Raffaello de Banfield
Encyclopedia
Raffaello de Banfield correctly Raphael Douglas, Baron von Banfield Tripcovich, was a British
-born composer
.
(last Knight of the Military Order of Maria Theresa
) and the Countess Maria Tripcovich (originating from Trieste), who acquired a permanent residence in England in 1920. He was born in Newcastle-upon-Tyne.
He was married to (b. 1923) on 27 December 1976. The marriage remained childless; Brandolini d'Adda had three children from her first marriage to Count Leonardo Arrivabene Valenti Gonzaga.
, the University of Bologna
and the Benedetto Marcello Conservatory in Venice
led by Gian Francesco Malipiero
. He studied Composition from 1946 to 1949 at the National Conservatory (under the direction of Henri Busser
) with Nadia Boulanger
in Paris
. In these years he met Herbert von Karajan
, with whom he had a lifelong friendship, and also with artists such as Pablo Picasso
, Jean Cocteau
and Francis Poulenc
. In the United States
he belonged to the intellectual circle surrounding the writer and composer Paul Bowles
, through which he met Tennessee Williams
and Leonard Bernstein
. In 1949 through the painter Leonor Fini
he was introduced to the choreographer and ballet dancer Roland Petit
; out of this grew the ballet Le combat ("The Duel"), which had its first original production in London in 1949. This piece, based upon the Tancred and Clorinda episode in Torquato Tasso
's poem Gerusalemme liberata, was performed 39 times at the Vienna State Opera
in the choreography of Dimitrije Parlic between 1959 and 1973. Until 1958 he spent time between Paris and New York, and maintained a friendship also with Maria Callas
. After years abroad in Italy, France
, England
and the United States, where he lived for more than ten years, he was from 1972 to 1996 Director of the Giuseppe Verdi Theatre in Trieste, and he comprehensively renovated and modernised the Opera House. From 1978 to 1986 he was Director of the "" ("Festival of the two worlds") in Spoleto
, Italy.
He became famous for his compositions, which were performed worldwide. He received countless honours and recognitions, such as the Italian ""; in 1994, through François Mitterrand
, he became a Grand Cavalier of the . He died in Rive d'Arcano
near Trieste
, Italy
.
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
-born composer
Composer
A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...
.
Family
Raffaello de Banfield was the son of Austro-Hungarian flying ace Gottfried von BanfieldGottfried von Banfield
Freiherr Gottfried von Banfield was the most successful Austro-Hungarian naval aeroplane pilot in the First World War. He was known as the 'Eagle of Trieste' and was the last person in history to wear the Military Order of Maria Theresa...
(last Knight of the Military Order of Maria Theresa
Military Order of Maria Theresa
The Military Order of Maria Theresa was an Order of the Austro-Hungarian Empire founded on June 18, 1757, the day of the Battle of Kolin, by the Empress...
) and the Countess Maria Tripcovich (originating from Trieste), who acquired a permanent residence in England in 1920. He was born in Newcastle-upon-Tyne.
He was married to (b. 1923) on 27 December 1976. The marriage remained childless; Brandolini d'Adda had three children from her first marriage to Count Leonardo Arrivabene Valenti Gonzaga.
Life
Raffaello de Banfield attended the Swiss International "Lyceum Alpinum Zuoz", the "Dante Alighieri" Lyceum in TriesteTrieste
Trieste is a city and seaport in northeastern Italy. It is situated towards the end of a narrow strip of land lying between the Adriatic Sea and Italy's border with Slovenia, which lies almost immediately south and east of the city...
, the University of Bologna
University of Bologna
The Alma Mater Studiorum - University of Bologna is the oldest continually operating university in the world, the word 'universitas' being first used by this institution at its foundation. The true date of its founding is uncertain, but believed by most accounts to have been 1088...
and the Benedetto Marcello Conservatory in Venice
Venice
Venice is a city in northern Italy which is renowned for the beauty of its setting, its architecture and its artworks. It is the capital of the Veneto region...
led by Gian Francesco Malipiero
Gian Francesco Malipiero
Gian Francesco Malipiero was an Italian composer, musicologist, music teacher and editor.-Early years:Born in Venice into an aristocratic family, the grandson of the opera composer Francesco Malipiero, Gian Francesco Malipiero was prevented by family troubles from pursuing his musical education in...
. He studied Composition from 1946 to 1949 at the National Conservatory (under the direction of Henri Busser
Henri Büsser
Henri Büsser was a French classical composer, organist, and conductor.- Biography :Paul-Henri Büsser was born in Toulouse, of partly Teutonic ancestry. He entered the Conservatoire in Paris in 1889; there he studied organ with César Franck and composition with Ernest Guiraud...
) with Nadia Boulanger
Nadia Boulanger
Nadia Boulanger was a French composer, conductor and teacher who taught many composers and performers of the 20th century.From a musical family, she achieved early honours as a student at the Paris Conservatoire, but believing that her talent as a composer was inferior to that of her younger...
in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
. In these years he met Herbert von Karajan
Herbert von Karajan
Herbert von Karajan was an Austrian orchestra and opera conductor. To the wider world he was perhaps most famously associated with the Berlin Philharmonic, of which he was principal conductor for 35 years...
, with whom he had a lifelong friendship, and also with artists such as Pablo Picasso
Pablo Picasso
Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno María de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santísima Trinidad Ruiz y Picasso known as Pablo Ruiz Picasso was a Spanish expatriate painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist, and stage designer, one of the greatest and most influential artists of the...
, Jean Cocteau
Jean Cocteau
Jean Maurice Eugène Clément Cocteau was a French poet, novelist, dramatist, designer, playwright, artist and filmmaker. His circle of associates, friends and lovers included Kenneth Anger, Pablo Picasso, Jean Hugo, Jean Marais, Henri Bernstein, Marlene Dietrich, Coco Chanel, Erik Satie, María...
and Francis Poulenc
Francis Poulenc
Francis Jean Marcel Poulenc was a French composer and a member of the French group Les six. He composed solo piano music, chamber music, oratorio, choral music, opera, ballet music, and orchestral music...
. In the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
he belonged to the intellectual circle surrounding the writer and composer Paul Bowles
Paul Bowles
Paul Frederic Bowles was an American expatriate composer, author, and translator.Following a cultured middle-class upbringing in New York City, during which he displayed a talent for music and writing, Bowles pursued his education at the University of Virginia before making various trips to Paris...
, through which he met Tennessee Williams
Tennessee Williams
Thomas Lanier "Tennessee" Williams III was an American writer who worked principally as a playwright in the American theater. He also wrote short stories, novels, poetry, essays, screenplays and a volume of memoirs...
and Leonard Bernstein
Leonard Bernstein
Leonard Bernstein August 25, 1918 – October 14, 1990) was an American conductor, composer, author, music lecturer and pianist. He was among the first conductors born and educated in the United States of America to receive worldwide acclaim...
. In 1949 through the painter Leonor Fini
Leonor Fini
Leonor Fini was an Argentine surrealist painter.-Life and work:Born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, she was raised in Trieste, Italy. She moved to Milan at the age of 17, and then to Paris, in either 1931 or 1932...
he was introduced to the choreographer and ballet dancer Roland Petit
Roland Petit
Roland Petit was a French choreographer and dancer born in Villemomble, near Paris, France. He trained at the Paris Opéra Ballet school, and became well known for his creative ballets.-Biography:...
; out of this grew the ballet Le combat ("The Duel"), which had its first original production in London in 1949. This piece, based upon the Tancred and Clorinda episode in Torquato Tasso
Torquato Tasso
Torquato Tasso was an Italian poet of the 16th century, best known for his poem La Gerusalemme liberata , in which he depicts a highly imaginative version of the combats between Christians and Muslims at the end of the First Crusade, during the siege of Jerusalem...
's poem Gerusalemme liberata, was performed 39 times at the Vienna State Opera
Vienna State Opera
The Vienna State Opera is an opera house – and opera company – with a history dating back to the mid-19th century. It is located in the centre of Vienna, Austria. It was originally called the Vienna Court Opera . In 1920, with the replacement of the Habsburg Monarchy by the First Austrian...
in the choreography of Dimitrije Parlic between 1959 and 1973. Until 1958 he spent time between Paris and New York, and maintained a friendship also with Maria Callas
Maria Callas
Maria Callas was an American-born Greek soprano and one of the most renowned opera singers of the 20th century. She combined an impressive bel canto technique, a wide-ranging voice and great dramatic gifts...
. After years abroad in Italy, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
and the United States, where he lived for more than ten years, he was from 1972 to 1996 Director of the Giuseppe Verdi Theatre in Trieste, and he comprehensively renovated and modernised the Opera House. From 1978 to 1986 he was Director of the "" ("Festival of the two worlds") in Spoleto
Spoleto
Spoleto is an ancient city in the Italian province of Perugia in east central Umbria on a foothill of the Apennines. It is S. of Trevi, N. of Terni, SE of Perugia; SE of Florence; and N of Rome.-History:...
, Italy.
He became famous for his compositions, which were performed worldwide. He received countless honours and recognitions, such as the Italian ""; in 1994, through François Mitterrand
François Mitterrand
François Maurice Adrien Marie Mitterrand was the 21st President of the French Republic and ex officio Co-Prince of Andorra, serving from 1981 until 1995. He is the longest-serving President of France and, as leader of the Socialist Party, the only figure from the left so far elected President...
, he became a Grand Cavalier of the . He died in Rive d'Arcano
Rive d'Arcano
Rive d'Arcano is a comune in the Province of Udine in the Italian region Friuli-Venezia Giulia, located about 80 km northwest of Trieste and about 15 km northwest of Udine...
near Trieste
Trieste
Trieste is a city and seaport in northeastern Italy. It is situated towards the end of a narrow strip of land lying between the Adriatic Sea and Italy's border with Slovenia, which lies almost immediately south and east of the city...
, Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
.
Selected works
- Le combat, Ballet, Original production 1949 in London.
- Theatre Music for 'Much Ado About NothingMuch Ado About NothingMuch Ado About Nothing is a comedy written by William Shakespeare about two pairs of lovers, Benedick and Beatrice, and Claudio and Hero....
, 1953. - Una lettera d'amore di Lord Byron ("Lord Byron's Love Letter", by Tennessee WilliamsTennessee WilliamsThomas Lanier "Tennessee" Williams III was an American writer who worked principally as a playwright in the American theater. He also wrote short stories, novels, poetry, essays, screenplays and a volume of memoirs...
), Original production 1955 in New Orleans with Astrid VarnayAstrid VarnayIbolyka Astrid Maria Varnay was an American dramatic soprano of Hungarian heritage and Swedish birth, who did most of her work in the United States and Germany. She was one of the best-known Wagnerian heroic sopranos of her generation...
and Patricia NewayPatricia NewayPatricia Neway is an American operatic soprano and musical theatre actress who had an active international career during the mid-1940s through the 1970s. She is particularly remembered for creating roles in the world premieres of several contemporary American operas, most notably Magda Sorel in...
. - Quatuor, ballet (1957)
- Acostino, ballet based on a story by Alberto MoraviaAlberto MoraviaAlberto Moravia, born Alberto Pincherle was an Italian novelist and journalist. His novels explored matters of modern sexuality, social alienation, and existentialism....
, Original production 1958 in GenoaGenoaGenoa |Ligurian]] Zena ; Latin and, archaically, English Genua) is a city and an important seaport in northern Italy, the capital of the Province of Genoa and of the region of Liguria....
. - Colloquio col Tango ossìa La Formica ("Conversation with the Tango or The Ant" by C. Terron), Opera in One Act. Original production September 1959 in ComoComoComo is a city and comune in Lombardy, Italy.It is the administrative capital of the Province of Como....
- Alissa, Opera in One Act with Four Scenes. Libretto by R. Miller. Original production March 1965 in GenevaGenevaGeneva In the national languages of Switzerland the city is known as Genf , Ginevra and Genevra is the second-most-populous city in Switzerland and is the most populous city of Romandie, the French-speaking part of Switzerland...
- Serale, (after poem of Rainer Maria RilkeRainer Maria RilkeRené Karl Wilhelm Johann Josef Maria Rilke , better known as Rainer Maria Rilke, was a Bohemian–Austrian poet. He is considered one of the most significant poets in the German language...
), lyric work for soprano and large orchestra, 1968. - Liebeslied, (after poem of Rilke), lyric work for soprano and large orchestra, 1968.
- Der Tod der Geliebten (The death of the beloved), (after poem of Rilke), lyric work for soprano and large orchestra, 1972.
- Der Sturm (The storm) (after poem of Rilke), lyric work for soprano and large orchestra, 1972.
- For Ophelia, concert piece for soprano and orchestra, Original production c1976 in London (Kiri te KanawaKiri Te KanawaDame Kiri Jeanette Te Kanawa, ONZ, DBE, AC is a New Zealand / Māori soprano who has had a highly successful international opera career since 1968. Acclaimed as one of the most beloved sopranos in both the United States and Britain she possesses a warm full lyric soprano voice, singing a wide array...
, John Pritchard). - Vier Rilke Lieder (Four songs of Rilke) for soprano and orchestra, original presentation 1986 in BrusselsBrusselsBrussels , officially the Brussels Region or Brussels-Capital Region , is the capital of Belgium and the de facto capital of the European Union...
.
Further reading
- Richard Osborne, Herbert von Karajan. A Life in Music (Chatto & Windus, London 1998). (Many refs, and photo Pl. 19).
External links
- Biography of Raffaello de Banfield (Italian) http://www.lipizer.it/raffaello-de-banfield-tripcovich.html
- Report of demise (Italian, Il Piccolo) http://ilpiccolo.repubblica.it/dettaglio/E--morto-Raffaello-de-Banfield/1412542?edizione=EdRegionale
- Biography (English) http://www.obraztsova.com/HTML/ENG/Jury/banfieldeng.htm
- "Composer Raffello de Banfield is dead" (Wiener Zeitung) http://www.wienerzeitung.at/DesktopDefault.aspx?TabID=3895&Alias=wzo&cob=321144
- NY Times: "Opera 'Lord Byron' and 'Renard' at Festival", 26 May 1986 http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9A0DE1DC1F3CF935A15756C0A960948260