Leopoldo Mugnone
Encyclopedia
Leopoldo Mugnone was an Italian conductor, especially of opera, whose most famous work was done in the period 1890-1920, both in Europe and South America. He conducted various operatic premieres, and was also a composer of operas.
under Paolo Serrao
and Beniamino Cesi
. He composed his first theatre work, a little opera buffa Il Dottor Bartolo Salsapariglia, at the age of 12, in which he wished to take part in the basso comico role, though he had then only an alto voice. At 16 he began conducting. A year later he was recruited as a chorus director for an operetta troupe at the Teatro Nuovo, run by F. Sadowsky. From there he went on to the Garibaldi Theatre, first as chorus master and later as concertatore. Two other early operettas by him, Don Bizzarro e le sue figlie (1 act), and Mamma Angot al serraglio di Costantinopoli (3 acts) were produced during the later 1870s at Naples.
Mugnone was himself the teacher of the conductor Uriel Nespoli
.
and Filippo Marchetti
's Ruy Blas
. After this the publisher Sonzogno, recognising his potential, took him under his wing: in 1888 he was promoted to conduct at La Scala, at the Théâtre de la Gaîté
in Paris, and at the Municipale in Nice
(amongst others). According to Giuseppe Depanis, a Carmen
of his of 1888, with Luisa Borghi, at the Carignano in Turin
was the last artistic experience enjoyed by Friedrich Nietzsche
before madness overtook him.
Mugnone was very esteemed by Verdi, who especially admired his performances of Otello
and Falstaff
, and became a friend of the conductor. After a May 1894 performance of Falstaff at the Paris Opera, Boito wrote to Verdi: "Mugnone has understood the entire score with a great power of penetration." With the same work Mugnone gave the inaugural concert of the Teatro Massimo
at Palermo
on 16 May 1897. A story goes that he once got hold of a score with Toscanini's annotations and flung it from him, saying: "Bah! Puzza di Parma!" (It stinks of Parma). The Verdi centenary celebrations of October 1913, at La Scala, opened with a memorable performance of Nabucco
which he arranged and directed.
His own compositions, however, and many of his most important premieres, were in the field of verismo
opera. In 1890 he conducted the sensational premiere of Mascagni's Cavalleria rusticana
(who had won the Concorso Sonzogno with this work), at the Costanzi with Gemma Bellincioni
and Roberto Stagno
. After this he was sought out by composers of the young school as one likely to be sympathetic to their work. His own one-act opera Il biricchino (Venice 1892) did not fare well in Vienna, for after it was presented at the Teatro dell’Esposizione in 1892, the critic Hanslick pronounced it to be a mediocre and objectionable thing. It appeared in Barcelona
in 1893. Mugnone became famous for other revivals of important operas, including Glück's Orfeo
, Rossini's Guglielmo Tell, and Berlioz's La Damnation de Faust in its original form as an oratorio. During the Exhibition of 1899 he directed a Grand Opera season in Paris.
Mugnone conducted the world premiere of Tosca
in Rome in 1900 (including interruptions for a bomb scare). His own opera Vita Brettona was premiered at Naples in 1905. Between 1904 and 1906 he had busy seasons at Covent Garden
, performing Andrea Chénier
(with Strakosch
, Zenatello
, Sammarco
), Don Giovanni
(Strakosch and Battistini
), Madame Butterfly (with Giachetti), Faust
and La traviata
(with Melba
), Manon Lescaut
, La bohème
, Tosca, Mefistofele
, Aida
, Un ballo in maschera
, and Rigoletto
(with Melba, Stracciari
, and Battistini). He gave the first London performances of Cilea's Adriana Lecouvreur
(November 1904) and Giordano's Fedora (November 1906, with Giachetti and Zenatello).
He gave the first performance of Franchetti
's La figlia di Iorio
(on a text by d'Annunzio) at La Scala in 1906. (Like Mugnone, Franchetti had been a student of Serrao). He conducted for Eugenia Burzio
's famous La Scala debut in March 1906 as Katiusha in the Risurrezione
of Franco Alfano
(another Serrao pupil). In 1910 (17 March) he gave the premiere of Giordano
's Mese Mariano
at the Teatro Massimo.
Other Italian premieres of this period given by him were:
and elsewhere in South America, where he made a significant impact. In Buenos Aires he gave the first South American Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg
(in Italian) in August 1898. He conducted premieres in Uruguay
of Die Walküre
, Tosca
, Zazà
, Don Giovanni
, Franchetti
's Germania
, Thaïs
and his own Vita Brettona, and in 1910 conducted Götterdämmerung
and Gustave Charpentier
's Louise
.
(July, with Margaret Sheridan). This appearance was under the management of Thomas Beecham
, who describes him as a man of fiery and uncontrollable temper... 'never a day passed without a stormy scene with singers, chorus and orchestra, coupled with threats to return to Italy at once.' These scenes always ended in Beecham's room, and after several such experiences Beecham called his bluff by producing tickets for Mugnone and his family to return to Italy the following day. 'He opened and closed his mouth, rolled his eyes, ruffled his hair and after several abortive attempts at speech finally roared out "I will never leave you".' A long speech of justification, explanation, and declaration of fondness for England followed, and the season proceeded: life was a little quieter after that, at least for Beecham, who considered Mugnone's interpretations of Verdi the finest he ever heard.
In March 1921 he began a season at Lexington
, USA, with an opera troupe headed by Iva Pacetti
. From May to July 1925 he was back at Covent Garden for Aida, Andrea Chénier (with Margaret Sheridan, Giacomo Lauri-Volpi
, Benvenuto Franci), Il barbiere di Siviglia (with Toti dal Monte
) and Tosca (with Maria Jeritza
).
A 'Teatro Mugnone' (named in honour of Leopoldo Mugnone) has recently been bought and should be restored in the Italian Comune of Marcianise
.
Training
The son of Antonio Mugnone, principal double-bass in the orchestra of the San Carlo Theatre in Naples, Mugnone studied from an early age at the Royal Conservatorio of San Pietro a MaiellaSan Pietro a Maiella
San Pietro a Majella is a church in Naples, Italy. The term may also refer to the adjacent Naples music conservatory, which occupies the premises of the monastery that used to form a single complex with the church....
under Paolo Serrao
Paolo Serrao
Paolo Serrao was a distinguished and influential Italian teacher of musical theory and composition at Naples....
and 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...
. He composed his first theatre work, a little opera buffa Il Dottor Bartolo Salsapariglia, at the age of 12, in which he wished to take part in the basso comico role, though he had then only an alto voice. At 16 he began conducting. A year later he was recruited as a chorus director for an operetta troupe at the Teatro Nuovo, run by F. Sadowsky. From there he went on to the Garibaldi Theatre, first as chorus master and later as concertatore. Two other early operettas by him, Don Bizzarro e le sue figlie (1 act), and Mamma Angot al serraglio di Costantinopoli (3 acts) were produced during the later 1870s at Naples.
Mugnone was himself the teacher of the conductor Uriel Nespoli
Uriel Nespoli
Uriel Nespoli was an Italian conductor born in Naples.A pupil of Leopoldo Mugnone, Nespoli specialized in Italian opera. He was considered a National Treasure to Italy, and in 1931 he was secretly brought to the United States for safety...
.
Early career
Mugnone established his reputation in Italy and beyond, and conducted a tour with the double-bass player Bottesini. In 1887 at the Costanzi Theatre (Rome) in a single season he conducted La forza del destinoLa 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...
and Filippo Marchetti
Filippo Marchetti
Filippo Marchetti was an Italian opera composer. After studying in Naples, his first opera was "successfully premiered" in Turin in 1856...
's Ruy Blas
Ruy Blas
Ruy Blas is a tragic drama by Victor Hugo. It was the first play presented at the Théâtre de la Renaissance and opened on November 8, 1838. Though considered by many to be Hugo’s best drama, the play initially met with only average success....
. After this the publisher Sonzogno, recognising his potential, took him under his wing: in 1888 he was promoted to conduct at La Scala, at the Théâtre de la Gaîté
Théâtre de la Gaîté (rue Papin)
In 1862 during Haussmann's modernization of Paris the Théâtre de la Gaîté of the boulevard du Temple was relocated to the rue Papin across from the Square des Arts et Métiers....
in Paris, and at the Municipale in Nice
Nice
Nice is the fifth most populous city in France, after Paris, Marseille, Lyon and Toulouse, with a population of 348,721 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Nice extends beyond the administrative city limits with a population of more than 955,000 on an area of...
(amongst others). According to Giuseppe Depanis, a Carmen
Carmen
Carmen is a French opéra comique by Georges Bizet. The libretto is by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy, based on the novella of the same title by Prosper Mérimée, first published in 1845, itself possibly influenced by the narrative poem The Gypsies by Alexander Pushkin...
of his of 1888, with Luisa Borghi, at the Carignano in Turin
Turin
Turin is a city and major business and cultural centre in northern Italy, capital of the Piedmont region, located mainly on the left bank of the Po River and surrounded by the Alpine arch. The population of the city proper is 909,193 while the population of the urban area is estimated by Eurostat...
was the last artistic experience enjoyed by Friedrich Nietzsche
Friedrich Nietzsche
Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche was a 19th-century German philosopher, poet, composer and classical philologist...
before madness overtook him.
Mugnone was very esteemed by Verdi, who especially admired his performances of Otello
Otello
Otello is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Arrigo Boito, based on Shakespeare's play Othello. It was Verdi's penultimate opera, and was first performed at the Teatro alla Scala, Milan, on February 5, 1887....
and Falstaff
Falstaff (opera)
Falstaff is an operatic commedia lirica in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi, adapted by Arrigo Boito from Shakespeare's plays The Merry Wives of Windsor and scenes from Henry IV. It was Verdi's last opera, written in the composer's ninth decade, and only the second of his 26 operas to be a comedy...
, and became a friend of the conductor. After a May 1894 performance of Falstaff at the Paris Opera, Boito wrote to Verdi: "Mugnone has understood the entire score with a great power of penetration." With the same work Mugnone gave the inaugural concert of the 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....
at Palermo
Palermo
Palermo is a city in Southern Italy, the capital of both the autonomous region of Sicily and the Province of Palermo. The city is noted for its history, culture, architecture and gastronomy, playing an important role throughout much of its existence; it is over 2,700 years old...
on 16 May 1897. A story goes that he once got hold of a score with Toscanini's annotations and flung it from him, saying: "Bah! Puzza di Parma!" (It stinks of Parma). The Verdi centenary celebrations of October 1913, at La Scala, opened with a memorable performance of Nabucco
Nabucco
Nabucco is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Temistocle Solera, based on the Biblical story and the 1836 play by Auguste Anicet-Bourgeois and Francis Cornue...
which he arranged and directed.
His own compositions, however, and many of his most important premieres, were in the field of verismo
Verismo
Verismo was an Italian literary movement which peaked between approximately 1875 and the early 1900s....
opera. In 1890 he conducted the sensational premiere of Mascagni'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. Considered one of the classic verismo operas, it premiered on May 17, 1890 at the Teatro...
(who had won the Concorso Sonzogno with this work), at the Costanzi with Gemma Bellincioni
Gemma Bellincioni
Gemma Bellincioni was an Italian soprano and one of the best-known opera singers of the late 19th century. She had a particular affinity with the verismo repertoire and was renowned more for her charismatic acting than for the quality of her voice.-Her career:Matilda Cesira was Bellincioni's real...
and Roberto Stagno
Roberto Stagno
Roberto Stagno , was a prominent Italian opera tenor. He became an important interpreter of verismo music when it burst on to the operatic scene during the 1890s; but he also possessed an agile bel canto technique which he employed in operas dating from earlier periods...
. After this he was sought out by composers of the young school as one likely to be sympathetic to their work. His own one-act opera Il biricchino (Venice 1892) did not fare well in Vienna, for after it was presented at the Teatro dell’Esposizione in 1892, the critic Hanslick pronounced it to be a mediocre and objectionable thing. It appeared in Barcelona
Barcelona
Barcelona is the second largest city in Spain after Madrid, and the capital of Catalonia, with a population of 1,621,537 within its administrative limits on a land area of...
in 1893. Mugnone became famous for other revivals of important operas, including Glück's Orfeo
Orfeo
L'Orfeo , sometimes called L'Orfeo, favola in musica, is an early Baroque opera by Claudio Monteverdi, with a libretto by Alessandro Striggio. It is based on the Greek legend of Orpheus, and tells the story of his descent to Hades and his fruitless attempt to bring his dead bride Eurydice back to...
, Rossini's Guglielmo Tell, and Berlioz's La Damnation de Faust in its original form as an oratorio. During the Exhibition of 1899 he directed a Grand Opera season in Paris.
Mugnone conducted the world premiere of Tosca
Tosca
Tosca is an opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa. It premiered at the Teatro Costanzi in Rome on 14 January 1900...
in Rome in 1900 (including interruptions for a bomb scare). His own opera Vita Brettona was premiered at Naples in 1905. Between 1904 and 1906 he had busy seasons at Covent Garden
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...
, performing Andrea Chénier
Andrea Chénier
Andrea Chénier is a verismo opera in four acts by the composer Umberto Giordano, set to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica. It is based loosely on the life of the French poet, André Chénier , who was executed during the French Revolution....
(with Strakosch
Strakosch
Strakosch is a surname. The following individuals have the surname:*Maurice Strakosch , American musician and impresario of Czech origin*Henry Strakosch , an Austrian banker and businessman...
, Zenatello
Giovanni Zenatello
Giovanni Zenatello was an Italian opera singer. Born in Verona, he enjoyed an international career as a dramatic tenor of the first rank. Otello became his most famous operatic role but he sang a wide repertoire. In 1904, he created the part of Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly.-Career:Zenatello...
, Sammarco
Mario Sammarco
Mario Sammarco was an Italian operatic baritone noted for his histrionic ability.-Biography:...
), Don Giovanni
Don Giovanni
Don Giovanni is an opera in two acts with music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and with an Italian libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte. It was premiered by the Prague Italian opera at the Teatro di Praga on October 29, 1787...
(Strakosch and Battistini
Mattia Battistini
Mattia Battistini was an Italian operatic baritone. He became internationally famous due to the beauty of his voice and the virtuosity of his singing technique, and he earned the sobriquet "King of Baritones".-Early life:...
), Madame Butterfly (with Giachetti), Faust
Faust (opera)
Faust is a drame lyrique in five acts by Charles Gounod to a French libretto by Jules Barbier and Michel Carré from Carré's play Faust et Marguerite, in turn loosely based on Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's Faust, Part 1...
and La traviata
La traviata
La traviata is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi set to an Italian libretto by Francesco Maria Piave. It is based on La dame aux Camélias , a play adapted from the novel by Alexandre Dumas, fils. The title La traviata means literally The Fallen Woman, or perhaps more figuratively, The Woman...
(with Melba
Nellie Melba
Dame Nellie Melba GBE , born Helen "Nellie" Porter Mitchell, was an Australian operatic soprano. She became one of the most famous singers of the late Victorian Era and the early 20th century...
), Manon Lescaut
Manon Lescaut (Puccini)
Manon Lescaut is an opera in four acts by Giacomo Puccini. The story is based on the 1731 novel L’histoire du chevalier des Grieux et de Manon Lescaut by the Abbé Prévost....
, La bohème
La bohème
La bohème is an opera in four acts,Puccini called the divisions quadro, a tableau or "image", rather than atto . by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa, based on Scènes de la vie de bohème by Henri Murger...
, Tosca, Mefistofele
Mefistofele
Mefistofele is an opera in a prologue, four acts and an epilogue, the only completed opera by the Italian composer-librettist Arrigo Boito.-Composition history:...
, Aida
Aida
Aida sometimes spelled Aïda, is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Antonio Ghislanzoni, based on a scenario written by French Egyptologist Auguste Mariette...
, 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...
, and Rigoletto
Rigoletto
Rigoletto is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi. The Italian libretto was written by Francesco Maria Piave based on the play Le roi s'amuse by Victor Hugo. It was first performed at La Fenice in Venice on March 11, 1851...
(with Melba, Stracciari
Riccardo Stracciari
Riccardo Stracciari was a leading Italian baritone. His repertoire consisted mainly of Italian operatic works, with Rossini's Figaro and Verdi's Rigoletto becoming his signature roles during a long and distinguished career which stretched from 1899 to 1944.- Life and career :Born near Bologna,...
, and Battistini). He gave the first London performances of Cilea's Adriana Lecouvreur
Adriana Lecouvreur
Adriana Lecouvreur is an opera in four acts by Francesco Cilea to an Italian libretto by Arturo Colautti, based on the play by Eugène Scribe and Ernest Legouvé...
(November 1904) and Giordano's Fedora (November 1906, with Giachetti and Zenatello).
He gave the first performance of Franchetti
Franchetti
Franchetti is a surname, and may refer to:* Afdera Franchetti , Italian Countess* Alberto Franchetti* Raimondo Franchetti* Rina Franchetti...
's La figlia di Iorio
La figlia di Iorio
La figlia di Iorio , sometimes written as La figlia di Jorio, is an opera in three acts by Alberto Franchetti to a libretto by Gabriele D'Annunzio. The libretto is a very close rendering of D'Annunzio's play of the same name. La figlia di Iorio premiered at La Scala on March 29, 1906, conducted by...
(on a text by d'Annunzio) at La Scala in 1906. (Like Mugnone, Franchetti had been a student of Serrao). He conducted for Eugenia Burzio
Eugenia Burzio
Eugenia Burzio was an Italian operatic soprano known for her vibrant voice and passionate style of singing.She was particularly prominent in the verismo repertoire, creating the role of Delia Terzaghi in Ruggero Leoncavallo's Goffredo Mameli as well as singing Minnie in the Italian premiere of...
's famous La Scala debut in March 1906 as Katiusha in the Risurrezione
Risurrezione
Risurrezione , is an opera or dramma in four acts by Franco Alfano. The libretto was written by Cesare Hanau based on the novel "Resurrection" by Leo Tolstoy...
of Franco Alfano
Franco Alfano
Franco Alfano was an Italian composer and pianist. Best known today for his opera Risurrezione and above all for having completed Puccini's opera Turandot in 1926. He had considerable success with several of his own works during his lifetime.- Biography :He was born in Posillipo, Naples...
(another Serrao pupil). In 1910 (17 March) he gave the premiere of Giordano
Giordano
Giordano is a common Italian surname. See Giordano for people with this surname. It may also refer to:*Giordano Bruno, 16th-century philosopher**Giordano Bruno , a crater on the Moon*Giordano Orsini, various persons of this name...
's Mese Mariano
Mese mariano
Mese mariano is an opera in one act by Umberto Giordano. Its Italian libretto by Salvatore Di Giacomo was adapted from his play O Mese Mariano, which was in turn adapted from his novella, Senza vederlo . It premiered at the Teatro Massimo in Palermo on 17 March 1910...
at the Teatro Massimo.
Other Italian premieres of this period given by him were:
- Carlotta Clépier by Pietro FloridiaPietro FloridiaPietro Floridia was an Italian composer of classical music.According to David Johnson , Floridia was born in Modica, Sicily, and studied in Naples, where he created his first opera, Carlotta Clepier...
(Naples, Circo Nazionale, May 1882); - Regina e Contadina di Sarria (Naples, Teatro dei Fiorentini, 24 June 1882, with Gemma Bellincioni and Antonio Pini-CorsiAntonio Pini-CorsiAntonio Pini-Corsi was an Italian operatic baritone of international renown. He possessed a ripe-toned voice of great flexibility and displayed tremendous skill at patter singing...
); - Medgé by Spyridon SamarasSpyridon SamarasSpyridon-Filiskos Samaras was a Greek composer particularly admired for his operas who was part of the generation of composers that heralded the works of Giacomo Puccini...
(Rome, Costanzi, 11 Dec. 1888, with Emma CalvéEmma CalvéEmma Calvé, born Rosa Emma Calvet , was a French operatic soprano.Calvé was probably the most famous French female opera singer of the Belle Époque. Hers was an international career, and she sang regularly and to considerable acclaim at the Metropolitan Opera House, New York, and the Royal Opera...
and De VriesDe VriesDe Vries is one of the most common Dutch surnames. It indicates a geographical origin: "Vriesland" is an old spelling of the Dutch province of Friesland . Hence, "De Vries" means "The Frisian"...
); - Il Conte di Gléichen by Salvatore Auteri-Manzocchi (Rome, season of 1888-89);
- Le CidLe CidLe Cid is a tragicomedy written by Pierre Corneille and published in 1636. It is based on the legend of El Cid.The play followed Corneille's first true tragedy, Médée, produced in 1635. An enormous popular success, Corneille's Le Cid was the subject of a heated polemic over the norms of dramatic...
by Massenet (first Rome production); - PatriaPatriaPatria may refer to:* Homeland * Patria, a cycle of theatrical works by composer R. Murray Schafer* Patria AMV * Patria , of Finland...
by Paladilhe. (Rome, autumn 1888); - DjamilehDjamilehDjamileh is an opéra comique in one act by Georges Bizet to a libretto by Louis Gallet, based on an oriental tale, Namouna, by Alfred de Musset.-Composition history:...
by Bizet, (Rome, season of 1889-90, with Bellincioni); - OrfeoOrfeoL'Orfeo , sometimes called L'Orfeo, favola in musica, is an early Baroque opera by Claudio Monteverdi, with a libretto by Alessandro Striggio. It is based on the Greek legend of Orpheus, and tells the story of his descent to Hades and his fruitless attempt to bring his dead bride Eurydice back to...
by Gluck, (revival, Rome 1889); - Labilia by N. Spinelli (Rome, 9 May 1890, with Bellincioni and Stagno);
- Andrea del Sarto by Baravalle and Spartacus by Pietro PlataniaPietro PlataniaPietro Platania was an Italian composer and teacher of music.Platania was born at Catania. Beginning in 1882 he was the maestro di cappella of Milan Cathedral, and from 1885 until 1902 he served as the director of the Naples Conservatory. As a composer, he was known for his church music and...
(Rome, season 1890-91, with Mme Marconi and Cattaneo); - Rudello by Vincenzo Ferroni (Rome, 28 May 1890, with Bellincioni e Stagno);
- I Pagliacci by Leoncavallo (first at Rome, Teatro Nazionale, 1892);
- Le VilliLe VilliLe Villi is an opera-ballet in two acts composed by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Ferdinando Fontana, based on the short story Les Willis by Jean-Baptiste Alphonse Karr. Karr's story was in turn based in the Central European legend of the Willis, also used in the ballet Giselle...
by Puccini, (first Rome production, Costanzi, 28 October 1899, with Pasini and R. Galli); - WertherWertherWerther is an opera in four acts by Jules Massenet to a French libretto by Édouard Blau, Paul Milliet and Georges Hartmann based on the German epistolary novel The Sorrows of Young Werther by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe....
by Massenet (first Rome production, 30 December 1899, with Savelli and De Luca); - SaphoSapho (opera)Sapho is an opera in five acts by Jules Massenet to a French libretto by Henri Cain and Arthur Bernède, based on the novel of the same name by Alphonse Daudet. It was first performed at the Opéra Comique in Paris on November 27, 1897 with Emma Calvé as Fanny Legrand.It is a charming and effective...
by Massenet, (first Rome production, 20 March 1900, with Bellincioni and Moreo); - Le MaschereLe maschereLe maschere is an opera in a Prologue and three acts by Pietro Mascagni to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica.The work was Mascagni's homage to Rossini and to the Italian opera buffa and commedia dell'arte traditions...
by Mascagni (Naples, San Carlo, 19 January 1901, with Angelica Pandolfini, Giachetti e Schiavazzi).
South America
It was through Sonzogno that Mugnano began to develop his work in operatic seasons in ArgentinaArgentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
and elsewhere in South America, where he made a significant impact. In Buenos Aires he gave the first South American Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg
Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg
Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg is an opera in three acts, written and composed by Richard Wagner. It is among the longest operas still commonly performed today, usually taking around four and a half hours. It was first performed at the Königliches Hof- und National-Theater in Munich, on June 21,...
(in Italian) in August 1898. He conducted premieres in Uruguay
Uruguay
Uruguay ,officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay,sometimes the Eastern Republic of Uruguay; ) is a country in the southeastern part of South America. It is home to some 3.5 million people, of whom 1.8 million live in the capital Montevideo and its metropolitan area...
of Die Walküre
Die Walküre
Die Walküre , WWV 86B, is the second of the four operas that form the cycle Der Ring des Nibelungen , by Richard Wagner...
, Tosca
Tosca
Tosca is an opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa. It premiered at the Teatro Costanzi in Rome on 14 January 1900...
, Zazà
Zazà
Zazà is an opera by Ruggero Leoncavallo, with the libretto by the composer. Its première at the Teatro Lirico di Milano on November 10, 1900, starring Rosina Storchio as Zazà, Edoardo Garbin as Milio, Mario Sammarco as Cascart and Clorinda Pini-Corsi as Anaïde, and conducted by Arturo Toscanini,...
, Don Giovanni
Don Giovanni
Don Giovanni is an opera in two acts with music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and with an Italian libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte. It was premiered by the Prague Italian opera at the Teatro di Praga on October 29, 1787...
, Franchetti
Franchetti
Franchetti is a surname, and may refer to:* Afdera Franchetti , Italian Countess* Alberto Franchetti* Raimondo Franchetti* Rina Franchetti...
's Germania
Germania (opera)
Germania is an operatic dramma lirico consisting of a prologue, two acts, an intermezzo and an epilogue by Alberto Franchetti to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica...
, Thaïs
Thaïs (opera)
Thaïs is an opera in three acts by Jules Massenet to a French libretto by Louis Gallet based on the novel Thaïs by Anatole France. It was first performed at the Opéra Garnier in Paris on 16 March 1894, starring the American soprano Sybil Sanderson, for whom Massenet had written the title role...
and his own Vita Brettona, and in 1910 conducted Götterdämmerung
Götterdämmerung
is the last in Richard Wagner's cycle of four operas titled Der Ring des Nibelungen...
and Gustave Charpentier
Gustave Charpentier
Gustave Charpentier, , born in Dieuze, Moselle on 25 June 1860, died Paris, 18 February 1956) was a French composer, best known for his opera Louise.-Life and career:...
's Louise
Louise (opera)
Louise is an opera in four acts by Gustave Charpentier to an original French libretto by the composer, with some contributions by Saint-Pol-Roux, a symbolist poet and inspiration of the surrealists....
.
Later tours
Between May and August 1919 he conducted a Covent Garden Italian season, including Aida, Tosca, Madame Butterfly and other works, and the first England performance of Mascagni's IrisIris (opera)
Iris is an opera in three acts by Pietro Mascagni to an original Italian libretto by Luigi Illica. Its first performance was at the Teatro Costanzi in Rome on 22 November 1898.The opera is through-composed and set in Japan during legendary times...
(July, with Margaret Sheridan). This appearance was under the management of Thomas Beecham
Thomas Beecham
Sir Thomas Beecham, 2nd Baronet CH was an English conductor and impresario best known for his association with the London Philharmonic and the Royal Philharmonic orchestras. He was also closely associated with the Liverpool Philharmonic and Hallé orchestras...
, who describes him as a man of fiery and uncontrollable temper... 'never a day passed without a stormy scene with singers, chorus and orchestra, coupled with threats to return to Italy at once.' These scenes always ended in Beecham's room, and after several such experiences Beecham called his bluff by producing tickets for Mugnone and his family to return to Italy the following day. 'He opened and closed his mouth, rolled his eyes, ruffled his hair and after several abortive attempts at speech finally roared out "I will never leave you".' A long speech of justification, explanation, and declaration of fondness for England followed, and the season proceeded: life was a little quieter after that, at least for Beecham, who considered Mugnone's interpretations of Verdi the finest he ever heard.
In March 1921 he began a season at Lexington
Lexington, Kentucky
Lexington is the second-largest city in Kentucky and the 63rd largest in the US. Known as the "Thoroughbred City" and the "Horse Capital of the World", it is located in the heart of Kentucky's Bluegrass region...
, USA, with an opera troupe headed by Iva Pacetti
Iva Pacetti
Iva Pacetti was an Italian operatic soprano who had an active international career from 1920-1947. Trained in Florence and Milan, she made her professional opera debut in her native city at the age of 21 as the title heroine in Giuseppe Verdi's Aida at the Teatro Metastasio...
. From May to July 1925 he was back at Covent Garden for Aida, Andrea Chénier (with Margaret Sheridan, Giacomo Lauri-Volpi
Giacomo Lauri-Volpi
Giacomo Lauri-Volpi was an Italian tenor with a lyric-dramatic voice of exceptional range and technical facility. He performed throughout Europe and the Americas in a top-class career that spanned 40 years....
, Benvenuto Franci), Il barbiere di Siviglia (with Toti dal Monte
Toti Dal Monte
Antonietta Meneghel , better known by her stage name Toti Dal Monte, was a celebrated Italian operatic soprano with a sweet and limpid lyric voice. She was a favourite artist of the celebrated conductor Arturo Toscanini...
) and Tosca (with Maria Jeritza
Maria Jeritza
Maria Jeritza , born Marie Jedličková, was a celebrated Moravian soprano singer, long associated with the Vienna State Opera and the Metropolitan Opera...
).
Archive and memorial
Around 1933 Mugnano gave to the Museums of La Scala and the Rome Opera, and to the Naples Conservatorio, about 2000 documents including letters of Verdi, Massenet, Mascagni, Strauss and Leoncavallo, and a voluminous cache of Puccini materials.A 'Teatro Mugnone' (named in honour of Leopoldo Mugnone) has recently been bought and should be restored in the Italian Comune of Marcianise
Marcianise
Marcianise is a town and comune in the province of Caserta, Campania, Italy.-History:In the area of the commune of Marcianise numerous tombs of Etruscan and Roman age have been excavated, although Oscan elements should have pre-existed. The origin of the today's city are uncertain...
.
Sources
- A. Eaglefield-Hull, A Dictionary of Modern Music and Musicians (Dent, London 1924).
- G. Gatti-Cassazza, Memories of the Opera
- Enzo Raucci,, "Vita e Opere di L. Mugnone", in Aspettando il Teatro Mugnone, Omaggio al Mo. Leopoldo Mugnone, (Unartgroup, Associazione Culturale Universitaria at www.unartgroup.it).
- Titta Ruffo, La mia parabola artistica, (Milano 1937).
- E. De Leva, "Leopoldo Mugnone nel dolore e nell’arte", Corriere di Napoli, 6 August 1941.
- A. De Angelis, "Aneddoti sit Mugnone", in La Voce d'Italia, 23 November 1941.
- Giuseppe Depanis, I Concerti Popolari ed il Teatro Regio di Torino: Quindici Anni da Vita Musicale, 1872-1886 (2 vols). (Societa Tipografico-Editrice Nazionale, Torino 1914-1915)
External links
- New York Times 30 March 1921 Announces Mugnone season at Lexington http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?_r=1&res=9B03E1DF103FEE3ABC4850DFB566838A639EDE&oref=slogin
- Mugnone-Verdi Story of bell-casting at PistoiaPistoiaPistoia is a city and comune in the Tuscany region of Italy, the capital of a province of the same name, located about 30 km west and north of Florence and is crossed by the Ombrone Pistoiese, a tributary of the River Arno.-History:...
for Tosca, http://www.playbillarts.com/features/article/7571.html - Item by Alessandro Tartaglione, Assessore alla Cultura del Comune di Marcianise, sopra il Teatro Mugnone (Italiano) http://64.233.183.104/search?q=cache:-GT5L5lqDYcJ:www.unartgroup.it/%3Fpage_id%3D247+Teatro+Mugnone+di+Marcianise&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=1&gl=uk