Francesco Paolo Frontini (

Catania Catania (, , Sicilian and ) is the second largest municipality in Sicily, after Palermo. Despite its reputation as the second city of the island, Catania is the largest Sicilian conurbation, among the largest in Italy, as evidenced also by ...

, August 6, 1860 – Catania, July 26, 1939) was an Italian

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and Defi ...

. He studied music with his father, composer Martino Frontini; he also studied the

violin The violin, sometimes known as a ''fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone (string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in the family in regular ...

with Santi D'Amico, playing a concert with him at the town concert hall at the age of 13. At 15 his first composition, a ''Qui tollis'', was played at the city cathedral, under the direction of Pietro Antonio Coppola. In 1875 Frontini matriculated at the conservatory in

Palermo Palermo ( , ; scn, Palermu , locally also or ) is a city in southern Italy, the capital (political), capital of both the autonomous area, autonomous region of Sicily and the Metropolitan City of Palermo, the city's surrounding metropolitan ...

, where he studied with Pietro Platania; from there he passed to the conservatory in

Naples Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...

, where he received his diploma in composition under the tuition of Lauro Rossi. Among his first substantial compositions was a funeral

Mass Mass is an intrinsic property of a body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the quantity of matter in a physical body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physics. It was found that different atoms and different elementar ...

in honor of Pietro Coppola. In 1881 came the premiere of a three-act

melodrama A modern melodrama is a dramatic work in which the plot, typically sensationalized and for a strong emotional appeal, takes precedence over detailed characterization. Melodramas typically concentrate on dialogue that is often bombastic or exces ...

, ''Nella''; further operas followed, beginning with ''Sansone'' in 1882, ''Aleramo'' (based on the legend of Adelasia and Aleramo) in 1883, ''Fatalità '' in 1890, ''Malia'' (on a

libretto A libretto (Italian for "booklet") is the text used in, or intended for, an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata or Musical theatre, musical. The term ''libretto'' is also sometimes used to refer to the t ...

Luigi Capuana Luigi Capuana (May 28, 1839 – November 29, 1915) was an Italian author and journalist and one of the most important members of the ''verist'' movement (see also ''verismo'' (literature)). He was a contemporary of Giovanni Verga, both having ...

) in 1891, and ''Il Falconiere'' in 1899. At the same time his lyric poem ''Medio-Evo'' received favorable notice from

Jules 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' ...

. He wrote music for the one-act play ''Vicolo delle belle'' by Saverio Fiducia, as well as for

Antonino Russo Giusti Antonino Russo Giusti (Catania, February 23, 1876 - September 28, 1957) was an Italian dramatist. After passing his youth in Belpasso, Giusti studied the classics at Catania before taking his diploma in jurisprudence, upon completion of which he d ...

's comedy ''U Spiridu'', which was shown in 1920 at the communal theater under the direction of

Gaetano Emanuel Calì Gaetano Emanuel Calì (1885 in Catania – 1936 in Syracuse) was an Italian composer, orchestra conductor, and bandleader. He was student of Francesco Paolo Frontini, under whom he began to study classical instead of popular music. Calì comp ...

. He also wrote a number of religious and secular choral compositions at this time. Frontini also wrote numerous songs, melodies,

serenata In music, a serenade (; also sometimes called a serenata, from the Italian) is a musical composition or performance delivered in honor of someone or something. Serenades are typically calm, light pieces of music. The term comes from the Italian w ...

s and romances; the most popular of these were his ''Serenata araba'', ''Il piccolo montanaro'', and a ''Triumphal March''. In addition to his activities as a composer, he taught music and

counterpoint In music, counterpoint is the relationship between two or more musical lines (or voices) which are harmonically interdependent yet independent in rhythm and melodic contour. It has been most commonly identified in the European classical tradi ...

at the Ospizio di Beneficenza. One of Frontini's chief interests was popular music and song, and he compiled the first collection of Sicilian

folk song Folk music is a music genre that includes #Traditional folk music, traditional folk music and the Contemporary folk music, contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be c ...

s in Italy; fifty pieces from this collection were published by

Casa Ricordi Casa Ricordi is a publisher of primarily classical music and opera. Its classical repertoire represents one of the important sources in the world through its publishing of the work of the major 19th-century Italian composers such as Gioachino Ro ...

in 1882; a second collection, titled ''Natale siciliano'', was published in 1893 by De Marchi of

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...

. Frontini died in the city of his birth in 1939. :''This article is based on a translation of the corresponding article in the Italian Wikipedia.''

External links

* * 1860 births 1939 deaths Italian classical composers Italian male classical composers Italian opera composers Male opera composers Musicians from Catania 20th-century Italian composers 20th-century Italian male musicians 19th-century Italian composers 19th-century Italian male musicians Folk-song collectors Italian ethnomusicologists {{ethnomusicologist-stub