Ulderico Marcelli
Encyclopedia
Ulderico Marcelli, also known as Rico Marcelli (October 3, 1882 – August 17, 1962), was a 20th century Italian
composer
who became known in the United States
for writing opera
s and musical accompaniment for dramatic performances, and for his skill as an orchestra conductor
. Called "Rico" by his friends, Marcelli was born in Rome
, then was raised in Chile
and educated at the conservatory in Santiago
, the capital. Marcelli went to Ecuador
in 1900 to teach at the conservatory in Quito
, but was disliked by his students, many of whom transferred to study with conservatory Director Domenico Brescia
. However, his renown as a skilled violin player grew.
Marcelli married a woman named Clementina (1879–1956); the couple had two daughters, Aida and Gloria Emma, the second born in 1906. On January 26, 1910, Marcelli and his family, accompanied by his sister Julia Marcelli, arrived in San Francisco. By 1913, Marcelli was a member of the French horn section at the San Francisco Symphony
as well as concert master for "Demetrio's Venetian Orchestra of Soloists", a well-regarded "cafe orchestra."
Marcelli's friend Brescia moved to San Francisco in 1914. In 1915 at the Panama-Pacific International Exposition
, Marcelli conducted the Exposition Orchestra. At the close of 1918, he was conducting at the T&D Theater in Oakland
, and had "every lover of good music in Alameda County worshipping at his shrine." In 1919, Brescia described for Marcelli his work for the Bohemian Club
as the composer for the summer musical theater at the Bohemian Grove
. Brescia and Marcelli gave a concert called "Midsummer Music of Bohemia" at the Tivoli Theatre in San Francisco, with Brescia conducting selections from his Bohemian Club score, and Marcelli leading two movements from his Water Colors. Marcelli joined the Bohemian Club.
In 1920, Marcelli wrote the first of an eventual six Grove Plays for the Bohemian Club, the last in 1961. As well in 1920, Marcelli began conducting the house orchestra for silent film
showings at the Tivoli Theatre, a position he kept until he was hired away by Sid Grauman
in 1922. Marcelli arranged the official musical accompaniment for the silent film Salomé
in 1923. Grauman used Marcelli in his various Los Angeles, California
theaters until the advent of sound in the movies in the late 1920s removed a great number of musicians from their steady jobs. Marcelli worked in radio broadcasting
as the first bandleader of the Fibber McGee and Molly
show, during the years 1935–1936, and he directed the Rico Marcelli Symphony Orchestra in a series of outdoor concerts at Grant Park
Band Shell in Chicago
in the late 1930s and 1940s, with as many as 165,000 people showing up for a 1940 performance in which Marcelli's orchestra backed singer Paul Robeson
.
On Christmas Day in 1937, Marcelli married a second time, to the soloist violin player of the Fibber McGee band, Audrey Call. The couple had one son, Victor Ottavio Marcelli, who joined the Bohemian Club in his adulthood.
In his leisure, Marcelli painted in oils, mostly landscapes. Two were exhibited at the Bohemian Club in 1922: "Cabeza de Estudio" and "A Bit of Old California."
Marcelli died in Sunland, Los Angeles, California on August 17, 1962, survived by his wife Audrey Call Marcelli. She died on June 3, 2001 in Sonoma, California, and left as a memorial the Audrey Call Marcelli Music Scholarship, awarded annually to one student at Santa Rosa Junior College
.
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...
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...
who became known in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
for writing opera
Opera
Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...
s and musical accompaniment for dramatic performances, and for his skill as an orchestra conductor
Conducting
Conducting is the art of directing a musical performance by way of visible gestures. The primary duties of the conductor are to unify performers, set the tempo, execute clear preparations and beats, and to listen critically and shape the sound of the ensemble...
. Called "Rico" by his friends, Marcelli was born in Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
, then was raised in Chile
Chile
Chile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...
and educated at the conservatory in Santiago
Santiago, Chile
Santiago , also known as Santiago de Chile, is the capital and largest city of Chile, and the center of its largest conurbation . It is located in the country's central valley, at an elevation of above mean sea level...
, the capital. Marcelli went to Ecuador
Ecuador
Ecuador , officially the Republic of Ecuador is a representative democratic republic in South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and by the Pacific Ocean to the west. It is one of only two countries in South America, along with Chile, that do not have a border...
in 1900 to teach at the conservatory in Quito
Quito
San Francisco de Quito, most often called Quito , is the capital city of Ecuador in northwestern South America. It is located in north-central Ecuador in the Guayllabamba river basin, on the eastern slopes of Pichincha, an active stratovolcano in the Andes mountains...
, but was disliked by his students, many of whom transferred to study with conservatory Director Domenico Brescia
Domenico Brescia
Domenico Brescia was an Italian composer who taught in Chile and Ecuador, then became known in the United States for writing chamber music as well as musical accompaniment for dramatic performances. Brescia led the Music Theory department at Mills College.Brescia was born in Pirano, near Trieste...
. However, his renown as a skilled violin player grew.
Marcelli married a woman named Clementina (1879–1956); the couple had two daughters, Aida and Gloria Emma, the second born in 1906. On January 26, 1910, Marcelli and his family, accompanied by his sister Julia Marcelli, arrived in San Francisco. By 1913, Marcelli was a member of the French horn section at the San Francisco Symphony
San Francisco Symphony
The San Francisco Symphony is an orchestra based in San Francisco, California. Since 1980, the orchestra has performed at the Louise M. Davies Symphony Hall. The San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra and the San Francisco Symphony Chorus are part of the organization...
as well as concert master for "Demetrio's Venetian Orchestra of Soloists", a well-regarded "cafe orchestra."
Marcelli's friend Brescia moved to San Francisco in 1914. In 1915 at the Panama-Pacific International Exposition
Panama-Pacific International Exposition (1915)
The Panama-Pacific International Exposition was a world's fair held in San Francisco, California between February 20 and December 4 in 1915. Its ostensible purpose was to celebrate the completion of the Panama Canal, but it was widely seen in the city as an opportunity to showcase its recovery...
, Marcelli conducted the Exposition Orchestra. At the close of 1918, he was conducting at the T&D Theater in Oakland
Oakland, California
Oakland is a major West Coast port city on San Francisco Bay in the U.S. state of California. It is the eighth-largest city in the state with a 2010 population of 390,724...
, and had "every lover of good music in Alameda County worshipping at his shrine." In 1919, Brescia described for Marcelli his work for the Bohemian Club
Bohemian Club
The Bohemian Club is a private men's club in San Francisco, California, United States.Its clubhouse is located at 624 Taylor Street in San Francisco...
as the composer for the summer musical theater at the Bohemian Grove
Bohemian Grove
Bohemian Grove is a campground located at 20601 Bohemian Avenue, in Monte Rio, California, belonging to a private San Francisco-based men's art club known as the Bohemian Club...
. Brescia and Marcelli gave a concert called "Midsummer Music of Bohemia" at the Tivoli Theatre in San Francisco, with Brescia conducting selections from his Bohemian Club score, and Marcelli leading two movements from his Water Colors. Marcelli joined the Bohemian Club.
In 1920, Marcelli wrote the first of an eventual six Grove Plays for the Bohemian Club, the last in 1961. As well in 1920, Marcelli began conducting the house orchestra for silent film
Silent film
A silent film is a film with no synchronized recorded sound, especially with no spoken dialogue. In silent films for entertainment the dialogue is transmitted through muted gestures, pantomime and title cards...
showings at the Tivoli Theatre, a position he kept until he was hired away by Sid Grauman
Sid Grauman
Sidney Patrick Grauman was an American showman who created one of Southern California's most recognizable and visited landmarks, Grauman's Chinese Theater. He was the son of David Grauman who died in 1921 in Los Angeles, California and Rosa Goldsmith...
in 1922. Marcelli arranged the official musical accompaniment for the silent film Salomé
Salomé (1923 film)
Salomé , a silent film directed by Charles Bryant and starring Alla Nazimova, is a film adaptation of the Oscar Wilde play of the same name...
in 1923. Grauman used Marcelli in his various Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...
theaters until the advent of sound in the movies in the late 1920s removed a great number of musicians from their steady jobs. Marcelli worked in radio broadcasting
Old-time radio
Old-Time Radio and the Golden Age of Radio refer to a period of radio programming in the United States lasting from the proliferation of radio broadcasting in the early 1920s until television's replacement of radio as the primary home entertainment medium in the 1950s...
as the first bandleader of the Fibber McGee and Molly
Fibber McGee and Molly
Fibber McGee and Molly was an American radio comedy series which maintained its popularity over decades. It premiered on NBC in 1935 and continued until its demise in 1959, long after radio had ceased to be the dominant form of entertainment in American popular culture.-Husband and wife in real...
show, during the years 1935–1936, and he directed the Rico Marcelli Symphony Orchestra in a series of outdoor concerts at Grant Park
Grant Park (Chicago)
Grant Park, with between the downtown Chicago Loop and Lake Michigan, offers many different attractions in its large open space. The park is generally flat. It is also crossed by large boulevards and even a bed of sunken railroad tracks...
Band Shell in Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
in the late 1930s and 1940s, with as many as 165,000 people showing up for a 1940 performance in which Marcelli's orchestra backed singer Paul Robeson
Paul Robeson
Paul Leroy Robeson was an American concert singer , recording artist, actor, athlete, scholar who was an advocate for the Civil Rights Movement in the first half of the twentieth century...
.
On Christmas Day in 1937, Marcelli married a second time, to the soloist violin player of the Fibber McGee band, Audrey Call. The couple had one son, Victor Ottavio Marcelli, who joined the Bohemian Club in his adulthood.
In his leisure, Marcelli painted in oils, mostly landscapes. Two were exhibited at the Bohemian Club in 1922: "Cabeza de Estudio" and "A Bit of Old California."
Marcelli died in Sunland, Los Angeles, California on August 17, 1962, survived by his wife Audrey Call Marcelli. She died on June 3, 2001 in Sonoma, California, and left as a memorial the Audrey Call Marcelli Music Scholarship, awarded annually to one student at Santa Rosa Junior College
Santa Rosa Junior College
Santa Rosa Junior College is a community college located in the city of Santa Rosa in Sonoma County, California. Founded in 1918, it is the tenth oldest community college in the state. Santa Rosa Junior College was modeled as a "junior" version of nearby University of California at Berkeley...
.
Works
- 1914 - Maimundis, a one-act opera
- 1914 - Marseillaise, the musical accompaniment to a dramatic work by Andre Ferrier
- 1918 - Water Colors: Four Symphonic Sketches, performed by the San Francisco Symphony 1918–1919 as a "pops concert"
- 1920 - Ilya of Murom, a Grove Play
- 1937 - Lifkronen, a Grove Play
- ...including The Berserker Dance and The Song of Victory
- 1952 - Tandem Triumphans, a Grove Play
- 1955 - Don Quijote, a Grove Play
- 1958 - Aloha Oe: a Legend of Hawaii, a Grove Play
- 1961 - A Soldier and Mr. Lincoln, a Grove Play