Nicola van Westerhout (also ''Niccolò''; 17 December 1857 – 21 August 1898) was an Italian composer.

Biography

History and formal training

Of Flemish origin, the family van Westerhout settled in

Apulia it, Pugliese , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demographic ...

in the seventeenth century, first in

Bari Bari ( , ; nap, label= Barese, Bare ; lat, Barium) is the capital city of the Metropolitan City of Bari and of the Apulia region, on the Adriatic Sea, southern Italy. It is the second most important economic centre of mainland Southern Italy a ...

and then in

Monopoli Monopoli (; Monopolitano: ) is a town and municipality in Italy, in the Metropolitan City of Bari and region of Apulia. The town is roughly in area and lies on the Adriatic Sea about southeast of Bari. It has a population of 49,246 ...

. Nicola van Westerhout, grandfather of Niccolò, moved to

Mola di Bari Cathedral. Mola di Bari, commonly referred to simply as Mola ( Barese: ), is a town and ''comune'' of the Metropolitan City of Bari, in the region of Apulia, in Southern Italy, on the Adriatic Sea. In recent times, the town was best known for ...

, where the composer himself and his father, Onofrio Augustine, were both born. At the age of 13, van Westerhout composed an opera on the subject of

Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...

Julius Caesar Gaius Julius Caesar (; ; 12 July 100 BC – 15 March 44 BC), was a Roman general and statesman. A member of the First Triumvirate, Caesar led the Roman armies in the Gallic Wars before defeating his political rival Pompey in a civil war, and ...

, showing a remarkable musical talent. He was then helped, by the City Council of Mola di Bari, to move to

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 ...

and attend the Conservatory of San Pietro a Majella, where he studied composition with Nicola De Giosa,

Nicola D'Arienzo Nicola d'Arienzo (24 December 1842 – 25 April 1915) was an Italian composer, music pedagogue, and writer on music. He spent his entire career in his native Naples where all but one of his nine of his operas were premiered. His other composition ...

and Lauro Rossi. In Naples, he lived all his life.

Artistic activity

The catalog of Niccolò van Westerhout, in addition to a wide array of chamber music and symphonic works, includes five operas: Tilde, which has been lost; Cimbelino, which was first performed at the Teatro Argentina in Rome in 1892; Fortunio, represented in Milan in 1894 (intended, originally, at the Teatro alla Scala in Milan, but then staged at the Teatro Lirico), Doña Flor, at the Teatro Municipale in Mola di Bari in 1896, Colomba, represented in 1925 at the Teatro San Carlo.

Death and posthumous awards

Westerhout died in Naples. Because of indigence besetting the family, the City of Naples paid for funeral and burial in the monumental

Cemetery of Poggioreale The Cemetery of Poggioreale is one of the major cemeteries in Naples, Italy. It is also known as Camposanto Nuovo, to distinguish it from Camposanto Vecchio, which is now known as Cemetery of the 366 Fossae. It is bordered by the Largo Santa Mari ...

. After the death of Niccolò, his friends and his brother Vincent tried to offer his music compositions to various publishers but they were unable to bear the costs necessary for its distribution and his music was soon forgotten. Recently, the tomb that housed the remains of the composer and some of his relatives has been identified at the Congregation of St. Raphael a Mater Dei. On 19 February 2007, the 150th anniversary of the birth, the bones were then transported to the city that gave him birth and now rest in the family tomb of the De Stasi family's mausoleum in the local cemetery. In

, the composer had been commemorated with the naming of a street and the municipal theater and the placing of a plaque at the site of the birthplace. Furthermore, in the central Piazza XX Settembre, a bronze statue by Molese sculptor Bruno Calvani, representing the protagonist of the Doña Flor, was placed.

Catalog

Sempre amore Romanza on a text by Mancini

Operas

*''Cimbelino'', lyrical drama in four acts, libretto by

Enrico Golisciani Enrico Golisciani (25 December 1848 – 6 February 1919) was an Italian author, born in Naples. He is best known for his opera librettos, but also published a slim volume of verses for music, entitled ''Pagine d'Album'' (Milano, Ricordi, 1885); ma ...

, (Rome, Teatro Argentina, 1892) *''Fortunio'', lyrical drama in three acts, libretto by Giulio Massimo Scalinger, (Milan, Teatro Lirico, 16 May 1895) *''Doña Flor'', lyrical drama in one act, libretto by

Arturo Colautti Arturo Colautti ( Zara, 9 October 1851 – Rome, 9 November 1914) was an Italian journalist, polemicist and librettist. He was a strong supporter of Italian irredentism for his native Dalmatia. Biography Youth in Dalmatia Born in Zara, the ...

, (Mola di Bari, 18 April 1896) *''Colomba'', libretto by

, (Naples, Teatro San Carlo, 1925) *''Tilde'' (unperformed) *''A Night in Venice'' (unfinished), later integrated in Cimbelino *''Imogene'' (unfinished), later integrated in Cimbelino

Bibliography

:* Massimeo A., ''Niccolò Van Westerhout'', Laterza, Bari, 1985. :* Summa, M., ''Destati, o bruna. Doña Flor di Niccolò van Westerhout'', Lodo Editore, Latiano 1998. :* AA.VV. ''Un musicista crepuscolare: Niccolò Van Westerhout (1857-1898)''(a cura di G.Ciliberti) Florestano, Bari, 2007. (The authors of this collection of essays are mostly students of the "Scuola di didattica della musica" of the ''Conservatorio "N.Rota"'' in Monopoli). :* Leonardo Campanile e

Tiziano Thomas Dossena Tiziano Thomas Dossena is an Italian American author and art critic. Biography Born in Milan on 19 September 1952, Tiziano Thomas Dossena moved to the United States in 1968 and completed his studies in that country, where he graduated in Itali ...

, ''Doña Flor, an opera by Niccolò van Westerhout'', Idea Publications, New York, 2010, :* Leonardo Campanile e

, ''Colomba, by Niccolò van Westerhout; Drama in Four Acts'', Idea Press, Port St. Lucie, 2020, :* Leonardo Campanile e

, ''Cimbelino, by Niccolò van Westerhout; Drama in Four Acts'', Idea Press, Port St. Lucie, 2020, :* Leonardo Campanile e

, ''Doña Flor, by Niccolò van Westerhout; Drama in One Act'', Idea Press, Port St. Lucie, 2020, :* Leonardo Campanile e

, ''Fortunio, by Niccolò van Westerhout; Drama in Three Acts'', Idea Press, Port St. Lucie, 2020, :* Niccolò van Westerhout, ''Liriche per Voce e Pianoforte'', Idea Press, Port St. Lucie, 2018, :* Niccolò van Westerhout, ''Liriche - Songs For Voice and Piano'', Idea Press, Port St. Lucie, 2017, :* Niccolò van Westerhout, ''Doña Flor, Vocal Score'', Idea Press, Port St. Lucie, 2014,

References

External links

*
List of articles on van Westerhout appeared on the American quarterly ''L'Idea''.
*

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Westerhout, Niccolo Van 1857 births 1898 deaths People from the Metropolitan City of Bari Italian classical composers Italian male classical composers Italian opera composers Male opera composers Italian people of Belgian descent 19th-century classical composers 19th-century Italian composers 19th-century Italian male musicians