Rodolfo Ferrari (1864 – January 10, 1919) was an Italian conductor. Born in Staggia, near

San Prospero San Prospero ( Carpigiano: ) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Modena in the Italian region Emilia-Romagna, located about northwest of Bologna Bologna (, , ; egl, label=Emilian language, Emilian, Bulåggna ; lat, Bononia) ...

, Province of Modena, Ferrari studied music initially with his father, an amateur musician, then continued under Alessandro Busi at the Conservatory (Liceo Musicale) in

Bologna Bologna (, , ; egl, label= Emilian, Bulåggna ; lat, Bononia) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in Northern Italy. It is the seventh most populous city in Italy with about 400,000 inhabitants and 150 different nat ...

, graduating in composition in 1882. Ferrari appeared in the most important Italian and foreign theaters, conducting both operas and symphonic music, and was particularly attracted by the operas of

Richard 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 ...

. Among the world premières directed by Ferrari, those of ''

L'amico Fritz ''L'amico Fritz'' () is an opera in three acts by Pietro Mascagni, premiered in 1891 from a libretto by P. Suardon ( Nicola Daspuro) (with additions by Giovanni Targioni-Tozzetti), based on the French novel ''L'ami Fritz'' by Émile Erckmann and ...

'' (Rome, 1891) and ''

Silvano Silvano may refer to: * Silvano (name) * Silvano (surname) * ''Silvano'' (opera), an 1895 opera by Pietro Mascagni * Da Silvano, a former Italian restaurant in Manhattan, New York City * Silvano, a 1983 fatal insomnia patient in Bologna, Italy * ...

'' (Milan, 1895) by Pietro Mascagni, ''

Andrea Chénier ''Andrea Chénier'' () is a verismo opera in four acts by Umberto Giordano, set to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica, and first performed on 28 March 1896 at La Scala, Milan. The story is based loosely on the life of the French poet Andr ...

'' (Milan, 1896) and ''Regina Diaz'' (Naples, 1894) by

Umberto Giordano Umberto Menotti Maria Giordano (28 August 186712 November 1948) was an Italian composer, mainly of operas. He was born in Foggia in Apulia, southern Italy, and studied under Paolo Serrao at the Conservatoire of Naples. His first opera, ''Marina ...

, ''La Tilda'' by

Francesco Cilea Francesco Cilea (; 23 July 1866 – 20 November 1950) was an Italian composer. Today he is particularly known for his operas ''L'arlesiana'' and ''Adriana Lecouvreur''. Biography Born in Palmi near Reggio di Calabria, Cilea gave early indicatio ...

(Florence, 1892), ''

I Medici ''I Medici'' is an opera in four acts composed by Ruggero Leoncavallo, with a libretto by the composer. Set in Renaissance Florence at the court of Lorenzo de' Medici, it was intended as the first part of a planned but unfinished trilogy called ...

'' by

Ruggero Leoncavallo Ruggero (or Ruggiero) Leoncavallo ( , , ; 23 April 18579 August 1919) was an Italian opera composer and librettist. Although he produced numerous operas and other songs throughout his career it is his opera '' Pagliacci'' (1892) that remained hi ...

(Milan, 1893), ''La colonia libera'' by

Pietro Floridia Pietro Floridia (5 May 1860 in Modica – 16 August 1932 in New York City) was an Italian composer of classical music. According to David Johnson (quoting the notes, by Luigi della Croce, to the Bongiovanni recording of Floridia's Symphony and ...

(Rome, 1899), ''Ondina'' by Giovanni Bucceri (Naples, 1917) and ''Villa Clermont'' by Daniele Napoletano (Naples, 1918). Ferrari was the conductor of the first Italian performances of ''

Manon ''Manon'' () is an ''opéra comique'' in five acts by Jules Massenet to a French libretto by Henri Meilhac and Philippe Gille, based on the 1731 novel '' L'histoire du chevalier des Grieux et de Manon Lescaut'' by the Abbé Prévost. It was first ...

'' by

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' ...

(Milan, 1894) and '' Parsifal'' (Bologna, 1914). During the season 1917–1918 he conducted several Italian operas at the

Metropolitan Opera The Metropolitan Opera (commonly known as the Met) is an American opera company based in New York City, resident at the Metropolitan Opera House at Lincoln Center, currently situated on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. The company is operat ...

in New York City. Ferrari married the harpist Cleopatra Serato. He died in Rome and was buried in the cemetery of the

Certosa di Bologna The Certosa di Bologna is a former Carthusian monastery (or charterhouse) in Bologna, northern Italy, which was founded in 1334 and suppressed in 1797. In 1801 it became the city's Monumental Cemetery which would be much praised by Byron and other ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ferrari, Rodolfo Italian male conductors (music) 19th-century conductors (music) 20th-century Italian conductors (music) Music directors (opera) 1864 births 1919 deaths 19th-century Italian musicians Conservatorio Giovanni Battista Martini alumni 20th-century Italian male musicians