Ennio Porrino (20 January 1910 – 25 September 1959) was an Italian composer and teacher. Amongst his compositions were orchestral works, an

oratorio An oratorio () is a large musical composition for orchestra, choir, and soloists. Like most operas, an oratorio includes the use of a choir, soloists, an instrumental ensemble, various distinguishable characters, and arias. However, opera is mus ...

and several operas and ballets. His best known work is the

symphonic poem A symphonic poem or tone poem is a piece of orchestral music, usually in a single continuous movement, which illustrates or evokes the content of a poem, short story, novel, painting, landscape, or other (non-musical) source. The German term ''T ...

''Sardegna'', a tribute to his native

Sardinia Sardinia ( ; it, Sardegna, label=Italian, Corsican and Tabarchino ; sc, Sardigna , sdc, Sardhigna; french: Sardaigne; sdn, Saldigna; ca, Sardenya, label=Algherese and Catalan) is the second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after ...

, which premiered in Florence in 1933.

Life and career

Porrino was born in

Cagliari Cagliari (, also , , ; sc, Casteddu ; lat, Caralis) is an Italian municipality and the capital of the island of Sardinia, an autonomous region of Italy. Cagliari's Sardinian name ''Casteddu'' means ''castle''. It has about 155,000 inhabitant ...

and studied at the

Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia The Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia ( en, National Academy of St Cecilia) is one of the oldest musical institutions in the world, founded by the papal bull ''Ratione congruit'', issued by Sixtus V in 1585, which invoked two saints prom ...

in Rome. He later studied with

Ottorino Respighi Ottorino Respighi ( , , ; 9 July 187918 April 1936) was an Italian composer, violinist, teacher, and musicologist and one of the leading Italian composers of the early 20th century. List of compositions by Ottorino Respighi, His compositions r ...

from 1932 to 1935. According to

Alfredo Casella Alfredo Casella (25 July 18835 March 1947) was an Italian composer, pianist and conductor. Life and career Casella was born in Turin, the son of Maria (née Bordino) and Carlo Casella. His family included many musicians: his grandfather, a f ...

, he became one of Respighi's disciples, championing an Italian national music movement and openly opposing composers such as Casella,

Dallapiccola Luigi Dallapiccola (February 3, 1904 – February 19, 1975) was an Italian composer known for his lyrical twelve-tone compositions. Biography Dallapiccola was born in Pisino d'Istria (at the time part of Austria-Hungary, current Pazin, Cro ...

, and Malipiero for their

Modernist music In music, modernism is an aesthetic stance underlying the period of change and development in musical language that occurred around the turn of the 20th century, a period of diverse reactions in challenging and reinterpreting older categories o ...

.Slonimsky, Nicolas and Kuhn, Laura (2001)
"Porrino, Ennio"
''

Baker's Biographical Dictionary of Musicians ''Baker's Biographical Dictionary of Musicians'' is a major reference work in the field of music, originally compiled by Theodore Baker, PhD, and published in 1900 by G. Schirmer, Inc. The ninth edition, the most recent edition, was published in 20 ...

''. Online version retrieved via

HighBeam Research HighBeam Research was a paid search engine and full text online archive owned by Gale, a subsidiary of Cengage, for thousands of newspapers, magazines, academic journals, newswires, trade magazines, and encyclopedias in English. It was headquar ...

9 November 2013. After Respighi's death in 1936, Porrino and Respighi's widow Elsa completed his unfinished opera ''Lucrezia'' for its posthumous premiere at

La Scala La Scala (, , ; abbreviation in Italian of the official name ) is a famous opera house in Milan, Italy. The theatre was inaugurated on 3 August 1778 and was originally known as the ' (New Royal-Ducal Theatre alla Scala). The premiere performan ...

in 1937. In the course of his career, Porrino taught at the conservatories of Rome, Venice, and Naples, and in 1956 became the director of the Cagliari Conservatory. That same year he married Malgari Onnis (born 1935), a painter and theatrical designer. She designed the production of Porrino's last work, the opera ''

I Shardana ''I Shardana'' is a 1949 opera by Sardinian composer Ennio Porrino which was premiered in 1959 at the Teatro San Carlo The Real Teatro di San Carlo ("Royal Theatre of Saint Charles"), as originally named by the Bourbon monarchy but today kno ...

'', which premiered on 21 March 1959, six months before his death. The couple had one daughter, Stefania (born 1957), who became a playwright and stage director.Biblioteca Teatrale del Burcardo
Il Fondo Onnis-Porrino
Retrieved 9 November 2013 . Porrino died in Rome in 1959 at the age of 49. The ''Concorso Internazionale di Pianoforte Ennio Porrino'' was established in his memory in 1980.Associazione Amici della Musica di Cagliari

Retrieved 9 November 2013 .

Selected filmography

* '' Altura'' (1949)

References

External links

* Italian classical composers Italian male classical composers Italian opera composers Male opera composers 20th-century classical composers People from Cagliari 1910 births 1959 deaths Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia alumni 20th-century Italian composers 20th-century Italian male musicians {{Italy-composer-stub