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Alfredo Casella (25 July 1883 – 5 March 1947) was an Italian composer, pianist and conductor. Casella was born in Turin, the son of Maria (née Uordino) and Carlo Casella.[1] His family included many musicians; his grandfather, a friend of Paganini's, was first cello in the San Carlo Theatre in Lisbon and eventually was soloist in the Royal Chapel in Turin. Alfredo's father Carlo Casella was also a professional cellist, as were Carlo's brothers Cesare and Gioacchino; his mother was a pianist, and gave the boy his first music lessons.

Alfredo entered the Conservatoire de Paris in 1896 to study piano under Louis Diémer and composition under Gabriel Fauré; in these classes, George Enescu and Maurice Ravel were among his fellow students. During his Parisian period, Claude Debussy, Igor Stravinsky, and Manuel de Falla were acquaintances, and he was in contact with Ferruccio Busoni, Gustav Mahler, and Richard Strauss as well.