Pietro Mascagni in 100 Words
Pietro Mascagni (1863-1945) is one of the most important
Italian composers of the turn of the 20th century. The formidable
success of his first masterpiece in 1890, Cavalleria
Rusticana, unfortunately eluded many of his following works.
Mascagni however wrote 15 operas, an operetta, several beautiful
orchestral and vocal works, as well as songs and piano music. He
enjoyed amazing operatic successes during his lifetime, and at the
same time pursued a very successful career of conductor. Mascagni's
approach to opera differed a lot from that of his friend and rival
Puccini, which arguably was one of the factors that led to an
under-appreciation of the value of his music by critics. 
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Latest News
Saturday, March 22, 2008 (updated Saturday, March 22, 2008) –  A new CD of Zanetto on Elysium Recordings  is now available. Mascagni: Zanetto
L'amico Fritz — Intermezzo
Cavalleria rusticana — Intermezzo
Peter Tiboris, conductor
Eilana Lappalainen, Soprano (Sylvia)
Jennifer Larmore, Mezzo-Soprano (Zanetto)
Bohuslav Martinů Philharmonic Elysium, conductor Peter Tiboris and the Bohuslav Martinů Philharmonic orchestra had already brought to us a recording of Silvano about ten years ago. After an initial listening, I find the performance quite good, especially Jennifer Larmore's Zanetto. The sound quality is
excellent, certainly superior to that of previous recordings of the piece. This allows you to fully enjoy the light and refined
orchestration. The CD comes with a few bonuses:
- An orchestral version of the prelude (which was written for an a cappella chorus), which we had already heard on the Kicco recording with Denia Mazzola
- The intermezzo from L'amico Fritz
- The intermezzo from Cavalleria rusticana
The well-packaged CD comes with a full libretto, biographies, and an essay by John W. Barker, "Mascagni Moods".
Wednesday, February 13, 2008 (updated Wednesday, February 13, 2008) – Italian web sites seem to often announce performances online at the last minute. A single performance of Zanetto will take place tomorrow, Thursday February 14, 2008 at 9 PM (21:00) the Teatro Sarti in Faenza, Italy. This is part of an event called "San Valentino al Teatro Sarti " ("Valentine's Day at Teatro Sarti"), which seems to include
some music and a buffet. The performance will be done without an orchestra and simply a piano accompaniment. The performers
are as follows: Manuel Mensà: soprano Ottavia Sisti: soprano Pietro Mariani: conductor, piano accompaniment Tickets cost EUR 20 and are available online at http://www.manuelsoprano.com/ .
Saturday, February 2, 2008 (updated Sunday, February 3, 2008) –
A new production of Amica will be given 6 performances at the Teatro del'Opera in Rome from October 7 to October 12, 2008. Antonino Fogliani will conduct two alternating casts. There is currently no indication that the performances will be in the original French, unlike the August 2007 Martina Franca performances, which means that we will most likely get the inferior Italian text. However, the music itself remains beautiful and powerful, and it is important that an opera as rarely performed as Amica be performed in a major opera house. (Original news submitted by Remo Mazzetti)
Monday, December 10, 2007 (updated Friday, January 4, 2008) – Friday, December 7 was Mascagni's birthday: he would have been 144 years old. To celebrate, I am listening to a live performance
of Zanetto , a real favorite of mine. This minature opera is a real gold mine of beautiful melodies, and close to musical perfection.
One of my favorite parts: Silvia sending Zanetto "Dunque, di là, dove splende l'aurora !" and the sheer melancholy of the musical comment which follows.
Sunday, October 28, 2007 (updated Friday, January 4, 2008) – I got notice that Elysium Records will soon release a CD of Zanetto. Here is the official press release: October 3, 2007
Elysium Records is proud to announce its upcoming release of Mascagni’s Zanetto.
Peter Tiboris leads the Bohuslav Martinů Philharmony, with acclaimed soloists Jennifer Larmore as Zanetto and Eilana Lappalainen
as Sylvia.
Last June at Carnegie Hall, Maestro Tiboris conducted the first New York performance of Zanetto since 1902. And this past
summer, he presented the opera’s Greek premiere on the island of Syros as part of the Festival of the Aegean.
Zanetto will be released in Spring, 2008 and also includes Intermezzi from L’Amico Fritz and Cavalleria rusticana.
Elysium Records is distributed worldwide by Qualiton Imports, Inc.
Tuesday, October 23, 2007 (updated Friday, January 4, 2008) –
The Teatro Goldoni of Livorno ( Mascagni 's hometown) is opening its 2007/2008 season on Thursday, October 25, 2007 at 8:30 PM with an event in the series "Around
Mascagni - Towards the Mascagni Festival", an evening entitled "Mascagni's operas and the female character". The evening will propose great scenes from operas by Pietro Mascagni: Cavalleria Rusticana, I Rantzau, Guglielmo Ratcliff, Silvano, Iris, Le Maschere, Isabeau, Sì, Lodoletta, and Nerone. The conductor will be Matteo Beltrami. Mise en scène, sets and costumes are by Alessio Pizzech. The performance is a new production of the Teatro Goldoni Foundation of Livorno. Tickets: call 0586 204290 Information: call 0586 204211 - fax 0586 899920 Web site: http://www.goldoniteatro.it/ Reference: Saimicadove.it Sunday, October 21, 2007 (updated Friday, January 4, 2008) –
Lately I have realized that I had many updates queued for Mascagni.org but little time to update the site. One reason for this is that Mascagni.org doesn't yet have a built-in blog engine, even
though I have been wanting to install one for a very long time. Spare time being what it is (scarce), I have decided to cut it short and to simply use Blogger as a blog engine. Mascagni.org
will simply syndicate the blog entries created with Blogger. This solution I hope will have the benefit of increasing the number of news that make it to Mascagni.org, and add the ability
to leave comments (this is 2007 after all). The main drawback is that this blog is hosted under http://pietromascagni.blogspot.com/ (the prefix "mascagni" was already taken) and not http://mascagni.org/ , but I hope that this will be a minor inconvenience.
Zanetto in New York in June
April 29, 2007 –
The first New York performance of Zanetto since 1902 will take place on June 4, 2007, conducted by
Peter Tiboris.
[More »]
Amica in French in Martina Franca this Summer
March 18, 2007 –
The Martina Franca (Italy) festival will present two performances of Amica on August 4 and August 6
2007. The performances will be in French, the language of the original libretto written by French editor
Choudens, and will likely be the first performances in French of Amica since its premiere in 1905.
[More »]
Zandonai's La farsa amorosa on Saturday, November 11, 2006
November 6, 2006 –
Teatro Grattacielo will present a single concert performance of Riccardo Zandonai's La farsa amorosa
this coming Saturday.
[More »]
Denia Mazzola Gavazzeni in Concert in Caravaggio this Sunday
September 21, 2006 –
Soprano Denia Mazzola Gavazzeni will perform a concert this Sunday in Caravaggio, Italy. An homage to the
late composer, essayist and conductor Gianandrea Gavazzeni, the concert will include excerpts from
Mascagni's Parisina.
[More »]
[ More news » ]
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Cavalleria Rusticana in 100 Words
Cavalleria Rusticana (Rustic Chivalry) is Mascagni's
most famous opera and is part of today’s mainstream opera
repertoire. It made 26 years old Mascagni instantly world-famous in
1890 when it won the opera contest of music publisher Sonzogno in
Italy. “Cav” launched the so-called verismo movement in
opera and inspired such works as Leoncavallo’s Pagliacci. The
libretto, based on a short story by famed Sicilian writer Giovanni
Verga, tells of the story a young Sicilian man, Turiddu, who is
unfaithful to his fiancée Santuzza, because he is in love with his
ex-girlfriend, the now married Lola. When Santuzza discovers
Turiddu’s infidelity, she reveals it out of spite to Lola’s husband,
Alfio, who provokes a duel with Turiddu and kills him.
[ Libretto » | Short Story » | Recordings » | Other Works » ]
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Play the Intermezzo from Cavalleria Rusticana (Mascagni's
most famous piece) performed by the Fulda Symphonic Orchestra conducted by
Simon Schindler!
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Play the Fantasia sulla Cavalleria Rusticana for piano composed and
performed by Calogero Di Liberto (with the kind permission of the artist
and Casa Sonzogno).
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Current Picture
This photo was taken on the Philadelphia in 1902. On the
picture: Mascagni, his wife, miss Frohman, sister of Carlo and
Daniele Frohman, American impresari, miss Herz, sister of
theater architect Herz, and Giuseppe Smith. The original text
read: Mascagni, la moglie, miss Frohman, sorella di Carlo e
Daniele Frohman noti impresari teatrali americani e miss Hertz
sorella dell'architetto teatrale Herz e il sig. Giuseppe Smith,
a bordo del vapore Philadelphia (in mezzo all'Atlantico) della
American Line (fot. di miss Herz).
[ Larger Image » | Original Document » | Article » ]
New Recordings
World First Recording of In Filanda Released
December 7, 2005 –
Italian label Bongiovanni has just released the world first recording of In
Filanda. The recording, from a performance of April 6, 2003 in Naples, Italy,
features Rossella Redoglia as Ninetta, Massimiliano Fichera as the manager of the
factory, Antonio de Palma as Beppo, and I Solisti di Napoli under the baton of Susanna
Pescetti.
[More »]
Soundtrack of Raging Bull Released
November 9, 2005 –
The soundtrack of the movie Raging Bull, which features three pieces by
Mascagni, has just been released.
[More »]
New CD of Messa di Gloria
February 23, 2005 –
A new CD of Messa di Gloria (Glory Mass) has
been released on label Fonit Cetra. Tenor Stefano Secco and baritone Cosimo Diano are
conducted by Claudio Scimone.
[More »]
New CD with Mascagni tenor arias
January 11, 2005 –
Rolando Villazón's new CD (released in 2004) features two arias by Mascagni: Ed
anche Beppe amò... O Amore, o bella luce del cor from L'amico Fritz, and Vergine muse... Quando al soave
anelito from Nerone.
[More »]
New DVD of Zanetto
November 29, 2004 –
A new DVD of Zanetto has been released on label
Kicco. The DVD is from a live November 2003 performance in Savona, Italy. Denia
Mazzola Gavazzeni and Romina Basso are conducted by Bruno Aprea. The DVD also includes a
concert with Denia Mazzola Gavazzeni as well as interviews.
[More »]
Articles
Poetry and Music: Pietro Mascagni's Parisina
February 11, 2006 –
The author begins with a review of the CD from the performance of
Parisina that took place in Montpellier in July 1999. He follows with
considerations about the opera, discussing in particular the criticisms that
have historically been directed at the work. He concludes with comments about
the unfortunate attitude some critics have today when writing about opera.
[More »]
Le avventure di Mascagni in America. Il giro trionfale della Duse negli Stati Uniti.
November 12, 2005 –
This article was published in L'Illustrazione Italiana of March 1, 1903.
The author, Carlo Paladini, tells of how he met by chance at a Florence
restaurant Mr. Joseph Smith, a manager involved with Mascagni's arrest during
his US tour, and also manager of Eleonora Duse. Follows a fairly unstructured
conversation where the author tries to obtain useful information from a fairly
secretive and defensive Mr. Smith. The article features a photograph of
Mascagni, his wife, and Mr. Smith aboard the Philadelphia on the way to
the United States.
[More »]
Le Maschere - CD Review
October 11, 2004 –
Yonel Buldrini reviews with enthusiasm the recent release of a 2-CD set of
Le Maschere published on label Kicco, from a performance recorded live in
Livorno in 2001.
[More »]
Mascagni's New Opera, Parisina
August 15, 2004 –
In this article from 1913, Emil Thieben describes the high anticipation
generated in Italy by Mascagni's latest opera, Parisina. After a detailed
synopsis of the plot, he gives his impression of the premiere of the opera,
mainly from a musical standpoint.
[More »]
The Unjustly Neglected Works of Pietro Mascagni
August 8, 2004 –
William Schoell offers in this article a survey of Mascagni's operatic output, from
Cavalleria Rusticana to Nerone, highlighting Mascagni's taste for
experimentation.
[More »]
[ More articles » ]
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