Crisantemi

Last updated
Crisantemi
Choral composition by Giacomo Puccini
CatalogueSC 65
OccasionIn memory of Amedeo di Savoia
LanguageItalian
Performed26 January 1890 (1890-01-26)
Scoring
  • string quartet

Crisantemi, SC 65, is a composition, an instrumental prelude for string quartet written by Giacomo Puccini in 1890 as a tribute to the late Amadeo I of Spain who was a son of the Italian King, Vittorio Emanuele II.

Contents

History

Puccini had already composed Le Villi in 1884 and Edgar in 1890. The opera was not a success (Puccini repeatedly revised it until the last performance in Buenos Aires, in 1905, before declaring the work irredeemable). Few months after the failing debut of Edgar, Puccini started writing his masterpiece: Manon Lescaut . Suddenly in 1890 at just 44 years old, Amadeo I of spain died due to lung disease. Deeply moved by Amadeo I of Spain's death, Puccini wrote the works in a sudden burst of inspiration, just in a night. White chrysanths (in Italian Crisantemi) are used in Italy only for funerals or on graves. Crisantemi was first played on 26 January, 1890. After its successful performance, Puccini incorporated themes from Crisantemi into Manon Lescaut. [1]

Composition

Giacomo Puccini's Crisantemi is a single movement prelude in ternary form. This work is a haunting musical lament, rooted in the somber key of C# minor. The piece unfolds in a single, mournful movement, characterized by two primary themes. The first theme, a slow, chromatic descent, builds intensity through contrary motion. The central section reaches a poignant climax as the violin soars over a gentle viola pattern, while the cello provides a steady, melancholic bass line. A series of intense climaxes, marked by unison playing, punctuate the work. The elegy concludes with a reprise of the opening theme.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Giacomo Puccini</span> Italian opera composer (1858–1924)

Giacomo Antonio Domenico Michele Secondo Maria Puccini was an Italian composer known primarily for his operas. Regarded as the greatest and most successful proponent of Italian opera after Verdi, he was descended from a long line of composers, stemming from the late-Baroque era. Though his early work was firmly rooted in traditional late-19th-century Romantic Italian opera, he later developed his work in the realistic verismo style, of which he became one of the leading exponents.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ruggero Leoncavallo</span> Italian composer (1857–1919)

Ruggero Leoncavallo was an Italian opera composer and librettist. Throughout his career, Leoncavallo produced numerous operas and songs but it is his 1892 opera Pagliacci that remained his lasting contribution, despite attempts to escape the shadow of his greatest success.

<i>Manon</i> Opera by Jules Massenet

Manon is an opéra comique in five acts by Jules Massenet to a French libretto by Henri Meilhac and Philippe Gille, based on the 1731 novel L'histoire du chevalier des Grieux et de Manon Lescaut by the Abbé Prévost. It was first performed at the Opéra-Comique in Paris on 19 January 1884, with sets designed by Eugène Carpezat, Auguste Alfred Rubé and Philippe Chaperon, and Jean-Baptiste Lavastre.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Renata Tebaldi</span> Italian opera singer (1922–2004)

Renata Tebaldi was an Italian lirico-spinto soprano popular in the post-war period, and especially prominent as one of the stars of La Scala, San Carlo and, especially, the Metropolitan Opera. Often considered among the great opera singers of the 20th century, she focused primarily on the verismo roles of the lyric and dramatic repertoires. Italian conductor Arturo Toscanini called her voice "la voce d'angelo", and La Scala music director Riccardo Muti called her "one of the greatest performers with one of the most extraordinary voices in the field of opera."

<i>Manon Lescaut</i> (Puccini) Opera by Giacomo Puccini

Manon Lescaut is an Italian-language opera in four acts composed by Giacomo Puccini between 1889 and 1892 to a libretto by Luigi Illica, Marco Praga and Domenico Oliva, based on the 1731 novel Histoire du Chevalier des Grieux, et de Manon Lescaut by Abbé Prévost. The opera was first performed in 1893 in Turin, at the Teatro Regio.

<i>Edgar</i> (opera) 1889 opera by Giacomo Puccini

Edgar is an operatic dramma lirico in three acts by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Ferdinando Fontana, freely based on the play in verse La Coupe et les lèvres by Alfred de Musset.

<i>Manon Lescaut</i> (Auber) 1856 opera by Daniel Auber

Manon Lescaut is an opera or opéra comique in three acts by Daniel Auber to a libretto by Eugène Scribe, and, like Puccini's Manon Lescaut and Massenet's Manon, is based on Abbé Prévost's novel Manon Lescaut (1731). Auber's version is nowadays the least-performed of the three.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hariclea Darclée</span> Romanian opera singer (1860–1939)

Hariclea Darclée was a celebrated Romanian operatic spinto soprano of Greek descent who had a three-decade-long career.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Daniela Dessì</span> Italian operatic soprano

Daniela Dessì was an Italian operatic soprano.

L'histoire de Manon, generally referred to as Manon, is a ballet choreographed by Kenneth MacMillan to music by Jules Massenet and based on the 1731 novel Manon Lescaut by Abbé Prévost. The ballet was first performed by The Royal Ballet in London in 1974 with Antoinette Sibley and Anthony Dowell in the leading roles. It continues to be performed and recognised internationally.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gilda dalla Rizza</span> Italian soprano

Gilda Dalla Rizza was an important Italian soprano.

Gennaro Papi was an Italian operatic conductor known for his work with the Metropolitan Opera and Chicago Civic Opera companies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Messa (Puccini)</span>

Giacomo Puccini's Messa or Messa a quattro voci is a Mass composed for orchestra and four-part choir with tenor and baritone soloists. Strictly speaking, the piece is a full Mass, not a true Messa di Gloria.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cesira Ferrani</span> Italian operatic soprano

Cesira Ferrani was an Italian operatic soprano who is best known for debuting two of the most iconic roles in opera history, Mimì in the original 1896 production of Giacomo Puccini's La bohème and the title role in Puccini's Manon Lescaut in its 1893 world premiere. Ferrani sang a wide repertoire that encompassed not only verismo opera but the works of composers like Verdi, Gounod, Wagner, and Debussy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Adolfo Hohenstein</span> German painter (1854–1928)

Adolfo Hohenstein was a German painter, advertiser, illustrator, set designer and costume designer. Hohenstein is considered the father of Italian poster art and an exponent of the Stile Liberty, the Italian Art Nouveau. Together with Leonetto Cappiello, Giovanni Mario Mataloni, Leopoldo Metlicovitz and Marcello Dudovich, he is considered one of the most important Italian poster designers.

Gaetano Bavagnoli was an Italian conductor who was particularly known for his work within the field of opera. He was mainly active within Italy's major opera houses during the first third of the 20th century; although he did conduct at important international stages like the Metropolitan Opera in New York City and the Royal Opera House in London as well. He also worked as a voice teacher and was notably the instructor of opera singers Emanuel Kopecky, Lina Pagliughi, and Aureliano Pertile.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jacopo Puccini</span>

Jacopo (Giacomo) Puccini was an 18th-century Italian composer who lived and worked primarily in Lucca, Tuscany. He was the first of five generations of composers, the most famous of whom was his great-great-grandson, the opera composer Giacomo Puccini.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Villa Puccini</span>

Villa Puccini is a cultural site in Torre del Lago, near Viareggio in Tuscany, Italy. It is a museum dedicated to the composer Giacomo Puccini, who lived here from 1900 to 1921.

"Requiem", SC 76, is a composition for choir, viola and pump organ or pipe organ that Giacomo Puccini wrote in 1905. Commissioned by his publisher, Puccini set the Latin antiphon of the Requiem mass on the occasion of the fourth anniversary of the death of Giuseppe Verdi.

References

  1. "I «Crisantemi» di Puccini" [Crisantemi (Chrysanthemums) of Puccini] (in Italian). 2024-05-31. Retrieved 2024-11-12.

Further readings