Born in Padova, Guido Alberto Fano, after studying piano in his own city with Cesare Pollini, moved to Bologna where, from 1894 to 1896, was student at Liceo Musicale under the guide of Cesare Dell’Olio (harmony, counterpoint and fugue) and of Luigi Torchi (history and music aesthetics).  He also attended in 1897 many courses of high composition with the director of the prestigious institute, Giuseppe Martucci.  In the same year  he graduated.  Besides he was also student of Martucci, famous piano player and composer,  for orchestra conduction and piano, field in which he obtained in 1899 the teaching post in the same Liceo. In 1905 became director of the Conservatory in Parma, assignment that he also had in Naples (1912) and in Palermo (1916) and in 1922 became teacher of piano at the Conservatory in Milan. Hebrew of origin,  after the racial discriminations he was forced to leave teaching and take it back at the end of the war. In his wide component corpus there are two theatrical pieces, works for orchestra, for soloist instrument and orchestra, for voice and orchestra, for piano and orchestra and also chamber music, for piano solo, opera, sacred and organ music. During his stay  in Bologna, Fano shared with Ottorino Respighi, younger and disciple of the same teachers, the passion for the rediscover of Italian ancient music, result of the teaching by Luigi Torchi, which philological feeling was matured during his studies attended in Regensburg under the guide of Franz Xaver Haberl.  In this repertoire is clear the direction towards classic models: even the organ production presents less innovation in comparison with the same production of Marco Enrico Bossi, Oreste Ravanello and Ulisse Matthey.

1-2. The Prelude and the Intermezzo form with the Fantasia a triptych of organ compositions printed in Padova in 1959 by Zanibon. Probably school works of 1897, the first two pieces were in origin conceived as a Prelude and a Fugue. The Prelude is inspired by a bass by Camillo De Nardis, while the theme of the Fugue is that of the Fantasia and Fugue in C minor BWV 537 By Johann Sebastian Bach. Prelude, Intermezzo and Fantasia were written for piano by Fano in 1953.

3-4. The Religious March and the Toccata for the Elevation were published in 1960 in Padova by Zanibon in two collections of pieces for organ or harmonium, supervised by Mario Trevisiol and titled Marce Religiose and Hora Mystica. Both pieces reveal the liturgical destination expressed in shapes where the use of the pedal is leaved to the judgment of the interpreter. Deeply interesting is the Toccata for the Elevation characterized by a deep expressivity.

5. It is not known the composition date of the wide Fantasia for organ published in Padova in 1959 by Zanibon, even if probably could date back to the end of the 40’s. It is an intense dramatic page and it is divided in three different sections. The first is characterized by rhythmic impulses and dissonances, while the second with an harmonization like a melody-choral, which melancholy reflects the caption placed by the author: O Signore, sovvieni al dolor mio. The third part, characterized by a complex performance, develops this theme in a florilegium of melodic and rhythmic decorations.

6. The Gradual is an elegant harmonization of the same Gregorian melody, realized by Fano with moderation in respect of the original and of the prosody.

Christ became obedient for us unto death, even to the death,

death on the cross.

Verse: Therefore God

exalted Him and gave Him

a name 
which is above all names.

7. The Ave Maria for three voices, printed in Bologna in 1896 by Achille Tedeschi, shown loyalty to Cecilian Ideals following a composure models and a working easy access proposed by the reform movement of sacred music. The piece is dedicated to Giovanni Tebaldini, famous composer among the renewal of liturgical and organ  music, who was from 1895 to 1897 Kappelmeister at Sant’Antonio da Padova, place of birth of Fano.

8. The text of Lapidabant Staphanum (Acts of the Apostles 7: 58-59) – Responsory of the matins for Santo Stefano (December 26th) – was performed by great masters of polyphony as Giovanni Maria Nanino, Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina, Orfeo Vecchi and Claudio Monteverdi. The same motet by Fano, dated 1896, reflects the excitement of the young musician for the discovery of ancient counterpointed models to which he refers pervading the austere structure of “close and deep feeling”.

As they were stoning Stephen, he prayed:

«Lord Jesus, receive my spirit,

and do not hold this sin against them».

And when he had said this, he slept in the Lord.

9. Even for Crucem Sanctam – Antiphon for the worship of the Cross on the Holy Friday – Fano had famous predecessors in Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina and Michael Haydn. His composition is based on a strict Palestrinian counterpoint in its complex structure for five voices a cappella: only for the words Accintus est potentiam intervenes the organ in order to support the composition that flows in the solemn Alleluja. The piece was written in two different moments: Crucem Sanctam on January 1897 and Alleluja on January 1899.

He bore the Holy Cross,

who broke the power of hell,

He was girded with power,

He rose again the third day.

Halleluja