Alfredo Catalani

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Alfredo Catalani (around 1885)

Alfredo Catalani (born June 19, 1854 in Lucca , † August 7, 1893 in Milan ) was an Italian composer .

Live and act

Alfredo Catalani came from a family of musicians. His father Eugenio Catalani was a student of Giovanni Pacini and gave his son piano lessons and harmony lessons at a very young age . His mother was the head of a boarding school. Alfredo then studied in his hometown of Lucca at the Pacini Music Institute (now Boccherini ) during his humanistic school education from 1860 onwards, studying counterpoint with Fortunato Magi , an uncle of Giacomo Puccini (1858-1924). He completed this training in 1872 with the composition of a mass for four voices and orchestra, for which he received the institute's first prize. The composition of a symphony in F major and a romanza for baritone and orchestra also dates from this period of study . He then sought further training at the Paris Conservatory , where he was admitted in the fall of 1872. He was never officially enrolled at this school; nevertheless, he had lessons for several months in the piano class of Antoine François Marmontel and in the composition class of François Emmanuel Joseph Bazin (1816–1878). He also had various opportunities in Paris to get to know contemporary French music, which influenced his musical style; The influence of Jules Massenet (1842–1912) on Catalani's later composition Chanson groënlandaise is particularly noticeable.

After returning to Italy in the summer of 1873, he studied counterpoint and composition with Antonio Bazzini (1818–1897) at the Milan Conservatory for two years and finished his studies in 1875 with the one-act opera La falce (The Sickle), an Arab shepherd's story for two voices and Choir based on the libretto by the poet and composer Arrigo Boito (1842–1918), the performance of which (in the conservatory theater) was praised in the press. During his time in Milan, he also occupied himself with the music of Richard Wagner and joined the cultural reform movement Scapigliatura Lombarda (literally "Lombard disheveling" for inappropriateness), a late romantic, innovative movement, that of Boito and the poet Emilio Praga and the musician Franco Faccio was led. Their supporters discussed Wagner's operas, French and German literature and strove to rejuvenate Italian music. After the success of La falce , Catalani became acquainted with the publisher Giovanni Lucca through Bazzini's mediation , who commissioned three new operas from him. The theme of the first opera was the Loreley legend; the leading actress was initially called Elda (libretto: Carlo D'Ormeville ) and the plot was moved from the Rhine to the Baltic Sea (first performance in Turin as a four-act opera). Catalani later renamed and reworked this work in Loreley ; it was then performed as a three-act opera in Turin with great success. Despite his fundamental and friendly support, Boito was never ready to write a libretto for Catalani, so that Catalani had to look for other librettists for the other two operas he had ordered, such as Dejanice (first performed in Milan in 1883; libretto: Angelo Zanardini ) and Edmea (First performance in Milan in 1886; libretto: Antonio Ghislanzoni ). Although both operas contain excellent orchestral pieces, they lack the dramatic effect because of the weak libretti. Edmea was revised twice by the composer in 1886 and experienced overwhelming success on November 4, 1886 at the Teatro Carignano in Turin under the direction of 19-year-old Arturo Toscanini (1867–1957), who made his debut on this day . During Catalani's lifetime, Edmea became his most successful opera, while Dejanice received great praise from the young Giacomo Puccini .

Between the two operas was the composition of the symphonic poem Ero e Leandro , inspired by the corresponding works by Franz Liszt (1811–1886), which was performed for the first time in 1885. In April 1888, Catalani was appointed professor of composition at the Milan Conservatory, succeeding Amilcare Ponchielli (1834–1886). In 1889, Catalani officially became engaged to a maternal cousin, Luisa Picconi ; A few months later, however, there was a painful separation.

Giovanni Lucca's music publisher was bought by the Milanese publisher Giulio Ricordi in May 1888 . Ricordi relied more on the compositions of Giuseppe Verdi (1813–1901) and Giacomo Puccini , whereby Catalani lost much of the financial support. For his next opera project, La Wally, based on the popular novel Die Geierwally by Wilhelmine von Hillern from 1875, he was able to win over the competent librettist Luigi Illica (1857-1919), but had to pay for him out of his own pocket. The work on his last opera culminated in the world premiere in Milan on January 20, 1892, which was a great success. The later very famous conductor Arturo Toscanini , a great admirer of Catalani, named one of his daughters Wally . The composer Gustav Mahler (1860–1911), who later conducted the opera in Hamburg , considered La Wally the best Italian opera. In the two years after its premiere, the opera had successful further performances in Verona , Genoa and Lucca, here with the young Toscanini as conductor. After that, Catalani planned another work, Nella selva , but it remained a draft because of his untimely death.

Catalani had suffered from pulmonary tuberculosis for many years , for which there was no cure in the 19th century. A brother and a sister in his family had already died from it. When he felt particularly weak in the summer of 1893, he decided, as in previous years, to go to the Swiss mountains to relax. On the way there he suffered a hemorrhage in the border town of Chiasso , which forced him to return to Milan. Catalani died there in a hospital after a few days of agony on August 7, 1893 at the age of 39. He was initially temporarily buried on the Cimitero Monumentale in Milan. On March 16, 1894, his body was then transferred to the family grave on the Cimitero Monumentale of St. Anna in Lucca with the official help of his hometown .

meaning

Catalani's development from La falce to La Wally essentially shows the detachment from the previous Italian number opera; In addition, the effort to achieve a musical and dramatic unity with simultaneous preference for tragic themes is visible. The influence of the Scapigliatura gave rise to his interest in German Romantic music ( Carl Maria von Weber , Richard Wagner) and from this the inclination towards the symphonic style in his operas. Catalani's dances, choirs and folk music details emerge from the influence of the French Grand Opéra , even if the later revisions of his operas indicate a particularly dramatic empathy. Through an increasing and skillful involvement of the orchestra, he achieved a tightening of the plot and a successful representation of natural and supernatural phenomena ( Loreley ). Catalani's particular ability to suggest psychological moods is evident in the symphonic preludes to individual operatic acts, especially in his last opera. All in all, Catalani's works occupy an isolated position in Italian opera because, with their fantastic and naturalistic elements, they followed their own musical-dramatic ideal and set themselves in opposition to the triumphant style of Verism . His works enjoyed great popularity with the public, while Italian music critics accused him of being an "Italian Wagnerian". A similar refusal was given to him by Giuseppe Verdi , who accused him of “twisting” Italian music. It was only from 1905 onwards, under the influence of Arturo Toscanini, that Catalani's stage works were taken up again in the repertoire of the larger opera houses, which lasted until the 1980s. La Wally was performed in Bregenz in 1991 . Thanks to the initiative of the Lucca Music Association, 20 piano pieces by Catalani were added to the program and performed in the following period.

Also towards the end of the 20th century, an aria by Catalani found its way into French filmmaking : the aria “Ebben? Ne andrò lontana “from his opera La Wally plays a central role in the film Diva (director: Jean-Jacques Seeleix 1981) and can be heard there several times in the interpretation of Wilhelmenia Fernandez .

Works (selection)

Catalani's delight at the Loreley's success , caricature from 1890 in the satirical journal Il Pasquino
Loreley , first performed at the Teatro Regio in Turin in 1890

The works were mainly published by the publishers Lucca and Ricordi (Milan); however, numerous works have not yet been published.

  • Stage works
    • La falce (Libretto: Arrigo Boito ), egloga orientale in one act (first performance July 19, 1875, Milan Conservatory)
    • Elda (libretto: Carlo D'Ormeville based on the legend of Loreley ), dramma fantastico in four acts (first performance January 31, 1880 in Turin, Teatro Regio ); revised as Loreley (libretto: Angelo Zanardini and others after D'Ormeville ), azione romantica in three acts (February 16, 1890 ibid)
    • Dejanice (Libretto: Angelo Zanardini ), dramma lirico in four acts (first performance March 17, 1883 in Milan, Teatro alla Scala )
    • Edmea (Libretto: Antonio Ghislanzoni ), dramma lirico in four acts (first performance February 27, 1886 ibid)
    • La Wally (Libretto: Luigi Illica based on Wilhelmine von Hillern , Die Geier-Wally ), dramma lirico in four acts (1889 to 1891, first performance January 20, 1892 ibid)
  • Choral vocal music
    • Mass in E minor for four voices and orchestra (1872)
    • Ecstasy! E minor (text: Victor Hugo ) for choir and orchestra (1876)
    • La primavera in A flat major for choir and orchestra (1877)
    • Inno degli Alpinisti in G major (hymn of the mountaineers, around 1891)
  • Vocal music for solo voice, mostly with piano
    • Il sogno, Nella realtà, La speranza, Il morente (Florence 1870)
    • La viola (1870)
    • Romanza (1870)
    • Ave Maria (1872?)
    • Romance for baritone and orchestra (1872?)
    • Ad una stella (1874)
    • Fior di collina (Text: C. Paveli; 1874)
    • O Gomorra, o Sodoma perversa (1875, incomplete manuscript)
    • Chanson groënlandaise (Text: Jules Verne ; 1876, 1878)
    • Sognai (Text: U. Bassani; 1877)
    • In riva al mare (Text: E. Panzacchi; 1878)
    • L'Odalisque (Text: T. Moore; 1878)
    • Il m'aimait tant (1880)
    • Le Gondolier (Text: C. Delavigne; 1880)
    • La pescatrice (Text: Heinrich Heine ; 1892)
    • Senza baci (Text: Lara; 1893?)
  • Orchestral works (all only handwritten)
    • Sinfonia a piena orchestra in F major (1872)
    • Il mattino , sinfonia romantica (1874)
    • La notte , sinfonia descrittiva (1874)
    • Contemplazione (1878), also arranged for piano (1878)
    • Scherzo in A major (1878), also arranged for piano (1878)
    • Ero e leandro , poema sinfonico (1885)
  • Chamber music
    • Fugue in D minor for string quartet (1871?)
    • String Quartet in A major (1873?)
    • Danza caratteristica for violoncello and piano (1877)
    • Serenata andalusa for violoncello and piano (1887)
    • A sera in G minor for string quartet (1888; arrangement of the piano piece; later used as a prelude to the third act of La Wally )
    • Serenatella for string quartet (1888; arrangement of the piano piece Sotto le tue finestre )
  • Piano music
    • Mazurka (Florence 1870)
    • Sonata (1874?)
    • Aspirazione , waltz (Milan 1878)
    • Le Rouet (Milan 1878)
    • Se tu sapessi (Milan 1878)
    • Scherzo tarantella (1879)
    • Rêverie (1879 ?, Milan 1880)
    • Notturno (Milan 1880)
    • In ricordo di Lugano (Milan 1880)
    • In sogno! (1880–82)
    • In gondola (1884)
    • Un organetto suona per la via (1887)
    • Sotto le tue finestre (1887)
    • A sera (Genoa 1888; reworked as a string quartet and as a prelude to the third act of La Wally )
    • A te (1888)
    • Canto di primavera (1888)
    • Sans-souci! (1888; published with other piano works than Impressioni, 10 pezzi caratteristici , Milan without the year, reprinted there in 1943)
    • Tempo di waltzer (alla tedesca) for piano four hands (Milan 1891)
    • further four-hand piano works

Literature (selection)

  • Carlo Gatti (editor): Lettere di Alfredo Catalani a Giuseppe Depanis. (Milan 1946)
  • Carlo Gatti: Alfredo Catalani: la vita e le opere (Milan 1953)
  • JW Klein: Alfredo Catalani , in Musical Quarterly 23 (1937), pages 287 to 294
  • JW Klein: Toscanini and Catalani: a Unique Friendship in Music and Letters 48 (1967), pages 213-228
  • Maria Menichini: Alfredo Catalani alla luce di documenti inediti (Lucca 1993)
  • JR Nicolaisen: Italian Opera in Transition, 1871–1893 (= Studies in Musicology 31 ). Ann Arbor 1980, pp. 151-185
  • Severino Pagani: Alfredo Catalani. Luci et ombre nella sua vita e nella sua arte (Milan 1957)
  • Paolo Petronio: Alfredo Catalani , biography, Edizioni Italo Svevo (Trieste 2009)
  • E. Voss: Article Catalani, Alfredo: Loreley and La Wally in Piper's Encyclopedia of Music Theater , edited by Carl Dahlhaus * F. Walker: Verdian Forgeries: Letters Hostile to Catalani in The Music Review 19 (1958), page 273; 20 (1959), p. 28.
  • Michelangelo Zurletti: Catalani e la Scapigliatura in the magazine Musica / Realtà 3/8 (1982), pages 117 to 128 (1986)

Web links

Commons : Alfredo Catalani  - Collection of Images, Videos and Audio Files

swell

  1. ^ The music in past and present (MGG), Volume 4, Bärenreiter Verlag Kassel and Basel 2000, ISBN 3-7618-1114-4
  2. ↑ Harenberg Composers Lexicon, Harenberg Lexikon Verlag Dortmund 2001, ISBN 3-611-00978-4
  3. ^ Enciclopedia della musica, Volume 1, Ricordi Verlag Milan 1963/64
personal data
SURNAME Catalani, Alfredo
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Italian composer
DATE OF BIRTH June 19, 1854
PLACE OF BIRTH Lucca
DATE OF DEATH August 7, 1893
Place of death Milan