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Famous Like Me > Composer > M > Pietro Mascagni

Profile of Pietro Mascagni on Famous Like Me

 
Name: Pietro Mascagni  
   
Also Know As:
   
Date of Birth: 7th December 1863
   
Place of Birth: Livorno, Italy
   
Profession: Composer
 
 
From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia
Photograph of Pietro Mascagni

Pietro Mascagni (Livorno December 7, 1863 – Rome August 2, 1945) is one of the most important Italian opera composers of the turn of the 20th century.

Mascagni's 1890 masterpiece, Cavalleria Rusticana, caused one of the greatest sensations in opera history and singlehandedly ushered in the Verismo movement. However, though it has been stated and restated ad nauseam that Mascagni, like Leoncavallo, was a "one-opera man" who could never repeat his first success, this is highly inaccurate. L'Amico Fritz and Iris have been popular in Europe since their respective premieres; in fact, Mascagni himself claimed that at one point Iris was performed in Italy more often that Cavalleria (cf. Stivender).

Mascagni wrote a total of fifteen operas, plus an operetta, several beautiful orchestral and vocal works, as well as songs and piano music. He enjoyed amazing success during his lifetime, both as a composer and conductor. If he never repeated the public success of Cavalleria, it was probably because Mascagni refused to copy himself. The variety of styles in Mascagni's operas -- the Sicilian passion and warmth of Cavalleria, the Asian flavor of Iris, the idyllic breeze that ventilates L'Amico Fritz, the French hues in Isabeau, the steely, Verismo quality of Il Piccolo Marat -- demonstrate a versatility that none of the other Veristi could boast, Puccini included.

Mascagni's main operas

  • Cavalleria Rusticana (17 May 1890 Teatro Costanzi, Rome) - libretto, libretto
  • L'Amico Fritz (31 October 1891 Teatro Costanzi, Rome) - libretto
  • I Rantzau (10 November 1892 Teatro La Pergola, Florence)
  • Guglielmo Ratcliff (16 February 1895 Teatro alla Scala, Milan), composed between 1885 and the early 1890's - libretto
  • Silvano (25 March 1895 Teatro alla Scala, Milan)
  • Zanetto (2 March 1896 Liceo Musicale, Pesaro) - libretto
  • Iris (22 November 1898 Teatro Costanzi, Rome) - libretto
  • Le maschere (17 January 1901 Teatro Carlo Felice, Genoa - Teatro Regio, Turin - Teatro alla Scala, Milan - Teatro La Fenice, Venice - Teatro Filarmonico, Verona - Teatro Costanzi, Rome)
  • Amica (16 March 1905, Monte Carlo) - Italian libretto
  • Isabeau (2 June 1911 Teatro Coliseo, Buenos Aires)
  • Parisina (15 December 1913 Teatro alla Scala, Milan) - libretto
  • Lodoletta (30 April 1917 Teatro Costanzi, Rome) - libretto
  • Sì (13 December 1919 Teatro Quirino, Rome), operetta
  • Il piccolo Marat (2 May 1921 Teatro Costanzi, Rome)
  • Pinotta (23 March 1932 Casinò, San Remo), adapted from the cantata In filanda (1881)
  • Nerone (16 January 1935 Teatro alla Scala, Milan), with music written between the 1890's and the 1930's

Media

(audio)
Cavalleria Rusticana: Intermezzo Sinfonico (info)
Problems listening to the files? See media help.


Resources

  • Works by Pietro Mascagni at Project Gutenberg
  • English web site about Pietro Mascagni
  • Official Italian web site about Pietro Mascagni

This content from Wikipedia is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article Pietro Mascagni