Italians in Music

Vincenzo Bellini

Alfonso De Liguori
Augusto Migliavacca

Ennio Morricone
Nino Rota
Gioacchino Rossini
Giuseppe Verdi

Vincenzo Bellini (1801-1835)

Bellini was born in Catania, Sicily, on November 1, 1801. His father was a musician, but his first music teacher was his grandfather, a composer and organist .
A Sicilian nobleman persuaded the father to allow Vincenzo to be sent to study in Naples where he offered to pay the boy’s expenses. He was sent to the Real Collegio di Musica di San Sebastiano, directed by one of the most famous music-teachers of the time, Zingarelli. A few years before Donizetti had studied there.
At first the masters at the conservatory were not impressed with the music of Bellini, so they put him in a beginners' class. It took about half a year before Zingarelli soon thought much of this young student, and in 1824 he made him Primo maestrino - head prefect (students that taught beginners) - with a room of his own (in semi-military conservatories was really a privilege).
In the conservatory he also met his lifelong friend, Florimo, with whom he corresponded constantly when Bellini moved to Milan and later to Paris. These letters, kept by Florimo, were, after Bellini's death, a most important source of information concerning his private life and personality.
Bellini's first work Adelson e Salvini was produced in 1825 while he was still at the academy. Among those present was the celebrated Barbaja, manager at that time of La Scala at Milan, the San Carlo at Naples, and later of the Bolshoi in Moscow. The impresario gave the promising student a commission to write an opera for the San Carlo theater. This was to be Bianca e Fernando, his second opera. It pleased the Neapolitan public. Barbaja wanted another opera, this one for La-Scala.
In 1827 Bellini left Naples for Milan. For his third opera, Il pirata, staged at La Scala, he met the librettist Felice Romani who would write all his libretti except the last one. The public enthusiastically accepted this third opera which eventually made its way to all the European capitals.
The triumph of Pirata opened the doors of society, first in Milan and then in Genoa. More important than these aristocratic connections, were to him Francesco and Marianna Pollini, who were good friends of Zingarelli. Being childless, they became like a family to Bellini. and he became the son they never had. Other close friends were the great Milanese singer Giuditta Pasta and her husband Giuseppe. Giuditta's house was an intellectual salon, she being a lady of many interests. Here Bellini came to meet many important people. he also met Giuditta Turina, a young married woman, with whom he began a passionate love affair.
A string successes ensued only to be marred by the fiasco of Zaira in Parma and the disappointments of Beatrice di tenda given at La Fenice, Venice, on 16 March, 1833. However his successes were greater ones. His operas had a simple melodic style which was going to have a new impact on the Italian musical world.
His fourth opera La straniera was a resounding success at La Scala. The style was even more simple and 'undecorated' than Il Pirata, and the audience felt that here Bellini ascertained that a new style will conquer Italian opera. A post-Rossini era has begun.
I capuleti ed i Montecchi was presented at La Fenice, Venice, and was also a brilliant success. Part of it was due to the popular story of Romeo and Juliet. Bellini's style here returned to more decorative, florid music, while keeping to his already established simple melodious lines.
All this hasty composing, ten hours a day work, and the stay in Venice damaged his health. He suffered from dysentery, and when he returned to Milan was nursed by the Pollini's. Without their caring he would not have come out of his illness alive.
Staying for some time beside lake Como, the pastoral environment influenced Bellini when he composed his first masterpiece La sonnambula. Bellini, 29 years old now, composed his first worldly recognized success for La Scala. Though Norma is now considered a masterpiece, it did not start out that way. when it premiered on December 26, 1831 at La Scala. It took a few more performances for the audience to accept it more heartily, and when it was accepted - it was for all times. There is a simple, almost Greek-Classical touch to the music and story, which made its appeal immediate wherever it was performed. This opera has stayed in the repertoire ever since its first performance.
During 1832 Bellini had an important tour to Milan, with his mistress Giuditta Turina. Later on, along with his friend Florimo, he visited Catania. He received a hero’s welcome in the city of his birth.
Bellini traveled to London, in an attempt to form a contract as a conductor, or opera composer. He didn't know English, and wasn't interested in learning the language anyway. He also found out that London wasn't what he really wanted, the opera-season being too short. Here he met Countess Granville, who was to promote his career in Paris, and saw the soprano Maria Malibran perform his Sonnambula - the only opera of his that became a hit in London that year.
Then came the time to conquer Paris. Bellini formed important bond with Rossini, who was the God of Italian opera in France. Bellini worked on an opera for the Theatre-Italien, with Rossini's encouragement and constant advice. The result was his tenth and last opera I puritani, which was performed on 25 January, 1835, in the Theatre-Italien and was an enormous success.
Now he was looking to settle down. In the later part of the year he suffered from dysentery. His disease worsened and on 23 September, 1835, Bellini died. A little more than a week later he would have celebrated his thirty-fourth birthday.
Rossini and many friends attended his funeral. He was buried in Paris. But in 1876 his remains were exhumed and interred at Catania.
The German poet Heinrich Heine, whom he met during his last year, considered him a genius. He said that the likes of Mozart die young. "I had better think you are not a genius" added Heine, "so that you will die old." He did die young. And a genius he was.

Alfonso Maria de’ Liguori (1696-1787)

Tu scendi dalle stelle, the song that is most closely associated with Christmas in Italy was composed by a lawyer. If you polled Italians as to who composed this famous carol, most would answer that its author is anonymous; yet the author was very much a famous and revered figure in his day and is considered one of the most erudite saints the Church. His name was was Alfonso de’ Liguori, a Neapolitan.
     Alfonso’s initial calling was not that of a composer, as you might expect, but of a lawyer. He was born in 1696, the son of high officer of the Royal Navy in the Kingdom of Naples. He received his Doctorate in Jurisprudence at the tender age of 16. He went on to become the most noted attorney of the time with the distinction of never losing a case he would undertake.
     The world came crashing around him when in 1723, when, due to a cavil, Alfonso lost the famous case between the Prince Orsine and the Grand Duke of Tuscany. He felt he was no longer able to continue in his profession with honor. He therefore put down his sword of cavaliere before the statue of the Madonna della Mercede. To this day, in this church there is a relic of his blood, which in the tradition of the blood of the great San Gennaro, it also liquefies periodically.
     From this point on the life of Alfonso de’ Liguori took quite a different turn which lead him in 1732 to found the order of the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer (Redentoristi). He preferred to work among the poor, and the goatherds from the surrounding mountains became his special care. He refused the see of Archbishop of Palermo, but preferred to be among his flock in Pagani in Campania. He became bishop of Sant’Agata dei Goti.
     He is known as Doctor of the Church, for he authored a great number of important writings in his time which were to be a great bulwark aginst the Jansenist movement. As an alternative to the rigid beliefs of this movement he proposed the salvation of the soul through God’s mercy and forgiveness. His work Casuistry, which has become a standard text in the Church, analyzes motives so that individual judgement can be made according to an established moral code.
     He was also an accomplished musician who composed many sacred works, both instrumental and vocal became very popular. One of the vocal compositions is the Christmas song Tu scendi dalle stelle in the tradition of the pastorale, typical of melodies sung or played at Christimas in Italy for several centuries. Other works include the Massime eterne, L’uniformità alla volontà di Dio, Del gran mezzo della preghiera, and Le glorie di Maria.
     Late in life he developed a deformation of the spine which renderd his body so contorted that his chin rested permanently on his chest. He bore everything with serenity and equanimity. He died in 1787 in the town Pagani in the province of Salerno.

 Nino Rota (1911-1979)

If you have seen an Italian film in the last half of the twentieth century, especially one by Federico Fellini, chances are you have heard the music of Nino Rota. While he he is arguably the most famous composer of music for films, he is also a composer of music in the classical mold. In fact Rota’s debut as a composer began at age eleven with an oratorio. He was born in Milan on December 3, 1911, hence this month marks the 86th anniversary of his birth.
     The reason he is more popularly knows as a composer of film scores is that he began writing fo this medium early on in Raffaello Matarazzo’s Treno Popolare (1933), then Renato Castellani’s Zazà (1942). What gave him the more fertile ground to compose for this genre was cleary Fellini. He began with the Sceicco Bianco in 1952 and ended by scoring his last film for Fellini, Prova d’orchestra, in 1979 just before he died. He also compsed music for films by Edoardo De Filippo (Napoli milionaria, 1950), Franco Zeffirelli (The Taming of the Shrew, 1967), and Lina Wertmuller (Love and Anarchy, 1973) among others.
     In the USA he is best remeberd for the haunting melody from La Strada (1957), and the one, for which he won an oscar, from the Godfather Part II by Francis Coppola, but also for the jazz and folk melodies of Rocco and his Brothers, and the rich music of Il gattopardo (The Leapard) both films by Visconti.
     However the other side of this twentieth century composer may not be well known to the general public. As already mentioned above, he began composing at age eleven and went on to study at the Conservatorio di Santa Cecilia, and at the Curtis Institute in Philadelphia. He was a pupil of Ildebrando Pizzetti (1880-1968), and Alfredo Casella (1883-1947), but he was also influenced by the music of Gianfranco Malipiero (1882-1973). While, clearly, not influenced by him, he maintained a long musical relationship with Igor Stavinsky. He served first as director of the Music School in Taranto, but later came to a post that he held for 37 years, that of Director of the Conservatory in Bari.
     He was also a prolific composer of works for instruments and for the voice. His extensive body of works includes 2 oratori, Mysteriom (1962) and La vita di Maria (1970), 3 masses , 5 symphonies (that span from 1939 to 1975), chamber music, songs on texts of Tommaseo and Petrarca, 2 cantate, Romacapomunni (1972) which won the Premio Italia and Rablaisiani (1977). He also composed eight operas. He is best known for La visita meravigliosa (1970), but his La notte di un nevrastenico won the Premio Italia in 1959, and Il cappello di paglia di Firenze (1959) is a popular comedy of errors (there is silent French film on the same subject). An English version of this opera was given last year at Regis College, and it is part of this coming season at La Scala in Milan.

Rossini Receives Wagner at His Home in Paris

In March 0f 1860 Richard Wagner was in Paris to work with a certain Edmond Roche on a French translation of his libretto to his opera Tannhäuser. At this point he had completed Tristan und Isolde, and in the available time he was trying to complete his monumental Tetralogy of the Nibelung.
     Rossini was also living in Paris at this time as a national hero, having been the most popular composer of operas. In Vienna, for a time, he was more popular than Beethoven. He had moved to Paris in 1856 after a twenty year absence. At the time of his move he was living in Florence battling a terrible bout of neurasthenia. None of the doctors there could help him, so Madame Rossini thought that a change of scenery, might help her afflicted husband. She thought of Paris where years earlier they had enjoyed success and had made a few good friends. Rossini had to be convinced to move there, and no sooner did he settle there that his health improved markedly. He continued living there happily until his death in 1868. Part of his initial refusal to go to Paris was that he did not want to go on a train; he hated and feared machines. So he opted for an exhaustive fifteen day trip in a stage from Florence to Paris.
     Once in Paris Rossini soon became reacquainted with old friends and many were eager to become part of his large and famous circle of friends. One of these friends was a Belgian, Edmond Michotte, who became an intimate friend with whom he shared his walks in the Bois de Boulogne. Messieur Michotte was an amateur musician who had also befriended other luminaries in Parisian musical circles.
     Thus it was that in March, 1860 Richard Wagner sought Edmond Michotte’s help in gaining an introduction to the great Rossini. The meeting took place in Rossini’s apartment on the corner of Chaussèe-d’Antin and the Boulevards des Italien. A detailed account of this meeting and subsequent conversation was recorded by Michotte and eventually published in 1906. This book has become a veritable trove of historical importance for musicians and historians alike. It’s as if there had been someone there recording every word with a tape recorder. In fact Michotte informed Wagner in advance that he would be taking notes during the meeting, and added not to worry that none of it would get in the papers. Wagner had reason to worry because the paparazzi of the times liked to make up quotes about people in the limelight in order to create feuds and thus sell more papers. In fact many quotes denigrating Wagner and his music had been ascribed to Rossini, but none of them factual. It was for these reasons in part that Wagner was eager to meet Rossini to discuss his music, but did not know how to go about it. He was so anxious that the day of the meeting he sent Michotte a letter reminding his of the appointment.
     The meeting lasted only about a half hour and it was conducted in French. In the vestibule of the apartment Wagner noticed a portrait of Rossini, and quickly remarked that "those intelligent eyes, and that ironic mouth belonged definitely to the composer of the Barber of Seville".
     They were received in a small room that Rossini always used, and before Wagner could say anything he tried to put him at ease by saying : "Ah! Monsieur Wagner, just like a new Orpheus you are not afraid to cross this feared threshold....I know that they have painted me a terrible monster ... and have ascribed me many awful barbs at your expense, and for my part unjustified. Why should I have behaved in such a manner? I am neither a Mozart nor a Beethoven". He continued "and then I don’t know your music.... The only way to do that is to hear it in a theater....I have only heard the march from Tannhäuser ...an I have found it to be quite beautiful."
     Wagner was taken aback by such a reception full of good will. He answered deferentially "Illustrious Maestro, may I be allowed to thank you for such kind words. I am truly moved. ....I see how great and noble you are; I had never doubted it". Then Wagner confesses his fear that there may be a plot hatching somewhere to have his French Tannhäuser fail. Rossini quickly reassured him that all musicians have gone though that, even Gluck. And he added, on the opening of his Barbiere in Naples, the crowd was so belligerent that he feared for his life while sitting in the orchestra pit playing the harpsichord to accompany the recitatives. In Paris also, the critics had been harsh toward him, and in Vienna [Carl Maria] Weber (1786-1826) himself had published a series of articles against him. At this Wagner retorted that Weber was quite intolerant, especially when defending "German art". Eventually Weber visited Rossini and apologized for his invectives. Rossini thought him a genius, and assured him that he had not read any of those words, as he did not speak German. He hugged the composer, and saw a tear on his face. Then, as Weber was going to London, Rossini gave him a letter of introduction to King George IV who admired artists and welcomed them in his court.
     Then Rossini recounts how he came to meet Beethoven in Vienna. Ever since he had heard the Third Symphony, the Eroica, he had been completely overwhelmed by the music, and had resolved to meet the genius who had created it. He thus approached Antonio Salieri who saw the composer often. He was told that it would be difficult, due to the morose character of Beethoven. Eventually they asked a certain Carpani an Italian poet dear to Beethoven.
      The meeting as told by Rossini was brief. He remembered the sad look on the composer’s face. When they walked into the room into which "rain must have poured in" through the cracks everywhere, Beethoven looked up and in a discernible Italian said "Ah! Rossini, you are the author of the Barber of Seville? Congratulations; it’s an excellent opera buffa. I have read it with pleasure and I enjoyed myself. So long as there is an Italian opera, it will be performed". Then he added the famous judgment that Rossini and other Italian should not try opera seria, as it is not for the Italians; they do not have "enough musical knowledge", and continued "...but in opera buffa here is no one who can equal the Italians". Wagner, knowing well the other Rossini operas such as Mosè in Egitto and William Tell was quick to add "One must admit maestro that luckily you did not take Beethoven’s advice...". Rossini answered "If truth be told, I felt more comfortable with the opera buffa".
     Wagner, who thought that opera should be a work in which all the arts - poetry, music, and the decorative and plastic arts - would come together in a perfect union. And in expressing his opinion on Rossini’s "serious’ operas, especially William Tell, in which the scene of the Congiura (the plot against Gessler) was more closely related to his opera ideal as a drama in music. Rossini admitted that yes he had even written the text of that scene himself, thus doing exactly what Wagner had done for all his operas.
Wagner’s last comment was to lament the fact that Rossini had stopped composing at such an early age. He exclaimed "Ah! Maestro, if only you had not put down your pen after Willliam Tell, at the age of thirty-seven... A real crime! Even you may never know what would have come out of that head of yours!... You were just beginning..."

L'anno milleottocentotredici, il dì dodici ottobre, a nove ore del mattino, davanti a noi il Vice Sindaco di Busseto, ufficiale dello stato civile del Comune di Busseto del Dipartimento del Taro, si è presentato Verdi Carlo, età di ventotto anni, locandiere, domiciliato a Roncole, il quale ci ha presentato un bambino maschio nato il dì dieci del corrente mese alle otto di sera e dichiarando per sua parte e per quella di Louise Uttini, filandaia, domiciliata a Roncole, sua moglie, e al quale ha dichiarato di voler dargli il nome di Joseph-Fortunin-Francois.- GIUSEPPE FORTUNINO FRANCESCO VERDI