Francesco Paolo Frontini (

Catania Catania (, , , Sicilian and ) is the second-largest municipality on Sicily, after Palermo, both by area and by population. Despite being the second city of the island, Catania is the center of the most densely populated Sicilian conurbation, wh ...

, August 6, 1860 – Catania, July 26, 1939) 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 ...

. He studied music with his father, composer Martino Frontini; he also studied the

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 ...

with Santi D'Amico, playing a concert with him at the town concert hall at the age of 13. At 15 his first composition, a ''Qui tollis'', was played at the city cathedral, under the direction of Pietro Antonio Coppola. In 1875 Frontini matriculated at the Palermo Conservatory, where he studied with Pietro Platania; from there he passed to the conservatory in

Naples Naples ( ; ; ) is the Regions of Italy, regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 908,082 within the city's administrative limits as of 2025, while its Metropolitan City of N ...

, where he received his diploma in composition under the tuition of Lauro Rossi. Among his first substantial compositions was a funeral

Mass Mass is an Intrinsic and extrinsic properties, intrinsic property of a physical body, body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the physical quantity, quantity of matter in a body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physi ...

in honor of Pietro Coppola. In 1881 came the premiere of a three-act

melodrama A melodrama is a Drama, dramatic work in which plot, typically sensationalized for a strong emotional appeal, takes precedence over detailed characterization. Melodrama is "an exaggerated version of drama". Melodramas typically concentrate on ...

, ''Nella''; further operas followed, beginning with ''Sansone'' in 1882, ''Aleramo'' (based on the legend of Adelasia and Aleramo) in 1883, ''Fatalità '' in 1890, ''Malia'' (on a

libretto A libretto (From the Italian word , ) is the text used in, or intended for, an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata or Musical theatre, musical. The term ''libretto'' is also sometimes used to refer to th ...

Luigi Capuana Luigi Capuana (May 28, 1839 – November 29, 1915) was an Italian author and journalist and one of the main exponents of '' Verismo''. He was a contemporary of Giovanni Verga, both having been born in the province of Catania within a year of eac ...

) in 1891, and ''Il Falconiere'' in 1899. At the same time his lyric poem ''Medio-Evo'' received favorable notice from

Jules Massenet Jules Émile Frédéric Massenet (; 12 May 1842 – 13 August 1912) was a French composer of the Romantic music, Romantic era best known for his operas, of which he wrote more than thirty. The two most frequently staged are ''Manon'' (1884 ...

. He wrote music for the one-act play ''Vicolo delle belle'' by Saverio Fiducia, as well as for Antonino Russo Giusti's comedy ''U Spiridu'', which was shown in 1920 at the communal theater under the direction of Gaetano Emanuel Calì. He also wrote a number of religious and secular choral compositions at this time. Frontini also wrote numerous songs, melodies,

serenata In music, a serenade (; also sometimes called a serenata, from the Italian) is a musical composition or performance delivered in honour of someone or something. Serenades are typically calm, light pieces of music. The term comes from the Italia ...

s and romances; the most popular of these were his ''Serenata araba'', ''Il piccolo montanaro'', and a ''Triumphal March''. In addition to his activities as a composer, he taught music and

counterpoint In music theory, counterpoint is the relationship of two or more simultaneous musical lines (also called voices) that are harmonically dependent on each other, yet independent in rhythm and melodic contour. The term originates from the Latin ...

at the Ospizio di Beneficenza. One of Frontini's chief interests was popular music and song, and he compiled the first collection of Sicilian

folk song Folk music is a music genre that includes #Traditional folk music, traditional folk music and the Contemporary folk music, contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be ca ...

s in Italy; fifty pieces from this collection were published by

Casa Ricordi Casa Ricordi is a publisher of primarily European classical music, classical music and opera. Its classical repertoire represents one of the important sources in the world through its publishing of the work of the major 19th-century Italian com ...

in 1882; a second collection, titled ''Natale siciliano'', was published in 1893 by De Marchi of

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 ...

. Frontini died in the city of his birth in 1939.

References

External links

* * * https://www.frontini.de/francesco-paolo-frontini Piano music 1860 births 1939 deaths Italian classical composers Italian opera composers Italian male opera composers Musicians from Catania 20th-century Italian composers 20th-century male composers 20th-century Italian male musicians 19th-century Italian composers 19th-century Italian male musicians Folk-song collectors Italian ethnomusicologists Palermo Conservatory alumni {{ethnomusicologist-stub