Franco Vittadini (9 April 1884 in

Pavia Pavia ( , ; ; ; ; ) is a town and comune of south-western Lombardy, in Northern Italy, south of Milan on the lower Ticino (river), Ticino near its confluence with the Po (river), Po. It has a population of c. 73,086. The city was a major polit ...

– 30 November 1948 in Pavia) was an Italian composer and conductor. As a composer he is mostly known for his operas and sacred music. Born in

, he began his musical studies in 1903 at 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 ...

, but left prematurely because of a disagreement with the director, Giuseppe Gallignani. For a short period he was maestro di cappella and organist in

Varese Varese ( , ; or ; ; ; archaic ) is a city and ''comune'' in north-western Lombardy, northern Italy, north-west of Milan. The population of Varese in 2018 was 80,559. It is the capital of the Province of Varese. The hinterland or exurban part ...

, thereafter spending the rest of his life in Pavia where he was the director of the Istituto Musicale from 1924 until his death. As a stage composer, Vittadini found his greatest success with the opera '' Anima allegra'' (1918 - 1919), performed abroad as well as in Italy. His ballet ''Vecchia Milano'' (1928) was also very successful. Vittadini considered his opera ''Caracciolo'' (1938) to be his finest work, but his opera '' Fiammetta e l'avaro'' (1942 - 1951) was more successful at winning audiences. Vittadini received attention outside the theater for his religious works. He wrote numerous masses and

motets In Western classical music, a motet is mainly a vocal musical composition, of highly diverse form and style, from high medieval music to the present. The motet was one of the preeminent polyphonic forms of Renaissance music. According to the Engl ...

in a style very similar to that of

Lorenzo Perosi Monsignor Lorenzo Perosi (21 December 1872 – 12 October 1956) was an Italian composer of sacred music and the only member of the Giovane Scuola who did not write opera. In the late 1890s, while he was still only in his twenties, Perosi was a ...

. His

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 ...

''L'agonia del Redentore'' (1933) is considered to be one of his finer works, and his religious drama ''Nazareth'' (1925) forms a bridge between his achievements within sacred compositions and dramatic works.

Operas

*''Il mare di Tiberiade'' (1914) *''Anima Allegra'' (1918–19) *''Nazareth'' (1925) *''La Sagredo'' (1930) *''Il natale di Gesù'' (1933) *''Caracciolo'' (1938) *''Fiammetta e l'avaro'' (1942)

Sources

Opera Glass
*John C.G. Waterhouse. The ''

New Grove Dictionary of Opera ''The New Grove Dictionary of Opera'' is an encyclopedia of opera. It is the largest work on opera in English, and in its printed form, amounts to 5,448 pages in four volumes. The dictionary was first published in 1992 by Macmillan Reference, L ...

'', edited by Stanley Sadie (1992). and

External links

* 1884 births 1948 deaths Musicians from Pavia Italian opera composers Italian male opera composers Italian male conductors (music) Milan Conservatory alumni 20th-century Italian classical composers 20th-century male composers 20th-century Italian conductors (music) 20th-century Italian male musicians {{Italy-conductor-stub