Pietro Mascagni
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Pietro Mascagni (December 7, 1863 – August 2, 1945) is one of the most important Italian opera composers of the turn of the twentieth century.
Mascagni's 1890 masterpiece, Cavalleria Rusticana, caused one of the greatest sensations in opera history and singlehandedly ushered in the Verismo movement. However, though it has been stated and restated ad nauseam that Mascagni, like Leoncavallo, was a "one-opera man" who could never repeat his first success, this is highly inaccurate. L'Amico Fritz and Iris have been popular in Europe since their respective premieres; in fact, Mascagni himself claimed that at one point Iris was performed in Italy more often than Cavalleria (cf. Stivender).
Mascagni wrote a total of fifteen operas, plus an operetta, several beautiful orchestral and vocal works, as well as songs and piano music. He enjoyed amazing success during his lifetime, both as a composer and conductor. If he never repeated the public success of Cavalleria, it was probably because Mascagni refused to copy himself. The variety of styles in Mascagni's operas -- the Sicilian passion and warmth of Cavalleria, the Asian flavor of Iris, the idyllic breeze that ventilates L'Amico Fritz, the French hues in Isabeau, the steely, Verismo quality of Il Piccolo Marat -- demonstrate a versatility that none of the other Veristi could boast, Puccini included.
Biography
Mascagni was born in Livorno, Tuscany. When he was 26 years old, he became famous overnight when Cavalleria rusticana won the opera contest of music publisher Sonzogno in Italy.
He died in Rome.
Operas
- Cavalleria rusticana (17 May 1890 Teatro Costanzi, Rome) - [libretto], [libretto]
- L'amico Fritz (31 October 1891 Teatro Costanzi, Rome) - [libretto]
- I Rantzau (10 November 1892 Teatro La Pergola, Florence)
- Guglielmo Ratcliff (16 February 1895 Teatro alla Scala, Milan), composed between 1885 and the early 1890s - [libretto]
- Silvano (25 March 1895 Teatro alla Scala, Milan)
- Zanetto (2 March 1896 Liceo Musicale, Pesaro) - [libretto]
- Iris (22 November 1898 Teatro Costanzi, Rome) - [libretto]
- Le maschere (17 January 1901 Teatro Carlo Felice, Genoa - Teatro Regio, Turin - Teatro alla Scala, Milan - Teatro La Fenice, Venice - Teatro Filarmonico, Verona - Teatro Costanzi, Rome)
- Amica (16 March 1905, Monte Carlo) - [Italian libretto]
- Isabeau (2 June 1911 Teatro Coliseo, Buenos Aires)
- Parisina (15 December 1913 Teatro alla Scala, Milan) - [libretto]
- Lodoletta (30 April 1917 Teatro Costanzi, Rome) - [libretto]
- Sì (13 December 1919 Teatro Quirino, Rome), operetta
- Il piccolo Marat (2 May 1921 Teatro Costanzi, Rome)
- Pinotta (23 March 1932 Casinò, San Remo), adapted from the cantata In filanda (1881)
- Nerone (16 January 1935 Teatro alla Scala, Milan), with music written between the 1890s and the 1930s
Media
-
[Cavalleria Rusticana] ([file info])
- Problems playing the files? See .
External links
- [Mascagni cylinder recordings], from the Cylinder Preservation and Digitization Project at the University of California, Santa Barbara Library.
Resources
- [English web site about Pietro Mascagni]
- [Official Italian web site about Pietro Mascagni]
- [Buoso Donati, "Mascagni and Mussolini"] Bibliography.
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