Dear ladies & gentlemen,
In this forum there has already been some discussion whether or not
Tchaikovsky did know about Puccini and his music (which seems rather not
to be the case); now, I am wondering whether Tchaikovsky did know about
two other, important "verismo" composers, i.e. Alfredo Catalani
(1854-1893), whose two most famous operas have indeed been performed
during Tchaikovsky's lifetime (i.e. "Loreley", 1890, and "la Wally", 1892)
and Umberto Giordano (whose opera "Mala vita" - the archetype of "verismo"
style - has been performed in 1892; unfortunately, Giordano's most famous
opera, "Andrea Chénier", has only been performed in 1896, that is after
Tchaikovsky's passing; the same must also been said of Giordano's two
"Russian" operas, "Fedora" (1898) and "Siberia" (1903))?
With many thanks in advance,
Guido Mühlemann
24/04/2013 20:55
With regard to the "verismo" I also remember lil post-discussion in
this forum:
http://www.tchaikovsky-research.net/en/forum/forum0265.html
Antonio Garganese
(Prato-Florence)
25/04/2013 10:11
There is no mention of either composer in the Peoples section of
tchaikovsky- research.net where is listed the friends, associates and
fellow musicians the composer knew..
Further in Wikipedia Catalani is described as ''Despite the growing
influence of the verismo style of opera during the 1880's Catalani chose
to compose in a more traditional manner. As a result his operas have
largely lost their place in the modern repertoire..."...also..."The
influence of Ponchielli can also be recognized in Catalani's work and like
Ponchielli his reputation rests almost on one work...however while ''La
Wally'' has only received only four performances at the Met Opera in New
York, the Ponchielli work "La Gioconda" has received 287 performances at
The Met....
Umberto Giordano received more fame....but it came after Tchaikovsky's
death...furthermore these operas appeared late in the composers life and
he simply may not have gotten around to have the chance to hear the ones
already written in his lifetime....and so based on this information we may
safely say that Tchaikovsky was unfamiliar with either composer...
In regard to Mascagni as has already been mentioned the composer had a
favorable review of this work...the "Cavalleria Rusticana"....the one act
opera that was Mascagni's only success in his long career...
Albert Gasparo
25/04/2013 14:07