Max Maretzek Italian Opera Company

Last updated

The Max Maretzek Italian Opera Company (sometimes referred to as the Italian Opera Company, the Italian Grand Opera Company, or Academy of Music Opera Company) was a touring American opera company that performed throughout the United States from 1849 to 1878. [1] The first major opera company in Manhattan and one of the first important companies in the United States, it had a long association with the Academy of Music in New York City where it presented an annual season of opera from 1854 until the company's demise in 1878. [1] There the company performed the United States premieres of Rigoletto , Il trovatore , and La traviata among other works.

Contents

The company also presented an annual season of opera at the Academy of Music in Philadelphia from 1857 to 1873, in addition to touring throughout the United States and to Cuba and Mexico. Musicologist George Whitney Martin described the company as the only opera company in the United States to perform with a full opera orchestra during the Civil War era and as "possibly the country's strongest" opera company in its day. [2]

History

The Max Maretzek Italian Opera Company was founded in 1849 by impresario Max Maretzek, a Czech violinist and composer who had previously served as the chorus master and an assistant conductor at the Royal Opera House in London from 1844 to 1848, and had come to America in 1848 to become the music director of the Astor Opera House in New York City. [3] Dissatisfied with the singers at Astor, Maretzek went to Europe to create a second company of singers, initially to provide one season of operatic entertainment in 1849–1850 for performances in Boston and at the Astor Opera House. Maretzek described his hand picked group of European artists as vastly superior to the resident artists that were currently engaged at the Astor Opera House, and it was this group that ultimately became the Max Maretzek Italian Opera Company. [4] [5] The group of singers was led by soprano Teresa Parodi, whom Maretzek selected in hopes of rivaling P. T. Barnum's prima donna, soprano Jenny Lind. [6]

After the Astor Place Riot on May 10, 1849, Maretzek struck out on his own with his hand picked company. [7] The company initially tried to continue staging operas at the Astor Opera House, including the New York premiere of Anna Bolena on January 7, 1850 with soprano Apollonia Bertucca (Maretzek's future wife) in the title role. [8] However, bad feelings from the riot kept audiences away and the company moved to the Castle Garden Theater in the summer of 1850. [9] There the company notably staged the New York premieres of Gaetano Donizetti's Marino Faliero on June 17, 1851 and Giuseppe Verdi's Luisa Miller on July 20, 1854. [10] [11] The company also began touring outside of New York in 1850 making stops at the Chestnut Street Theatre in Philadelphia, the Holliday Street Theater in Baltimore, and to theaters in Boston. [12] The company continued to tour throughout its history. [13]

In 1851 Maretzek lost Parodi to his rival, Max Strakosch (brother of Maurice Strakosch). He counteracted by poaching several singers (including soprano Angiolina Bosio, bass Ignazio Marini, and tenor Domenico Lorini) from another rival, Jaime Nunó, whose Havana Italian Opera Troupe had just completed a season of work in Charleston, South Carolina and his singers were headed back to Europe without contracts. Maretzek purposefully cut short a scheduled tour to Boston for performances in Charleston and Augusta, Georgia in March and April 1851 for this purpose. [6] [14] Also in 1851 the company had presented the New York premieres of Donizetti's Parisina and Gemma di Vergy , Rossini's Semiramide , von Weber's Der Freischütz , and the world premiere of Maurice Strakosch's Giovanna Prima di Napoli. [15] In 1852 the company toured for the first time to Mexico City where they performed the Mexico premiere of I Lombardi alla prima crociata . The company later returned to perform the Mexico premieres of Attila (1854) and Nabucco (1856). [16]

On October 2, 1854 the Max Maretzek Italian Opera Company performed Bellini's Norma for the inauguration of the Academy of Music in New York City with Giulia Grisi in the title role and Giuseppe Mario as Pollione headlining the performance with Maretzek conducting. [17] This theater remained the principal base for the company when they were not touring until the group disbanded in 1878. The company notably presented three classic Verdi operas in their United States premieres at that house: Rigoletto (1855), Il trovatore (1855), and La traviata (1866). [2] The company also performed for the inauguration of the Academy of Music in Philadelphia on February 25, 1857, and presented an annual season of opera at that theater as well through 1873. [18]

In 1855 Maretzek's company toured to The Boston Theatre to perform a season of opera which included the Boston premiere of Rigoletto on June 8, 1855. The company also performed that work for its San Francisco premiere in 1860. [19] The company returned to the Boston Theatre in 1863–1864 to perform another season of opera which included the Boston premieres of Verdi's I due Foscari and Gounod's Faust . [20] On September 24, 1856 the company performed the United States premiere of Meyerbeer's L'étoile du nord at the New York Academy of Music. [21] In 1868 Maretzek's company merged with rival touring company, the Max Strakosch Italian Opera Company. [22]

Other notable artists who performed with the company include Alessandro Amodio, Luigi Arditi, Cesare Badiali, Carl Bergmann, Pauline Colson, Marietta Gazzaniga, Isabella Hinckley, Clara Louise Kellogg, Salvatore Patti  [ it; de ], Giorgio Ronconi, Lorenzo Salvi, [23] Giorgio Stigelli, and Minnie Hauk. [24]

Related Research Articles

<i>La traviata</i> 1853 opera by Giuseppe Verdi

La traviata is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi set to an Italian libretto by Francesco Maria Piave. It is based on La Dame aux camélias (1852), a play by Alexandre Dumas fils, which he adapted from his own 1848 novel. The opera was originally titled Violetta, after the main character. It was first performed on 6 March 1853 at La Fenice opera house in Venice.

<i>Il trovatore</i> Opera (1853) by Giuseppe Verdi

Il trovatore is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto largely written by Salvadore Cammarano, based on the play El trovador (1836) by Antonio García Gutiérrez. It was García Gutiérrez's most successful play, one which Verdi scholar Julian Budden describes as "a high flown, sprawling melodrama flamboyantly defiant of the Aristotelian unities, packed with all manner of fantastic and bizarre incident."

<i>Rigoletto</i> Opera by Giuseppe Verdi

Rigoletto is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi. The Italian libretto was written by Francesco Maria Piave based on the 1832 play Le roi s'amuse by Victor Hugo. Despite serious initial problems with the Austrian censors who had control over northern Italian theatres at the time, the opera had a triumphant premiere at La Fenice in Venice on 11 March 1851.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Academy of Music (Philadelphia)</span>

The Academy of Music, also known as American Academy of Music, is a concert hall and opera house located at 240 S. Broad Street in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Despite its name, the Academy has never contained a music school. It is located between Locust and Manning Streets in the Avenue of the Arts area of Center City.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Academy of Music (New York City)</span> Former opera house

The Academy of Music was a New York City opera house, located on the northeast corner of East 14th Street and Irving Place in Manhattan. The 4,000-seat hall opened on October 2, 1854. The review in The New York Times declared it to be an acoustical "triumph", but "In every other aspect ... a decided failure," complaining about the architecture, interior design and the closeness of the seating; although a follow-up several days later relented a bit, saying that the theater "looked more cheerful, and in every way more effective" than it had on opening night.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Louise Homer</span> American operatic contralto

Louise Beatty Homer was an American operatic dramatic contralto who had an active international career in concert halls and opera houses from 1895 until her retirement in 1932.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eliza Biscaccianti</span> American actress

Eliza Biscaccianti was an American operatic soprano from Boston, Massachusetts. Born Eliza Ostinelli, she was the daughter of pianist Sophia Hewitt Ostinelli, the only woman to have ever been employed as an organist and accompanist by Boston's Handel and Haydn Society and the second musician ever to perform the work of Beethoven in Boston, and Louis Ostinelli, a native of Italy who became a second violinist with, and later a conductor of, the Handel and Haydn Society. Her uncle was composer John Hill Hewitt and her grandfather was conductor, composer and music publisher James Hewitt.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Max Maretzek</span>

Max Maretzek was a Moravian-born composer, conductor, and impresario active in the United States and Latin America.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Francesco Graziani (baritone)</span> Italian opera singer

Francesco Graziani was an Italian baritone and voice teacher. Graziani has been called the first modern baritone because his vocal attributes were well suited to the high-lying operatic parts composed by Giuseppe Verdi, with whom he worked.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Carlo Baucardé</span> Italian operatic tenor

Carlo Baucardé or Boucardé (1825–1883) was an Italian operatic tenor who sang leading roles throughout Italy, as well as in London, Madrid, Paris, and New York. He is most remembered today for creating the role of Manrico in Verdi's opera Il trovatore and the title role in Donizetti's Poliuto.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marietta Gazzaniga</span> Italian opera singer 1824-84

Marietta Gazzaniga was an Italian operatic lyric - dramatic soprano.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nadine Sierra</span> American music performer (born 1988)

Nadine Sierra is an American soprano. She is most well known for her interpretation of Gilda in Verdi's Rigoletto, and Lucia in Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor. Currently performing in leading roles in the top opera houses around the world, she received the 1st Prize and People's Choice Award 2013 at the Neue Stimmen competition, is the 2017 Richard Tucker Music Foundation Award Winner, and was awarded the Beverly Sills Artists Award in 2018. Her debut album on the Universal Music Group label, There's a Place for Us, was released on August 24, 2018.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Inez Fabbri</span> American opera singer (1831–1909)

Inez Fabbri, née Agnes Schmidt, was an Austrian American soprano, voice teacher and impresaria. She sang in Austria, Germany, England, South America and the Caribbean, making her home in San Francisco where, in the 1870s, she was the most important musical personality and prima donna assoluta of her time, performing in more than 150 concerts and operas from 1872 to 1879, producing operas, and teaching voice to up-and-coming singers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Georges Baklanoff</span> Russian opera singer

Georgy Andreyevich Baklanoff, known as Georges Baklanoff was a Russian operatic baritone who had an active international career from 1903 until his death in 1938. Possessing a powerful and flexible voice, he sang roles from a wide variety of musical periods and in many languages. He was also highly praised by audience and critics for his acting abilities.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Astor Opera House</span> Former theater in Manhattan, New York

The Astor Opera House, also known as the Astor Place Opera House and later the Astor Place Theatre, was an opera house in Manhattan, New York City, located on Lafayette Street between Astor Place and East 8th Street. Designed by Isaiah Rogers, the theater was conceived by impresario Edward Fry, the brother of composer William Henry Fry, who managed the opera house during its entire history.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Teresa Parodi (soprano)</span> Italian operatic soprano

Teresa Parodi was an Italian operatic soprano who sang leading roles in Europe and in the United States where she achieved particular fame as the prima donna of both the Max Maretzek Italian Opera Company and the Max Strakosch Italian Opera Company. Admired for her acting ability and attractive stage presence as well as her voice, she was particularly known for her portrayals of the heroines in operas by Donizetti and Rossini.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Palmo's Opera House</span> Former theatre in Manhattan, New York

Palmo's Opera House was a 19th-century theatre in Manhattan, New York, that was located on Chambers Street between Broadway and Centre Street. It was one of the earliest opera houses in New York before it was converted into one of the earliest Broadway theatres. The theatre was conceived by Ferdinand Palmo, an Italian immigrant and successful restaurateur in New York City. It was located inside the former Stoppani's Arcade Baths building. Modest alteration to the building was done in 1843 to convert the building into a theater.

Alessandro Amodio was an Italian baritone who had an active international career as an opera singer from 1852 until his death from yellow fever nine years later in 1861. After making his debut at the Teatro di San Carlo at the age of 21, he spent the next four years performing roles at opera houses in Italy, including La Fenice in Venice, La Scala in Milan, the Teatro Goldoni in Livorno, and the Teatro del Giglio in Lucca. He first came to the United States in the late spring and summer of 1855 with the Max Maretzek Italian Opera Company with whom he portrayed Count di Luna in the United States premiere of Giuseppe Verdi's Il trovatore at the Academy of Music in New York City on May 2, 1855. After further performances in Venice, he was engaged by brothers Maurice and Max Strakosch to perform with their touring opera company in cities throughout the United States, including performances in New York, Chicago, and Philadelphia in 1856. He remained active as a performer in operas in cities throughout the United States and South and Central America for the next five years. He notably reprised the role of the Count di Luna on February 25, 1857 for the grand opening of the Academy of Music in Philadelphia.

Arthur Byron was an English tenor. From 1868 through 1872 he was active as a concert and opera singer in England, and from late 1872 through 1885 he appeared in opera houses in Italy. He also toured the United States with Max Strakosch and Clarence Hess's opera company in 1880-1881.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lucy Escott</span> American opera singer

Lucy Escott was an American soprano and actor-manager who found success in her native country but who had an even greater success in Europe and the United Kingdom. She spent eight years in Australia with the opera company of W. S. Lyster.

References

  1. 1 2 Schonberg 1969 , p. 222
  2. 1 2 Martin 2011 , p. 81
  3. ↑ Preston 2001, p. 149.
  4. ↑ Brodsky Lawrence 1995, p. 4.
  5. ↑ Preston 2001, p. 152.
  6. 1 2 Martin 2011 , p. 146
  7. ↑ "Max Maretzek". Werner's Magazine. Vol. 19. Music Teachers National Association. 1897. p. 561.
  8. ↑ Brodsky Lawrence 1995, p. 3.
  9. ↑ Mathews 1897, p. 612–613.
  10. ↑ Brodsky Lawrence 1995, p. 314.
  11. ↑ Martin 2011, p. 184.
  12. ↑ Newman 2010, p. 75.
  13. ↑ Wilson 1968, pp. 118–125.
  14. ↑ Preston 2001, pp. 195–208.
  15. ↑ Preston 2001, p. 167.
  16. ↑ Martin 2011, p. 350.
  17. ↑ Thompson & Slonimsky 1956, p. 6.
  18. ↑ "The Philadelphia Academy of Music". The New York Times . March 26, 1857.
  19. ↑ Martin 2011, pp. 202–206.
  20. ↑ Bacon & Herndon 1896, p. 156.
  21. ↑ Brodsky Lawrence 1995, p. 695.
  22. ↑ George Lascelles (1956). "Opera in 19th Century America". Opera . Vol. 7. p. 343.
  23. ↑ Newman 2010, p. 35.
  24. ↑ John H. Baron (2013). Concert Life in Nineteenth-Century New Orleans: A Comprehensive Reference. Louisiana State University Press. ISBN   9780807150849.

Sources

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.