Alfredo Piatti was born in Bergamo, the son of a violinist, Antonio Piatti, leader of the Bergamo orchestra, who gave him early violin lessons. He studied the cello with his great-uncle, Gaetano Zanetti, and at the age of eight was allowed to play in the theatre orchestra, where he later succeeded Zanetti.

Piatti had his training as a composer with the German violinist-composer Bernhard Molique, future professor of composition at the Royal College of Music in London, where his text-book Studies in Harmony was published in 1862. Molique’s compositions, now largely forgotten, include a Cello Concerto for Piatti, a work that won contemporary popularity. Piatti’s own compositions include a number of shorter pieces for the cello, four