Riccardo Zandonai (28 May 1883 – 5 June 1944) was an Italian

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and def ...

and

conductor Conductor or conduction may refer to: Biology and medicine * Bone conduction, the conduction of sound to the inner ear * Conduction aphasia, a language disorder Mathematics * Conductor (ring theory) * Conductor of an abelian variety * Cond ...

Biography

Zandonai was born in Borgo Sacco,

Rovereto Rovereto (; "wood of sessile oaks"; locally: ''Roveredo'') is a city and ''comune'' in Trentino in northern Italy, located in the Vallagarina valley of the Adige River. History Rovereto was an ancient fortress town standing at the fronti ...

, then part of

Austria-Hungary Austria-Hungary, also referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Dual Monarchy or the Habsburg Monarchy, was a multi-national constitutional monarchy in Central Europe#Before World War I, Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. A military ...

. As a young man, he showed such an aptitude for music that he entered the

Pesaro Pesaro (; ) is a (municipality) in the Italy, Italian region of Marche, capital of the province of Pesaro and Urbino, on the Adriatic Sea. According to the 2011 census, its population was 95,011, making it the second most populous city in the ...

Conservatorio in 1899 and completed his studies in 1902; he completed the nine-year curriculum in only three years. Among his teachers was

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 ...

, who regarded him highly. During this period he composed the ''Inno degli studenti trentini'', that is, the anthem of the organised

irredentist Irredentism () is one state's desire to annex the territory of another state. This desire can be motivated by ethnic reasons because the population of the territory is ethnically similar to or the same as the population of the parent state. Hist ...

youth of his native province. His essay for graduation was an opera named ''Il ritorno di Odisseo'' (''The Return of Ulysses''), based on a poem by

Giovanni Pascoli Giovanni Placido Agostino Pascoli (; 31 December 1855 – 6 April 1912) was an Italian poet, classical scholar and an emblematic figure of Italian literature in the late nineteenth century. Alongside Gabriele D'Annunzio, he was one of the grea ...

, for singers, choir and orchestra. The same year 1902 he put to music another Pascoli poem, ''Il sogno di Rosetta''. At a soirée in

Milan Milan ( , , ; ) is a city in northern Italy, regional capital of Lombardy, the largest city in Italy by urban area and the List of cities in Italy, second-most-populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of nea ...

in 1908, he was heard by

Arrigo Boito Arrigo Boito (; born Enrico Giuseppe Giovanni Boito; 24 February 1842 10 June 1918) was an Italian librettist, composer, poet and critic whose only completed opera was ''Mefistofele''. Among the operas for which he wrote the libretto, libretti ar ...

, who introduced him to

Giulio Ricordi Giulio Ricordi (19 December 1840 – 6 June 1912) was an Italian editor and musician who joined the family firm, the Casa Ricordi music publishing house, in 1863, then run by his father, Tito, the son of the company's founder Giovanni Ricordi. ...

, one of the dominating figures in Italian musical publishing at the time. His opera '' Il grillo del focolare'' has received occasional Italian performances since its premiere at the Politeama Chiarella di

Torino Turin ( , ; ; , then ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. The city is main ...

in 1908. Zandonai's fame rests largely on his opera ''

Francesca da Rimini Francesca da Rimini or Francesca da Polenta (died between 1283 and 1286) was an Italian noblewoman of Ravenna, who was murdered by her husband, Giovanni Malatesta, upon his discovery of her affair with his brother, Paolo Malatesta. She was a ...

'', a free adaptation of a

tragedy A tragedy is a genre of drama based on human suffering and, mainly, the terrible or sorrowful events that befall a tragic hero, main character or cast of characters. Traditionally, the intention of tragedy is to invoke an accompanying catharsi ...

which Gabriele D'Annunzio had written expanding a passage from

Dante Dante Alighieri (; most likely baptized Durante di Alighiero degli Alighieri; – September 14, 1321), widely known mononymously as Dante, was an Italian Italian poetry, poet, writer, and philosopher. His ''Divine Comedy'', originally called ...

's '' Inferno''; it has never fallen entirely from the repertoire, and has been recorded several times. Some time after the premiere, he married soprano Tarquinia Tarquini, for whom he had created the role of Conchita in the eponymous opera (dealing with a topic that

Puccini Giacomo Puccini (22 December 1858 29 November 1924) was an Italian composer known primarily for his operas. Regarded as the greatest and most successful proponent of Italian opera after Verdi, he was descended from a long line of composers, s ...

had first considered and then rejected). Soon, however, war broke out; patriotic Zandonai in 1916 composed a song, ''Alla Patria'' ("For the Motherland"), dedicated to

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

, with the result that his home and belongings in Sacco (then still in Austro–Hungarian hands) were confiscated (they were returned to him after the war). When Puccini died without completing the music for the last act of ''

Turandot ''Turandot'' ( ; see #Origin and pronunciation of the name, below) is an opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini to a libretto in Italian by Giuseppe Adami and Renato Simoni. Puccini left the opera unfinished at the time of his death in 1924; it ...

'', Zandonai was among several composers the Ricordi publishing firm considered for the task of finishing it. Puccini himself, in his final illness, seems to have supported the choice of Zandonai – certainly

Toscanini Arturo Toscanini (; ; March 25, 1867January 16, 1957) was an Italian conductor. He was one of the most acclaimed and influential musicians of the late 19th and early 20th century, renowned for his intensity, his perfectionism, his ear for orche ...

looked with approval on this choice – but his son Tonio Puccini, for reasons still obscure, vetoed it. One version is that Tonio Puccini thought that Zandonai was too well-known and for that reason would be associated with the opera and might even overshadow his father. Ultimately

Franco Alfano Franco Alfano (8 March 1875 – 27 October 1954) was an Italian composer and pianist, best known today for his operas ''Cyrano de Bergerac'' (1936) and '' Risurrezione'' (1904), and for having completed Puccini's opera ''Turandot'' in 1926. He ha ...

was chosen to complete ''Turandot''. In 1935 Zandonai became the director of the Rossini Conservatory in his beloved Pesaro. There he revived some works of

Rossini Gioachino Antonio Rossini (29 February 1792 – 13 November 1868) was an Italian composer of the late Classical and early Romantic eras. He gained fame for his 39 operas, although he also wrote many songs, some chamber music and piano p ...

, such as ''

Il viaggio a Reims ''Il viaggio a Reims, ossia L'albergo del giglio d'oro'' (''The Journey to Reims, or The Hotel of the Golden Fleur-de-lis'') is an operatic dramma giocoso, originally performed in three acts,Janet Johnson: ''A Lost Masterpiece Recovered'', pp. 37 ...

'' and the overture for '' Maometto secondo''. In 1941 he re-orchestrated ''

La gazza ladra ''La gazza ladra'' (, ''The Thieving Magpie'') is a ''melodramma'' or opera semiseria in two acts by Gioachino Rossini, with a libretto by Giovanni Gherardini based on ''La pie voleuse'' by Théodore Baudouin d'Aubigny and Louis-Charles Caigniez ...

'', reducing it to three acts. Three years later, he died in Trebbiantico (it), Pesaro, after undergoing

gallstone A gallstone is a stone formed within the gallbladder from precipitated bile components. The term cholelithiasis may refer to the presence of gallstones or to any disease caused by gallstones, and choledocholithiasis refers to the presence of ...

surgery. His last words were for the priest who announced to him that

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

had been liberated the day before. The dying composer said, in his native dialect: "Good! Viva l'Italia; the sound part".

Major works

Operas

:See List of operas by Riccardo Zandonai.

Sacred

*''Te Deum'' for male choir and organ (1906) *Two samplers of ''Melodie per canto e piano'' (1907, 1913) *''O Padre nostro che nei cieli stai'' for choir, organ and orchestra (1912) *''Messa da Requiem'' for choir (1914) *Recently a ''Missa pro defunctis'' was discovered.

Other

Various symphonic compositions: *"Primavera in Val di Sole" *"Autunno fra i monti" *"Ballata eroica" *"Fra gli alberghi delle Dolomiti" *"Quadri di Segantini" (1931) *"Rapsodia trentina" *"Colombina" *''Concerto romantico'' for

violin The violin, sometimes referred to as a fiddle, is a wooden chordophone, and is the smallest, and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in regular use in the violin family. Smaller violin-type instruments exist, including the violino picc ...

(1919) *''Concerto andaluso'' for

cello The violoncello ( , ), commonly abbreviated as cello ( ), is a middle pitched bowed (sometimes pizzicato, plucked and occasionally col legno, hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually intonation (music), tuned i ...

Selected filmography

* ''

Princess Tarakanova Princess Tarakanova (c. 1745 – ) was a pretender to the Russian throne. She styled herself, among other names, ''Knyazhna Yelizaveta Vladimirskaya'' (Princess Elizabeth of Vladimir, Russia, Vladimir), ''Fräulein Frank'', and ''Madame Tré ...

'' (1938) * '' Der singende Tor'' (1939) * ''

Love Me, Alfredo! ''Love Me, Alfredo!'' (Italian: ''Amami, Alfredo!'') is a 1940 Italian romantic drama film directed by Carmine Gallone and starring Maria Cebotari, Claudio Gora and Lucie Englisch.Nowell-Smith p.57 It portrays the relationship between an establi ...

'' (1940) * ''

Caravaggio Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio (also Michele Angelo Merigi or Amerighi da Caravaggio; 29 September 1571 – 18 July 1610), known mononymously as Caravaggio, was an Italian painter active in Rome for most of his artistic life. During the fina ...

'' (1941)

References

*Waterhouse, John C. G. (1992), "Zandonai, Riccardo" in ''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 ...

'', ed.

Stanley Sadie Stanley John Sadie (; 30 October 1930 – 21 March 2005) was a British musicologist, music critic, and editor. He was editor of the sixth edition of the '' Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians'' (1980), which was published as the first edition ...

(London)

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Zandonai, Riccardo 1883 births 1944 deaths 20th-century Italian classical composers 20th-century male composers 20th-century Italian male musicians Italian opera composers Italian male opera composers People from Rovereto Italian film score composers Italian male film score composers People from the County of Tyrol Italian Austro-Hungarians