As far from the avant-garde as from verismo, Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari (Venice, 1876-1948) always sought an ideal of timeless beauty, independent of the artistic trends of the moment. He was not, however, a conservative: rather, his poetics consisted in renouncing abstractionism in favor of a naturalness that he believed had been lost in the work of his contemporaries.

While Wolf-Ferrari’s operas continue to be performed in theaters around the world, his instrumental music has long been forgotten...