Alberto Franchetti

Alberto Franchetti around 1906. Photo by Giovanni Artico (1868–1930)

Alberto Franchetti (born September 18, 1860 in Turin , † August 4, 1942 in Viareggio ) was an Italian- German composer .

biography

Franchetti came from a wealthy banking family. He studied with Josef Rheinberger in Munich until 1884 and then with Felix Draeseke in Dresden . Here he wrote his Symphony in E minor.

From then on he devoted himself to opera . In 1888, his first opera Asrael was premiered . When Giuseppe Verdi was asked for a Columbus opera for the 400th anniversary of the discovery of America , he referred to Franchetti. After Cristoforo Colombo (premiered in 1892), Fior d'Alpe (1894), Il Signor di Pourceaugnac (1897), Germania (premiered March 11, 1902 under Arturo Toscanini ), La Figlia di Jorio (libretto: D'Annunzio) (1906 ), Notte di Leggenda (1915) and Glauco (1922).

Franchetti belonged to Richard Wagner's circle of fans and was - among other honorary posts - chairman of the Wagner Society in Bologna.

He was married twice. The marriage with Margherita Levi was divorced, for this purpose Franchetti had become a German citizen for a few years because a divorce was not possible in his home country.

His operas have been played all over the world. In the Third Reich, his works were banned from performing because of Franchetti's Jewish descent. In Italy, too, his situation worsened with the introduction of the Italian race laws from 1938. After the war, his formerly successful works were seldom performed. In 1992, a CD production by the Hessischer Rundfunk released a complete recording of the opera Christoforo Colombo with Renato Bruson in the title role, in 2006 the Deutsche Oper Berlin released Germania in a production by director Kirsten Harms , a production that was also released on DVD.

Works

Operas

• Asrael . Leggenda in 4 acts. Libretto : Ferdinando Fontana . Premiere February 11, 1888 Reggio Emilia
• Zoroastro . Libretto: Ferdinando Fontana (1890; only intended, not composed)
• Cristoforo Colombo . Dramma lirico in 4 acts and an epilogue. Libretto: Luigi Illica . Premiere October 6, 1892 in Genoa (on the 400th anniversary of the discovery of America). New version 1897 (3rd and 4th acts combined). Definitive version (3 acts and epilogue): WP January 17, 1923
• Fior d'Alpe . Opera in 3 acts. Libretto: Leo di Castelnovo (= Leopoldo Pullè). Premiere 1894 Milan
• Il signor di Pourceaugnac . Opera comica in 3 acts. Libretto: Ferdinando Fontana (after Molière ). Premiere 1897 Milan
• Germania . Dramma lirico in a prologue, 2 images and an epilogue. Libretto: Luigi Illica. Premiere March 11, 1902 Milan ( Scala )
• La figlia di Iorio . Tragedia pastorale in 3 acts. Libretto: Gabriele D'Annunzio . Premiere 1906 Milan
• Notte di leggenda . Tragedia lirica in one act. Libretto: Giovacchino Forzano . Premiere January 14, 1915 Milan (Scala)
• Giove a Pompei . Commedia musicale (operetta) in 3 acts (together with Umberto Giordano ). Libretto: Luigi Illica and Ettore Romagnoli . Premiere 1921 Rome
• Glauco . Opera in 3 acts. Libretto: Giovacchino Forzano. Premiere April 8, 1922 Naples
• Il finto paggio ( The Wrong Page ) (1924; not listed). Commedia musicale. Libretto: Giovacchino Forzano
• Il gonfaloniere ( The Standard-Bearer ) (1927, fragment). Libretto: Giovacchino Forzano
• Kermesse . Contribution to: Fiori del Brabante . Azione coreografica (festival). Libretto: Giovacchino Forzano. Music: Alberto Franchetti, Pietro Mascagni ( Danza dei Gianduiotti e Giacomette ), Riccardo Zandonai , Alfredo Casella , Gian Francesco Malipiero , Ildebrando Pizzetti , Ottorino Respighi . Premiere February 10, 1930 Turin (Teatro Regio; on the occasion of the wedding of Umberto of Savoy and Marie José of Belgium )
• Don Napoleone ( Don Bonaparte ). Opera comica (1941; not listed). Libretto: Giovacchino Forzano
• Maria Egiziaca (fragment, lost). Libretto: Cesare Hanau and Ettore Albini

Instrumental works

• Idillio campestre ( rural idyll ; 1878)
• Sinfonia in E minor (1885)
• Nella foresta nera ( In the Black Forest ; 1900)
• Fantasia drammatica (1913)

Vocal compositions

• Choral works
• Songs

literature

• Magazine of the Deutsche Oper Berlin, No. 1, September 2006
• Helmut Krausser : Two unequal rivals. Puccini and Franchetti , Edition Elke Heidenreich , C. Bertelsmann, Munich 2010 ISBN 978-3-570-58011-0
• Richard Erkens: Alberto Franchetti - Working studies on the Italian opera of the long turn of the century , Verlag Peter Lang, Frankfurt am Main 2011. ISBN 978-3-631-61361-0

Web links

• Homepage about the composer
• Works by and about Alberto Franchetti in the catalog of the German National Library
• http://www.freundefranchettis.com/