Lorenzo Perosi
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Monsignor Monsignor (; it, monsignore ) is an honorific form of address or title for certain male clergy members, usually members of the Roman Catholic Church. Monsignor is the apocopic form of the Italian ''monsignore'', meaning "my lord". "Monsignor" ca ...
Lorenzo Perosi (21 December 1872 – 12 October 1956) was an Italian
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 ...
of
sacred music Religious music (also sacred music) is a type of music that is performed or composed for religious use or through religious influence. It may overlap with ritual music, which is music, sacred or not, performed or composed for or as ritual. Relig ...
and the only member of the
Giovane Scuola The giovane scuola ("young school") refers to a group of Italian composers (mostly operatic) who succeeded Verdi and flourished in the late 19th and early 20th century. The group all had close connections with the Milan Conservatory and included P ...
who did not write opera. In the late 1890s, while he was still only in his twenties, Perosi was an internationally celebrated composer of sacred music, especially large-scale
oratorio An oratorio () is a large musical composition for orchestra, choir, and soloists. Like most operas, an oratorio includes the use of a choir, soloists, an instrumental ensemble, various distinguishable characters, and arias. However, opera is mus ...
s.
Nobel Prize The Nobel Prizes ( ; sv, Nobelpriset ; no, Nobelprisen ) are five separate prizes that, according to Alfred Nobel's will of 1895, are awarded to "those who, during the preceding year, have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind." Alfr ...
winner
Romain Rolland Romain Rolland (; 29 January 1866 – 30 December 1944) was a French dramatist, novelist, essayist, art historian and Mysticism, mystic who was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1915 "as a tribute to the lofty idealism of his literary pro ...
wrote, "It's not easy to give you an exact idea of how popular Lorenzo Perosi is in his native country." Perosi's fame was not restricted to Europe. A 19 March 1899 ''New York Times'' article entitled "The Genius of Don Perosi" began, "The great and ever-increasing success which has greeted the four new oratorios of Don Lorenzo Perosi has placed this young priest-composer on a pedestal of fame which can only be compared with that which has been accorded of late years to the idolized
Pietro Mascagni Pietro Mascagni (7 December 1863 – 2 August 1945) was an Italian composer primarily known for his operas. His 1890 masterpiece ''Cavalleria rusticana'' caused one of the greatest sensations in opera history and single-handedly ushered in the ' ...
by his fellow-countrymen."
Gianandrea Gavazzeni Gianandrea Gavazzeni (25 July 19095 February 1996) was an Italian pianist, conductor (especially of opera), composer and musicologist. Gavazzeni was born in Bergamo. For almost 50 years, starting from 1948, he was principal conductor at La Sca ...
made the same comparison: "The sudden clamors of applause, at the end of the
9th 9 (nine) is the natural number following and preceding . Evolution of the Arabic digit In the beginning, various Indians wrote a digit 9 similar in shape to the modern closing question mark without the bottom dot. The Kshatrapa, Andhra and ...
century, were just like those a decade earlier for Mascagni." Perosi worked for five
Pope The pope ( la, papa, from el, πάππας, translit=pappas, 'father'), also known as supreme pontiff ( or ), Roman pontiff () or sovereign pontiff, is the bishop of Rome (or historically the patriarch of Rome), head of the worldwide Cathol ...
s, including
Pope Pius X Pope Pius X ( it, Pio X; born Giuseppe Melchiorre Sarto; 2 June 1835 – 20 August 1914) was head of the Catholic Church from 4 August 1903 to his death in August 1914. Pius X is known for vigorously opposing modernist interpretations of C ...
who greatly fostered his rise.


Biography


Early years and education

Lorenzo Perosi was born at
Tortona Tortona (; pms, Torton-a , ; lat, Dhertona) is a ''comune'' of Piemonte, in the Province of Alessandria, Italy. Tortona is sited on the right bank of the Scrivia between the plain of Marengo and the foothills of the Ligurian Apennines. History ...
,
Piedmont it, Piemontese , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demographics1_title2 ...
, in Italy. Many sourcesWaterhouse, John C.G. "Lorenzo Perosi." Grove music online, ed. L. Macy (accessed 20 December 2006). www.grovemusic.com. give December 20 as Perosi's birthdate but recent scholarship suggests December 21 to be correct. Perosi was one of twelve children, one of six to survive infancy. Perosi hailed from an extremely musical and religious family. For nearly 200 years before him, all of Lorenzo's ancestors were church musicians. His father was Giuseppe Perosi (1849–1908), ''Maestro di Cappella'' (Choir Director) of
Tortona Tortona (; pms, Torton-a , ; lat, Dhertona) is a ''comune'' of Piemonte, in the Province of Alessandria, Italy. Tortona is sited on the right bank of the Scrivia between the plain of Marengo and the foothills of the Ligurian Apennines. History ...
Cathedral and one of Italy's most prominent church musicians. Giuseppe was the first teacher of Lorenzo as well as his other two sons, Carlo (who became a priest and then a cardinal) and Marziano (who was Maestro di Cappella at the
Duomo of Milan Milan Cathedral ( it, Duomo di Milano ; lmo, Domm de Milan ), or Metropolitan Cathedral-Basilica of the Nativity of Saint Mary ( it, Basilica cattedrale metropolitana di Santa Maria Nascente, links=no), is the cathedral church of Milan, Lombard ...
from 1930 to 1949). In Milan Lorenzo studied with respected professor Michele Saladino of the Milan Conservatory. Even when he was not enrolled at the Conservatory, Perosi kept up a correspondence course with Saladino. In 1890, 18 years old and still a student, Perosi obtained his first professional post: organist and "teacher of the piano novices" at the Abbey of Montecassino. He received his diploma from the Milan Conservatory in 1892, following which he spent an influential year of study with
Franz Xaver Haberl Franz Xaver Haberl (12 April 1840, in Oberellenbach (today Mallersdorf-Pfaffenberg), Lower Bavaria – 5 September 1910, in Ratisbon) was a German musicologist, friend of Liszt, Perosi, and Singenberger, cleric, and student of Proske. He m ...
in
Regensburg Regensburg or is a city in eastern Bavaria, at the confluence of the Danube, Naab and Regen rivers. It is capital of the Upper Palatinate subregion of the state in the south of Germany. With more than 150,000 inhabitants, Regensburg is the f ...
, at the Kirchenmusikschule that Haberl had founded in 1874. A noted musician and musicologist, Haberl was the pioneering editor of the complete works of
Palestrina Palestrina (ancient ''Praeneste''; grc, Πραίνεστος, ''Prainestos'') is a modern Italian city and ''comune'' (municipality) with a population of about 22,000, in Lazio, about east of Rome. It is connected to the latter by the Via Pren ...
and
Lassus Orlande de Lassus ( various other names; probably – 14 June 1594) was a composer of the late Renaissance. The chief representative of the mature polyphonic style in the Franco-Flemish school, Lassus stands with Giovanni Pierluigi da Pales ...
. Perosi's development was such that Haberl offered him a ''cattedra'' ("chair," or permanent teaching position) in the Kirchenmusikschule. The homesick Perosi politely declined, in favour of a post as teacher and director of sacred music at
Imola Imola (; rgn, Jômla or ) is a city and ''comune'' in the Metropolitan City of Bologna, located on the river Santerno, in the Emilia-Romagna region of northern Italy. The city is traditionally considered the western entrance to the historical re ...
. As Perosi himself explained, he "desired and prayed at length to the Lord to be able to do something for the music of God in Italy." Perosi served in Imola from November 1892, to August 1894. In 1894 Perosi went to
Solesmes Abbey Solesmes Abbey or St. Peter's Abbey, Solesmes (''Abbaye Saint-Pierre de Solesmes'') is a Benedictine monastery in Solesmes (Sarthe, France), famous as the source of the restoration of Benedictine monastic life in the country under Dom Prosper Gu ...
to study with the Gregorianists Dom André Mocquereau and
Dom Joseph Pothier Dom Joseph Pothier, O.S.B. (1835–1923) was a worldwide known French prelate, liturgist and scholar who reconstituted the Gregorian chant. Benedictine life Born in 1835 at Bouzemont, France, Dom Joseph Pothier was ordained a priest in the diocese ...
. The Renaissance polyphony he learned from Haberl, and the
Gregorian chant Gregorian chant is the central tradition of Western plainchant, a form of monophonic, unaccompanied sacred song in Latin (and occasionally Greek) of the Roman Catholic Church. Gregorian chant developed mainly in western and central Europe durin ...
he studied in Solesmes were the two pillars upon which the entire oeuvre of Perosi rested.


Years in Venice

From Imola, Perosi obtained a more important post, that of Maestro of the Cappella Marciana at San Marco's Basilica in
Venice Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400  ...
. This Venetian appointment resulted from the deep friendship between Perosi and Cardinal Giuseppe Sarto, then Patriarca di Venezia (Patriarch of Venice) but soon to be
Pope Pius X Pope Pius X ( it, Pio X; born Giuseppe Melchiorre Sarto; 2 June 1835 – 20 August 1914) was head of the Catholic Church from 4 August 1903 to his death in August 1914. Pius X is known for vigorously opposing modernist interpretations of C ...
(and still later Pope Saint Pius X). Sarto was a profound music-lover who was disturbed by the roughly hundred years (c.1800–1900) that Gregorian Chant was absent from the Church. A more operatic, entertaining style of music prevailed. Thus, Perosi found in Sarto not only a friend and kindred spirit, but also a staunch sponsor. Perosi's Venetian appointment (1894) unleashed a torrent of music that lasted at least until 1907. He continued to compose prolifically until his death, but this 13-year period produced some of his most substantial work. In 1895, Perosi became a priest, having been ordained by his good friend Cardinal Patriarch Sarto (the later Saint Pius X) himself. It should also be mentioned that St. Luigi Orione was, like Perosi, born in Tortona in 1872. The three men—Orione, Perosi, and Sarto—were all dear friends and mutual inspirers. Don Perosi was inspired by the later Pope Pius X also to infuse priestly sanctity into the music, and Perosi daily offered
Mass Mass is an intrinsic property of a body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the quantity of matter in a physical body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physics. It was found that different atoms and different elementar ...
and spent many hours in prayer.


Vatican appointment

In 1898, Cardinal Sarto used his influence with
Pope Leo XIII Pope Leo XIII ( it, Leone XIII; born Vincenzo Gioacchino Raffaele Luigi Pecci; 2 March 1810 – 20 July 1903) was the head of the Catholic Church from 20 February 1878 to his death in July 1903. Living until the age of 93, he was the second-old ...
to get Perosi the post of Maestro Perpetuo della Cappella Sistina, or Perpetual Director of the
Sistine Choir The Sistine Chapel Choir, as it is generally called in English, or officially the Coro della Cappella Musicale Pontificia Sistina in Italian, is the Pope's personal choir. It performs at papal functions in the Sistine Chapel and in any other churc ...
, in Rome. Five years later, Sarto was elected Pope Pius X. Just months after his coronation, he released a
Motu Proprio In law, ''motu proprio'' (Latin for "on his own impulse") describes an official act taken without a formal request from another party. Some jurisdictions use the term ''sua sponte'' for the same concept. In Catholic canon law, it refers to a do ...
''
Tra le sollecitudini ''Tra le sollecitudini'' (Italian for "among the concerns") was a motu proprio issued 22 November 1903 by Pope Pius X that detailed regulations for the performance of music in the Roman Catholic Church. The title is taken from the opening phrase ...
'' on sacred music. It gave Gregorian Chant a privileged status as the ideal form of liturgical music, banned women vocalists, severely restricted the use of any instrument but the organ, and prohibited the adaptation of secular music for church use. Perosi remained Maestro Perpetuo until his death over 50 years later, in spite of interruptions in his directorship. After 1907, Perosi began to suffer more intensely from psychological and neurological problems, caused by his problematic (probably
breech Breech may refer to: * Breech (firearms), the opening at the rear of a gun barrel where the cartridge is inserted in a breech-loading weapon * breech, the lower part of a pulley block * breech, the penetration of a boiler where exhaust gases leav ...
-) birth. These afflictions reached their apex in 1922; many declared him "incurable." The composer did spend many months in comparative seclusion; some sources suggest he was briefly institutionalized, although recent scholarship suggests that this was not the case, and that he did not change residence in 1922. In fact, the very next year, 1923, Perosi had fully resumed his administrative and compositional activity; in the last decade of his life, he also maintained a busy conducting schedule.


Compositions

According to biographer Graziella Merlatti, Perosi was the most prolific composer of sacred music of the 20th century. According to musicologist Arturo Sacchetti's estimate, Perosi composed 3,000–4,000 works. A great many still await publication; some have not yet been located. All of the sources mentioned in the bibliography agree that Perosi was the most influential composer of the
Cecilian Movement The Cecilian Movement for church music reform began in Germany in the second half of the 1800s as a reaction to the liberalization of the Enlightenment. The Cecilian Movement received great impetus from Regensburg, where Franz Xaver Haberl had a ...
. Despite the relative obscurity of his name today, Perosi was a prominent member of the
Giovane Scuola The giovane scuola ("young school") refers to a group of Italian composers (mostly operatic) who succeeded Verdi and flourished in the late 19th and early 20th century. The group all had close connections with the Milan Conservatory and included P ...
, of which the most important
Verismo In opera, ''verismo'' (, from , meaning "true") was a post-Romantic operatic tradition associated with Italian composers such as Pietro Mascagni, Ruggero Leoncavallo, Umberto Giordano, Francesco Cilea and Giacomo Puccini. ''Verismo'' as an ...
composers or Veristi (
Puccini Giacomo Puccini ( Lucca, 22 December 1858Bruxelles, 29 November 1924) was an Italian composer known primarily for his operas. Regarded as the greatest and most successful proponent of Italian opera after Verdi, he was descended from a long ...
, Mascagni,
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 his ...
, Giordano, and Cilea) were all considered members. An entire chapter is dedicated to Perosi in Romain Rolland's ''Musiciens d’Aujourd’hui'' (1899). Perosi was deeply admired not only by Rolland and by the above-named Veristi, but also by
Boito Arrigo Boito (; 24 February 1842 10 June 1918) (whose original name was Enrico Giuseppe Giovanni Boito and who wrote essays under the anagrammatic pseudonym of Tobia Gorrio) was an Italian poet, journalist, novelist, librettist and composer, ...
,
Toscanini Arturo Toscanini (; ; March 25, 1867January 16, 1957) was an Italian conductor. He was one of the most acclaimed and influential musicians of the late 19th and early 20th century, renowned for his intensity, his perfectionism, his ear for orch ...
, and many others. Caruso sang his music, as did Sammarco, Tagliabue,
Gigli ''Gigli'' ( ) is a 2003 American romantic comedy crime film written and directed by Martin Brest and starring Ben Affleck, Jennifer Lopez, Justin Bartha, Al Pacino, Christopher Walken, and Lainie Kazan. Despite popular media giving attention a ...
, and other great singers from that era, and also quite a few in modern times, such as
Fiorenza Cossotto Fiorenza Cossotto (born 22 April 1935) is an Italian operatic mezzo-soprano. Life and career Born on 22 April 1935, in Crescentino, Province of Vercelli, Italy, Cossotto attended the Turin Academy of Music and studied with Mercedes Llopart. Sh ...
,
Mirella Freni Mirella Freni, OMRI (, born Mirella Fregni, 27 February 1935 – 9 February 2020) was an Italian operatic soprano who had a career of 50 years and appeared at major international opera houses. She received international attention at the Gl ...
,
Renato Capecchi Renato Capecchi (born Cairo, November 6, 1923; died Milan, June 30, 1998) was an Italian baritone, actor, and opera director. He sang in the Italian premiere of Shostakovich's '' The Nose'' and Prokofiev's ''War and Peace'', and in the world pr ...
, and fellow Tortonese Giuseppe Campora. His French admirers included
Debussy (Achille) Claude Debussy (; 22 August 1862 – 25 March 1918) was a French composer. He is sometimes seen as the first Impressionist composer, although he vigorously rejected the term. He was among the most influential composers of the ...
,
Massenet Jules Émile Frédéric Massenet (; 12 May 1842 – 13 August 1912) was a French composer of the Romantic music, Romantic era best known for his operas, of which he wrote more than thirty. The two most frequently staged are ''Manon'' (1884) ...
,
Guilmant Félix-Alexandre Guilmant (; 12 March 1837 – 29 March 1911) was a French organist and composer. He was the organist of La Trinité from 1871 until 1901. A noted pedagogue, performer, and improviser, Guilmant helped found the Schola Cantor ...
and d'Indy, all of whom were impressed by the 1899 French Première of ''La Risurrezione di Cristo''. Unlike the other members of the Giovane Scuola, Perosi was significantly influenced by pre-Classical repertoire. Romain Rolland reports that Perosi said, "Great artists formerly were more eclectic than ourselves, and less fettered by their nationalities. ...We must do as they did. We must try to recreate an art in which the arts of all countries and all times are blended." In his day, Perosi was best known for his oratorios, large-scale works for chorus, soloists, and orchestra based on Latin texts. While the works can seem slow-paced today, at the time they were quite novel not only for their fusion of
Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history marking the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and covering the 15th and 16th centuries, characterized by an effort to revive and surpass ideas ...
polyphony Polyphony ( ) is a type of musical texture consisting of two or more simultaneous lines of independent melody, as opposed to a musical texture with just one voice, monophony, or a texture with one dominant melodic voice accompanied by chords, h ...
,
Gregorian chant Gregorian chant is the central tradition of Western plainchant, a form of monophonic, unaccompanied sacred song in Latin (and occasionally Greek) of the Roman Catholic Church. Gregorian chant developed mainly in western and central Europe durin ...
, and lush, Verismo melodies and orchestrations, but also for Perosi's deep-seated faith in the words that he had set. The
oratorio An oratorio () is a large musical composition for orchestra, choir, and soloists. Like most operas, an oratorio includes the use of a choir, soloists, an instrumental ensemble, various distinguishable characters, and arias. However, opera is mus ...
as a genre had been in decline in the preceding centuries, and Perosi's contributions to the canon brought him brief but significant international acclaim. In addition to the oratorios and masses for which he is best known, Perosi also wrote secular music—
symphonic poem A symphonic poem or tone poem is a piece of orchestral music, usually in a single continuous movement, which illustrates or evokes the content of a poem, short story, novel, painting, landscape, or other (non-musical) source. The German term ''T ...
s,
chamber music Chamber music is a form of classical music that is composed for a small group of instruments—traditionally a group that could fit in a palace chamber or a large room. Most broadly, it includes any art music that is performed by a small numb ...
, concertos, etc. In his youth, he also wrote pieces for organ.
Giacomo Puccini Giacomo Puccini (Lucca, 22 December 1858Bruxelles, 29 November 1924) was an Italian composer known primarily for his operas. Regarded as the greatest and most successful proponent of Italian opera after Verdi, he was descended from a long li ...
is quoted as saying that "There's more music in Perosi's head than in mine and Mascagni's put together."


See also

*
List of compositions by Lorenzo Perosi This is a list of compositions by Lorenzo Perosi according to Mario Rinaldi (1967). List of compositions Oratorios (22) *La Passione di Cristo secondo S. Marco (1897) *La Trasfigurazione di Cristo (1898) *La Resurrezione di Lazzaro (1898) *La R ...


List of major works


Oratorios

* ''La Passione di Cristo secondo S. Marco'' (1897) * ''La Trasfigurazione di Cristo'' (1898) * ''La Risurrezione di Lazzaro'' (1898) * ''La Risurrezione di Cristo'' (1898) * ''Il Natale del Redentore'' (1899) * ''La Strage degli Innocenti'' (1900) * ''Il Giudizio Universale'' (1904) * ''Transitus Animae'' (1907)


Masses and mottetti

* ''Missa In Honorem Ss. Gervasii et Protasii'' (1895) * ''Missa In Honorem Beati Ambrosii'' (1895) * ''Missa "Te Deum Laudamus"'' (1897) * ''Missa Eucharistica'' (1897) * ''Missa
rima Rima, also known as Rima the Jungle Girl, is the fictional heroine of W. H. Hudson's 1904 novel '' Green Mansions: A Romance of the Tropical Forest''. In it, Rima, a primitive girl of the shrinking rain forest of South America, meets Abel, a pol ...
Pontificalis'' (1897) * ''Messa da Requiem'' (1897) * ''Missa a Tre Voci Maschili (Missa Cerviana)'' (1898) * ''Missa "Benedicamus Domino"'' (1899) * ''Missa Secunda Pontificalis'' (1906) * ''Melodie Sacre'' (eight volumes) (1897–1904)


Perosi's successor

Perosi was succeeded as director of the Sistine Choir and Papal musician by his assistant,
monsignor Monsignor (; it, monsignore ) is an honorific form of address or title for certain male clergy members, usually members of the Roman Catholic Church. Monsignor is the apocopic form of the Italian ''monsignore'', meaning "my lord". "Monsignor" ca ...
Domenico Bartolucci (born
Borgo San Lorenzo Borgo San Lorenzo is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Metropolitan City of Florence in the Italian region Tuscany, located about northeast of Florence. As of 31 December 2004, it had a population of 18,085 and an area of .All demographics and o ...
, May 7, 1917 - 11 November 2013) in 1956, who remained at this post until 1997. Bartolucci, who was rehabilitated in 2006 under
Pope Benedict XVI Pope Benedict XVI ( la, Benedictus XVI; it, Benedetto XVI; german: link=no, Benedikt XVI.; born Joseph Aloisius Ratzinger, , on 16 April 1927) is a retired prelate of the Catholic church who served as the head of the Church and the sovereign ...
, was harshly critical of Perosi, whom he blamed for the deterioration of Church music.Magister, Sandro
"I Had a Dream: The Music of Palestrina and Gregory the Great Had Come Back"
/ref>


References


Sources

Biographies * * * * * * * * * * * * *


External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Perosi, Lorenzo 1872 births 1956 deaths 20th-century Italian composers 20th-century Italian painters 20th-century Italian Roman Catholic priests Cappella Marciana composers Cappella Marciana maestri Catholic liturgical composers Cecilian composers Classical composers of church music Italian classical composers Italian male classical composers Italian male painters Sistine Chapel Choir Milan Conservatory alumni Papal chamberlains People from Tortona Oratorio composers