The Babel Flute

Cesare Ciardi (Prato, June 28, 1818) was an Italian flautist and composer. Ciardi settled in 1853 in Russia, where he was appointed in 1862 as professor at the Saint Petersburg Conservatory and became Tchaikovsky's flute teacher. Ciardi himself played as first flute in the orchestras of the Imperial Theatres in Saint Petersburg, including the orchestra of the Imperial Italian Opera and the Imperial Bolshoi Theatre.