Alberto Randegger
Encyclopedia
Alberto Randegger was an Italian-born composer, conductor and singing teacher, best known for promoting opera
and new works of British music in England during the Victorian era
and for his widely-used textbook on singing technique.
, Italy
, the son of musician mother and schoolteacher father. He met Giuseppe Verdi
in Trieste, in 1850, and later became known as a great interpreter of Verdi's operas. He was a pupil of Jean Lafont in piano and of Luigi Ricci
in composition.
s and an opera
, Il Lazzarone, in 1852. In 1854 he composed another opera, Bianca Capello, at Brescia
. During this period, he also served as music director of theatres in Fiume, Senigallia
, Brescia and Venice
.
Randegger began work in London as an organist at St. Paul's in Regent's Park
from his arrival there, in 1854, until 1879. Beginning in 1857, he conducted Italian opera at the St. James's Theatre. He also became well known as a teacher of singing in London
, both privately and at the Royal College of Music
. Beginning in 1868, he was conductor at the Wolverhampton Festival. The same year, he was appointed professor
of singing at the Royal Academy of Music
, where he was appointed a director and a member of the committee of management. He continued teaching at both the College and the Academy until his death. His notable pupils included sopranos Liza Lehmann
, Greta Williams
, and Ellen Beach Yaw
; mezzo-soprano
Mary Davies
; tenors William Hayman Cummings
and Ben Davies
; and basses Darrell Fancourt
, Putnam Griswold
, William Howland
and Robert Radford
. In 1882, Randegger was elected an honorary member of the Royal Philharmonic Society
.
As a composer, in addition to his early works, Randegger wrote a comic opera
, The Rival Beauties (1864); the vocal scenas Medea (1869); a musical play with dramatist W. S. Gilbert
, Creatures of Impulse
(1871); a dramatic cantata
, the 150th Psalm for soprano solo, choir, orchestra, and organ (1872); Fridolin (1873); two scenes for soprano
and orchestra, Medea (1869) and Sappho (1875); Funeral Anthem, in memory of the Prince Consort; The Prayer of Nature (1887); and numerous other vocal pieces. He also edited several collections of vocal music and collaborated with T. J. H. Marzials on the libretto for Arthur Goring Thomas
's opera Esmeralda (1883).
from 1879 to 1885, helping to revive interest in opera in England. In 1880, George Grove
wrote: "The careful way in which the pieces are put on the stage, the number of rehearsals, the eminence of the performers and the excellence of the performers have begun to bear their legitimate fruit, and the Carl Rosa Opera Company bids fair to become a permanent English institution." Upon the resignation of Julius Benedict
in 1881, he also became conductor of the Norwich Musical Festival, which he directed until 1905. There he conducted new works by Cowen, J. F. Barnett, Stanford, Alexander Mackenzie, Prout, Parry, Edward German
and others, and at the 1905 Festival invited 14 British composers to conduct performances of their own works. From 1885 to 1887, he also conducted Henry Leslie
's Choir. He conducted the Queen's Hall Choral Society and the first two seasons of symphony concerts at Queen's Hall from 1895 to 1897. Finally, from 1887 to 1898, he conducted at Theatre Royal, Drury Lane
and at the Royal Opera House
, where he became known for his performances of Wagner, Verdi and Mozart operas.
Randegger's most important legacy, outside of his conducting, was a textbook entitled Singing, published in 1879 by Novello & Co, which is still used. In 1882, Randegger was elected an honorary member of the Royal Philharmonic Society
.
Randegger was married first to the actress Adeline de Leuw whom he divorced in 1892 (and who later married Hayden Coffin), and on 11 March 1897 he married the American singer Louise Baldwin (her second marriage).
Randegger died at his home in London at the age of 79.
Opera
Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...
and new works of British music in England during the Victorian era
Victorian era
The Victorian era of British history was the period of Queen Victoria's reign from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. It was a long period of peace, prosperity, refined sensibilities and national self-confidence...
and for his widely-used textbook on singing technique.
Life and career
Randegger was born in TriesteTrieste
Trieste is a city and seaport in northeastern Italy. It is situated towards the end of a narrow strip of land lying between the Adriatic Sea and Italy's border with Slovenia, which lies almost immediately south and east of the city...
, Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
, the son of musician mother and schoolteacher father. He met Giuseppe Verdi
Giuseppe Verdi
Giuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi was an Italian Romantic composer, mainly of opera. He was one of the most influential composers of the 19th century...
in Trieste, in 1850, and later became known as a great interpreter of Verdi's operas. He was a pupil of Jean Lafont in piano and of Luigi Ricci
Luigi Ricci
Luigi Ricci , was an Italian composer, particularly of operas.He was the elder brother of Federico Ricci, with whom he collaborated on several works.- Life :...
in composition.
Early career
His earliest compositions were masses and other pieces of church music and, with two other young pupils of Ricci, produced two balletBallet
Ballet is a type of performance dance, that originated in the Italian Renaissance courts of the 15th century, and which was further developed in France and Russia as a concert dance form. The early portions preceded the invention of the proscenium stage and were presented in large chambers with...
s and an opera
Opera
Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...
, Il Lazzarone, in 1852. In 1854 he composed another opera, Bianca Capello, at Brescia
Brescia
Brescia is a city and comune in the region of Lombardy in northern Italy. It is situated at the foot of the Alps, between the Mella and the Naviglio, with a population of around 197,000. It is the second largest city in Lombardy, after the capital, Milan...
. During this period, he also served as music director of theatres in Fiume, Senigallia
Senigallia
Senigallia is a comune and port town on Italy's Adriatic coast, 25 km by rail north of Ancona, in the Marche region, province of Ancona....
, Brescia and Venice
Venice
Venice is a city in northern Italy which is renowned for the beauty of its setting, its architecture and its artworks. It is the capital of the Veneto region...
.
Randegger began work in London as an organist at St. Paul's in Regent's Park
Regent's Park
Regent's Park is one of the Royal Parks of London. It is in the north-western part of central London, partly in the City of Westminster and partly in the London Borough of Camden...
from his arrival there, in 1854, until 1879. Beginning in 1857, he conducted Italian opera at the St. James's Theatre. He also became well known as a teacher of singing in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, both privately and at the Royal College of Music
Royal College of Music
The Royal College of Music is a conservatoire founded by Royal Charter in 1882, located in South Kensington, London, England.-Background:The first director was Sir George Grove and he was followed by Sir Hubert Parry...
. Beginning in 1868, he was conductor at the Wolverhampton Festival. The same year, he was appointed professor
Professor
A professor is a scholarly teacher; the precise meaning of the term varies by country. Literally, professor derives from Latin as a "person who professes" being usually an expert in arts or sciences; a teacher of high rank...
of singing at the Royal Academy of Music
Royal Academy of Music
The Royal Academy of Music in London, England, is a conservatoire, Britain's oldest degree-granting music school and a constituent college of the University of London since 1999. The Academy was founded by Lord Burghersh in 1822 with the help and ideas of the French harpist and composer Nicolas...
, where he was appointed a director and a member of the committee of management. He continued teaching at both the College and the Academy until his death. His notable pupils included sopranos Liza Lehmann
Liza Lehmann
Liza Lehmann was an English operatic soprano and composer, known for her vocal compositions.-Biography:She was born Elisabetha Nina Mary Frederica Lehmann in London. Her father was the German painter Rudolf Lehmann and her mother was Amelia Chambers, a music teacher, composer and arranger...
, Greta Williams
Greta Williams
Greta Williams was a celebrated English operatic soprano and contralto, and occasional pianist of the Victorian era. Born in London, she studied piano under Edwin Holland and Alberto Randegger at the Royal Academy of Music, and made numerous appearances, both as an instrumentalist and a singer, at...
, and Ellen Beach Yaw
Ellen Beach Yaw
Ellen Beach Yaw was an American coloratura soprano, best known for her concert singing career. She had an extraordinary vocal range and could produce unusually high notes. Known as "Lark Ellen" or "The California Nightingale," she was reportedly the only known soprano of her era who could sing...
; mezzo-soprano
Mezzo-soprano
A mezzo-soprano is a type of classical female singing voice whose range lies between the soprano and the contralto singing voices, usually extending from the A below middle C to the A two octaves above...
Mary Davies
Mary Davies
Mary Davies was a Welsh mezzo-soprano and the co-founder and first President of the Welsh Folk Song Society. The wife of journalist William Cadwaladr Davies, she was principal vocalist at the London Ballad Concerts, and at the National Eisteddfod of 1906.Born in africa was the daughter of egyptian...
; tenors William Hayman Cummings
William Hayman Cummings
William Hayman Cummings , born in Sidbury in Devon, was an English musician, tenor and organist at Waltham Abbey....
and Ben Davies
Ben Davies (tenor)
Ben Davies was a Welsh tenor singer, who appeared in opera with the Carl Rosa Opera Company, in operetta and light opera, and on the concert and oratorio platform...
; and basses Darrell Fancourt
Darrell Fancourt
Darrell Fancourt was an English bass-baritone, known for his performances and recordings of the Savoy Operas....
, Putnam Griswold
Putnam Griswold
Putnam Griswold was an American opera singer , born in Minneapolis, Minn. Originally he followed a business career. At the age of 22 he discovered his voice and began to study with a local teacher in California....
, William Howland
William Howland (musician)
William A. Howland was an American operatic bass, voice teacher, composer, conductor and university administrator. He was the head of the music department at the University of Michigan from 1900-1914...
and Robert Radford
Robert Radford
Robert Radford was a British bass singer who made his career entirely in the United Kingdom, participating in concerts and becoming one of the foremost performers of oratorios and other sacred music...
. In 1882, Randegger was elected an honorary member of the Royal Philharmonic Society
Royal Philharmonic Society
The Royal Philharmonic Society is a British music society, formed in 1813. It was originally formed in London to promote performances of instrumental music there. Many distinguished composers and performers have taken part in its concerts...
.
As a composer, in addition to his early works, Randegger wrote a comic opera
Comic opera
Comic opera denotes a sung dramatic work of a light or comic nature, usually with a happy ending.Forms of comic opera first developed in late 17th-century Italy. By the 1730s, a new operatic genre, opera buffa, emerged as an alternative to opera seria...
, The Rival Beauties (1864); the vocal scenas Medea (1869); a musical play with dramatist W. S. Gilbert
W. S. Gilbert
Sir William Schwenck Gilbert was an English dramatist, librettist, poet and illustrator best known for his fourteen comic operas produced in collaboration with the composer Sir Arthur Sullivan, of which the most famous include H.M.S...
, Creatures of Impulse
Creatures of Impulse
Creatures of Impulse is a stage play by English dramatist W. S. Gilbert, with music by composer-conductor Alberto Randegger, which Gilbert adapted from his own short story...
(1871); a dramatic cantata
Cantata
A cantata is a vocal composition with an instrumental accompaniment, typically in several movements, often involving a choir....
, the 150th Psalm for soprano solo, choir, orchestra, and organ (1872); Fridolin (1873); two scenes for soprano
Soprano
A soprano is a voice type with a vocal range from approximately middle C to "high A" in choral music, or to "soprano C" or higher in operatic music. In four-part chorale style harmony, the soprano takes the highest part, which usually encompasses the melody...
and orchestra, Medea (1869) and Sappho (1875); Funeral Anthem, in memory of the Prince Consort; The Prayer of Nature (1887); and numerous other vocal pieces. He also edited several collections of vocal music and collaborated with T. J. H. Marzials on the libretto for Arthur Goring Thomas
Arthur Goring Thomas
Arthur Goring Thomas was an English composer. He was the youngest son of Freeman Thomas and Amelia, daughter of Colonel Thomas Frederick.He was born at Ratton Park, Sussex, and educated at Haileybury College...
's opera Esmeralda (1883).
Carl Rosa and later years
Randegger served as musical director of the Carl Rosa Opera CompanyCarl Rosa Opera Company
The Carl Rosa Opera Company was founded in 1873 by Carl August Nicholas Rosa, a German-born musical impresario, to present opera in English in London and the British provinces. The company survived Rosa's death in 1889, and continued to present opera in English on tour until 1960, when it was...
from 1879 to 1885, helping to revive interest in opera in England. In 1880, George Grove
George Grove
Sir George Grove, CB was an English writer on music, known as the founding editor of Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians....
wrote: "The careful way in which the pieces are put on the stage, the number of rehearsals, the eminence of the performers and the excellence of the performers have begun to bear their legitimate fruit, and the Carl Rosa Opera Company bids fair to become a permanent English institution." Upon the resignation of Julius Benedict
Julius Benedict
Sir Julius Benedict was a German-born composer and conductor, resident in England for most of his career.-Life:...
in 1881, he also became conductor of the Norwich Musical Festival, which he directed until 1905. There he conducted new works by Cowen, J. F. Barnett, Stanford, Alexander Mackenzie, Prout, Parry, Edward German
Edward German
Sir Edward German was an English musician and composer of Welsh descent, best remembered for his extensive output of incidental music for the stage and as a successor to Arthur Sullivan in the field of English comic opera.As a youth, German played the violin and led the town orchestra, also...
and others, and at the 1905 Festival invited 14 British composers to conduct performances of their own works. From 1885 to 1887, he also conducted Henry Leslie
Henry David Leslie
Henry David Leslie was an English composer and conductor. Leslie was a leader in supporting amateur choral musicians in Britain, founding prize-winning amateur choral societies. He was also a supporter of musical higher education, helping to found national music schools.-Biography:Leslie was...
's Choir. He conducted the Queen's Hall Choral Society and the first two seasons of symphony concerts at Queen's Hall from 1895 to 1897. Finally, from 1887 to 1898, he conducted at Theatre Royal, Drury Lane
Theatre Royal, Drury Lane
The Theatre Royal, Drury Lane is a West End theatre in Covent Garden, in the City of Westminster, a borough of London. The building faces Catherine Street and backs onto Drury Lane. The building standing today is the most recent in a line of four theatres at the same location dating back to 1663,...
and at the Royal Opera House
Royal Opera House
The Royal Opera House is an opera house and major performing arts venue in Covent Garden, central London. The large building is often referred to as simply "Covent Garden", after a previous use of the site of the opera house's original construction in 1732. It is the home of The Royal Opera, The...
, where he became known for his performances of Wagner, Verdi and Mozart operas.
Randegger's most important legacy, outside of his conducting, was a textbook entitled Singing, published in 1879 by Novello & Co, which is still used. In 1882, Randegger was elected an honorary member of the Royal Philharmonic Society
Royal Philharmonic Society
The Royal Philharmonic Society is a British music society, formed in 1813. It was originally formed in London to promote performances of instrumental music there. Many distinguished composers and performers have taken part in its concerts...
.
Randegger was married first to the actress Adeline de Leuw whom he divorced in 1892 (and who later married Hayden Coffin), and on 11 March 1897 he married the American singer Louise Baldwin (her second marriage).
Randegger died at his home in London at the age of 79.