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Luigi Denza (24 February 1846 – 27 January 1922) was an Italian composer.
Luigi Denza (composer)
in ''Discography of American Historical Recordings'' at UC Santa Barbara * * 1846 births 1922 deaths 19th-century classical composers 19th-century Italian male musicians 20th-century classical composers 20th-century Italian composers 20th-century Italian male musicians Academics of the Royal Academy of Music Italian classical composers Italian classical mandolinists Italian male classical composers Italian opera composers Italian Romantic composers Male opera composers People from Castellammare di Stabia {{Italy-composer-stub
Luigi Denza (24 February 1846 – 27 January 1922) was an Italian composer.
Career
Denza was born atCastellammare di Stabia
Castellammare di Stabia (; nap, Castiellammare 'e Stabbia) is a '' comune'' in the Metropolitan City of Naples, Campania region, in southern Italy. It is situated on the Bay of Naples about southeast of Naples, on the route to Sorrento.
History ...
, near Naples
Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adm ...
. He studied music with Saverio Mercadante
Giuseppe Saverio Raffaele Mercadante (baptised 17 September 179517 December 1870) was an Italian composer, particularly of operas. While Mercadante may not have retained the international celebrity of Gaetano Donizetti or Gioachino Rossini beyond ...
and Paolo Serrao
Paolo Serrao (11 April 1830 – 17 March 1907) was a distinguished and influential Italian teacher of musical theory and composition at Naples.
Serrao was born in Filadelfia, Calabria. As professor of composition at the San Pietro a Maiella ...
at the Naples Conservatory. In 1884, he moved to London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
, taught singing privately and became a professor of singing at the Royal Academy of Music
The Royal Academy of Music (RAM) in London, England, is the oldest conservatoire in the UK, founded in 1822 by John Fane and Nicolas-Charles Bochsa. It received its royal charter in 1830 from King George IV with the support of the first Duke ...
in 1898, where he taught for two decades. He died in London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
in 1922.
''Funiculì, Funiculà''
Denza is best remembered for "Funiculì, Funiculà
"Funiculì, Funiculà" (, en, "Funicular Up, Funicular Down") is a Neapolitan song composed in 1880 by Luigi Denza to lyrics by Peppino Turco. It was written to commemorate the opening of the first funicular railway on Mount Vesuvius. It was p ...
" (1880), a humorous Neapolitan song
Canzone napoletana (), sometimes referred to as Neapolitan song ( nap, canzona napulitana ), is a generic term for a traditional form of music sung in the Neapolitan language, ordinarily for the male voice singing solo, although well represented b ...
inspired by the inauguration of a funicular
A funicular (, , ) is a type of cable railway system that connects points along a railway track laid on a steep slope. The system is characterized by two counterbalanced carriages (also called cars or trains) permanently attached to opposite ...
to the summit of Vesuvius
Mount Vesuvius ( ; it, Vesuvio ; nap, 'O Vesuvio , also or ; la, Vesuvius , also , or ) is a somma-stratovolcano located on the Gulf of Naples in Campania, Italy, about east of Naples and a short distance from the shore. It is one of ...
. Neapolitan journalist Peppino Turco Giuseppe “Peppino” Turco (7 March 1846 – 14 October 1903) was an Italian songwriter.
Turco was born in Naples. Initially he was a renowned journalist and poet, collaborating with the satirical newspaper ''Capitan Fracassa'' in Rome an ...
contributed the lyrics and may have prompted the song by suggesting that Denza compose something for the Piedigrotta song-writing competition. "Funiculì, Funiculà" was published the same year by Ricordi
Ricordi may refer to:
People
*Giovanni Ricordi (1785–1853), Italian violinist and publishing company founder
* Giulio Ricordi (1840–1912), Italian publisher and musician
Music
*Casa Ricordi, an Italian music publishing company established i ...
and within a year had sold a million copies.
Other music
In addition to "Funiculì, Funiculà", Denza composed hundreds of popular songs. Some of them, such as "", "", and "", have been sung byEnrico Caruso
Enrico Caruso (, , ; 25 February 1873 – 2 August 1921) was an Italian operatic first lyrical tenor then dramatic tenor. He sang to great acclaim at the major opera houses of Europe and the Americas, appearing in a wide variety of roles (74) ...
, Mario Lanza, Carlo Bergonzi, Luciano Pavarotti
Luciano Pavarotti (, , ; 12 October 19356 September 2007) was an Italian operatic tenor who during the late part of his career crossed over into popular music, eventually becoming one of the most acclaimed tenors of all time. He made numero ...
, and Ronan Tynan. He was also an able mandolinist and guitarist, and for those instruments he wrote "Ricordo di Quisisana", "Come to me", "Nocturne", and several others. Denza also wrote an opera
Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a libr ...
, ''Wallenstein'' (1876).
Judging of James Joyce
Other than writing songs and music, Denza's enduring legacy was his judging ofJames Joyce
James Augustine Aloysius Joyce (2 February 1882 – 13 January 1941) was an Irish novelist, poet, and literary critic. He contributed to the Modernism, modernist avant-garde movement and is regarded as one of the most influential and important ...
, who was a singer before he became a world-famous novelist.
When Denza was Professor of Music at the London Academy of Music
The London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art (LAMDA) is a drama school located in Hammersmith, London. It is the oldest specialist drama school in the British Isles and a founding member of the Federation of Drama Schools.
LAMDA's Principal is ...
, he was asked to judge the 1904 '' Feis Ceoil'' Irish Singing Contest, a prototype of today's musical reality shows. On 16 May 1904, Denza attempted to mentor Joyce, and would have awarded him, the Gold Medal, but Joyce could not sight read, missing a crucial part of the competition; Denza instead awarded Joyce the third-place Bronze medal. Disgusted, Joyce gave the medal to his Aunt Josephine; the medal ended up years later being bought by Michael Flatley
Michael Ryan Flatley (born July 16, 1958) is an Irish-American dancer. He became known for Irish dance shows '' Riverdance'', '' Lord of the Dance'', '' Feet of Flames'', and '' Celtic Tiger Live''. Flatley's shows have played to more than 60 mi ...
at an auction.
Notes
References
External links
* *Luigi Denza (composer)
in ''Discography of American Historical Recordings'' at UC Santa Barbara * * 1846 births 1922 deaths 19th-century classical composers 19th-century Italian male musicians 20th-century classical composers 20th-century Italian composers 20th-century Italian male musicians Academics of the Royal Academy of Music Italian classical composers Italian classical mandolinists Italian male classical composers Italian opera composers Italian Romantic composers Male opera composers People from Castellammare di Stabia {{Italy-composer-stub