Cesare Sodero (August 2, 1886 – December 16, 1947) was an Italian conductor who spent much of his career working in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

Biography

Born in

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 ...

, Sodero studied with

Giuseppe Martucci Giuseppe Martucci (; 6 January 1856, in Capua – 1 June 1909, in Naples) was an Italian composer, conductor, pianist and teacher. Sometimes called "the Italian Brahms", Martucci was notable among Italian composers of the era in that he dedicate ...

, and graduated from the Naples Conservatory at fourteen.David Ewen, ''Encyclopedia of the Opera'' (New York: Hill and Wang, 1955), p. 480. He made his conducting debut at the age of fifteen in 1901."Cesare Sodero, Conductor at Opera, Is Dead," ''New York Herald Tribune'' (Dec. 17, 1947), p. 30. He toured

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for a short time as a cellist before coming to the United States in 1906 at the invitation of

Oscar Hammerstein I Oscar Hammerstein I (8 May 18461 August 1919) was a German-born businessman, theater impresario, and composer in New York City. His passion for opera led him to open several opera houses, and he rekindled opera's popularity in America. He was ...

. He was principal cellist of the Manhattan Opera Company until its demise in 1910. For seven years he directed various American opera companies, among them the Hammerstein's Opera Company, the Aborn Opera Company, and the opera company run by

Henry Wilson Savage Henry Wilson Savage (March 21, 1859 – November 29, 1927) was an American theatrical manager. Biography Henry W. Savage was born March 21, 1859, in New Durham, New Hampshire. He graduated from Harvard in 1880. He became president of the Henry W. ...

. His aim was to promote American interest in Italian symphonic music. In 1914 he became principal conductor at the New York Recording Department of

Thomas A. Edison, Inc. Thomas A. Edison, Incorporated (originally the National Phonograph Company) was the main holding company for the various manufacturing companies established by the inventor and entrepreneur Thomas Edison. It was a successor to Edison Manufacturin ...

, formerly the National Phonograph Company. He contracted and conducted a wide variety of instrumental ensembles for Edison, principally focusing on band and orchestra selections. Alone of the musicians at Edison, Sodero had final say on repertoire he recorded, rather than Thomas Edison, and Sodero's instrumental recordings are some of the most colorful and imaginative of the entire acoustical recording era. Sodero also conducted the accompaniments for most of the operatic records made at Edison between 1915 and 1925, working with singers including tenor

Jacques Urlus Jacques Urlus (6 January 1867 in Hergenrath, Rhine Province - 6 June 1935 in Noordwijk, Netherlands), was a Dutch dramatic tenor. He sang to great critical acclaim at major opera houses on both sides of the Atlantic, and his recordings of the musi ...

and soprano

Claudia Muzio Claudia Muzio (7 February 1889 – 24 May 1936) was an Italian operatic soprano who enjoyed an international career during the early 20th century. Early years Claudina Emilia Maria Muzzio was born in Pavia, the daughter of Carlo Muzio, an operat ...

. Sodero remained with Edison until 1925, when he turned to

radio Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 30 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmi ...

. He achieved significance as a pioneer in the broadcast of

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 libr ...

, directing a series of fifty-three works in tabloid form for

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...

in 1926. From then until 1934 he also conducted several hundred symphonic concerts for the network; he then became music director for the Mutual network. From 1934 to 1942 he served as the conductor of the Mendelssohn Glee Club of New York. Having worked for most of his career in the relatively "invisible" fields of recording and radio, Sodero was surprisingly appointed as the principal conductor of 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 oper ...

's Italian wing in 1942 on account of

Ettore Panizza Ettore Panizza (born Héctor Panizza; 12 August 187527 November 1967) was an Argentine conductor and composer, one of the leading conductors of the early 20th century. Panizza possessed technical mastery and was popular and influential during ...

's deciding to remain in Argentina after the United States' entry into World War II. Sodero's Met debut, ''

Aida ''Aida'' (or ''Aïda'', ) is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Antonio Ghislanzoni. Set in the Old Kingdom of Egypt, it was commissioned by Cairo's Khedivial Opera House and had its première there on 24 Decemb ...

'' on November 28, was highly successful, and critics praised Sodero's precise, powerful, yet lyrical direction. He worked steadily and successfully with the company until his death. Sodero also composed music, and wrote one opera during his career. Titled ''Ombre Russe'', it was given its premiere by NBC in 1929; the stage premiere took place in

Venice Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 bridges. The isla ...

in 1930. Sodero died in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

in 1947.

References

External links

Cesare Sodero scores (the composer's personal collection)
in th
Music Division
o
The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts

Cesare Sodero recordings
at the Discography of American Historical Recordings. * (audio recordings) * {{DEFAULTSORT:Sodero, Cesare 1886 births 1947 deaths Italian male conductors (music) Italian classical composers Italian male classical composers Italian opera composers Male opera composers Conductors of the Metropolitan Opera 20th-century Italian conductors (music) 20th-century Italian male musicians Musicians from Naples Italian expatriates in the United States