Franco Vittadini (9 April 1884 in

Pavia Pavia (, , , ; la, Ticinum; Medieval Latin: ) is a town and comune of south-western Lombardy in northern Italy, south of Milan on the lower Ticino river near its confluence with the Po. It has a population of c. 73,086. The city was the capit ...

– 30 November 1948 in Pavia) was an Italian composer and conductor. As a composer he is mostly known for his operas and sacred music. Born in

, he began his musical studies in 1903 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 ...

, but left prematurely because of a disagreement with the director, Giuseppe Gallignani. For a short period he was maestro di cappella and organist in

Varese Varese ( , , or ; lmo, label= Varesino, Varés ; la, Baretium; archaic german: Väris) is a city and ''comune'' in north-western Lombardy, northern Italy, north-west of Milan. The population of Varese in 2018 has reached 80,559. It is the c ...

, thereafter spending the rest of his life in Pavia where he was the director of the Istituto Musicale from 1924 until his death. As a stage composer, Vittadini found his greatest success with the opera '' Anima allegra'' (1918 - 1919), performed abroad as well as in Italy. His ballet ''Vecchia Milano'' (1928) was also very successful. Vittadini considered his opera ''Caracciolo'' (1938) to be his finest work, but his opera '' Fiammetta e l'avaro'' (1942 - 1951) was more successful at winning audiences. Vittadini received attention outside the theater for his religious works. He wrote numerous masses and

motets In Western classical music, a motet is mainly a vocal musical composition, of highly diverse form and style, from high medieval music to the present. The motet was one of the pre-eminent polyphonic forms of Renaissance music. According to Margare ...

in a style very similar to that of

Lorenzo Perosi Monsignor Lorenzo Perosi (21 December 1872 – 12 October 1956) was an Italian composer of sacred music and the only member of the Giovane Scuola who did not write opera. In the late 1890s, while he was still only in his twenties, Perosi was a ...

. His

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 ...

''L'agonia del Redentore'' (1933) is considered to be one of his finer works, and his religious drama ''Nazareth'' (1925) forms a bridge between his achievements within sacred compositions and dramatic works.

Operas

*''Il mare di Tiberiade'' (1914) *''Anima Allegra'' (1918–19) *''Nazareth'' (1925) *''La Sagredo'' (1930) *''Il natale di Gesù'' (1933) *''Caracciolo'' (1938) *''Fiammetta e l'avaro'' (1942)

Sources

Opera Glass
*John C.G. Waterhouse. The ''

New Grove Dictionary of Opera ''The New Grove Dictionary of Opera'' is an encyclopedia of opera, considered to be one of the best general reference sources on the subject. It is the largest work on opera in English, and in its printed form, amounts to 5,448 pages in four volu ...

'', edited by Stanley Sadie (1992). and

External links

* 1884 births 1948 deaths Musicians from Pavia Italian classical composers Italian male classical composers Italian opera composers Male opera composers Italian male conductors (music) Milan Conservatory alumni 20th-century classical composers 20th-century Italian composers 20th-century Italian conductors (music) 20th-century Italian male musicians {{Italy-conductor-stub