which debuted in Palm Beach

Palm Beach, Florida

The Town of Palm Beach is an incorporated town in Palm Beach County, Florida, United States. The Intracoastal Waterway separates it from the neighboring cities of West Palm Beach and Lake Worth...

 and opened subsequently in London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

.

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.

Later life and death

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.

Braggiotti and Andis married and formed a new duo-piano team. He wrote more of his witty "Variations on 'Yankee Doodle'", including two vocals for which his wife wrote the lyrics. He did an orchestral reduction of his Gettysburg Cantata using two pianos, percussion, and bass along with the soloist and chorus. With his wife, Braggiotti composed and arranged more music for duo-pianos, and the team performed his works internationally. Together they founded the Braggiotti Music School based in Tuscany

Tuscany

Tuscany is a region in Italy. It has an area of about 23,000 square kilometres and a population of about 3.75 million inhabitants. The regional capital is Florence ....

. Their collaboration ended with his death on May 18, 1996.

Honors and awards

Among honors bestowed upon Braggiotti were a commendation from the City of Florence for his great Gershwin interpretations, honors from the Sons of Italy, and an induction into the Big Band Hall of Fame. He was a member of ASCAP.

Personal life

Braggiotti was linked romantically with socialites, actresses, and European noblewomen. His wit, talent, and charm made him popular, and he kept up his friendships in all parts of the world with his voluminous letter-writing. He married three times, first in 1939 to Francise (Baby) Clow of Chicago, then in 1952 to Edwina Feigenspan Osborne of New York. Both of those marriages ended in divorce.

Susan Braggiotti continues her career as a pianist while overseeing their collection of musical scores. She arranged for Braggiotti's works to be housed in the International Piano Archives at the University of Maryland.

Braggiotti was a gourmet cook, often preparing Tuscan specialties at lively dinner parties. He studied Buddhism

Buddhism

Buddhism is a religion and philosophy encompassing a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices, largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha . The Buddha lived and taught in the northeastern Indian subcontinent some time between the 6th and 4th...

, believed in reincarnation

Reincarnation

Reincarnation best describes the concept where the soul or spirit, after the death of the body, is believed to return to live in a new human body, or, in some traditions, either as a human being, animal or plant...

, and was health-conscious throughout his life. Many of his ideas were decades ahead of their time.

Further reading

• DeSantis, Florence Stevenson. Gershwin. Treves Publishing, 1987, pp. 52–53. ISBN 0-918367 18-2.
• Duke, Vernon. Passport to Paris. Boston: Little, Brown and Co., 1955. LCCN: 5400-8311
• Jablonski, Edward. Gershwin, a Biography. Doubleday, 1987, pp. 148, 158-59, 169, 171. ISBN 0-385-19431-5
• Kimball, Robert and Alfred Simon. The Gershwins. Atheneum, 1973, pp. 95–96. ISBN 0-689-10569-X
• Sanger, Elliott M. Rebel in Radio, The Story of WQXR. Hastings House, 1973, pp. 123–124. ISBN 0-8038-6329-8.