December 4, 2017.Three opera composers.The last couple of weeks we’ve dedicated our entries to single composers, first Penderecki and then Hindemith.In doing so, we missed several notable anniversaries, so we’ll try to catch up with them this week.Jean-Baptiste Lully, a miller’s son, was born on November 28th of 1632 in Florence.He was 14 when chevalier de Guise, who was visiting Italy at the time, noticed him there during Mardi Gras and brought him to France – not for his musical talents, but so that his niece, la Grande Mademoiselle, could talk to somebody in Italian.From these unusual beginnings, Lully developed into one of the greatest French composers of all time and the founder of the French opera.We’ve written about him extensively (for example, here or here), so we’ll just play some of his music.Lully composed Persée on the libretto of his frequent collaborator, Philippe Quinault. in 1682.Lully called Persée “tragédie lyrique” – opera genre he invented about 10 years earlier.We’ll hear the short Ouverturehere (Christophe Rousset conducts the ensemble Les Talens Lyriques) and an excerpt from Act II (here).Cyril Auvity is Persée. Marie Lenormand – Andromède in an Opera Atelier production.
Lully wasn’t the only opera composer born around this time: two more Italians were, and they were “real” Italians, as Lully took French citizenship in 1661.Gaetano Donizetti’s birthday is November 29th of 1797.Donizetti came from the city of Bergamo, its beautiful older section called Upper City, Città Alta, famous for its architecture and musical tradition.Donizetti, together with Rossini and the younger Bellini, was one of the master composers of bel canto.Donizetti, who lived just 50 years (he died insane of syphilis), wrote almost 70 operas, but only few of them belong to the standard repertory these days: his masterpiece, Lucia di Lammermoor, Anna Bolena,L'elisir d'amore,Roberto Devereux,Maria Stuarta, and two comic operas, L'elisir d'amore and Don Pasquale.Here’s the Judgement Scene, the finale of Act I from Anna Bolena.Maria Callas, the tenor Gianni Raimoni and the bass Nicola Rossi-Lemeni in an exceptional live recording made exactly 60 years ago, in 1957 in La Scala.Gianandrea Gavazzeni is conducting the La Scala orchestra.
Another opera composer is Pietro Mascagni, who was born on December 7th of 1863.Mascagni wrote 15 operas, but is famous for just one, his very first, the marvelous Cavalleria Rusticana.If Donizetti was one of the creators of the Bel canto style, Mascagni, together with another one-opera marvel, Ruggero Leoncavallo, created the style called verismo, an Italian term that could be translated as realism, or maybe naturalism: the subjects of the verismo operas are down to earth, unheroic, like seamstresses and poets in Puccini’s La Boheme.Cavalleria Rusticana was premiered in 1890 (it’s interesting that Verdi was still to complete his last opera, Falstaff). There are more recordings of Cavalleria than practically of any other opera.There are even recordings conducted by Mascagni himself (hard to imagine, but Mascagni died on August 2nd of 1945; by then, Schoenberg was evolving his 12-tone system; Stravinsky was past his neo-classical period, and Olivier Messiaen had just written Vingt regards sur l'enfant-Jésus).Cavalleria is full of wonderful music; one of the best-known arias is Mamma, quel vino è generoso.Here it is in the 1957 recording by Franco Corelli.Arturo Basile conducts Orchestra Sinfonica di Torino della RAI.
We’ve written about three composers, but there are several more we’d like to note.Among them: Padre Antonio Soler, Jean Sibelius, Bohuslav Martinu, Joaquin Turina, a very interesting Soviet composer of Polish-Jewish descent, Mieczysław (or Moisey, as he was called in the Soviet Union) Weinberg, and Cesar Franck.We’ll write about them later.
Three opera composers, 2017
December 4, 2017. Three opera composers. The last couple of weeks we’ve dedicated our entries to single composers, first Penderecki and then Hindemith. In doing so, we missed several notable anniversaries, so we’ll try to catch up with them this week. Jean-Baptiste Lully, a miller’s son, was born on November 28th of 1632 in Florence. He was 14 when chevalier de Guise, who was visiting Italy at the time, noticed him there during Mardi Gras and brought him
to France – not for his musical talents, but so that his niece, la Grande Mademoiselle, could talk to somebody in Italian. From these unusual beginnings, Lully developed into one of the greatest French composers of all time and the founder of the French opera. We’ve written about him extensively (for example, here or here), so we’ll just play some of his music. Lully composed Persée on the libretto of his frequent collaborator, Philippe Quinault. in 1682. Lully called Persée “tragédie lyrique” – opera genre he invented about 10 years earlier. We’ll hear the short Ouverture here (Christophe Rousset conducts the ensemble Les Talens Lyriques) and an excerpt from Act II (here). Cyril Auvity is Persée. Marie Lenormand – Andromède in an Opera Atelier production.
Lully wasn’t the only opera composer born around this time: two more Italians were, and they were “real” Italians, as Lully took French citizenship in 1661. Gaetano Donizetti’s birthday is November 29th of 1797. Donizetti came from the city of Bergamo, its beautiful older section called Upper City, Città Alta, famous for its architecture and musical tradition. Donizetti, together with Rossini and the younger Bellini, was one of the master composers of bel canto. Donizetti, who lived just 50 years (he died insane of syphilis), wrote almost 70 operas, but only few of them belong to the standard repertory these days: his masterpiece, Lucia di Lammermoor, Anna Bolena, L'elisir d'amore, Roberto Devereux, Maria Stuarta, and two comic operas, L'elisir d'amore and Don Pasquale. Here’s the Judgement Scene, the finale of Act I from Anna Bolena. Maria Callas, the tenor Gianni Raimoni and the bass Nicola Rossi-Lemeni in an exceptional live recording made exactly 60 years ago, in 1957 in La Scala. Gianandrea Gavazzeni is conducting the La Scala orchestra.
Another opera composer is Pietro Mascagni, who was born on December 7th of 1863. Mascagni wrote 15 operas, but is famous for just one, his very first, the marvelous Cavalleria Rusticana. If Donizetti was one of the creators of the Bel canto style, Mascagni, together with another one-opera marvel, Ruggero Leoncavallo, created the style called verismo, an Italian term that could be translated as realism, or maybe naturalism: the subjects of the verismo operas are down to earth, unheroic, like seamstresses and poets in Puccini’s La Boheme. Cavalleria Rusticana was premiered in 1890 (it’s interesting that Verdi was still to complete his last opera, Falstaff). There are more recordings of Cavalleria than practically of any other opera. There are even recordings conducted by Mascagni himself (hard to imagine, but Mascagni died on August 2nd of 1945; by then, Schoenberg was evolving his 12-tone system; Stravinsky was past his neo-classical period, and Olivier Messiaen had just written Vingt regards sur l'enfant-Jésus). Cavalleria is full of wonderful music; one of the best-known arias is Mamma, quel vino è generoso. Here it is in the 1957 recording by Franco Corelli. Arturo Basile conducts Orchestra Sinfonica di Torino della RAI.
We’ve written about three composers, but there are several more we’d like to note. Among them: Padre Antonio Soler, Jean Sibelius, Bohuslav Martinu, Joaquin Turina, a very interesting Soviet composer of Polish-Jewish descent, Mieczysław (or Moisey, as he was called in the Soviet Union) Weinberg, and Cesar Franck. We’ll write about them later.