by Marta Leung Kwing Chung
Claudio Capponi, class of 1956, from Castelfidardo in the Marche region of Italy, is a piano tuner and repairer of electronic musical instruments.The custodian of an important history of Italian craftsmanship, that of Farfisa, he is the holder of the largest collection of instruments produced by it. The Farfisa firm was founded in 1946 through the merger of three craft firms in the Marche region, those of Paolo Settimio Soprani of Castelfidardo, Fratelli Scandalli of Camerano and Frontalini of Numana. Until 1988 it was the largest musical instrument company in Europe: initially dedicated to making accordions, in 1956 it introduced into its production the electric organs that have made it world famous, as well as record players, acoustic pianos and stereophonic equipment. Claudio Capponi’s collection will be available to visitors at Cremona Musica International Exhibitions and Festival, with working instruments ready to come to life in the hands of the curious and enthusiasts.
How did your collection come about and what does it represent to you?
It is an idea that has fascinated me since my teens, when I started working for CRB Elettronica, another music company in the Marche region of Italy. To this day I believe I am the world’s largest collector of Farfisa instruments. Preserving, preserving and divulging the history of this company is a joy, but also a great responsibility: the Farfisa Cultural Association [of which Capponi is president, ed.] is responsible for recovering and restoring the instruments, trying to respect their originality.
Tell us about the collection: what instruments does it includeand which ones have the most historical and artistic relevance?
We find the electric organs of the Fast and Compact series (for which a special factory was built), the Clavoline of 1955, the first synthesizer produced by Farfisa to a French design-and in all probability also the first in the world. Among the most historically and economically notable pieces I can mention the Policrome, a keyboard that finds its origins in the Pergamon model and represents the first instrument in which the synthesization of human choruses is included: only 300 pieces were produced worldwide and to this day it is rare to find working ones. Elton John, Genesis, Led Zeppelin, The Doors, Domenico Modugno, Gianni Morandi, Rita Pavone are some of the great musicians who have played Farfisa instruments…we have many photos to testify to that! But the most famous is undoubtedly Compact 2, played by Richard Wright during Pink Floyd’s very famous live show in Pompeii in 1971.
What, then, awaits us at Cremona Musica?
I will bring working instruments-among them certainly those from the Compact and Fast series-so that the public and enthusiasts can also try them out and play them. I am very happy to return to Cremona Musica, both as a collector and as a tuner: it is a familiar environment where I meet friends, colleagues and lots of music… in short, my life!
In cooperation with TGmusic.it
