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Ciro Pinsuti (9 May 1829 – 10 March 1888) was an
Anglo Anglo is a prefix indicating a relation to, or descent from England, English culture, the English people or the English language, such as in the term ''Anglosphere''. It is often used alone, somewhat loosely, to refer to people of British d ...
-
Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...
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 ...
. Educated in music for a career as a
pianist A pianist ( , ) is a musician who plays the piano. A pianist's repertoire may include music from a diverse variety of styles, such as traditional classical music, jazz piano, jazz, blues piano, blues, and popular music, including rock music, ...
, he studied composition under
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 ...
. From 1848 he made his home in England, where he became a teacher of singing, and in 1856 he was made a professor at the Academy of Music in London. Pinsuti composed numerous songs and part-songs which achieved popularity in the Victorian era. He also composed three operas, which were produced in Italy, but which are rarely performed today. He is most remembered for his popular parlour songs such as "I Fear no Foe" and the "Bedouin love song".


Life

He was born in
Sinalunga Sinalunga is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Siena, in the Tuscany region of central Italy. History Aside from scanty prehistoric findings, the oldest historical remains date from the 8th century BC, when Sinalunga was perhaps an Etrusca ...
near
Siena Siena ( , ; traditionally spelled Sienna in English; ) is a city in Tuscany, in central Italy, and the capital of the province of Siena. It is the twelfth most populated city in the region by number of inhabitants, with a population of 52,991 ...
, Italy, the son of Maddalena Formichi and G. Battista Pinsuti, who was the music teacher of the local orchestra. After studying music with a friend of his father, he made his first public appearance on 7 March 1840 at the age of ten in the Civic Theatre of Perugia playing the violin in the orchestra. After the season, his father took him to Rome, where he played for several important Roman families, and gaining access to the
Accademia di Santa Cecilia The Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia () is one of the oldest musical institutions in the world, founded by the papal bull ''Ratione congruit'', issued by Sixtus V in 1585, which invoked two saints prominent in Western musical history: Greg ...
. British MP Henry Drummond saw Ciro performing and proposed to his father that he would pay for Ciro's tuition at the conservatory of Naples, provided that Ciro came to London to perform. Pinsuti remained in London for five years, after which he chose to study with
Gioachino Rossini Gioachino Antonio Rossini (29 February 1792 – 13 November 1868) was an Italian composer of the late Classical period (music), Classical and early Romantic music, Romantic eras. He gained fame for his 39 operas, although he also wrote man ...
at the
Bologna Conservatory The Conservatorio Giovanni Battista Martini (previously known as the Liceo Musicale di Bologna, and better known in English as the Bologna Conservatory) is a college of music in Bologna, Italy. The conservatory opened on 3 December 1804, as the L ...
. Rossini, who befriended Pinsuti, advised him to return to London after finishing his studies, as Britain represented the best prospects for his future career. Having returned to London, Pinsuti gave music lessons during the day, while performing his own compositions at evening soirees. The
Royal Academy of Music The Royal Academy of Music (RAM) in London, England, is one of the oldest music schools 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 firs ...
in London appointed him as a singing teacher. He was also given posts in Italy, becoming an honorary member of the Accademia di Santa Cecilia in Rome. In 1876, he was given an official position on the Sinalunga city council, a position he held until his death, even though his commitment was necessarily subject to his many other activities. In 1879 he conducted Verdi's '' Il Trovatore'' at the theatre in Sinalunga, now named after him, and supported the local orchestra, which was led by his brother, Domenico Pinsuti. In 1885 his opera ''Margherita'' was staged in Venice and then in Sinalunga. Ciro Pinsuti died in Florence on March 10, 1888; his life was celebrated at his official funeral on April 10, 1888 in St. Martin's, Sinalunga.Marcello Cofini, Ariano Guastaldi, Lucia Mazzetti (2002) - Musica e musicisti al tempo di Ciro, Biblioteca Comunale di Sinalunga, Collana Teatro Comunale "Ciro Pinsuti", n° 3. Quaderni Sinalunghesi, Anno XIII, n° 2, dicembre 2002. Edizioni Luì, Sinalunga.


Works


Operas

Pinsuti composed three operas: ''Margherita'', performed for the first time at
Teatro La Fenice Teatro La Fenice (; "The Phoenix (mythology), Phoenix Theatre") is a historic opera house in Venice, Italy. It is one of "the most famous and renowned landmarks in the history of Italian theatre" and in the history of opera as a whole. Especial ...
in Venice in 1882 and three years later in the Municipal Theatre of Sinalunga in 1885. This work is a lyrical drama in four acts, with libretto written by A. Zanardini. ''Il mercante di Venezia'' (''The Merchant of Venice''), performed for the first time at the
Teatro Comunale di Bologna The Teatro Comunale di Bologna is an opera house in Bologna, Italy. Typically, it presents eight operas with six performances during its November to April season. While there had been various theatres presenting opera in Bologna since the early ...
on 8 November 1873. This is an opera in four acts based on the play by Shakespeare, with libretto by G. T. Cimino. ''Mattia Corvino'' (''Matthias Corvinus''), performed for the first time at the
Teatro alla Scala La Scala (, , ; officially , ) is a historic opera house in Milan, Italy. The theatre was inaugurated on 3 August 1778 and was originally known as (, which previously was a church). The premiere performance was Antonio Salieri's ''Europa r ...
in Milan on March 24, 1877, a lyrical drama in a prologue and three acts. The libretto was by
Carlo D'Ormeville Carlo is a given name. It is an Italian form of Charles. It can refer to: *Carlo (name) *Monte Carlo *Carlingford, New South Wales, a suburb in north-west Sydney, New South Wales, Australia *A satirical song written by Dafydd Iwan about Prince Char ...
.


Songs

In Britain and America Pinsuti was best known for his parlour songs. One of these ballads titled "Beatrice - Kind and so modest", was a setting of Dante's sonnet XXVI from ''
La Vita Nuova ''La Vita Nuova'' (; modern Italian for "The New Life") or ''Vita Nova'' (Latin and medieval Italian title ) is a text by Dante Alighieri published in 1294. It is an expression of the medieval genre of courtly love in a prosimetrum style, a ...
''. His song "I fear no foe", to words by E. Oxenford, was popular and widely-sung in Britain. Other widely recorded songs included the "Bedouin love song" and "Welcome, pretty primrose". Performers who recorded his songs included Peter Dawson,
J. W. Myers John W. Myers (c. 1864 – c. 1919?), who was usually credited as J. W. Myers, was an American baritone singer, who recorded widely in the United States between the early 1890s and early 1917. His recordings, including "Two Little Girls in B ...
,
Clarence Whitehill Clarence Eugene Whitehill (November 5, 1871 - December 19, 1932) was a leading American bass-baritone who sang at the Metropolitan Opera from 1915 to 1932. He sang on both sides of the Atlantic and is remembered for his association with the musi ...
and Jules Levy. His aria ''il libro santo'' was recorded by
Magda Olivero Magda Olivero (née Maria Maddalena Olivero) (25 March 1910 – 8 September 2014), was an Italian operatic soprano. Her career started in 1932 when she was 22, and spanned five decades, establishing her "as an important link between the era of the ...
. The choral song ''Good night, good night, beloved'' has been recorded by
The Sixteen The Sixteen (previously known as the Symphony of Harmony and Invention) are a British choir and period instrument orchestra. Founded by Harry Christophers, they started as an unnamed group of sixteen friends in 1977, giving their first bille ...
.Coro COR16184 (2021), reviewed at MusicWeb International
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References


External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Pinsuti, Ciro 1829 births 1888 deaths People from Sinalunga Italian Romantic composers 19th-century Italian classical composers Conservatorio Giovanni Battista Martini alumni Italian opera composers Italian male opera composers 19th-century Italian male musicians Immigrants to the United Kingdom