All Topics  
Umberto Giordano

 
Umberto Giordano

 
   Email Print
   Bookmark   Link
 

 

Umberto Giordano
 
 
  Topics Umberto Giordano Topic Home

Umberto Menotti Maria Giordano (August 28, 1867 – November 12, 1948) was an Italian composer, mainly of opera
Opera

Opera is an Performing arts in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work which combines a text and a musical score. Opera is part of the Western classical music tradition....
s.

He was born in Foggia
Foggia

Foggia is a city of Puglia, Italy, capital of the province of Foggia. Foggia is the main city of a plain called Tavoliere, also known as the "granary of Italy"....
 in Puglia
Apulia

Apulia is a region in southeastern Italy bordering the Adriatic Sea in the east, the Ionian Sea to the southeast, and the Strait of Otranto and Gulf of Taranto in the south....
, southern Italy
Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic , is a country located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe and on the two largest islands in the Mediterranean Sea, Sicily and Sardinia....
, and studied under Paolo Serrao
Paolo Serrao

Paolo Serrao was a distinguished and influential Italy music teacher of musical theory and composition at Naples.As professor of composition at the San Pietro a Maiella Conservatorio at Naples, over many years, he taught many famous Italian musicians, notably Giuseppe Martucci, Umberto Giordano, Leopoldo Mugnone, Michele Esposito, Francesc...
 at the Conservatoire of Naples
Naples

Naples is a city in southern Italy, the capital of the region of Campania and of the province of Naples. The city is known for its rich history, art, culture and gastronomy, playing an important role throughout much of its existence; it is over 2,800 years old....
. His first opera Marina, was written for the competition staged by the music publishers Casa Sonzogno
Edoardo Sonzogno

Edoardo Sonzogno was an Italy publisher.A native of Milan, Sonzogno was the son of a businessman who owned a printing plant and bookstore; when he inherited the business upon his father's death he set about turning it into a publishing house, Sonzogno, which opened in 1874....
 for the best one-act opera, remembered today because it marked the beginning of Italian verismo
Verismo

Verismo was an Italian literary and, by extension, operatic movement which peaked between approximately 1875 and the early 1900s. It was mainly inspired by Naturalism ....
; the winner was Mascagni
Pietro Mascagni

Pietro Mascagni was an Italy composer most noted for his operas. His 1890 masterpiece, Cavalleria rusticana, caused one of the greatest sensations in opera history and singlehandedly ushered in the Verismo movement in Italian dramatic music....
's Cavalleria rusticana
Cavalleria rusticana

Cavalleria rusticana is an opera in one act by Pietro Mascagni to an Italian libretto by Giovanni Targioni-Tozzetti and Guido Menasci, adapted from a play written by Giovanni Verga based on his short story....
.






Discussion
Ask a question about 'Umberto Giordano'
Start a new discussion about 'Umberto Giordano'
Answer questions from other users
Full Discussion Forum



Encyclopedia


Umberto Giordano
Umberto Menotti Maria Giordano (August 28, 1867 – November 12, 1948) was an Italian composer, mainly of opera
Opera

Opera is an Performing arts in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work which combines a text and a musical score. Opera is part of the Western classical music tradition....
s.

He was born in Foggia
Foggia

Foggia is a city of Puglia, Italy, capital of the province of Foggia. Foggia is the main city of a plain called Tavoliere, also known as the "granary of Italy"....
 in Puglia
Apulia

Apulia is a region in southeastern Italy bordering the Adriatic Sea in the east, the Ionian Sea to the southeast, and the Strait of Otranto and Gulf of Taranto in the south....
, southern Italy
Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic , is a country located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe and on the two largest islands in the Mediterranean Sea, Sicily and Sardinia....
, and studied under Paolo Serrao
Paolo Serrao

Paolo Serrao was a distinguished and influential Italy music teacher of musical theory and composition at Naples.As professor of composition at the San Pietro a Maiella Conservatorio at Naples, over many years, he taught many famous Italian musicians, notably Giuseppe Martucci, Umberto Giordano, Leopoldo Mugnone, Michele Esposito, Francesc...
 at the Conservatoire of Naples
Naples

Naples is a city in southern Italy, the capital of the region of Campania and of the province of Naples. The city is known for its rich history, art, culture and gastronomy, playing an important role throughout much of its existence; it is over 2,800 years old....
. His first opera Marina, was written for the competition staged by the music publishers Casa Sonzogno
Edoardo Sonzogno

Edoardo Sonzogno was an Italy publisher.A native of Milan, Sonzogno was the son of a businessman who owned a printing plant and bookstore; when he inherited the business upon his father's death he set about turning it into a publishing house, Sonzogno, which opened in 1874....
 for the best one-act opera, remembered today because it marked the beginning of Italian verismo
Verismo

Verismo was an Italian literary and, by extension, operatic movement which peaked between approximately 1875 and the early 1900s. It was mainly inspired by Naturalism ....
; the winner was Mascagni
Pietro Mascagni

Pietro Mascagni was an Italy composer most noted for his operas. His 1890 masterpiece, Cavalleria rusticana, caused one of the greatest sensations in opera history and singlehandedly ushered in the Verismo movement in Italian dramatic music....
's Cavalleria rusticana
Cavalleria rusticana

Cavalleria rusticana is an opera in one act by Pietro Mascagni to an Italian libretto by Giovanni Targioni-Tozzetti and Guido Menasci, adapted from a play written by Giovanni Verga based on his short story....
. Giordano, the youngest candidate, placed sixth among seventy-three with Marina, which generated enough interest for Sonzogno to commission an opera to be staged in the 1891–92 season.

The result was Mala Vita, a gritty verismo opera concerning a labourer who vows to reform a prostitute if he is cured of his tuberculosis. This caused something of a scandal when performed at the Teatro Argentina
Teatro Argentina

The Teatro Argentina is an opera house and theatre located in the Largo di Torre Argentina, a square in Rome, Italy. It is one of the oldest theatres in Rome, and was inaugurated on January 31, 1732 with Berenice by Domenico Sarro....
, Rome, in February 1892. It played successfully at Vienna, Prague and Berlin.

Giordano tried a more romantic approach with his next opera, Regina Diaz with libretto writing by Giovanni Targioni-Tozzetti
Giovanni Targioni-Tozzetti

For the italian medician and entomologist , see Giovanni Targioni Tozzetti.Giovanni Targioni-Tozzetti was an Italy librettist, best known for his friendship and collaboration with the composer Pietro Mascagni....
 and Guido Menasci
Guido Menasci

Guido Menasci was an Italy opera librettist.His best known work is Cavalleria rusticana written with Giovanni Targioni-Tozzetti. He also provided the libretti for Pietro Mascagni I Rantzau, Zanetto, for Umberto Giordano's Regina Diaz and Viktor Parma Stara pesem ....
 (1894), but this was also a failure, taken off the stage after just two performances.

Giordano then moved to Milan
Milan

Milan is the second largest city of Italy, located in the plains of Lombardy. It is the capital in the Province of Milan, as well as the Regions of Italy capital of Lombardy....
, and returned to verismo with his best-known work, Andrea Chénier
Andrea Chénier

Andrea Ch?nier is an opera in four acts by the verismo composer Umberto Giordano, set to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica. It is based loosely on the life of the French poet, Andr? Ch?nier , who was executed during the French Revolution....
 (1896), based on the life of the French
France

France , officially the French Republic , is a country whose Metropolitan France is located in Western Europe and that also comprises various Overseas departments and territories of France....
 poet, André Chénier
André Chénier

Andr? Marie Ch?nier was a French poet, associated with the events of the French Revolution of which he was a victim. His sensual, emotive poetry marks him as one of the precursors of the Romanticism movement....
. Fedora (1898), based on Victorien Sardou
Victorien Sardou

File:Victorien SardouVF.jpgFile:Sardou Grave.JPGVictorien Sardou was a French dramatist. He is perhaps best remembered today for the play La Tosca on which Giacomo Puccini's opera Tosca is based....
's play, featured a scarcely-known young tenor, Enrico Caruso
Enrico Caruso

Enrico Caruso was an italians tenor. Caruso was also one of the most significant and renowned singers in any genre in both the 19th and 20th Centuries, and one of the most important pioneers of recorded music....
; it was also a success, and is still performed today. His later works are much less known, but occasionally revived.

The most important theater in Foggia has been dedicated to Umberto Giordano, in which Andrea Chénier was lately performed. A square in Foggia is also dedicated to him, with many statues representing his most famous works.

Opera works

  • Marina (1888)
  • Mala Vita (21 February 1892, Teatro Argentina, Rome)
  • Regina Diaz (5 March 1894, Teatro Mercadante, Naples)
  • Andrea Chénier
    Andrea Chénier

    Andrea Ch?nier is an opera in four acts by the verismo composer Umberto Giordano, set to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica. It is based loosely on the life of the French poet, Andr? Ch?nier , who was executed during the French Revolution....
     (28 March 1896, Teatro alla Scala
    La Scala

    The Teatro alla Scala , in Milan, Italy, is one of the world's most famous opera houses. The theatre was inaugurated on 3 August 1778, under the name Nuovo Regio Ducal Teatro alla Scala with Antonio Salieri Europa riconosciuta....
    , Milan)
  • Fedora (17 November 1898, Teatro Lirico
    Teatro Lirico (Milan)

    The Teatro Lirico is a theatre in Milan, Italy. In the 19th and early 20th centuries it was particularly notable for opera performances, including the world premieres of Donizetti's L'elisir d'amore and Umberto Giordano's Fedora ....
    , Milan)
  • Il Voto Rev. of Mala Vita (6 September 1902, Teatro Bellini, Naples)
  • Siberia
    Siberia (opera)

    Opera in three acts by Umberto Giordano. Libretto by Luigi Illica. There is no direct source for the plot of Siberia and it is quite possible that this is an original work by Illica....
     (19 December 1903, Teatro alla Scala, Milan, rev. 1927)
  • Marcella (9 November 1907, Teatro Lirico, Milan)
  • Mese mariano (17 March 1910, Teatro Massimo
    Teatro Massimo

    The Teatro Massimo Vittorio Emanuele is an opera house and opera company located on the Piazza Verdi in Palermo, Sicily. It was dedicated to King Victor Emanuel II....
    , Palermo)
  • Madame Sans-Gêne
    Madame Sans-Gêne (opera)

    Madame Sans-G?ne is an opera in three acts by Umberto Giordano. The libretto was taken from Victorien Sardou and Emile Moreau's play, adapted for the opera by Renato Simoni....
     (25 January 1915, Metropolitan Opera
    Metropolitan Opera

    The Metropolitan Opera Association of New York City, founded in April 1880, is a major presenter of all types of opera including Grand Opera. Peter Gelb is the company's general manager and James Levine is music director....
    , New York)
  • Giove a Pompei (6 July 1921, Teatro La Pariola, Rome)
  • La cena delle beffe (20 December 1924, Teatro alla Scala, Milan)
  • Il re
    Il re

    Il re is a novella or opera in one act and three scenes by composer Umberto Giordano to an Italian language libretto by Giovacchino Forzano....
     (12 January 1929, Teatro alla Scala, Milan)
  • La festa del Nilo (incomplete)


External links

  • "La mamma morta
    La mamma morta

    La mamma morta is an aria of the 1896 opera Andrea Ch?nier by Umberto Giordano, sung by the role of Maddalena di Coigny .It appears in the movie Philadelphia performed by Maria Callas....
    " from Andrea Chénier