Claudio Guastalla was an Italian opera librettist.
Guastalla was born in Rome on 7 November 1880 and died probably in the same city in 1948. [1]
Especially important was his collaboration with the composer Ottorino Respighi.
Claudio Guastalla was an Italian opera librettist.
Guastalla was born in Rome on 7 November 1880 and died probably in the same city in 1948. [1]
Especially important was his collaboration with the composer Ottorino Respighi.
Guastalla wrote fifteen libretti. [1] Among them:
Guastalla was also the author of the subject of Respighi's ballet Belkis, regina di Saba (1932) and collaborated with Respighi for a revision (1934) of the libretto of L'Orfeo of Claudio Monteverdi. [2]
Ottorino Respighi was an Italian composer, violinist, and teacher who was one of the leading Italian composers of the early 20th century. His compositions range over operas, ballets, orchestral suites, choral songs, and chamber music, and include transcriptions of pieces from Italian composers of the 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries and works of Bach and Rachmaninoff. Among his best known and most performed works are his three Roman tone poems, which brought him international fame: Fountains of Rome (1916), Pines of Rome (1924), and Roman Festivals (1928). All three demonstrate Respighi's use of rich orchestral colours.
Gino Vanelli was an Italian operatic baritone who had an active international career from 1917 until his retirement in 1955. He made several recordings for HMV and Columbia Records, including complete recordings of the operas La boheme, Pagliacci, and Madama Butterfly.
La campana sommersa is an opera in four acts by Italian composer Ottorino Respighi. Its libretto is by Claudio Guastalla, based on the play Die versunkene Glocke by German author Gerhart Hauptmann. The opera's premiere was on 18 November 1927 in Hamburg, Germany. Respighi's regular publisher, Ricordi, was displeased by his choice of subject, and refused to publish the opera. This led to its being published by the German publisher Bote & Bock, and a German premiere.
Giulietta e Romeo is a dramma per musica by composer Niccolò Antonio Zingarelli with an Italian libretto by Giuseppe Maria Foppa after the 1530 novella of the same name by Luigi da Porto. The opera premiered at the Teatro alla Scala in Milan on 30 January 1796.
Maria egiziaca is an opera in one act, in three episodes, by the Italian composer Ottorino Respighi. The libretto, by Claudio Guastalla, is based on a Medieval life of Saint Mary of Egypt, contained in the translation into the vernacular of the Vitae Patrum written by Domenico Cavalca.
Belfagor is an Italian-language opera by the composer Ottorino Respighi to a libretto by Claudio Guastalla (1880–1948) based on the comedy Belfagor of Ercole Luigi Morselli (1882–1921), itself loosely based on the novella Belfagor arcidiavolo by Niccolò Machiavelli. It was premiered in 1923 at La Scala in Milan, under the baton of Antonio Guarnieri, since Toscanini was unavailable. The cast featured Irish soprano Margaret Burke Sheridan as Candida, baritone Mariano Stabile as her lover Baldo, and tenor Francesco Merli as the titular Belfagor, a "arcidiavolo" who tries to marry a human maiden while in disguise as a nobleman, using gifts of money to her father.
La fiamma is an opera in three acts by Ottorino Respighi to a libretto by Claudio Guastalla based on Hans Wiers-Jenssen's 1908 play Anne Pedersdotter, The Witch. The plot is loosely based on the story of Anne Pedersdotter, a Norwegian woman who was accused of witchcraft and burnt at the stake in 1590. However, Respighi and Guastalla changed the setting of the opera to 7th century Ravenna. The melodramatic tale involves the illicit love of Silvana, the daughter of a witch, for her stepson Donello. When her husband Basilio dies of a heart attack, Silvana is accused of causing his death by witchcraft and is condemned to death. La fiamma premiered to considerable success on 23 January 1934 at the Teatro Reale dell'Opera in Rome in a performance conducted by Respighi himself. The production was directed by Alessandro Sanine with sets designed by Nicola Benois.
Stefano Pavesi was an Italian composer. Born in Casaletto Vaprio, he is primarily known as a prolific opera composer, but he also served as the maestro di cappella of Crema Cathedral from 1818 until his death in Crema at the age of 71.
Giovanni Guicciardi was an Italian opera singer who sang leading baritone roles in the opera houses of Italy and Portugal. He is most remembered today for having created the role of Count di Luna in Verdi's Il trovatore. He created also several other leading roles in operas by lesser known Italian composers. Guicciardi accumulated a considerable fortune during the course of his career. After his retirement from the stage, he taught without payment in music schools in his native city, Reggio Emilia, and presided over a charity for orphaned musicians. He died in San Polo d'Enza at the age of 64.
Ennio Porrino was an Italian composer and teacher. Amongst his compositions were orchestral works, an oratorio and several operas and ballets. His best known work is the symphonic poem Sardegna, a tribute to his native Sardinia, which premiered in Florence in 1933.
Vincenzo Michetti was an Italian composer.
Lucrezia is an opera in one act and three tableaux by Ottorino Respighi to a libretto by Claudio Guastalla, after Livy and William Shakespeare's The Rape of Lucrece, itself based heavily on Ovid's Fasti. Respighi died before finishing the work, which was therefore completed by his wife, Elsa Respighi, and by one of his pupils, Ennio Porrino. Lucrezia premiered on 24 February 1937 at the Teatro alla Scala in Milan, in a production directed by Mario Frigerio with sets designed by Pietro Aschieri. The première had a good reception.
Semirâma is an opera in three acts by Ottorino Respighi to a libretto by Alessandro Cerè based on Voltaire's 1748 play Sémiramis, the same subject used for Rossini's Semiramide. Semirâma premiered on 20 November 1910 at the Teatro Comunale di Bologna. The première obtained a great success, with several calls for the composer and the singers.
La bella dormente nel bosco is an opera in three acts by Ottorino Respighi to a libretto by Gian Bistolfi based on Charles Perrault's fairy tale "Sleeping Beauty".
Re Enzo is an opera in three acts by Ottorino Respighi to a libretto by Alberto Donini. Re Enzo premiered on 12 March 1905 at the Teatro del Corso in Bologna. The singers were amateurs selected in the world of the Bolognese students; among them, Rosina Giovannoni Zacchi as Lauretta and Ernesto Lavarello as Leonzio. Following the will of the composer, there was a single performance, which obtained a good success.
Ercole Luigi Morselli was an Italian writer and dramatist.
Calisto Bassi was an Italian opera librettist.
Maria Carbone was an Italian operatic soprano. She created the lead female roles in two of Gian Francesco Malipiero's operas: the title role in Ecuba and Cleopatra in Antonio e Cleopatra.
Roberto Lupi was an Italian composer, conductor, and music theorist. Born in Milan and trained at the conservatory there, he began his conducting career in 1937. His compositions of experimental music included large-scale works for chorus and orchestra, chamber music, and stage works. However, Lupi's most widely heard piece was his Armonie del pianeta Saturno for oboe, harp and strings which was played each night from 1954 to 1986 at the close of RAI television transmissions. He held the chair in composition at the Florence Conservatory from 1941 until his death and published three books on music theory, the last of them posthumously. From the 1950s his theoretical approach and his compositions, especially his stage works, were strongly influenced by the ideas of Rudolf Steiner.
Maria Cecilia Fusco was an Italian operatic soprano and voice teacher. In a long career, she appeared regularly at La Scala in Milan, and leading opera houses in Italy and abroad. Her broad repertoire included works from early Italian opera to premieres of contemporary opera.
