Luigi_Denza_(before_1922)_-_Archivio_storico_Ricordi_FOTO001319

Luigi Denza (24 February 1846 – 27 January 1922) was an Italian composer.

Career

Denza was born at

Castellammare di Stabia Castellammare di Stabia (; nap, Castiellammare 'e Stabbia) is a ''comune'' in the Metropolitan City of Naples, Campania region, in southern Italy. It is situated on the Bay of Naples about southeast of Naples, on the route to Sorrento. History ...

, near

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 ...

. He studied music with

Saverio Mercadante Giuseppe Saverio Raffaele Mercadante (baptised 17 September 179517 December 1870) was an Italian composer, particularly of operas. While Mercadante may not have retained the international celebrity of Gaetano Donizetti or Gioachino Rossini beyond ...

and Paolo Serrao at the Naples Conservatory. In 1884, he moved to

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

, taught singing privately and became a professor of singing at the

Royal Academy of Music The Royal Academy of Music (RAM) in London, England, is the oldest conservatoire in the UK, founded in 1822 by John Fane and Nicolas-Charles Bochsa. It received its royal charter in 1830 from King George IV with the support of the first Duke of ...

in 1898, where he taught for two decades. He died in

in 1922.

''Funiculì, Funiculà''

Denza is best remembered for " Funiculì, Funiculà" (1880), a humorous

Neapolitan song Canzone napoletana (), sometimes referred to as Neapolitan song ( nap, canzona napulitana ), is a generic term for a traditional form of music sung in the Neapolitan language, ordinarily for the male voice singing solo, although well represented ...

inspired by the inauguration of a

funicular A funicular (, , ) is a type of cable railway system that connects points along a railway track laid on a steep slope. The system is characterized by two counterbalanced carriages (also called cars or trains) permanently attached to opposite en ...

to the summit of

Vesuvius Mount Vesuvius ( ; it, Vesuvio ; nap, 'O Vesuvio , also or ; la, Vesuvius , also , or ) is a somma-stratovolcano located on the Gulf of Naples The Gulf of Naples (), also called the Bay of Naples, is a roughly 15-kilometer-wide (9 ...

. Neapolitan journalist Peppino Turco contributed the lyrics and may have prompted the song by suggesting that Denza compose something for the

Piedigrotta Piedigrotta (; nap, Piererotta ; "at the foot of the grotto") is a section of the Chiaia quarter of Naples, Italy, so-called for the presence of the Church of the Madonna of Piedigrotta near the entrance to the Crypta Neapolitana. The area w ...

song-writing competition. "Funiculì, Funiculà" was published the same year by

Ricordi Ricordi may refer to: People *Giovanni Ricordi (1785–1853), Italian violinist and publishing company founder * Giulio Ricordi (1840–1912), Italian publisher and musician Music *Casa Ricordi, an Italian music publishing company established i ...

and within a year had sold a million copies.

Other music

In addition to "Funiculì, Funiculà", Denza composed hundreds of popular songs. Some of them, such as "", "", and "", have been sung by

Enrico Caruso Enrico Caruso (, , ; 25 February 1873 – 2 August 1921) was an Italian operatic first lyrical tenor then dramatic tenor. He sang to great acclaim at the major opera houses of Europe and the Americas, appearing in a wide variety of roles (74) ...

Mario Lanza Mario Lanza (, ; born Alfredo Arnold Cocozza ; January 31, 1921 – October 7, 1959) was an American tenor and actor. He was a Hollywood film star popular in the late 1940s and the 1950s. Lanza began studying to be a professional singer at ...

, Carlo Bergonzi,

Luciano Pavarotti Luciano Pavarotti (, , ; 12 October 19356 September 2007) was an Italian operatic tenor who during the late part of his career crossed over into popular music, eventually becoming one of the most acclaimed tenors of all time. He made numerou ...

, and

Ronan Tynan Ronan Tynan (born 14 May 1960) is an Irish tenor singer and former Paralympic athlete. He was a member of The Irish Tenors re-joining in 2011 while continuing to pursue his solo career since May 2004. In the United States, audiences know him ...

. He was also an able mandolinist and guitarist, and for those instruments he wrote "Ricordo di Quisisana", "Come to me", "Nocturne", and several others. Denza also wrote an

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 ...

, ''Wallenstein'' (1876).

Judging of James Joyce

Other than writing songs and music, Denza's enduring legacy was his judging of

James Joyce James Augustine Aloysius Joyce (2 February 1882 – 13 January 1941) was an Irish novelist, poet, and literary critic. He contributed to the modernist avant-garde movement and is regarded as one of the most influential and important writers of ...

, who was a singer before he became a world-famous novelist. When Denza was Professor of Music at the London Academy of Music, he was asked to judge the 1904 ''

Feis Ceoil Feis Ceoil ( ; "Festival of Music") is an Irish music organisation which holds an annual competitive festival of classical music. It was first organised in Dublin in 1897 by Dr. Annie Patterson and Edward Martyn for the purpose of stimulating musi ...

'' Irish Singing Contest, a prototype of today's musical reality shows. On 16 May 1904, Denza attempted to mentor Joyce, and would have awarded him, the Gold Medal, but Joyce could not

sight read In music, sight-reading, also called ''a prima vista'' (Italian meaning "at first sight"), is the practice of reading and performing of a piece in a music notation that the performer has not seen or learned before. Sight-singing is used to descri ...

, missing a crucial part of the competition; Denza instead awarded Joyce the third-place Bronze medal. Disgusted, Joyce gave the medal to his Aunt Josephine; the medal ended up years later being bought by

Michael Flatley Michael Ryan Flatley (born July 16, 1958) is an Irish-American dancer. He became known for Irish dance shows ''Riverdance'', '' Lord of the Dance'', ''Feet of Flames'', and ''Celtic Tiger Live''. Flatley's shows have played to more than 60 milli ...

at an auction.

Notes

References

External links

* *
Luigi Denza (composer)
in ''Discography of American Historical Recordings'' at UC Santa Barbara * * 1846 births 1922 deaths 19th-century classical composers 19th-century Italian male musicians 20th-century classical composers 20th-century Italian composers 20th-century Italian male musicians Academics of the Royal Academy of Music Italian classical composers Italian classical mandolinists Italian male classical composers Italian opera composers Italian Romantic composers Male opera composers People from Castellammare di Stabia {{Italy-composer-stub