Danza del XVII Secolo (17th Century Dance) by Gilda Ruta

Countess Gilda Ruta Cagnazzi was born in Naples, Italy in 1853. She was the eldest of eight children born to an English singer, Emilia Sutton and Michele Ruta, composer and director of the Naples Conservatory.

Ruta studied with her parents, Saverino Mercadente and Franz Lizst. She made her piano debut performing a Beethoven piano concerto.

In 1877, Ruta retired from public concert life and married Raffaeli Cagnazzi, an engineer. The couple had two children, Tomasso and Anna. Unfortunately, Raffaeli suffered an untimely death in 1881 causing Ruta to resume her musical activities, teaching, performing and composing. Ruta wrote nearly 130 works including numerous piano compositions, art songs, chamber and orchestral music.

In 1893, the Steinway company invited Ruta to conduct a promotional tour through North America. The pianist moved to New York and founded the Manhattan Academy with the help of her two children, Tomasso and Anna, violinist and pianist respectively. Her final years were dedicated to teaching piano and composition. Ruta died in Manhattan in 1932 of a cerebral hemorrhage at the age of 79.

Danza del XVII Secolo per pianoforte was published in 1884 by Proprietà Ricordi. The score was digitized from an original score at the University of Michigan and is public domain available through the HathiTrust Digital Library. All fingerings are editorial.