Emilio Pizzi (1 February 1861 – 27 November 1940) was an Italian composer. His output of works include 10 operas, a

ballet Ballet () is a type of performance dance that originated during the Italian Renaissance in the fifteenth century and later developed into a concert dance form in France and Russia. It has since become a widespread and highly technical form of ...

, an

oratorio An oratorio () is a musical composition with dramatic or narrative text for choir, soloists and orchestra or other ensemble. Similar to opera, an oratorio includes the use of a choir, soloists, an instrumental ensemble, various distinguisha ...

, and numerous vocal and chamber works. Pizzi graduated from the

Milan Conservatory The Milan Conservatory, also known as the Conservatorio di Milano and the Conservatorio Giuseppe Verdi, is a Music school, college of music in Milan, Italy. History The conservatory was established by a royal decree of 1807 in Milan, capital ...

in 1884 where he was a pupil of

Antonio Bazzini Antonio Bazzini (11 March 181810 February 1897) was an Italian violinist, composer and teacher. As a composer, his most enduring work is his chamber music, which earned him a central place in the Italian instrumental renaissance of the 19th centu ...

and

Amilcare Ponchielli Amilcare Ponchielli (, ; 31 August 1834 – 16 January 1886) was an Italian opera composer, best known for his opera La Gioconda (opera), ''La Gioconda''. He was married to the soprano Teresina Brambilla. Life and work Born in Paderno Fasolaro ( ...

and attended classes with

Pietro Mascagni Pietro Mascagni (7 December 1863 – 2 August 1945) was an Italian composer primarily known for his operas. His 1890 masterpiece '' Cavalleria rusticana'' caused one of the greatest sensations in opera history and single-handedly ushered in the ...

. Shortly after completing his education, he moved to London where he remained for almost 13 years. In 1885 his

operetta Operetta is a form of theatre and a genre of light opera. It includes spoken dialogue, songs and including dances. It is lighter than opera in terms of its music, orchestral size, and length of the work. Apart from its shorter length, the oper ...

''Lina'' won the Bonetti Competition. In 1889 his first opera, ''

Guglielmo Ratcliff ''Guglielmo Ratcliff'' is a tragic opera in four acts by Pietro Mascagni to an Italian libretto by Andrea Maffei, translated from the German play ''Wilhelm Ratcliff'' (1822) by Heinrich Heine. Mascagni had substantially finished the composition of ...

'', won first prize at the Baruzzi Competition. His fourth opera, '' Gabriella'', was commissioned by

Adelina Patti Adelina Patti (19 February 184327 September 1919) was a Spanish-Italian opera singer. At the height of her career, she was earning huge fees performing in the music capitals of Europe and America. She first sang in public as a child in 1851, a ...

and she portrayed the title role when the work premiered in Boston in 1893 at the Metropolitan Theatre with the composer in attendance. Pizzi returned to Italy in 1897 to succeed

Antonio Cesaro Claudio Castagnoli ( ; born 27 December 1980) is a Swiss professional wrestler. He is signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW), where he is a member of the Death Riders and a former AEW World Trios Championship, AEW World Trios Champion. He also per ...

as the

maestro di cappella ( , , ), from German (chapel) and (master), literally "master of the chapel choir", designates the leader of an ensemble of musicians. Originally used to refer to somebody in charge of music in a chapel, the term has evolved considerably in i ...

at the

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Bergamo Bergamo ( , ; ) is a city in the Alps, alpine Lombardy region of northern Italy, approximately northeast of Milan, and about from the alpine lakes Lake Como, Como and Lake Iseo, Iseo and 70 km (43 mi) from Lake Garda, Garda and Lake ...

. He also taught at the Bergamo Conservatory. He returned to London in 1900 where he became a popular composer of vocal pieces. He died in Milan at the age of 79.

Operas

*''Lina'' (1885) *''Guglielmo Ratcliff'' (1889, Bologna) *''Editha'' (1890, Milan) *''Viviana'' (early 1890s, never performed) *''Gabriella'' (1893, Boston) *''The bric-a-brac-Will'' (1895, London) *''Ultimo canto'' (1896, Vienna) *''Rosalba'' (1899, Turin) *''La vendetta'' (1906, Cologne) *''Ivania'' (1926, Bergamo)

Sources

Operisti minori dell'800 italiano By Corrado Ambìveri

References

External links

*
William Ratcliff , opera romantica in un prologo e tre atti
1889 publication, Italian, digitized by BYU on archive.org {{DEFAULTSORT:Pizzi, Emilio 1861 births 1940 deaths Academic staff of the Bergamo Conservatory Italian classical composers Italian opera composers Italian male opera composers Musicians from Verona Milan Conservatory alumni