Luigi Stefano Giarda

Luigi Stefano Giarda (born March 19, 1868 in Cassolnovo , † January 3, 1952 in Viña del Mar ) was an Italian composer, cellist and music teacher.

Giarda had first music lessons from his father, who was an organist. At the age of ten he conducted a mass for soloists, choir and orchestra in the Cathedral of Cassolnovo, where he sang the soprano solos himself. 1879-80 he studied cello at the Venice Conservatory, where his brother Francesco Giarda was professor of piano. It was here that he met Franz Liszt , and his first composition Mazurka a la Chopin was written , which he dedicated to the pianist Darsi Flora . From 1881 to 1889 he studied at the Conservatory of Milan with Giuseppe Magrini (cello), Alfredo Catalani (composition), Vico Ridolfi (piano) and Michele Saladino (harmony, counterpoint and fugue). Here he met Giacomo Puccini , who had just finished his studies, and played the cello in his final work Preludio sinfónico .

In 1884 Giarda became a cellist in the orchestra of the Teatro alla Scala in Milan. In the same year his teacher Magrini successfully presented him to the public as a cello soloist with a cello concerto by Luigi Boccherini . After completing his studies, Giarda traveled through Europe as a cello soloist and devoted himself increasingly to composition. In 1897 he became professor for violoncello and chamber music at the Naples Conservatory . His opera Reietto, based on a libretto by Ida Baccini , was premiered at the Real Teatro Mercadante in 1898 under the direction of the composer.

In 1899 he became a member of Cuarteto Ferni , one of the most important Italian string quartets of the late 19th century, which at the time included the violinists Angelo Ferni and Ignazio Pascarella and the violist Salvatore Caiati . At the World Exhibition in Paris in 1900 he received a gold medal for his composition Del capotasto, estudios para violoncello .

In 1905 Giarda traveled to Chile. In Santiago he founded and directed the Sociedad Orquestal La Opera and in 1906 became a music professor at the Conservatorio Nacional de Música y Declamación . He founded the Trio Giarda with the pianist Bindo Paoli , the violinists José Varalla and Julio Guerra and the violist Alberto Ceradelli . In addition to works by contemporary European composers such as Alfredo Catalani , Giuseppe Martucci , Ferruccio Busoni , Alfredo Casella , Alessandro Longo , Antonio Bazzini , Edvard Grieg , Claude Debussy and Maurice Ravel , the "Trio" also performed works by Chilean composers such as Pedro Humberto Allende Sarón and Enrique Soro Barriga , Alfonso Leng and María Luisa Sepúlveda . In 1908 he won a $ 3,000 prize from the Consejo Superior de Bellas Artes with Oberturas Romántica . In 1910 his opera Lord Byron premiered at the Teatro Municipal in Santiago.

As a professor of music, Giarda u. a. the singers Amanda Cruzat , Lidia Saavedra , Giordano de Valencia , María Ramírez , Marta Toledo , María López and Mercedes Neumann . In 1913 he was awarded a gold medal for composition for his Cuatro Piezas , and President Ramón Barros Luco invited him to the ceremony for the laying of the foundation stone of the new National Library. In December of that year a large symphony concert was held in his honor at the Theatro Unión Central . In 1916 he founded the Orquesta Blanca , which, under the direction of his student María Luisa Sepúlveda Maida, performed works by the Chilean composers Alfonso Leng , Javier Rengifo , Enrique Soro Barriga , Próspero Bisquertt , Pedro Humberto Allende Sarón and Giarda himself (who was regarded as a Chilean composer) at its opening concert ) performed.

In 1917 Giarda took over the management of the Academia Musical de Chile , in 1919 he became deputy director of the Conservatorio Nacional de Música . The following year he published the Tratado de armonía . In 1921 he conducted the orchestra of the Teatro Municipal at a concert with the pianist Claudio Arrau . In the same year, on the 600th anniversary of Dante Alighieri's death, his dramatic scene Sul Mare was performed for soloists, female choir and large orchestra at the Teatro Municipal . In 1922 he was named Caballero de la Corona de Italia .

After arguments about the reform of the Conservatorio Nacional in 1928, Giarda concentrated on his work as a composer and music interpreter. In 1933 he married his former student Amanda Cruzat . In the next few years he withdrew increasingly from the public. In 1951 he composed five songs for mezzo-soprano, female choir and piano under the title Flor de mayo as his last work and Opus 514 .

Works

• Fantasma , symphonic poetry
• Pequeña suite
• Preludio for orchestra
• Baccanale for orchestra
• Piccola danza for orchestra
• Marcha triunfal for orchestra
• Concert piece for cello and orchestra
• Sonata in stile antico
• Los enanos
• Alba for choir and orchestra, text by Ida Maria Baccini
• En la tarde , text by Carlos Walker Martínez
• Mon amour était mort , Romance for soprano and chamber orchestra
• La mattinata dell'anno nuovo for soprano, violin and cello
• Reietto , Opera, 1893
• Lord Byron , Opera, 1901
• Obertura romántica , 1907
• Suite campestre , 1907
• Ave María , 1908
• Tres Scherzi , 1910
• La vita , symphonic poem, 1913
• Sul Mare , dramatic scene, 1914
• Inno a Satana for choir and orchestra, text by Giovanni Carducci , 1914
• Suite , 1915
• A orillas del mar symphonic poem, 1916–18
• Más allá de la muerte , symphonic poem, 1922
• Meciendo for mezzo-soprano, female choir and piano, text by Gabriela Mistral , 1934
• Himno al Liceo de Niñas de Talca , text by Amanda Cruzat , 1934
• Canción de cuna for soprano, female choir and piano, text by Gabriela Mistral , 1934
• Berceuse , 1935
• Le risate , humorous song for soprano, female choir and piano, text by Sancio Pancetta , 1937
• La alegre canción de la montaña , text by Amado Nervo , 1937
• Canción del Rotary Club de Quillota , text by Alejandro Vásquez , 1942
• Himno a la mujer , text by Victoria Barrios , 1942
• Noche blanca for soprano, violin and piano, text by Juan Manuel Rodríguez, 1942
• Dedica for alto, cello and piano, 1944
• Himno masónico , text by Tomás de la Barra , 1949
• O tu che siedi all'ombra , text by Fausto Salvatori , 1950
• Flor de mayo , text by Amado Nervo , 1951

source

• Iván Barrientos Garrido: "Luigi Stefano Giarda. Una luz en la historia de la musica chilena"