Ferruccio Busoni (1866-1924) was originally from Italy but spent most of his life in Germany. In addition to his work as a composer, pianist, and conductor, Busoni was also an influential music educator. His students included the avant-gardist Edgar Varèse and the composer of "The Threepenny Opera," Kurt Weill. In 1916, Busoni published his highly controversial treatise "Sketch of a New Aesthetics of Music," in which he explored new tonal scales and a fundamentally altered, avant-garde understanding of music.