Pietro Platania

Pietro Platania (born April 5, 1828 in Catania , † April 26, 1907 in Naples ) was an Italian composer and music teacher .

Life

He studied music in Catania and at the Palermo Conservatory , where he became the favorite student of counterpointist Pietro Raimondi . Platania's opera Matilde Bentivoglio was a great success in Palermo in 1852. In the same year Raimondi resigned as director and counterpoint teacher at the Conservatory and proposed Platania as his successor. However, due to bureaucratic rivalries, Platania was unable to take up the position at the time. It was not until 1863, under the new government, that he received it through a competition.

In 1882 he became maestro di cappella at the Milan Cathedral and was director of the Naples Conservatory from 1885 to 1902. He was considered the greatest Italian counterpoint artist of his day and was admired by Rossini and Verdi . The latter asked him for a contribution to the planned funeral mass for Rossini.

In his church music works, Platania sometimes pursues a tendency towards the colossal, as in his setting of Psalm 67 Exurgat Deus for six four-part choirs and orchestra. He continued to write operas, including Spartaco (1891) and instrumental works, such as a choral symphony for the coronation ceremony of King Umberto I in 1878 .

Web links

• Sheet music and audio files by Pietro Platania in the International Music Score Library Project