Gaspare Luigi Pacifico Spontini (14 November 177424 January 1851) 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 ...
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 ...
and
conductor from the
classical era
Classical antiquity (also the classical era, classical period or classical age) is the period of cultural history between the 8th century BC and the 5th century AD centred on the Mediterranean Sea, comprising the interlocking civilizations of ...
.
Biography
Born in Maiolati,
Papal State
The Papal States ( ; it, Stato Pontificio, ), officially the State of the Church ( it, Stato della Chiesa, ; la, Status Ecclesiasticus;), were a series of territories in the Italian Peninsula under the direct sovereign rule of the pope fro ...
(now
Maiolati Spontini
Maiolati Spontini is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Ancona in the Italian region Marche, located about southwest of Ancona. It is the birthplace of musician Gaspare Spontini, whose name has been conjoined with the commune's ancien ...
,
Province of Ancona
The province of Ancona ( it, provincia di Ancona) is a province in the Marche region of central Italy. Its capital is the city of Ancona, and the province borders the Adriatic Sea. The city of Ancona is also the capital of Marche.
To the north, t ...
), he spent most of his career in
Paris
Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...
and
Berlin
Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...
, but returned to his place of birth at the end of his life. During the first two decades of the 19th century, Spontini was an important figure in
French ''
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 ...
''. In his more than twenty operas, Spontini strove to adapt
Gluck
Christoph Willibald (Ritter von) Gluck (; 2 July 1714 – 15 November 1787) was a composer of Italian and French opera in the early classical period (music), classical period. Born in the Upper Palatinate and raised in Bohemia, both part of the ...
's classical ''
tragédie lyrique
This is a glossary list of opera genres, giving alternative names.
"Opera" is an Italian word (short for "opera in musica"); it was not at first ''commonly'' used in Italy (or in other countries) to refer to the genre of particular works. Most c ...
'' to the contemporary taste for melodrama, for grander spectacle (in ''
Fernand Cortez
''Fernand Cortez, ou La conquête du Mexique '' (''Hernán Cortés, or The Conquest of Mexico'') is an opera in three acts by Gaspare Spontini with a French libretto by Étienne de Jouy and Joseph-Alphonse Esménard. It was first performed on 28 No ...
'' for example), for enriched orchestral timbre, and for melodic invention allied to idiomatic expressiveness of words.
As a youth, Spontini studied at the Conservatorio della Pietà de' Turchini, one of four active
music conservatories of Naples. Working his way from Italian city to city, he got his first break in Rome, with his successful comedy ''Li Puntigli delle Donne'' (Carnival 1793). In 1803, he went to Paris, where, on 11 February 1804, debuted his comic opera ''La Finta Filosofa'', his Neapolitan success of 1799. In part on the recommendation of the
comte de Rémusat and
his literary countess, a ''dame du palais'', Spontini circulated in the Imperial court, was made a member of the
Académie Impériale de Musique
The Paris Opera (, ) is the primary opera and ballet company of France. It was founded in 1669 by Louis XIV as the , and shortly thereafter was placed under the leadership of Jean-Baptiste Lully and officially renamed the , but continued to be k ...
and gained a court position as ''compositeur particulier de la chambre'' of the Empress in 1805.
Though Spontini's earlier successes were comedies, with the encouragement of
Empress Joséphine
Joséphine Bonaparte (, born Marie Josèphe Rose Tascher de La Pagerie; 23 June 1763 – 29 May 1814) was Empress of the French as the first wife of Emperor Napoleon I from 18 May 1804 until their marriage was annulled on 10 January 1810. ...
in 1807, Spontini wrote his greatest success, the ''tragédie lyrique'' ''
La Vestale
''La vestale'' (''The Vestal Virgin'') is an opera composed by Gaspare Spontini to a French libretto by Étienne de Jouy. It takes the form of a ''tragédie lyrique'' in three acts. It was first performed on 15 December 1807 by the Académie Impé ...
'', which has remained his best known work. Its premiere at the
Opéra
This is a glossary list of opera genres, giving alternative names.
"Opera" is an Italian word (short for "opera in musica"); it was not at first ''commonly'' used in Italy (or in other countries) to refer to the genre of particular works. Most c ...
in Paris established Spontini as one of the greatest Italian composers of his age. His contemporaries
Cherubini,
Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. Beethoven remains one of the most admired composers in the history of Western music; his works rank amongst the most performed of the classical ...
,
Weber,
Rossini
Gioachino Antonio Rossini (29 February 1792 – 13 November 1868) was an Italian composer who gained fame for his 39 operas, although he also wrote many songs, some chamber music and piano pieces, and some sacred music. He set new standards f ...
and
Meyerbeer
Giacomo Meyerbeer (born Jakob Liebmann Beer; 5 September 1791 – 2 May 1864) was a German opera composer, "the most frequently performed opera composer during the nineteenth century, linking Mozart and Wagner". With his 1831 opera ''Robert le d ...
all considered it a masterpiece, and later composers such as
Berlioz and
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 ...
admired it.
During the
Peninsular War
The Peninsular War (1807–1814) was the military conflict fought in the Iberian Peninsula by Spain, Portugal, and the United Kingdom against the invading and occupying forces of the First French Empire during the Napoleonic Wars. In Spain ...
,
Napoleon
Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader who ...
promoted works such as Gasparo Spontini's ''Fernand Cortez'' (1809), which concerned the
Spanish conquest of Mexico
The Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire, also known as the Conquest of Mexico or the Spanish-Aztec War (1519–21), was one of the primary events in the Spanish colonization of the Americas. There are multiple 16th-century narratives of the eve ...
under the reign of
Charles V Charles V may refer to:
* Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor (1500–1558)
* Charles V of Naples (1661–1700), better known as Charles II of Spain
* Charles V of France (1338–1380), called the Wise
* Charles V, Duke of Lorraine (1643–1690)
* Infan ...
. In 1811, Spontini married Celeste Érard, the niece of the Parisian maker of pianos and harps
Sébastien Érard
Sébastien Érard (born Sebastian Erhard, 5 April 1752 – 5 August 1831) was a French instrument maker of German origin who specialised in the production of pianos and harps, developing the capacities of both instruments and pioneering the mode ...
; it was a happy marriage, though childless. He was made a ''chevalier'' of Napoleon's
Legion of Honor
The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon ...
; its
Maltese cross
The Maltese cross is a cross symbol, consisting of four " V" or arrowhead shaped concave quadrilaterals converging at a central vertex at right angles, two tips pointing outward symmetrically.
It is a heraldic cross variant which developed f ...
hangs round his neck in the portrait by Nicolas-Eustache Maurin (''illustration'').
Under the changed political climate of the
Bourbon Restoration, Spontini, closely identified with the former Empire, saw his opera ''
Olimpie
''Olimpie'' (also spelled ''Olympie'') is an opera in three acts by Gaspare Spontini. The French libretto, by Armand-Michel Dieulafoy and Charles Brifaut, is based on the by Voltaire (1761). ''Olimpie'' was first performed on 22 December 1819 by ...
'' (1819, revised 1821, 1826) meet with indifference, leading him to leave Paris for
Berlin
Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...
, where his operas had already achieved success. There he became Kapellmeister and chief conductor at the
Königliches Opernhaus
The (), also known as the Berlin State Opera (german: Staatsoper Berlin), is a listed building on Unter den Linden boulevard in the historic center of Berlin, Germany. The opera house was built by order of Prussian king Frederick the Great from ...
, and in this period he composed the Prussian National Anthem "Borussia". There he also met the young
Mendelssohn
Jakob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy (3 February 18094 November 1847), born and widely known as Felix Mendelssohn, was a German composer, pianist, organist and conductor of the early Romantic music, Romantic period. Mendelssohn's compositi ...
, but deprecated the 17-year old's opera ''
Die Hochzeit des Camacho''.
In 1842, a disillusioned Spontini, chagrined at the success of
Giacomo Meyerbeer
Giacomo Meyerbeer (born Jakob Liebmann Beer; 5 September 1791 – 2 May 1864) was a German opera composer, "the most frequently performed opera composer during the nineteenth century, linking Mozart and Wagner". With his 1831 opera ''Robert le di ...
and others in Germany, returned to Italy, where he died in 1851.
Bibliography
(French
Gaspare Spontiniby Patrick Barbier, bleu nuit éditeur, 2017, 176 p. ()
Compositions
For the opera
* ''
Li puntigli delle donne'' (1796)
* (1798)
* ''
Teseo riconosciuto'' (1798)
* ''
La fuga in maschera'' (1800)
* ''
Le metamorfosi di Pasquale'' (1802)
* ''
Milton
Milton may refer to:
Names
* Milton (surname), a surname (and list of people with that surname)
** John Milton (1608–1674), English poet
* Milton (given name)
** Milton Friedman (1912–2006), Nobel laureate in Economics, author of '' Free t ...
'' (1804)
* ''
Julie, ou Le pot de fleurs'' (1805)
* ''
La vestale
''La vestale'' (''The Vestal Virgin'') is an opera composed by Gaspare Spontini to a French libretto by Étienne de Jouy. It takes the form of a ''tragédie lyrique'' in three acts. It was first performed on 15 December 1807 by the Académie Impé ...
'' (1807)
* ''
Fernand Cortez
''Fernand Cortez, ou La conquête du Mexique '' (''Hernán Cortés, or The Conquest of Mexico'') is an opera in three acts by Gaspare Spontini with a French libretto by Étienne de Jouy and Joseph-Alphonse Esménard. It was first performed on 28 No ...
'' (1809)
* ''
Olimpie
''Olimpie'' (also spelled ''Olympie'') is an opera in three acts by Gaspare Spontini. The French libretto, by Armand-Michel Dieulafoy and Charles Brifaut, is based on the by Voltaire (1761). ''Olimpie'' was first performed on 22 December 1819 by ...
'' (1819)
* ''
Nurmahal, oder das Rosenfest von Caschmir'' (1822)
* ''
Agnes von Hohenstaufen'' (1829)
Other compositions
* ''L'eccelsa gara''
["Unieke partituren van Spontini ontdekt in het kasteel van Hingene".]
VRT, – Cantata, on a text by Luigi Balocchi (1806)
* ''Tout le monde a tort'' – Vaudeville (1806)
* , for
Antonio Salieri
Antonio Salieri (18 August 17507 May 1825) was an Italian classical composer, conductor, and teacher. He was born in Legnago, south of Verona, in the Republic of Venice, and spent his adult life and career as a subject of the Habsburg monarchy ...
's ''
Les Danaïdes
''Les Danaïdes'' is an opera by Antonio Salieri, in five acts: more specifically, it is a ''tragédie lyrique''. The opera was set to a libretto by François-Louis Gand Le Bland Du Roullet and Louis-Théodore de Tschudi, who in turn adapted t ...
'' (1817)
* –
Prussia
Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an em ...
n anthem, on a text by (1818)
* (1820)
* ''Lalla Rûkh'' – Festspiel, on a text by S. H. Spicker, after
Thomas Moore
Thomas Moore (28 May 1779 – 25 February 1852) was an Irish writer, poet, and lyricist celebrated for his ''Irish Melodies''. Their setting of English-language verse to old Irish tunes marked the transition in popular Irish culture from Irish ...
(1821)
Modern revivals
During the 20th century, Spontini's operas were only rarely performed, although several had their first revivals in years. Perhaps the most famous modern production was the revival of ''La vestale'' with
Maria Callas
Maria Callas . (born Sophie Cecilia Kalos; December 2, 1923 – September 16, 1977) was an American-born Greek soprano who was one of the most renowned and influential opera singers of the 20th century. Many critics praised her ''bel cant ...
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 ...
at the opening of the 1954 season, to mark the 180th anniversary of the composer's birth. The stage director was famed cinema director
Luchino Visconti
Luchino Visconti di Modrone, Count of Lonate Pozzolo (; 2 November 1906 – 17 March 1976) was an Italian filmmaker, stage director, and screenwriter. A major figure of Italian art and culture in the mid-20th century, Visconti was one of the fat ...
. That production was also the La Scala debut of tenor
Franco Corelli
Franco Corelli (8 April 1921 – 29 October 2003) was an Italian tenor who had a major international opera career between 1951 and 1976. Associated in particular with the spinto and dramatic tenor roles of the Italian repertory, he was cel ...
. Callas recorded the arias "Tu che invoco" and "O Nume tutelar" from ''La vestale'' in 1955 (as did
Rosa Ponselle
Rosa Melba Ponzillo, known as Rosa Ponselle (January 22, 1897 – May 25, 1981) was an American operatic soprano.
She sang mainly at the New York Metropolitan Opera and is generally considered to have been one of the greatest sopranos of the 20t ...
in 1926). In 1969, conductor
Fernando Previtali
Fernando Previtali (16 February 1907 Adria, Italy – 1 August 1985, Rome, Italy) was an Italian conductor, particularly associated with the Italian repertory, especially Verdi operas.
He studied at the Giuseppe Verdi Music Conservatory in Tu ...
revived the opera, with soprano
Leyla Gencer
Ayşe Leyla Gencer (, née Çeyrekgil; 10 October 192810 May 2008) was a Turkish operatic soprano.
Gencer was a notable ''bel canto'' soprano who spent most of her career in Italy, from the early 1950s through the mid-1980s, and had a reperto ...
and baritone
Renato Bruson
Renato Bruson (born 13 January 1936) is an Italian operatic baritone. Bruson is widely considered one of the most important Verdi baritones of the late 20th and early 21st century. He was born in Granze near Padua, Italy.
Biography and career ...
. (An unofficial recording is in circulation.) In 1993, conductor
Riccardo Muti
Riccardo Muti, (; born 28 July 1941) is an Italian conductor. He currently holds two music directorships, at the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and at the Orchestra Giovanile Luigi Cherubini. Muti has previously held posts at the Maggio Musicale ...
recorded it in the original French language with Karen Huffstodt, Denyce Graves, Anthony Michaels-Moore and Dimitri Kavrakos.
Other revivals of Spontini include ''Agnes von Hohenstaufen'' in Italian as ''
Agnese di Hohenstaufen'' at the
Maggio Musicale
The Maggio Musicale Fiorentino (English: Florence Musical May) is an annual Italian arts festival in Florence, including a notable opera festival, under the auspices of the Opera di Firenze. The festival occurs between late April into June annual ...
festival in Florence in 1954, starring Franco Corelli and conducted by
Vittorio Gui
Vittorio Gui (14 September 188516 October 1975) was an Italian conductor, composer, musicologist and critic.
Gui was born in Rome in 1885. He graduated in humanities at the University of Rome and also studied composition at the Accademia Naziona ...
, and in Rome in 1970, with
Montserrat Caballé
Montserrat Caballé i Folch or Folc (full name: María de Montserrat Bibiana Concepción Caballé i Folch (, , ; (12 April 1933 – 6 October 2018), known simply as Montserrat Caballé, was a Catalan Spanish operatic soprano. She sang a wide va ...
and
Antonietta Stella, conducted by Riccardo Muti, both recorded live. ''Fernand Cortez'' was revived in 1951, with a young
Renata Tebaldi
Renata Tebaldi ( , ; 1 February 1922 – 19 December 2004) was an Italian lirico-spinto soprano popular in the post-war period, and especially prominent as one of the stars of La Scala, San Carlo and, especially, the Metropolitan Opera. O ...
, at the
San Carlo in Naples, conducted by
Gabriele Santini. The premiere of the integral version of the work took place at the Erfurt (Germany) opera house (2006,
Jean-Paul Penin, conductor).
''Li puntigli delle donne'' was performed at the
Putbus
Putbus () is a town on the southeastern coast of the island of Rügen, in the county of Vorpommern-Rügen in the state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, close to the Baltic Sea. The town has 4,741 inhabitants and is a significant tourist destinat ...
Festival 1998, conducted by
Wilhelm Keitel
Wilhelm Bodewin Johann Gustav Keitel (; 22 September 188216 October 1946) was a German field marshal and war criminal who held office as chief of the '' Oberkommando der Wehrmacht'' (OKW), the high command of Nazi Germany's Armed Forces, duri ...
(recording Arte Nova 74321591982).
References
Sources
* Gerhard, Anselm (n.d.)
"Spontini, Gaspare" in ''
Grove Music Online
''The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians'' is an encyclopedic dictionary of music and musicians. Along with the German-language ''Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart'', it is one of the largest reference works on the history and theo ...
'', , accessed 13 September 2014.
*
Silke Leopold Silke Leopold (born 30 November 1948) is a German musicologist and university lecturer.
Life
Born in Hamburg, Leopold studied musicology, theatre studies, Romance languages and literature at the University of Hamburg and the University of Rome, ...
(2006), "The Idea of National Opera, c. 1800" in ''Unity and Diversity in European Culture c. 1800'', (Ed.)
Tim Blanning
Timothy Charles William Blanning (born 21 April 1942) is an English historian who served as Professor of Modern European History at the University of Cambridge from 1992 to 2009.
Career
Timothy Charles William Blanning attended the King's Sch ...
and
Hagen Schulze
Hagen Schulze (31 July 1943 – 4 September 2014) was a German historian who held a position at the Free University of Berlin. He specialized in early modern and modern German and European history, particularly in comparative European nationalis ...
New York: Oxford University Press.
* Todd, R. Larry (2003), ''Mendelssohn, A Life in Music''. Oxford: Oxford University Press. .
* ''Gaspare Spontini'' (French)
rchiveby Patrick Barbier, bleu nuit éditeur, 2017, 176 p. ()
External links
Fondazione Pergolesi Spontini of Jesi*
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Spontini, Gaspare
1774 births
1851 deaths
18th-century German composers
18th-century Italian male musicians
19th-century classical composers
19th-century German composers
19th-century Italian composers
19th-century Italian male musicians
Composers awarded knighthoods
Conductors (music) awarded knighthoods
General directors of the Berlin State Opera
German conductors (music)
German male classical composers
German male conductors (music)
German opera composers
Italian conductors (music)
Italian male classical composers
Italian male conductors (music)
Italian opera composers
Male opera composers
Music directors of the Berlin State Opera
People from the Province of Ancona
Recipients of the Pour le Mérite (civil class)
18th-century Italian composers