Today December 7 is Mascagni's Birthday

Pietro Mascagni was born in Livorno, Italy on this day (December 7) in 1863. This is as good an occasion as any to play some of his music! As for me, I am playing the grand duet from Il piccolo Marat with Mafalda de Voltri and Hipolito Lázaro.

Photo of Mascagni Rehearsing Aida

This fascinating photo recently turned up at an eBay auction. It was advertised as a photo of Mascagni rehearsing Cavalleria rusticana, but obviously the sets are those of Aida, and if you look carefully you can see the conductor score for Aida right behind Mascagni!

On the podium, you can read "Fot. Willinger Wien". This inscription is designed to look like something engraved on the podium, but it was likely added by the photographer. This would point to a performance of Aida in Vienna. As for the date, I would guess that this took place during the 1930s given Mascagni's looks. It should be possible to find a more precise date by looking up when Mascagni conducted Aida in Vienna.

Thanks to the seller, James Camner, who was kind enough to provide me with a good scan of this photo.

Update: Roger points out that this looks like an outdoor performance, and that Mascagni conducted Aida in Vienna in August 1924, among other dates. So that photo could very well be from August 1924.

Update: John found this mini-biography about a photographer called Laszlo Willinger who had a studio in Vienna in the 1930s.

Pianist Marco Sollini Playing Today in Cherry Hill, North Carolina

Pianist Marco Sollini is playing today at the Cherry Hill Plantation in North Carolina. Sollini "oversaw the publication by Boccaccini and Spada of the piano music of Puccini, Mascagni, Giordano, Leoncavallo, and Bellini as well as chamber music by Rossini and Mascagni" (as reported in the article linked below).

Relevant Mascagni.org resources:

• L'opera completa per pianoforte
• Puccini - Giordano - Mascagni: piano music

References:

• Sollini to perform at Cherry Hill concert
• Marco Sollini web site
  

Cavalleria Rusticana in Venice in December 2009 (corrected)

The illustrious Venice opera house, Teatro La Fenice, has announced performances of Mascagni's Cavalleria rusticana on the following dates:

• Thursday, December 11, 2009 at 7 PM
  
• Saturday, December 13, 2009 at 3:30 PM
  
• Tuesday, December 16, 2009 at 7 PM
• Thursday December 18, 2009 at 7 PM
• Saturday, December 20, 2009 at 3:30 PM

What's interesting is that unlike the usual pairing with Leoncavallo's Pagliacci, Cavalleria rusticana will be performed alongside Leoš Janáček's Šárka.

The cast will be as follows:

• Conductor: Eliahu Inbal
• Santuzza: Anna Smirnova
• Turiddu: Walter Fraccaro
• Orchestra and chorus: Teatro La Fenice
• Chorus master: Claudio Marino Moretti
• Mise en scène: Ermanno Olmi
• Sets: Arnaldo Pomodoro
• Costumes: Maurizio Millenotti

References:

• Šárka di Leoš Janáček e Cavalleria rusticana di Pietro Mascagni
• Teatro La Fenice
• Teatro La Fenice - Stagione 2008-2009, Lirica, Danza, Sinfonica, Progetti speciali, Collaborazioni

Update: This blog initially announced that the performances would take place in December 2008. They will instead take place in December 2009.

Amica in Rome in the Coming Days

Six performances of Mascagni's Amica will take place in the coming days in Rome: Tuesday 7, Wednesday 8, Thursday 9 and Friday 10 at 8:30 PM, Saturday 11 at 6 PM, and Sunday October 12 at 5 PM.

Contrary to what was thought earlier, the work will be given in the original French with Italian supertitles, which is excellent news as Mascagni composed the music directly to the French libretto by Choudens. Only later was the libretto translated to Italian, in a translation which I think is quite coarse.

The last time the opera was performed in Rome was on May 13, 1905, in the Italian version, conducted by Mascagni himself, as he took the habit of conducting his own works early in the career.

Hisorically, Amica is one of the least performed Mascagni operas, especially in French. It is therefore encouraging to see renewed interest in this extremely interesting work (with "echoes of Wagner, Mahler and Ravel" according to Antonino Fogliani), after the performances in French at Martina Franca in 2007. The upcoming performances in the beautiful setting of the Rome opera house promise higher quality and will hopefully do justice to the work.

The cast will be as follows:

• Conductor: Antonino Fogliani
• Amica: Amarilli Nizza / Patrizia Orciani
• Giorgio: Enrique Ferrer / Maurizio Comencini
• Rinaldo: Alberto Mastromarino / Angelo Veccia
• Padron Camoine: Marcello Lippi
• Maddalena: Lucia Mastromarino
• Orchestra and chorus of the Rome opera
• Chorus master: Andrea Giorgi
• Mise en scène: Jean Louis Grinda
• Sets: Rudy Sabounghi
• Teresa Acone: costumes
• Laurent Castaingt: lights

References:

• "Amica" - A Roma l'opera di Mascagni
• "Amica" - Mascagni a Roma

These performances are co-produced with Opéra di Montecarlo and Teatro Carlo Goldoni of Livorno.

Chocolat Guérin-Boutron Card

I just got this pretty nice card, which features a scene from Cavalleria rusticana. It bears the number 28, and was part of a series of trading cards distributed with Guérin-Boutron chocolate boxes. I found a reference online to a series of 78 cards dedicated to music composers, and this one was probably part of that set.

Compare with these other cards, especially this one distributed with Suchard cacao.

L'amico Fritz at the Berlin Opera

I just found out that conductor Alberto Veronesi will conduct L'amico Fritz at the Berlin Opera on September 20 and 22, in concert form. The most interesting part is that the protagonists will be sung by Roberto Alagna and Angela Gheorghiu, who already performed L'amico Fritz at least once in Monte Carlo in 1999 already.

Review of Zanetto CD at Audiophile Audition

Steven Ritter has written a new review of the recently published Zanetto recording (with Jennifer Larmore, conducted by Peter Tiboris) at Audiophile Audition. Overall the reviewer loves the opera and he writes of Larmore:

"I have a great deal of trouble imaging the title role sung better than Larmore does here."

Indeed I think that Larmore is the best part of this recording. It is a shame that Eilana Lappalainen, as Sylvia, was not up to the challenge.

More Details on Upcoming Amica in rome

The Rome Opera now has all the information about the August 2008 performances of Amica. The cast is as follows:

Amica: Amarilli Nizza / Patrizia Orciani
Rinaldo: Piero Giugliacci / Claudio Di Segni
Giorgio: Alberto Mastromarino / Angelo Veccia
Orchestra and chorus of Rome Teatro dell'Opera

Conductor: Antonino Fogliani
Chorus master: Andrea Giorgi
Staging: Jean Louis Grinda
Sets: Rudy Sabounghi
Costumes: Teresa Acone

Performances:

Tuesday, 7 October 2008 at 20.30
Wednesday, 8 October at 20.30
Thursday, 9 October at 20.30
Friday, 10 October at 20.30
Saturday, 11 October at 18.00
Sunday, 12 October at 17.00

This will be a new production and the opera will be performed in Italian, instead of the original and better French.

Mascagni Course in Sydney this October

I recently got the following from Murray Dahm in Sydney:

"I thought you would like to know that I will be teaching a course on the operas of Mascagni in Sydney, Australia starting this October. It will run for 7 two hour sessions over seven weeks and examine all the operas, Si, and the orchestral, song and minor works that I have located. The courses I run are for the WEA (Workers Education Association) and generally have 40 students (mostly retirees) per course"

If anybody around Sydney has any interest, please contact me and I will put you in touch with Murray.

A Rare Photo of Mascagni at the Piano

Here is a rare picture of Mascagni at the piano which I recently acquired. The handwritten text on the back of the picture says that it was taken in Rome by "Ettore Patrini, editor & [...]" (last name and function are hard to read). A number on the back could read "17", for 1917. To be broad, I think that the picture was taken between 1900 and 1920, but I have trouble pinpointing an exact year.

On the full-size picture, you can see that Mascagni is smoking a little cigar, as is typical. The quality of the picture doesn't allow seeing what is on the score.

For more photos of Mascagni, see Mascagni at the Piano.

Update: Roger pointed out to me that this is the same piano and location as in this photo. If the information is correct and this was in fact taken during Isabeau's composition, or even at Illica's villa in Castell'Arquato, then it is likely that the two photos were taken not far apart. The composition of Isabeau started in late 1908, and the opera premiered in 1911, which gives us a better range. If it was in Castell'Arquato, then it was likely during June 1910.

New CD of Zanetto on Elysium Recordings

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".

Performance of Zanetto in Faenza, Italy on February 14, 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/.

Performances of Amica in Rome in October 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)