Alfredo Catalani (19 June 1854 – 7 August 1893) was an Italian

opera Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a librett ...

tic composer. He is best remembered for his operas ''

Loreley The Lorelei ( ; ), spelled Loreley in German, is a , steep slate rock on the right bank of the River Rhine in the Rhine Gorge (or Middle Rhine) at Sankt Goarshausen in Germany, part of the Upper Middle Rhine Valley UNESCO World Heritage Site. ...

'' (1890) and ''

La Wally ''La Wally'' is an opera in four acts by composer Alfredo Catalani, to a libretto by Luigi Illica, first performed at La Scala, Milan, on 20 January 1892. The libretto is based on a hugely successful ' by Wilhelmine von Hillern (1836–1916), ' ...

'' (1892). ''La Wally'' was composed to a libretto by

Luigi Illica Luigi Illica (9 May 1857 – 16 December 1919) was an Italian librettist who wrote for Giacomo Puccini (usually with Giuseppe Giacosa), Pietro Mascagni, Alfredo Catalani, Umberto Giordano, Baron Alberto Franchetti and other important Italian co ...

, and features Catalani's most famous aria "Ebben? Ne andrò lontana." This aria, sung by American soprano

Wilhelmenia Fernandez Wilhelmenia Fernandez, sometimes billed as Wilhelmenia Wiggins Fernandez, is an American soprano. She was born in Philadelphia in 1949. She appeared in the 1981 film ''Diva'' by French director Jean-Jacques Beineix.HEATON, MICHAEL.Soprano Wi ...

, was at the heart of

Jean-Jacques Beineix Jean-Jacques Beineix (; 8 October 1946 – 13 January 2022) was a French film director best known for the films ''Diva'' and ''Betty Blue''. His work is regarded as a prime example of the '' cinéma du look'' film movement in France. Early life ...

's 1981 film ''

Diva Diva (; ) is the Latin word for a goddess. It has often been used to refer to a celebrated woman of outstanding talent in the world of opera, theatre, cinema, fashion and popular music. If referring to an actress, the meaning of ''diva'' is clo ...

''. Catalani's other operas were much less successful.

Life and career

Born in

Lucca Lucca ( , ) is a city and ''comune'' in Tuscany, Central Italy, on the Serchio River, in a fertile plain near the Ligurian Sea. The city has a population of about 89,000, while its province has a population of 383,957. Lucca is known as one o ...

, Catalani came from a musical family. He was trained at the

Milan Conservatory The Milan Conservatory (''Conservatorio di Milano'') is a college of music in Milan, Italy. History The conservatory was established by a royal decree of 1807 in Milan, capital of the Napoleonic Kingdom of Italy. It opened the following year ...

, where his teachers included

Antonio Bazzini Antonio Bazzini (11 March 181810 February 1897) was an Italian violinist, composer and teacher. As a composer, his most enduring work is his chamber music, which earned him a central place in the Italian instrumental renaissance of the 19th cent ...

. Despite the growing influence of the ''

verismo In opera, ''verismo'' (, from , meaning "true") was a post-Romantic operatic tradition associated with Italian composers such as Pietro Mascagni, Ruggero Leoncavallo, Umberto Giordano, Francesco Cilea and Giacomo Puccini. ''Verismo'' as an ...

'' style of opera during the 1880s and early 1890s, Catalani chose to compose in a more traditional manner, which had traces of

Wagner Wilhelm Richard Wagner ( ; ; 22 May 181313 February 1883) was a German composer, theatre director, polemicist, and conductor who is chiefly known for his operas (or, as some of his mature works were later known, "music dramas"). Unlike most op ...

in it. As a result, his operas (''La Wally'' excepted) have largely lost their place in the modern repertoire, even compared to those of

Massenet Jules Émile Frédéric Massenet (; 12 May 1842 – 13 August 1912) was a French composer of the Romantic era best known for his operas, of which he wrote more than thirty. The two most frequently staged are ''Manon'' (1884) and ''Werther'' ...

and

Puccini Giacomo Puccini (Lucca, 22 December 1858Bruxelles, 29 November 1924) 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 lin ...

, whose style his own periodically resembles. (Catalani much resented Puccini's emergence and even accused Puccini, falsely, of plagiarism.) The influence of

Amilcare Ponchielli Amilcare Ponchielli (, ; 31 August 1834 – 16 January 1886) was an Italian opera composer, best known for his opera ''La Gioconda''. He was married to the soprano Teresina Brambilla. Life and work Born in Paderno Fasolaro (now Paderno Ponchiell ...

can also be recognized in Catalani's output. Catalani's reputation, like Ponchielli's, now rests almost entirely on one work. However, while ''

'' enjoys occasional revivals, Ponchielli's '' La Gioconda'' has always been the more popular opera of the two (287 performances, most recently in 2008 at the

Metropolitan Opera The Metropolitan Opera (commonly known as the Met) is an American opera company based in New York City, resident at the Metropolitan Opera House at Lincoln Center, currently situated on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. The company is operat ...

, New York, as opposed to only four for ''La Wally'', not produced there since 1909). In 1893, upon his premature death from

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by '' Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, in ...

in Milan, Catalani was interred in the Cimitero Monumentale, where Ponchielli and conductor

Arturo Toscanini Arturo Toscanini (; ; March 25, 1867January 16, 1957) was an Italian conductor. He was one of the most acclaimed and influential musicians of the late 19th and early 20th century, renowned for his intensity, his perfectionism, his ear for orch ...

also lie. A passionate admirer of Catalani's music, Toscanini even named one of his daughters Wally. Toscanini recorded the prelude to Act IV of ''La Wally'' and the "Dance of the Water Nymphs" from ''Loreley'' in Carnegie Hall in August 1952 with the

NBC Symphony Orchestra The NBC Symphony Orchestra was a radio orchestra conceived by David Sarnoff, the president of the Radio Corporation of America, especially for the conductor Arturo Toscanini. The NBC Symphony performed weekly radio concert broadcasts with Tosca ...

for

RCA Victor RCA Records is an American record label currently owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America. It is one of Sony Music's four flagship labels, alongside RCA's former long-time rival Columbia Records; also Aris ...

. Almost 90 years after his death, in 1981, his work was highlighted by the release of ''

'', a thriller directed by

which employed the aria from ''

''.

Operas

*''La falce'' ("The Sickle"), Milan, 19 July 1875 *''Elda'', Turin, 31 January 1880 (radically revised as ''Loreley'') *''Dejanice'', Milan, 17 March 1883 *''

Edmea ''Edmea'' is an 1886 opera in three acts by Alfredo Catalani to a libretto by Antonio Ghislanzoni. Cast of the première The opera was first performed on 27 February 1886 at the Teatro alla Scala in Milan. The cast of that first performance wa ...

'', Milan, 27 February 1886 *''

'', Turin, 16 February 1890 *''

'', Milan, 20 January 1892

Symphonic works

*''Sinfonia a piena orchestra'' ("Symphony for Full Orchestra"), 1872 *''Il Mattino, sinfonia romantica'' ("Morning", Romantic symphony), 1874 *''Ero e Leandro, poema sinfonico'' ("Hero and Leander", Symphonic tone poem), Milan, 9 May 1885

References

External links

Opera Italiana
Detailed biography * *Paolo Petronio, Alfredo Catalani, musical biography, Ed.Italo Svevo, Trieste,2009 * {{DEFAULTSORT:Catalani, Alfredo 1854 births 1893 deaths 19th-century classical composers 19th-century deaths from tuberculosis 19th-century Italian male musicians Burials at the Cimitero Monumentale di Milano Italian classical composers Italian male classical composers Italian opera composers Italian Romantic composers Male opera composers Milan Conservatory alumni Milan Conservatory faculty Musicians from Lucca Tuberculosis deaths in Italy Infectious disease deaths in Lombardy

Life and career

Operas

Symphonic works

References

Further reading

External links