Editing Pietro Mascagni (section)

===Early life and education===
Mascagni was born on 7 December 1863 in [[Livorno]], [[Tuscany]], the second son of Domenico and Emilia Mascagni. His father owned and operated a bakery. [[Giovanni Targioni-Tozzetti]] ("Nanni") was born the same year in the same city and became Mascagni's lifelong friend and collaborator.

In 1876, at the age of 13, Mascagni began musical studies with Alfredo Soffredini, who founded the ''Instituto Musicale di Livorno'' (later called ''Istituto Cherubini''). Soffredini had just completed his musical studies in [[Milan]]. Also a native of Livorno, Soffredini was a composer, teacher and musical critic. Mascagni started composing rapidly: between 1879 and 1880, he wrote several works: ''Sinfonia in do minore'', ''Prima sinfonia in fa maggiore'', ''Elegia'', ''Kyrie'', ''Gloria'' and ''Ave Maria''.