Giuseppe Martucci
Encyclopedia
Giuseppe Martucci was an Italian composer
Composer
A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...

, conductor, pianist
Pianist
A pianist is a musician who plays the piano. A professional pianist can perform solo pieces, play with an ensemble or orchestra, or accompany one or more singers, solo instrumentalists, or other performers.-Choice of genres:...

 and teacher. As a composer and teacher he was influential in reviving Italian interest in non-operatic music. As a conductor he helped to introduce Richard Wagner's operas to Italy and also gave important early concerts of English music there.

Career

Martucci was born at Capua
Capua
Capua is a city and comune in the province of Caserta, Campania, southern Italy, situated 25 km north of Naples, on the northeastern edge of the Campanian plain. Ancient Capua was situated where Santa Maria Capua Vetere is now...

, in Campania
Campania
Campania is a region in southern Italy. The region has a population of around 5.8 million people, making it the second-most-populous region of Italy; its total area of 13,590 km² makes it the most densely populated region in the country...

. He learned the basics of music from his father, Gaetano, who played the trumpet. He was a child prodigy, performing on the piano at the age of 8. From the age of 11, he was a student at the Naples Conservatory, on the recommendation of professor Beniamino Cesi
Beniamino Cesi
Beniamino Cesi was a celebrated Italian concert pianist and teaching professor of piano, who taught many of the most distinguished early 20th century pianists of the Neapolitan school, so that his influence spread very widely.- Training :Born in Naples, Cesi began his studies with his father, and...

, the latter being a former student of Sigismond Thalberg
Sigismond Thalberg
Sigismond Thalberg was a composer and one of the most distinguished virtuoso pianists of the 19th century.- Descent and family background :...

. Martucci became a student in composition with Paolo Serrao
Paolo Serrao
Paolo Serrao was a distinguished and influential Italian teacher of musical theory and composition at Naples....

. Martucci subsequently (from 1880 onwards) held a professorship and became director in 1902. Among his students was Ottorino Respighi
Ottorino Respighi
Ottorino Respighi was an Italian composer, musicologist and conductor. He is best known for his orchestral "Roman trilogy": Fountains of Rome ; Pines of Rome ; and Roman Festivals...

.

His son Paolo, born in Naples in 1883, also became a pianist of note, briefly teaching at the Cincinnati Conservatory.

He died in Naples in 1909.

Pianist

Martucci's career as an international pianist commenced with a tour through Germany, France and England in 1875, at the age of 19. He was appointed pianoforte professor at the Naples Conservatory in 1880, and moved to Bologna in 1886, replacing Luigi Mancinelli
Luigi Mancinelli
Luigi Mancinelli was a leading Italian orchestral conductor. He also composed music for the stage and concert hall and played the cello....

 there; in 1902 he returned for the last time to Naples, as director of the Royal Conservatory of Music.

Conductor

Martucci's career as conductor started in 1881. As a conductor he helped introduce Richard Wagner
Richard Wagner
Wilhelm Richard Wagner was a German composer, conductor, theatre director, philosopher, music theorist, poet, essayist and writer primarily known for his operas...

's operas to Italy, conducting the first Italian performance of Tristan und Isolde
Tristan und Isolde
Tristan und Isolde is an opera, or music drama, in three acts by Richard Wagner to a German libretto by the composer, based largely on the romance by Gottfried von Straßburg. It was composed between 1857 and 1859 and premiered in Munich on 10 June 1865 with Hans von Bülow conducting...

in 1888 in Bologna. As well as performing Charles Villiers Stanford
Charles Villiers Stanford
Sir Charles Villiers Stanford was an Irish composer who was particularly notable for his choral music. He was professor at the Royal College of Music and University of Cambridge.- Life :...

's 3rd ("Irish") Symphony in Bologna in 1898, he also conducted perhaps the only concert of all-British orchestral music on the European continent in the whole period 1851–1900. He also included music by Brahms
Johannes Brahms
Johannes Brahms was a German composer and pianist, and one of the leading musicians of the Romantic period. Born in Hamburg, Brahms spent much of his professional life in Vienna, Austria, where he was a leader of the musical scene...

, Lalo
Édouard Lalo
Édouard-Victoire-Antoine Lalo was a French composer.-Biography:Lalo was born in Lille , in northernmost France. He attended that city's music conservatory in his youth. Then, beginning at age 16, Lalo studied at the Paris Conservatoire under Berlioz's old enemy François Antoine Habeneck...

, Goldmark
Karl Goldmark
Karl Goldmark, also known originally as Károly Goldmark and later sometimes as Carl Goldmark; May 18, 1830, Keszthely – January 2, 1915, Vienna) was a Hungarian composer.- Life and career :...

 and others in his programs.

Composer

Martucci began as a composer at the age of 16, with short piano works. He wrote no 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...

s, which was unusual among Italian composers of his generation, but instead concentrated on instrumental music and songs, producing also an oratorio
Oratorio
An oratorio is a large musical composition including an orchestra, a choir, and soloists. Like an opera, an oratorio includes the use of a choir, soloists, an ensemble, various distinguishable characters, and arias...

, Samuel.

His music was influenced primarily but not entirely by Brahms and Schumann
Robert Schumann
Robert Schumann, sometimes known as Robert Alexander Schumann, was a German composer, aesthete and influential music critic. He is regarded as one of the greatest and most representative composers of the Romantic era....

.

Legacy

Martucci was championed by Arturo Toscanini
Arturo Toscanini
Arturo Toscanini was an Italian conductor. One of the most acclaimed musicians of the late 19th and 20th century, he was renowned for his intensity, his perfectionism, his ear for orchestral detail and sonority, and his photographic memory...

 during much of the latter's career. The NBC Symphony Orchestra
NBC Symphony Orchestra
The NBC Symphony Orchestra was a radio orchestra established by David Sarnoff of the National Broadcasting Company especially for conductor Arturo Toscanini...

 performed a number of Martucci's orchestral works between 1938 and 1946; although the performances were preserved on transcription discs, none were approved for commercial release by Toscanini. Some of these performances have been released in recent years. Some Toscanini biographers such as Mortimer Frank and Harvey Sachs have questioned the merit of Martucci's music, suggesting that Toscanini performed the music out of a sense of duty.

Gian Francesco Malipiero
Gian Francesco Malipiero
Gian Francesco Malipiero was an Italian composer, musicologist, music teacher and editor.-Early years:Born in Venice into an aristocratic family, the grandson of the opera composer Francesco Malipiero, Gian Francesco Malipiero was prevented by family troubles from pursuing his musical education in...

 said of Martucci's second symphony that it was "the beginning of the rebirth of non-operatic Italian music." Martucci was an instrumentalist pur sang, taking 'absolute music
Absolute music
Absolute music is a concept in music that describes music as an art form separated from formalisms or other considerations; it is not explicitly about anything; it is non-representational. In contrast to program music, absolute music makes sense without accompanying words, images, drama, or...

' as his highest goal.

In 1989 Francesco D'Avalos tried to start a revival of Martucci's music by recording four CDs with major works including the two piano concertos, two symphonies, and La canzone dei ricordi. These discs were distributed by ASV Records
ASV Records
ASV Records is a London-based record label set up by Harley Usill, founder of Argo Records, Decca producer and former Argo General Manager, Kevin Daly, and producer Jack Boyce, after Argo's parent company Decca was bought by Polygram in 1980. ASV stands for "Academy Sound and Vision"...

 and later by Brilliant Classics.

In 2009, to mark the centenary of Martucci's death, Naxos Records
Naxos Records
Naxos Records is a record label specializing in classical music. Through a number of imprints, Naxos also releases genres including Chinese music, jazz, world music, and early rock & roll. The company was founded in 1987 by Klaus Heymann, a German-born resident of Hong Kong.Naxos is the largest...

 released a series of CDs devoted to his orchestral music, featuring the Symphony Orchestra of Rome conducted by Francesco La Vecchia
Francesco La Vecchia
Francesco La Vecchia is an Italian classical conductor.- Biography and career :La Vecchia was born in Rome, and began studying music with his grandfather, who taught him theory, harmony and composition. His first instrument was the classical guitar. He gave his first performance at age 9, and...

. In 2011 Riccardo Muti
Riccardo Muti
Riccardo Muti, Cavaliere di Gran Croce OMRI is an Italian conductor and music director of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.-Childhood and education:...

 and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra
Chicago Symphony Orchestra
The Chicago Symphony Orchestra is an American orchestra based in Chicago, Illinois. It is one of the five American orchestras commonly referred to as the "Big Five". Founded in 1891, the Symphony makes its home at Orchestra Hall in Chicago and plays a summer season at the Ravinia Festival...

 featured Martucci's Nocturne
Nocturne
A nocturne is usually a musical composition that is inspired by, or evocative of, the night...

, Op. 70, No. 1 during the orchestra
Orchestra
An orchestra is a sizable instrumental ensemble that contains sections of string, brass, woodwind, and percussion instruments. The term orchestra derives from the Greek ορχήστρα, the name for the area in front of an ancient Greek stage reserved for the Greek chorus...

's tour of Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

.

Symphonic

  • Polka (1871)
  • Colore orientale, Op. 44, No. 3 (1880, 1908)
  • Danza, Op. 44, No. 6 (1880, 1908)
  • Gavotta, Op. 55, No. 2 (1888, 1901)
  • Gigue, Op. 61, No. 3 (1883, 1892)
  • Canzonetta, Op. 65, No. 2 (1884, 1889)
  • Nocturne, Op. 70, No.1 (1891)
  • Symphony No. 1 in D minor, Op. 75 (1888–95)
  • Symphony No. 2 in F major, Op. 81 (1899–1904)
  • Noveletta, Op. 82, No. 2 (1905, 1907)

Concertante

  • Piano Concerto No. 1 in D minor, Op. 40 (1878)
  • Tema con variazioni in E-flat, Op. 58 (1882) (rev. 1900 & 1905) (orchestral arrangement by Martucci?)
  • Piano Concerto No. 2 in B-flat minor, Op. 66 (1885)
  • Andante for Cello and orchestra, Op. 69, No. 2 (1888) (rev. 1907)

Chamber Music

  • Divertimento [after 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...

    's La forza del destino
    La forza del destino
    La forza del destino is an Italian opera by Giuseppe Verdi. The libretto was written by Francesco Maria Piave based on a Spanish drama, Don Álvaro o la fuerza del sino , by Ángel de Saavedra, Duke of Rivas, with a scene adapted from Friedrich Schiller's Wallensteins Lager. It was first performed...

    ] for Flute and Piano (1869)
  • Piano Trio [after Offenbach
    Jacques Offenbach
    Jacques Offenbach was a Prussian-born French composer, cellist and impresario. He is remembered for his nearly 100 operettas of the 1850s–1870s and his uncompleted opera The Tales of Hoffmann. He was a powerful influence on later composers of the operetta genre, particularly Johann Strauss, Jr....

    's La belle Hélène
    La belle Hélène
    La belle Hélène , opéra bouffe in three acts, is an operetta by Jacques Offenbach to an original French libretto by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy...

    ] (1869)
  • Violin Sonata, Op. 22 (1874)
  • Piano Quintet in C major, Op. 45 (1878)
  • Cello Sonata in F sharp minor, Op. 52 (1880)
  • Minuetto for String Quartet, Op. 55, No. 1 (1880, 1893)
  • Serenata for String Quartet, Op. 57, No. 2 (1886, 1893)
  • Piano Trio No. 1 in C major, Op. 59 (1882)
  • Piano Trio No. 2 in E flat major, Op. 62 (1883)
  • Momento musicale for String Quartet, Op. 64, No. 1 (1884, 1893)
  • 3 Pieces for Violin and Piano, Op. 67 (1886)
  • 3 Pieces for Cello and Piano, Op. 69 (1888)
  • Melodia for Violin and Piano (1890)
  • 2 Romances for Cello and Piano, Op. 72 (1890)

Piano

  • 3 polkas and a mazurka (1867)
  • Fantasia sull'opera La forza del destino
    La forza del destino
    La forza del destino is an Italian opera by Giuseppe Verdi. The libretto was written by Francesco Maria Piave based on a Spanish drama, Don Álvaro o la fuerza del sino , by Ángel de Saavedra, Duke of Rivas, with a scene adapted from Friedrich Schiller's Wallensteins Lager. It was first performed...

    , Op. 1 (1871)
  • Polka improvvisata (1872)
  • Capriccio No. 1, Op. 2 (1872)
  • Capriccio No. 2, Op. 3 (1872)
  • Mazurka di concerto, Op. 4 (1872)
  • Andante e polka, Op. 5 (1873)
  • Tarantella, Op. 6 (1873)
  • Agitato, Op. 7 (1873)
  • Pensieri sull'opera Un ballo in maschera
    Un ballo in maschera
    Un ballo in maschera , is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi with text by Antonio Somma. The libretto is loosely based on an 1833 play, Gustave III, by French playwright Eugène Scribe who wrote about the historical assassination of King Gustav III of Sweden...

    for piano duet, Op. 8, (1873)
  • Studio di concerto, Op. 9 (1873)
  • Pensiero musicale, Op. 10 (1873)
  • Tempo di mazurka, Op. 11 (1873)
  • Capriccio No. 3, Op. 12 (1874)
  • Allegro appassionato, Op. 13 (1874)
  • Fuga, Op. 14 (1874)
  • Capriccio No. 4, Op. 15 (1874)
  • Melodia No. 1, Op. 16 (1874)
  • Improvviso, Op. 17 (1874)
  • Fuga a due parti, Op. 18 (1874)
  • Polacca No. 1, Op. 19 (1874)
  • Barcarola No. 1, Op. 20 (1874)
  • Melodia No. 2, Op. 21 (1874)
  • Scherzo, Op. 23 (1875)
  • Capriccio di concerto, Op. 24 (1875)
  • Nocturne: Souvenir de Milan, Op. 25 (1875)
  • Caprice en forme d'étude, Op. 26 (1875)
  • 3 romances, Op. 27 (1875)
  • Fughetta and Fugue, Op. 28 (1875)
  • La caccia, Op. 29 (1876)
  • Barcarola No. 2, Op. 30 (1876)
  • 4 pieces, Op. 31 (1876)
  • Fantasia in D minor, Op. 32 (1876)
  • 3 pieces, Op. 33 (1876)
  • Piano Sonata in E-major, Op. 34 (1876)
  • Mazurka, Op. 35 (1876)
  • Racconto in memory of Bellini
    Vincenzo Bellini
    Vincenzo Salvatore Carmelo Francesco Bellini was an Italian opera composer. His greatest works are I Capuleti ed i Montecchi , La sonnambula , Norma , Beatrice di Tenda , and I puritani...

    , Op. 37 (1877)
  • 12 preludi facili (1877)
  • 6 pieces, Op. 38 (1878)
  • Souvenir de Paris, Op. 39 (1878)
  • Sonata facile, Op. 41 (1878)
  • 3 Notturninos, Op. 42 (1880)
  • 7 pieces, Op. 43 (1878–82)
  • 6 pieces, Op. 44 (1879–80)
  • 3 Walzes, Op. 46( 1879)
  • Studio, Op. 47 (1879)
  • Polacca No. 2, Op. 48 (1879)
  • 3 romances, Op. 49 (1880–82)
  • Novella, Op. 50 (1880)
  • Fantasia in G minor, Op. 51 (1880)
  • 3 Scherzi, Op. 53 (1881)
  • Studio caratteristico, Op. 54 (1880)
  • 2 pieces, Op. 55 (1880–8)
  • Improvviso-fantasia, Op. 56 (1880)
  • 2 pieces, Op. 57 (1886)
  • Tema con variazioni, Op. 58 (1882), also for orchestra and 2 pianos (1900, 1905) (arrangement by Martucci?)
  • Foglie sparse: album di 6 pezzi, Op. 60 (1883)
  • 3 pieces, Op. 61 (1883)
  • Moto perpetuo, Op. 63 (1884)
  • 3 pieces, Op. 64 (1884)
  • 3 pieces, Op. 65 (1884)
  • Romanza in E-major (1889)
  • 2 Nocturnes, Op. 70 (1891)
  • Deux pièces, Op. 73 (1893)
  • Trèfles à 4 feuilles, Op. 74 (1895)
  • Trois morceaux, Op. 76 (1896)
  • 2 pieces, Op. 77 (1896)
  • 3 small pieces, Op. 78 (1900)
  • 3 small pieces, Op. 79 (1901)
  • 2 caprices, Op. 80 (1902)
  • Melodia No. 3 (1902)
  • 3 pieces, Op. 82 (1905)
  • 3 pieces, Op. 83 (1905)

Vocal

  • Messa a grande orchestra for solo voices, chorus and orchestra (1870–71)
  • Alma gentil (S. Pellico) for Soprano or Tenor and Piano (1872)
  • Samuel (F. Persico), oratorio for solo voices, chorus and orchestra (1881, 1906)
  • La canzone dei ricordi (R. Pagliara), (Op. 68) song cycle, Mezzo Soprano or Baritone and piano (1887)
  • La canzone dei ricordi (R. Pagliara), (Op. 68) song cycle, Mezzo Soprano or Baritone and orchestra (1898)
  • Sogni (C. Ricci), (Op. 68) voice and piano (1888)
  • Pagine sparse (Ricci), Op. 68 for voice and piano (1888)
  • Ballando! (Ricci) for voice and piano (1889)
  • Due canti (Pagliara), (Op. 68) for boys’ voices and organ (1889)
  • Tre pezzi (G. Carducci), Op. 84 for voice and piano (1906)

Further reading

  • The Complete Orchestral Works of Martucci is available at Brilliant Classics, 4 CD box, recording Philharmonia Orchestra
    Philharmonia Orchestra
    The Philharmonia Orchestra is one of the leading orchestras in Great Britain, based in London. Since 1995, it has been based in the Royal Festival Hall. In Britain it is also the resident orchestra at De Montfort Hall, Leicester and the Corn Exchange, Bedford, as well as The Anvil, Basingstoke...

    , 1989, conductor Francesco D'Avalos.
  • Piano concertos Opp. 40 and 66 are available from a CD by Orchestre Philharmonique de Montpelier, with conductor Massimo De Benart and pianist Jeffrey Swann: Agora Musica B000LH5VIS.

External links

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