Francesco Paolo Frontini ( Catania, August 6, 1860 – Catania, July 26, 1939) was an Italian composer. He studied music with his father, composer

Martino Frontini Martino Frontini (1827–1909) was an Italian composer and writer. He was born and died in Catania, and worked with many Catanian musicians in the second half of the nineteenth century. Frontini was the father, and first teacher, of composer Fra ...

; he also studied the

violin The violin, sometimes known as a ''fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone (string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in the family in regular ...

with

Santi D'Amico Santi is used as: People with the surname * Brenden Santi (born 1993), Australian-Italian rugby league player * Domenico Santi (1621–1694), also known as il Mengazzino, Italian painter * Emanuele Santi, Italian economist and political scientis ...

, 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 conservatory in

Palermo Palermo ( , ; scn, Palermu , locally also or ) is a city in southern Italy, the capital of both the autonomous region of Sicily and the Metropolitan City of Palermo, the city's surrounding metropolitan province. The city is noted for it ...

, where he studied with Pietro Platania; from there he passed to the conservatory in

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 adminis ...

, 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 property of a body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the quantity of matter in a physical body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physics. It was found that different atoms and different element ...

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

Luigi Capuana Luigi Capuana (May 28, 1839 – November 29, 1915) was an Italian author and journalist and one of the most important members of the ''verist'' movement (see also ''verismo'' (literature)). He was a contemporary of Giovanni Verga, both having ...

) in 1891, and ''Il Falconiere'' in 1899. At the same time his lyric poem ''Medio-Evo'' received favorable notice from Jules Massenet. He wrote music for the one-act play ''Vicolo delle belle'' by

Saverio Fiducia Saverio is a given name of Italian origin. It is a cognate of Xavier and Javier, both of which originate from ''Xabier'', the Basque name for the Spanish town Javier. ''Xabier'' is itself the romanization of ''etxe berri'' meaning "new house" o ...

, 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 Gaetano Emanuel Calì (1885 in Catania – 1936 in Syracuse) was an Italian composer, orchestra conductor, and bandleader. He was student of Francesco Paolo Frontini, under whom he began to study classical instead of popular music. Calì compo ...

. 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 honor of someone or something. Serenades are typically calm, light pieces of music. The term comes from the Ital ...

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

Sicilian Sicilian refers to the autonomous Italian island of Sicily. Sicilian can also refer to: * Sicilian language, a Romance language spoken on the island of Sicily, its satellite islands, and southern Calabria * Sicilians, people from or with origins ...

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

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

Casa Ricordi Casa Ricordi is a publisher of primarily 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 composers such as Gioachino R ...

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

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard language, Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the List of cities in Italy, second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 ...

. Frontini died in the city of his birth in 1939. :''This article is based on a translation of the corresponding article in the Italian Wikipedia.''

External links

* * 1860 births 1939 deaths Italian classical composers Italian male classical composers Italian opera composers Male opera composers Musicians from Catania 20th-century Italian composers 20th-century Italian male musicians 19th-century Italian composers 19th-century Italian male musicians Folk-song collectors Italian ethnomusicologists {{ethnomusicologist-stub