Music of Tuscany
Encyclopedia
Beyond Florence
Beyond FlorenceFlorence
Florence is the capital city of the Italian region of Tuscany and of the province of Florence. It is the most populous city in Tuscany, with approximately 370,000 inhabitants, expanding to over 1.5 million in the metropolitan area....
, there are nine other provinces in the region of Tuscany, named for the largest city in, and capital of, the respective province. Taken together, they offer an intense musical life.
Musical venues and activities
By province:
- ArezzoArezzoArezzo is a city and comune in Central Italy, capital of the province of the same name, located in Tuscany. Arezzo is about 80 km southeast of Florence, at an elevation of 296 m above sea level. In 2011 the population was about 100,000....
: the city is indelibly connected with the name of Guido d'Arezzo, the 11th-century monk who invented modern musical notation and the do-re-mi system of naming notes of the scale. The modern city of Arezzo has two prominent theaters: the Teatro Petrarca, built in 1833 and today the host theater for the Concerts of Arretium series of both classical and jazz music, and the Teatro dei Ricomposti, from 1790. The town of Bibbiena has the Teatro Dovizi, which hosts and annual opera festival entitled Operaperta (Open Opera). - GrossetoGrossetoGrosseto is a city and comune in the central Italian region of Tuscany, the capital of the Province of Grosseto. The city lies 14 km from the Tyrrhenian Sea, in the Maremma, at the centre of an alluvial plain, on the Ombrone river....
: the province hosts, annually, the Santa Fiora in Musica festival and the Musica nel Chiostro (Convent) Festival. Grosseto is the area that lays claim to the origins of the famous May harvest rituals that are speculated to be at the origins of staged drama that later developed into opera (see Music of ItalyMusic of ItalyThe music of Italy ranges across a broad spectrum of opera and instrumental classical music and a body of popular music drawn from both native and imported sources. Music has traditionally been one of the cultural markers of Italian national and ethnic identity and holds an important position in...
. The town has two theaters: the Teatro degli Industri and the Teatro Moderno. - LivornoLivornoLivorno , traditionally Leghorn , is a port city on the Tyrrhenian Sea on the western edge of Tuscany, Italy. It is the capital of the Province of Livorno, having a population of approximately 160,000 residents in 2009.- History :...
: the city has the Pietro MascagniPietro MascagniPietro Antonio Stefano Mascagni was an Italian composer most noted for his operas. His 1890 masterpiece Cavalleria rusticana caused one of the greatest sensations in opera history and single-handedly ushered in the Verismo movement in Italian dramatic music...
Musical Institute, named for its "favorite son" and composer of Cavalleria Rusticana, one of the landmarks of Italian musical RealismRealism (arts)Realism in the visual arts and literature refers to the general attempt to depict subjects "in accordance with secular, empirical rules", as they are considered to exist in third person objective reality, without embellishment or interpretation...
. Interestingly, the province incorporates the island of ElbaElbaElba is a Mediterranean island in Tuscany, Italy, from the coastal town of Piombino. The largest island of the Tuscan Archipelago, Elba is also part of the National Park of the Tuscan Archipelago and the third largest island in Italy after Sicily and Sardinia...
, site of the short-lived first exile of Napoleon and today a venue for music on the premises of the Teatro dell'Accademia, built at the behest of the emperor, himself. The city also hosts a museum dedicated to the life and work of Mascagni. - LuccaLuccaLucca is a city and comune in Tuscany, central Italy, situated on the river Serchio in a fertile plainnear the Tyrrhenian Sea. It is the capital city of the Province of Lucca...
: the province is the birthplace of the greatest exponent of Italian lyric RomanticismRomanticismRomanticism was an artistic, literary and intellectual movement that originated in the second half of the 18th century in Europe, and gained strength in reaction to the Industrial Revolution...
, Giacomo PucciniGiacomo PucciniGiacomo Antonio Domenico Michele Secondo Maria Puccini was an Italian composer whose operas, including La bohème, Tosca, Madama Butterfly, and Turandot, are among the most frequently performed in the standard repertoire...
. Luca is awash in music and memorabilia that recall the composer, including the annual Puccini Festival. His home at Torre del Lago is a museum, shrine, and magnet for musical pilgrims from around the world. The city of Lucca has the Teatro dei Gigli and--as if one favorite son (Puccini) were not enough-- the Luigi BoccheriniLuigi BoccheriniLuigi Rodolfo Boccherini was an Italian classical era composer and cellist whose music retained a courtly and galante style while he matured somewhat apart from the major European musical centers. Boccherini is most widely known for one particular minuet from his String Quintet in E, Op. 11, No...
Musical Institute. - Massa-Carrara: the town of Massa has the Teatro Guglielmi and nearby Massa--as the name might indicate--has a theater, the Teatro degli Animosi, built in 1840 with the enormous amounts of money made from the world-famous Carrara marble quarries. The facade of the theater, obviously, is all Carrara marble.
- PisaPisaPisa is a city in Tuscany, Central Italy, on the right bank of the mouth of the River Arno on the Tyrrhenian Sea. It is the capital city of the Province of Pisa...
: the city of Pisa hosts the Teatro Verdi, home of the impressive Vincenzo Galileo Choir, named for the great musician of the Florentine CamerataFlorentine CamerataThe Florentine Camerata was a group of humanists, musicians, poets and intellectuals in late Renaissance Florence who gathered under the patronage of Count Giovanni de' Bardi to discuss and guide trends in the arts, especially music and drama...
and, incidentally, father of the astronomer Galileo. In the town iof Volterra, there is the Teatro Persio Flacco, site of the annual Volterrana Musical Spring series of classical music concerts. - 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:...
: the site, in the town of Montecatini Terme, of the Imperial Theater. The town has been short-and long-term home to a number of composers: RossiniGioacchino RossiniGioachino Antonio Rossini was an Italian composer who wrote 39 operas as well as sacred music, chamber music, songs, and some instrumental and piano pieces...
, Richard StraussRichard StraussRichard Georg Strauss was a leading German composer of the late Romantic and early modern eras. He is known for his operas, which include Der Rosenkavalier and Salome; his Lieder, especially his Four Last Songs; and his tone poems and orchestral works, such as Death and Transfiguration, Till...
, ToscaniniArturo ToscaniniArturo 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...
, Enrico Caruso and Giuseppe VerdiGiuseppe VerdiGiuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi was an Italian Romantic composer, mainly of opera. He was one of the most influential composers of the 19th century...
. The Art Academy Museum is a repository of memorabilia of these composers. - PratoPratoPrato is a city and comune in Tuscany, Italy, the capital of the Province of Prato. The city is situated at the foot of Monte Retaia , the last peak in the Calvana chain. The lowest altitude in the comune is 32 m, near the Cascine di Tavola, and the highest is the peak of Monte Cantagrillo...
: the city is historically one of the important centers for organ construction in Italy. There are two prominent theatres in Prato: the Teatro MetastasioMetastasioPietro Antonio Domenico Trapassi, better known by his pseudonym of Metastasio, was an Italian poet and librettist, considered the most important writer of opera seria libretti.-Early life:...
and the Politeama Pratese, home of the recently founded Camerata Strumentale Città di Prato, a youth orchestra. - SienaSienaSiena is a city in Tuscany, Italy. It is the capital of the province of Siena.The historic centre of Siena has been declared by UNESCO a World Heritage Site. It is one of the nation's most visited tourist attractions, with over 163,000 international arrivals in 2008...
: the city is well-known for the Accademia Musicale ChigianaAccademia Musicale ChigianaThe Accademia Musicale Chigiana is a music institute in Siena, Italy. It was founded by Count Guido Chigi Saracini in 1932 as an international centre for advanced musical studies. It organises Master Classes in the major musical instruments as well as singing, conducting and composition...
, an organization that currently sponsors major musical activities such as the Siena Music Week and the Alfredo CasellaAlfredo CasellaAlfredo Casella was an Italian composer, pianist and conductor.- Life and career :Casella was born in Turin; his family included many musicians; his grandfather, a friend of Paganini's, was first cello in the San Carlo Theatre in Lisbon and eventually was soloist in the Royal Chapel in Turin...
International Composition Competition. Prominent theaters include the Teatro dei Rinnovati and the Teatro dei Rozzi. There is also the annual Siena Jazz Festival.