Ennio Porrino (20 January 1910 – 25 September 1959) was an Italian composer and teacher. Amongst his compositions were orchestral works, an

oratorio An oratorio () is a large musical composition for orchestra, choir, and soloists. Like most operas, an oratorio includes the use of a choir, soloists, an instrumental ensemble, various distinguishable characters, and arias. However, opera is mus ...

and several operas and ballets. His best known work is the

symphonic poem A symphonic poem or tone poem is a piece of orchestral music, usually in a single continuous movement, which illustrates or evokes the content of a poem, short story, novel, painting, landscape, or other (non-musical) source. The German term ''T ...

''Sardegna'', a tribute to his native

Sardinia Sardinia ( ; it, Sardegna, label= Italian, Corsican and Tabarchino ; sc, Sardigna , sdc, Sardhigna; french: Sardaigne; sdn, Saldigna; ca, Sardenya, label= Algherese and Catalan) is the second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, af ...

, which premiered in Florence in 1933.

Life and career

Porrino was born in

Cagliari Cagliari (, also , , ; sc, Casteddu ; lat, Caralis) is an Italian municipality and the capital of the island of Sardinia, an autonomous region of Italy. Cagliari's Sardinian name ''Casteddu'' means ''castle''. It has about 155,000 inhabitan ...

and studied at the

Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia The Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia ( en, National Academy of St 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 promi ...

in Rome. He later studied with

Ottorino Respighi Ottorino Respighi ( , , ; 9 July 187918 April 1936) was an Italian composer, violinist, teacher, and musicologist and one of the leading Italian composers of the early 20th century. His compositions range over operas, ballets, orchestral suit ...

from 1932 to 1935. According to

Alfredo Casella Alfredo Casella (25 July 18835 March 1947) was an Italian composer, pianist and conductor. Life and career Casella was born in Turin, the son of Maria (née Bordino) and Carlo Casella. His family included many musicians: his grandfather, a f ...

, he became one of Respighi's disciples, championing an Italian national music movement and openly opposing composers such as Casella, Dallapiccola, and

Malipiero Malipiero is a Venetian surname of Bohemian origin, also documented as ''Mastropiero'' or ''Maripiero''. Malipiero can refer to: People * Domenico Malipiero (1428–1515), Venetian naval captain * Felicia Malipiero, Dogaressa of Venice by marriag ...

for their Modernist music.Slonimsky, Nicolas and Kuhn, Laura (2001)
"Porrino, Ennio"
''

Baker's Biographical Dictionary of Musicians ''Baker's Biographical Dictionary of Musicians'' is a major reference work in the field of music, originally compiled by Theodore Baker, PhD, and published in 1900 by G. Schirmer, Inc. The ninth edition, the most recent edition, was published in ...

''. Online version retrieved via

HighBeam Research HighBeam Research was a paid search engine and full text online archive owned by Gale, a subsidiary of Cengage, for thousands of newspapers, magazines, academic journals, newswires, trade magazines, and encyclopedias in English. It was headq ...

9 November 2013. After Respighi's death in 1936, Porrino and Respighi's widow Elsa completed his unfinished opera ''Lucrezia'' for its posthumous premiere at La Scala in 1937. In the course of his career, Porrino taught at the conservatories of Rome, Venice, and Naples, and in 1956 became the director of the Cagliari Conservatory. That same year he married Malgari Onnis (born 1935), a painter and theatrical designer. She designed the production of Porrino's last work, the opera '' I Shardana'', which premiered on 21 March 1959, six months before his death. The couple had one daughter, Stefania (born 1957), who became a playwright and stage director.Biblioteca Teatrale del Burcardo
Il Fondo Onnis-Porrino
Retrieved 9 November 2013 . Porrino died in Rome in 1959 at the age of 49. The ''Concorso Internazionale di Pianoforte Ennio Porrino'' was established in his memory in 1980.Associazione Amici della Musica di Cagliari

Retrieved 9 November 2013 .

Selected filmography

* '' Altura'' (1949)

References

External links

* Italian classical composers Italian male classical composers Italian opera composers Male opera composers 20th-century classical composers People from Cagliari 1910 births 1959 deaths Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia alumni 20th-century Italian composers 20th-century Italian male musicians {{Italy-composer-stub