1.
Palmi
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Palmi is a comune of about 19,303 inhabitants in the province of Reggio Calabria in Calabria. It is seat of the district, which includes 33 municipalities in the plain of Palmi, for centuries, the city was one of the most important cultural centers of Calabria in the literary, musical, historical and archaeological interest. In the latter lived in Saint Fantino, saint oldest of Calabria and the crypt, in addition to Palmi are celebrated two holidays of national importance. The two events are the Varia di Palmi, inserted in 2013 in the UNESCO Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity, mary of the Twelve apostles and Bagnara Calabra. Which, in the 16th century, by Gabriel Barrio was called to Parma while Lando Alberti was appointed as Palma. The municipal area was inhabited by the Bronze Age, as evidenced by findings obtained in the excavations conducted in the Cave of Pietrosa or hut remains discovered in Taureana of Palmi. From the 4th century BC and up to the 10th century, in the municipality developed on the city of Tauriana before Brettia and Roman. The latter was in 951, which was destroyed by the troops of the Emir Palermo Hasan Ibn Ali, in this way, the city took on a rectangular shape and was surrounded by walls with four imposing towers which stood extremes. In that century, the city grew in importance attracting all the trade of the southern coast of Calabria. The walls to the east fell gradually to allow the coupling to the new agglomerations were to be formed as a result of population growth, also in the 17th century the urban fabric focused around a node formed by the new Market Square. In the 18th century Palmi crossed one of the most flourishing periods of its history, until 1783, the reconstruction of the city took part following the plan prepared by Ing. G. De Cosiron. The city was placed in the capital of the district in 1806, in 1860 took the landing of Giuseppe Garibaldi and his expedition of the Thousand to Marina di Palmi, and the event had put to flight the large garrison Bourbon in town. With Unification of Italy, the district was repealed and the city was placed at the head of the district of Palmi, in 1894, the city was the epicenter of an earthquake. In 1908 Palmi was almost totally destroyed by the violent earthquake of December 28, pucci stavolgendo almost completely urban planning of the past centuries. In 1999 was established by the Province of Reggio Calabria, the Environment of the Plain, Palmi, overlooking the Tyrrhenian Sea, is located close to the slopes of mount SantElia, on a terrace overlooking a stretch of the Violet Coast. Much of the territory is formed by a series of terraced hills that rapidly degrade the sea through a system of cliffs, small beaches and cliffs. The remaining part of the area is made up, to the south by mount SantElia. The main waterway is the river marks the border Petrace north-east of the township
Palmi
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Palmi
Palmi
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View of Palmi at the beginning of the 20th century
Palmi
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The reef of the Olive.
Palmi
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The bay of Marina di Palmi
2.
Varazze
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Varazze is a comune in the Province of Savona in the Italian region Liguria, located about 30 kilometres west of Genoa and about 11 kilometres northeast of Savona in the Riviera di Ponente. Nearby in the Ligurian Apennines is the Monte Beigua with its Natural Regional Park, economy is mostly based on shipyards and tourism. The burgh grew around the former Roman station named Ad Navalia, in the Middle Ages Varazze was disputed between Savona and Genoa, due to its notable ships production. In 1227 it became an independent commune but, after a short seigniory of the Malocello, in 1525 Hugo of Moncada, admiral of emperor Charles V, was defeated here in a naval battle and taken prisoner. Varazze followed the history of Genoa until it was captured by French troops in 1798, in 1815 it became part of the Kingdom of Sardinia and, from 1861, of the newly unified Kingdom of Italy. Romanesque church of San Nazario e Celso and it includes Sienese school frescoes and a 16th-century polyptych. It has a Romanesque façade and a campanile in Gothic-Romanesque style with three orders of mullioned windows, in the interior are a polyptych by Giovanni Barbagelata and a panel by Luca Cambiaso with the Madonna and Sts. Church of Santa Maria in Latronorio, in the frazione Invrea, a pointed portal remains of the original 12th-century edifice. The interior is home to a large 13th-century fresco, eremo del Deserto, in the woodland towards the Ligurian Apennine. It is in Baroque style, being built in the 18th century, with a wall measuring 3 kilometres and including a wood. Church of San Donato, from the 5th or 9th century, remains of the medieval walls The so-called Passeggiata Europa is a naturalistic path running on the former Genoa-Ventimiglia railway, connecting Varazze to Cogoleto. It passes through rocky Maquis shrubland landscape including Aleppo Pine vegetation, Varazze is twinned with, Palmi, Italy People from Varazze include, Jacobus de Varagine, Italian chronicler, archbishop of Genoa and author of the Golden Legend. Francesco Cilea, opera composer, lived the last years of his life in Varazze, lelio Basso, anti-fascist, politician and journalist. Raimondo Spiazzi theologian, advisor to Pius XII and mariologist, lived the last years of his life in Varazze
Varazze
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Varazze
3.
Composer
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A composer is a person who creates or writes music, which can be vocal music, instrumental music or music which combines both instruments and voices. The core meaning of the term refers to individuals who have contributed to the tradition of Western classical music through creation of works expressed in written musical notation, many composers are also skilled performers, either as singers, instrumentalists, and/or conductors. Examples of composers who are well known for their ability as performers include J. S. Bach, Mozart. In many popular genres, such as rock and country. For a singer or instrumental performer, the process of deciding how to perform music that has previously composed and notated is termed interpretation. Different performers interpretations of the work of music can vary widely, in terms of the tempos that are chosen. Composers and songwriters who present their own music are interpreting, just as much as those who perform the music of others, although a musical composition often has a single author, this is not always the case. A piece of music can also be composed with words, images, or, in the 20th and 21st century, a culture eventually developed whereby faithfulness to the composers written intention came to be highly valued. This musical culture is almost certainly related to the esteem in which the leading classical composers are often held by performers. The movement might be considered a way of creating greater faithfulness to the original in works composed at a time that expected performers to improvise. In Classical music, the composer typically orchestrates her own compositions, in some cases, a pop songwriter may not use notation at all, and instead compose the song in her mind and then play or record it from memory. In jazz and popular music, notable recordings by influential performers are given the weight that written scores play in classical music. The level of distinction between composers and other musicians varies, which issues such as copyright and the deference given to individual interpretations of a particular piece of music. In the development of European classical music, the function of composing music initially did not have greater importance than that of performing it. The preservation of individual compositions did not receive attention and musicians generally had no qualms about modifying compositions for performance. In as much as the role of the composer in western art music has seen continued solidification, for instance, in certain contexts the line between composer and performer, sound designer, arranger, producer, and other roles, can be quite blurred. The term composer is often used to refer to composers of music, such as those found in classical, jazz or other forms of art. In popular and folk music, the composer is usually called a songwriter and this is distinct from a 19th-century conception of instrumental composition, where the work was represented solely by a musical score to be interpreted by performers
Composer
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French composer
Louis-Nicolas Clérambault composing at the keyboard
4.
Opera
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Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. In traditional opera, singers do two types of singing, recitative, a style and arias, a more melodic style. Opera incorporates many of the elements of theatre, such as acting, scenery. The performance is given in an opera house, accompanied by an orchestra or smaller musical ensemble. Opera is a key part of the Western classical music tradition, in the 18th century, Italian opera continued to dominate most of Europe, attracting foreign composers such as George Frideric Handel. Opera seria was the most prestigious form of Italian opera, until Christoph Willibald Gluck reacted against its artificiality with his operas in the 1760s. The first third of the 19th century saw the point of the bel canto style, with Gioachino Rossini, Gaetano Donizetti. It also saw the advent of Grand Opera typified by the works of Auber and Meyerbeer, the mid-to-late 19th century was a golden age of opera, led and dominated by Richard Wagner in Germany and Giuseppe Verdi in Italy. The popularity of opera continued through the era in Italy and contemporary French opera through to Giacomo Puccini. During the 19th century, parallel operatic traditions emerged in central and eastern Europe, the 20th century saw many experiments with modern styles, such as atonality and serialism, Neoclassicism, and Minimalism. With the rise of recording technology, singers such as Enrico Caruso, since the invention of radio and television, operas were also performed on these mediums. Beginning in 2006, a number of opera houses began to present live high-definition video transmissions of their performances in cinemas all over the world. In 2009, an opera company offered a download of a complete performance. The words of an opera are known as the libretto, some composers, notably Wagner, have written their own libretti, others have worked in close collaboration with their librettists, e. g. Mozart with Lorenzo Da Ponte. Vocal duets, trios and other ensembles often occur, and choruses are used to comment on the action, in some forms of opera, such as singspiel, opéra comique, operetta, and semi-opera, the recitative is mostly replaced by spoken dialogue. Melodic or semi-melodic passages occurring in the midst of, or instead of, the terminology of the various kinds of operatic voices is described in detail below. Over the 18th century, arias were accompanied by the orchestra. Subsequent composers have tended to follow Wagners example, though some, the changing role of the orchestra in opera is described in more detail below
Opera
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The performers from the Atlanta Opera sing the finale of
Lucia di Lammermoor. The
opera orchestra is visible in the lowered area in front of the stage.
Opera
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The
Palais Garnier of the
Paris Opéra, one of the world's most famous
opera houses.
Opera
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Claudio Monteverdi
Opera
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George Frideric Handel, 1733
5.
Adriana Lecouvreur
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Adriana Lecouvreur is an opera in four acts by Francesco Cilea to an Italian libretto by Arturo Colautti, based on the 1849 play Adrienne Lecouvreur by Eugène Scribe and Ernest Legouvé. It was first performed on 6 November 1902 at the Teatro Lirico in Milan, the first was an opera in three acts by Tommaso Benvenuti. The next two were lyric dramas in 4 acts by Edoardo Vera which premiered in Lisbon in 1858, after Cilea created his own Adriana, however, none of those by others were performed anymore and they remain largely unknown today. The opera is based on the life of the French actress Adrienne Lecouvreur, while there are some actual historical figures in the opera, the episode it recounts is largely fictional, its death-by-poisoned violets plot device often signalled as verismo operas least realistic. It is often condemned as being among the most confusing texts ever written for the stage, the running time of a typical modern performance is about 135 minutes. The opera was first performed in the United States by the San Carlo Opera Company on January 5,1907 at the French Opera House in New Orleans with Tarquinia Tarquini in the title role and it gained its Metropolitan Opera premiere on 18 November 1907. It had a run of three performances that season, however, due in large part to Carusos ill-health. Subsequently, it was revived at the Met from time to time until a new production was commissioned in 1963 and that 1963 production continued to be remounted at the same theatre, with differing casts, for the next few decades. It was in the role of this opera that the Spanish tenor Plácido Domingo made his Met debut in 1968. He sang again in Adriana Lecouvreur in February 2009, although his voice was by then in decline, the title role in Adriana Lecouvreur has always been a favorite of sopranos with large voices, which tend to sit less at the very top of their range. Angela Gheorghiu tackled the role at the Royal Opera, London, place, Paris Time,1730 Backstage at the Comédie-Française Preparing for a performance, the company bustle around Michonnet, the stage manager. The Prince de Bouillon, admirer of the actress Duclos, is with his companion, complimented, she sings Io son lumile ancella. The Prince hears that Duclos is writing a letter, and arranges for its interception, left alone with Adriana, Michonnet wants to express his love for her. However, Adriana explains she has a lover, Maurizio, a soldier in the service of the Count of Saxony and she is unaware that Maurizio is in reality the count himself. He enters and declares his love for Adriana, La dolcissima effigie and they agree to meet after the performance. Adriana gives him some violets to put in his buttonhole, the Prince and the Abbé return. They have obtained the letter from Duclos, in which she requests a meeting with Maurizio later that evening near the Princes villa, the Prince decides to arrange a party for the company at the villa in order to expose Duclos and Maurizio. He sends Ducloss letter on to Maurizio, who then cancels his appointment with Adriana, after receiving his notification on stage, she agrees to join the Princes party
Adriana Lecouvreur
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Francesco Cilea
6.
Reggio di Calabria
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Reggio di Calabria, commonly known as Reggio Calabria listen or simply Reggio in Southern Italy, is the biggest city and the most populated comune of Calabria, Southern Italy. It is the capital of the Metropolitan City of Reggio Calabria, Reggio is located on the toe of the Italian Peninsula and is separated from the island of Sicily by the Strait of Messina. It is situated on the slopes of the Aspromonte, a long, about 560,000 people live in the metropolitan area, recognised in 2015 by Italian Republic as a metropolitan city. The region has been subject to earthquakes and it is a major economic center for regional services and transport on the southern shores of the Mediterranean. Reggio, with Naples and Taranto, is home to one of the most important archaeological museums, Reggio is the seat, since 1907, of the Archeological Superintendence of Bruttium and Lucania. The city center, consisting primarily of Liberty buildings, has a development along the coast with parallel streets. The city was an Italian candidate to become the European Capital of Culture. in 2019, during its 3, 500-year history Reggio has often been renamed. Each name corresponds with the major historical phases, Recion. Erythrà, the pre-Greek settlement populated by the Italic people, Rhégion, the Greek city from the archaic age to the Magna Grecia age, from the 8th to the 3rd centuries BC. Febèa, a period under Dionysius II of Syracuse, in the 4th century BC. Regium, its first Latin name, during the 3rd and 2nd centuries BC, rhègium Julium, as a noble Roman city during the Imperial age. Rivàh, Arabic name under the domination by Emirate of Sicily. Rìsa, under the Normans, between the 11th and 12th centuries, regols, Aragonese name under the Crown of Aragon, in the late 13th century. Reggio or Regio, usual Italian name in the Middle and Modern age, règgio di Calàbria, post Italian Unification. The toponym of the city is derived from Chaldean word Rec or maybe from the Greek one régnȳmi referring to the Straits between Calabria and Sicily as a break in the land. The sculptor Léarchos was at Reggio at the end of the 15th century BC, the land around Reggio was first known as Saturnia, or Neptunia, and later Italia, which in Roman times became the name of the whole Italian peninsula. After Cumae, Reggio is one of the oldest Greek colonies in southern Italy, the colony was settled by the inhabitants of Chalcis in 730 or 743 BC on the site of the older settlement, Erythrà, meaning the Red one. This dated back to the 3rd millennium BC and was established by the Ausones
Reggio di Calabria
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Collage of Reggio di Calabria. Clockwise from top of left to right: Piazza Italia, Lungomare Falcomatà,
Riace bronze statues in Magna Grecia National Museum, View of downtown Reggio, Messina Strait from Rotonda Square, seaside coast in Reggio.
Reggio di Calabria
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Tetradrachm of Rhegion with the
Nemean Lion.
Reggio di Calabria
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Reggio in a medieval engraving.
Reggio di Calabria
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Effects of the
1908 earthquake.
7.
Vincenzo Bellini
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Vincenzo Salvatore Carmelo Francesco Bellini was an Italian opera composer, who was known for his long-flowing melodic lines for which he was named the Swan of Catania. Other sources of information come from correspondence saved by other friends, C Bellini was the quintessential composer of the Italian bel canto era of the early 19th century, and his work has been summed up by the London critic Tim Ashley as. Also hugely influential, as much admired by composers as he was by the public. Verdi raved about his long, long, long melodies, wagner, who rarely liked anyone but himself, was spellbound by Bellinis almost uncanny ability to match music with text and psychology. Liszt and Chopin professed themselves fans, of the 19th-century giants, only Berlioz demurred. Those musicologists who consider Bellini to be merely a melancholic tunesmith are now in the minority, the genuine triumph of I puritani in January 1835 in Paris capped a significant career. Certainly, Capuleti, La sonnambula, Norma, and I puritani are regularly performed today, only nine months later, Bellini died in Puteaux, France at the age of 33. Born in Catania, at the part of the Kingdom of Sicily. His grandfather, Vincenzo Tobia Bellini, had studied at the conservatory in Naples and, in Catania from 1767 forward, had been an organist and teacher, as had Vincenzos father, by the age of five, he could apparently play marvelously. The document states that Bellinis first five pieces were composed when he was just six years old and at seven he was taught Latin, modern languages, rhetoric, and philosophy. Author Herbert Weinstock regards some of these accounts as no more than myths, not being supported from other, additionally, he makes the point in regard to Bellinis apparent knowledge of languages and philosophy, Bellini never became a well-educated man. After 1816, Bellini began living with his grandfather, from whom he received his first music lessons, soon after, the young composer began to write compositions. Among them were the nine Versetti da cantarsi il Venerdi Santo, by 1818, Bellini had independently completed several additional orchestral pieces. He was ready for further study, for well-off students, this would include moving to Naples. While his family wasnt wealthy enough to support that lifestyle, Bellinis growing reputation could not be overlooked and his break came when Stefano Notabartolo, the duca di San Martino e Montalbo and his duchess, became the new intendente of the province of Catania. They encouraged the man to petition the city fathers for a stipend to support his musical studies. This was successfully achieved in May 1819 with unanimous agreement for a pension to allow him to study at the Real Collegio di Musica di San Sebastiano in Naples. The young Bellini was to live in Naples for the eight years
Vincenzo Bellini
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Vincenzo Bellini
Vincenzo Bellini
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Bellini's birthplace, the Palazzo dei Gravina Gruyas, Catania, circa 1800
Vincenzo Bellini
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Composer
Niccolò Antonio Zingarelli
Vincenzo Bellini
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Adelson e Salvini: autograph of the score
8.
Norma (opera)
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Norma is a tragedia lirica or opera in two acts by Vincenzo Bellini with libretto by Felice Romani after Norma, ou Linfanticide by Alexandre Soumet. It was first produced at La Scala in Milan on 26 December 1831, the opera is regarded as a leading example of the bel canto genre, and the soprano prayer Casta diva in Act I is justly famous. Crivelli and Company were managing both La Scala and La Fenice in Venice, and as a result, in April–May 1830 Bellini was able to negotiate a contract with them for two operas, one at each theatre. The opera for December 1831 at La Scala became Norma and while the one for the 1832 Carnival season at La Fenice became Beatrice di Tenda, Bellini and Romani then began to consider the subject of the coming autumns opera. By the summer, they had decided to base it upon Alexandre Soumets play which was being performed in Paris at around that time and they would fill the roles of Adalgisa and Pollione. Donzelli provided Bellini with precise details of his capabilities which were confirmed by a report which the Neapolitan composer Saverio Mercadante also provided. He reported in a letter to Pasta on 1 September, I hope that you find this subject to your liking. Romani believes it to be effective, and precisely because of the all-inclusive character for you. He will manipulate the situations so that they will not resemble other subjects at all, and he will retouch, even change, Norma was completed by about the end of November. While, for Romani, it became the most beautiful rose in the garland of all his work with Bellini, Bellini, now at the height of his powers, was very demanding of his librettist and required many re-writes before he was satisfied enough to set it to music. After rehearsals began on 5 December, Pasta balked at singing the Casta diva in act 1, now one of the most famous arias of the nineteenth century. She felt that it was ill adapted to her vocal abilities, at the opening night, the opera was received with what Weinstock describes as chill indifference. To Florimo on the night of the premiere, Bellini wrote Fiasco, solemn fiasco. and proceeded to tell him of the indifference of the audience and how it affected him. In addition, in a letter to his uncle on 28 December, as other commentators have also noted, some problems were innate to the structure and content of the opera, while others were external to it. Bellini discusses the tiredness of the singers as well as noting how certain numbers failed to failed to please the composer as well. But then he explains that most of the act was very effective. On Bellinis part, there had long been a feeling of rivalry with Pacini ever since the failure of his own Zaira in Parma and his return to Milan in June 1829. With no firm contract for a new opera for Bellini, Pacinis success with his Il Talismano at La Scala—where it received 16 performances—fueled this rivalry and it was only when he staged a triumphant revival of his own with Il pirata with the original cast that he felt vindicated
Norma (opera)
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Domenico Donzelli, Giuditta Pasta, and Giulia Grisi (original cast)
Norma (opera)
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Librettist Felice Romani
Norma (opera)
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Giuditta Pasta for whom the role of Norma was created
Norma (opera)
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Norma: Poster advertising the 1831 premiere
9.
Naples
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Naples is the capital of the Italian region Campania and the third-largest municipality in Italy, after Rome and Milan. In 2015, around 975,260 people lived within the administrative limits. The Metropolitan City of Naples had a population of 3,115,320, Naples is the 9th-most populous urban area in the European Union with a population of between 3 million and 3.7 million. About 4.4 million people live in the Naples metropolitan area, Naples is one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world. Bronze Age Greek settlements were established in the Naples area in the second millennium BC, a larger colony – initially known as Parthenope, Παρθενόπη – developed on the Island of Megaride around the ninth century BC, at the end of the Greek Dark Ages. Naples remained influential after the fall of the Western Roman Empire, thereafter, in union with Sicily, it became the capital of the Two Sicilies until the unification of Italy in 1861. Naples was the most-bombed Italian city during World War II, much of the citys 20th-century periphery was constructed under Benito Mussolinis fascist government, and during reconstruction efforts after World War II. The city has experienced significant economic growth in recent decades, and unemployment levels in the city, however, Naples still suffers from political and economic corruption, and unemployment levels remain high. Naples has the fourth-largest urban economy in Italy, after Milan, Rome and it is the worlds 103rd-richest city by purchasing power, with an estimated 2011 GDP of US$83.6 billion. The port of Naples is one of the most important in Europe, numerous major Italian companies, such as MSC Cruises Italy S. p. A, are headquartered in Naples. The city also hosts NATOs Allied Joint Force Command Naples, the SRM Institution for Economic Research, Naples is a full member of the Eurocities network of European cities. The city was selected to become the headquarters of the European institution ACP/UE and was named a City of Literature by UNESCOs Creative Cities Network, the Villa Rosebery, one of the three official residences of the President of Italy, is located in the citys Posillipo district. Naples historic city centre is the largest in Europe, covering 1,700 hectares and enclosing 27 centuries of history, Naples has long been a major cultural centre with a global sphere of influence, particularly during the Renaissance and Enlightenment eras. In the immediate vicinity of Naples are numerous culturally and historically significant sites, including the Palace of Caserta, culinarily, Naples is synonymous with pizza, which originated in the city. Neapolitan music has furthermore been highly influential, credited with the invention of the romantic guitar, according to CNN, the metro stop Toledo is the most beautiful in Europe and it won also the LEAF Award 2013 as Public building of the year. Naples is the Italian city with the highest number of accredited stars from the Michelin Guide, Naples sports scene is dominated by football and Serie A club S. S. C. Napoli, two-time Italian champions and winner of European trophies, who play at the San Paolo Stadium in the south-west of the city, the Phlegraean Fields around Naples has been inhabited since the Neolithic period. The earliest Greek settlements were established in the Naples area in the second millennium BC, sailors from the Greek island of Rhodes established a small commercial port called Parthenope on the island of Megaride in the ninth century BC
Naples
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Naples Napoli
Naples
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Ancient map of the Bay of Naples area from Vatican Museum
Naples
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A scene featuring the
siren Parthenope, the mythological founder of Naples.
Naples
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The
Gothic Battle of Mons Lactarius on
Vesuvius, painted by
Alexander Zick.
10.
Florence
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Florence is the capital city of the Italian region of Tuscany and of the Metropolitan City of Florence. It is the most populous city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants, Florence was a centre of medieval European trade and finance and one of the wealthiest cities of the time. It is considered the birthplace of the Renaissance, and has called the Athens of the Middle Ages. A turbulent political history includes periods of rule by the powerful Medici family, from 1865 to 1871 the city was the capital of the recently established Kingdom of Italy. The Historic Centre of Florence attracts 13 million tourists each year and it was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1982. The city is noted for its culture, Renaissance art and architecture, the city also contains numerous museums and art galleries, such as the Uffizi Gallery and the Palazzo Pitti, and still exerts an influence in the fields of art, culture and politics. Due to Florences artistic and architectural heritage, it has been ranked by Forbes as one of the most beautiful cities in the world, in 2008, the city had the 17th highest average income in Italy. Florence originated as a Roman city, and later, after a period as a flourishing trading and banking medieval commune. According to the Encyclopædia Britannica, it was politically, economically, and culturally one of the most important cities in Europe, the language spoken in the city during the 14th century was, and still is, accepted as the Italian language. Starting from the late Middle Ages, Florentine money—in the form of the gold florin—financed the development of all over Europe, from Britain to Bruges, to Lyon. Florentine bankers financed the English kings during the Hundred Years War and they similarly financed the papacy, including the construction of their provisional capital of Avignon and, after their return to Rome, the reconstruction and Renaissance embellishment of Rome. Florence was home to the Medici, one of European historys most important noble families, Lorenzo de Medici was considered a political and cultural mastermind of Italy in the late 15th century. Two members of the family were popes in the early 16th century, Leo X, catherine de Medici married king Henry II of France and, after his death in 1559, reigned as regent in France. Marie de Medici married Henry IV of France and gave birth to the future king Louis XIII, the Medici reigned as Grand Dukes of Tuscany, starting with Cosimo I de Medici in 1569 and ending with the death of Gian Gastone de Medici in 1737. The Etruscans initially formed in 200 BC the small settlement of Fiesole and it was built in the style of an army camp with the main streets, the cardo and the decumanus, intersecting at the present Piazza della Repubblica. Situated along the Via Cassia, the route between Rome and the north, and within the fertile valley of the Arno, the settlement quickly became an important commercial centre. Peace returned under Lombard rule in the 6th century, Florence was conquered by Charlemagne in 774 and became part of the Duchy of Tuscany, with Lucca as capital. The population began to again and commerce prospered
Florence
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A collage of Florence showing the
Galleria degli Uffizi (top left), followed by the
Palazzo Pitti, a sunset view of the city and the
Fountain of Neptune in the
Piazza della Signoria
Florence
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A wooden model of Florence as it would have probably looked during Roman times, showing the ancient amphitheatre
Florence
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The façade of the Cathedral
Florence
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Leonardo da Vinci statue outside the
Uffizi Gallery.
11.
Cavalleria rusticana
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Cavalleria rusticana is an opera in one act by Pietro Mascagni to an Italian libretto by Giovanni Targioni-Tozzetti and Guido Menasci, adapted from a play and short story written by Giovanni Verga. Considered one of the classic verismo operas, it premiered on 17 May 1890 at the Teatro Costanzi in Rome, since 1893, it has often been performed in a so-called Cav/Pag double-bill with Pagliacci by Ruggero Leoncavallo. In July 1888 the Milanese music publisher Edoardo Sonzogno announced an open to all young Italian composers who had not yet had an opera performed on stage. They were invited to submit a one-act opera, which would be judged by a jury of five prominent Italian critics, the best three would be staged in Rome at Sonzognos expense. Targioni-Tozzetti chose Cavalleria rusticana, a short story by Giovanni Verga. He and his colleague Guido Menasci set about composing the libretto, sending it to Mascagni in fragments, the opera was finally submitted on the last day that entries would be accepted. In all,73 operas were submitted, and on 5 March 1890, there have been two other operas based on Vergas story. The first, Mala Pasqua. by Stanislao Gastaldon, was entered in the competition as Mascagnis. However, Gastaldon withdrew it when he received an opportunity to have it performed at the Teatro Costanzi, in the 1907 Sonzogno competition, Domenico Monleone submitted an opera based on the story, and likewise called Cavalleria rusticana. The opera was not successful in the competition, but premiered later that year in Amsterdam and went on to a tour throughout Europe. Sonzogno, wishing to protect the property which Mascagnis version had become, took legal action. Monleone changed the opera ‘beyond recognition’, setting the music to a new libretto, in this form it was presented as La giostra dei falchi in 1914. Cavalleria rusticana opened on the evening of 19 May 1890 at the Teatro Costanzi in Rome to an empty house. However, the audience included not only the most authoritative music critics in the country but also Queen Margherita and it was a success from its opening notes. Following Stagnos rendition of the Siciliana behind the curtain the audience leaped to their feet with a thunderous applause not heard for many years, the number was encored as were a number of other numbers in the opera. It was a sensation, with Mascagni taking 40 curtain calls, although Mascagni had started writing two other operas earlier, Cavalleria rusticana was his first opera to be completed and performed. It remains the best known of his fifteen operas and one operetta, apart from Cavalleria rusticana, only Iris and Lamico Fritz have remained in the standard repertory, with Isabeau and Il piccolo Marat on the fringes of the Italian repertoire. Its success has been ever since its first performance
Cavalleria rusticana
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Scene from the world premiere of the opera
Cavalleria rusticana
–
Mascagni (center) with his librettists, Giovanni Targioni-Tozzetti (left) and Guido Menasci
Cavalleria rusticana
–
Gemma Bellincioni as Santuzza, and her husband, Roberto Stagno, as Turiddu, in the 1890 premiere of Cavalleria rusticana
Cavalleria rusticana
–
Illustration from an early edition of Giovanni Verga's short story Cavalleria rusticana, on which the opera is based.
12.
Teatro Verdi (Florence)
–
Teatro Verdi is a theatre in Florence, Italy. Established in 1854, it is located on Via Giuseppe Verdi on the block between Via Ghibellina and Via dei Lavatoi, the Teatro Verdi was originally called Teatro Pagliano, but was renamed in 1901 to honour Giuseppe Verdi. The theatre is located on the spot where once stood the 14th-century Stinche Prison. The theatres seats an audience of 806, including 6 reserved for wheelchairs, the stage is 14 metres deep and 18 metres wide, with a slope of 5%. The orchestra pit measures 16 metres by 4 metres, the proscenium is 12 metres wide and 17 metres high and 2 metres deep, and the stage is raised from the floor by 1.5 metres. The seven artists dressing rooms and two wards have access from Via Isola delle Stinche where there is also an infirmary
Teatro Verdi (Florence)
–
This article may be expanded with text translated from the corresponding article in Italian. (February 2010) Click [show] for important translation instructions.
13.
Milan
–
Milan is a city in Italy, capital of the Lombardy region, and the most populous metropolitan area and the second most populous comune in Italy. The population of the city proper is 1,351,000, Milan has a population of about 8,500,000 people. It is the industrial and financial centre of Italy and one of global significance. In terms of GDP, it has the largest economy among European non-capital cities, Milan is considered part of the Blue Banana and lies at the heart of one of the Four Motors for Europe. Milan is an Alpha leading global city, with strengths in the arts, commerce, design, education, entertainment, fashion, finance, healthcare, media, services, research, and tourism. Its business district hosts Italys Stock Exchange and the headquarters of the largest national and international banks, the city is a major world fashion and design capital, well known for several international events and fairs, including Milan Fashion Week and the Milan Furniture Fair. The city hosts numerous cultural institutions, academies and universities, with 11% of the national total enrolled students, Milans museums, theatres and landmarks attract over 9 million visitors annually. Milan – after Naples – is the second Italian city with the highest number of accredited stars from the Michelin Guide, the city hosted the Universal Exposition in 1906 and 2015. Milan is home to two of Europes major football teams, A. C. Milan and F. C. Internazionale, the etymology of Milan is uncertain. One theory holds that the Latin name Mediolanum comes from the Latin words medio, however, some scholars believe lanum comes from the Celtic root lan, meaning an enclosure or demarcated territory in which Celtic communities used to build shrines. Hence, Mediolanum could signify the central town or sanctuary of a Celtic tribe, indeed, the name Mediolanum is borne by about sixty Gallo-Roman sites in France, e. g. Saintes and Évreux. Alciato credits Ambrose for his account, around 400 BC, the Celtic Insubres settled Milan and the surrounding region. In 222 BC, the Romans conquered the settlement, renaming it Mediolanum, Milan was eventually declared the capital of the Western Roman Empire by Emperor Diocletian in 286 AD. Diocletian chose to stay in the Eastern Roman Empire and his colleague Maximianus ruled the Western one, immediately Maximian built several monuments, such as a large circus 470 m ×85 m, the Thermae Herculeae, a large complex of imperial palaces and several other buildings. With the Edict of Milan of 313, Emperor Constantine I guaranteed freedom of religion for Christians, after the city was besieged by the Visigoths in 402, the imperial residence was moved to Ravenna. In 452, the Huns overran the city, in 539, the Ostrogoths conquered and destroyed Milan during the Gothic War against Byzantine Emperor Justinian I. In the summer of 569, a Teutonic tribe, the Lombards, conquered Milan, some Roman structures remained in use in Milan under Lombard rule. Milan surrendered to the Franks in 774 when Charlemagne took the title of King of the Lombards, the Iron Crown of Lombardy dates from this period
Milan
–
Milan Cathedral,
La Scala opera house and
Porta Nuova business district
Milan
Milan
Milan
14.
Alphonse Daudet
–
Alphonse Daudet was a French novelist. He was the husband of Julia Daudet and father of Edmée Daudet, Daudet was born in Nîmes, France. His family, on sides, belonged to the bourgeoisie. His father, Vincent Daudet, was a silk manufacturer — a man dogged through life by misfortune, Alphonse, amid much truancy, had a depressing boyhood. In 1856 he left Lyon, where his schooldays had been mainly spent, the position proved to be intolerable and Daudet said later that for months after leaving Alès he would wake with horror, thinking he was still among his unruly pupils. These experiences and others were reflected in his novel Le Petit Chose, Alphonse took to writing, and his poems were collected into a small volume, Les Amoureuses, which met with a fair reception. Morny, Napoleon IIIs all-powerful minister, appointed him to be one of his secretaries — a post which he held till Mornys death in 1865. In 1866, Daudets Lettres de mon moulin, written in Clamart, near Paris, the first of his longer books, Le Petit Chose, did not, however, produce popular sensation. It is, in the main, the story of his own earlier years told with much grace, the year 1872 brought the famous Aventures prodigieuses de Tartarin de Tarascon, and the three-act play LArlésienne. But Fromont jeune et Risler aîné at once took the world by storm and it struck a note, not new certainly in English literature, but comparatively new in French. His creativeness resulted in characters that were real and also typical, jack, a novel about an illegitimate child, a martyr to his mothers selfishness, which followed in 1876, served only to deepen the same impression. LImmortel is an attack on the Académie française, to which august body Daudet never belonged. Daudet also wrote for children, including La Belle Nivernaise, the story of an old boat, in 1867 Daudet married Julia Allard, author of Impressions de nature et dart, LEnfance dune Parisienne, and some literary studies written under the pseudonym Karl Steen. Daudet was far from faithful, and was one of a generation of French literary syphilitics, having lost his virginity at the age of twelve, he then slept with his friends mistresses throughout his marriage. Daudet would undergo several painful treatments and operations for his subsequently paralyzing disease and his journal entries relating to the pain he experienced from tabes dorsalis are collected in the volume In the Land of Pain, translated by Julian Barnes. Daudet died in Paris on 16 December 1897, and was interred at that citys Père Lachaise Cemetery, Daudet was a monarchist and a fervent opponent of the French Republic. Daudet was also anti-Jewish, though less famously so than his son Léon, the main character of Le Nabab was inspired by a Jewish politician who was elected as a deputy for Nîmes. Daudet campaigned against him and lost, Daudet counted many literary figures amongst his friends, including Edouard Drumont, who founded the Antisemitic League of France and founded and edited the anti-Semitic newspaper La Libre Parole
Alphonse Daudet
–
Alphonse Daudet
Alphonse Daudet
–
Daudet's Mill
15.
Leopoldo Marenco
–
Leopoldo Marenco was an Italian dramatic poet, now known as a librettist. Like his father he held a government post under the Treasury Department, in 1860 he became Professor of Latin literature at Bologna University, and later occupied a similar chair at Milan University. In 1871 he retired to Turin and his plays in verse, written after 1860, are more notable for their lyrical qualities than for dramatic technique. Among them are Celeste, Tempeste alpine, Marcellina, Il falconiere di Pietra Ardena, Adelasia La famiglia, Carmela Piccarda Donati, Saffo, Rosalinda, subjects from modern and medieval history were treated by him, and he followed his fathers example in drawing from Dante. Attribution This article incorporates text from a now in the public domain, Herbermann, Charles. The entry cites, Collection of his plays, Teatro di Leopoldo Marenco Works by or about Leopoldo Marenco at Internet Archive
Leopoldo Marenco
–
Portrait of Leopoldo Marenco
16.
Enrico Caruso
–
Enrico Caruso was an Italian operatic tenor. He sang to acclaim at the major opera houses of Europe. Caruso also made approximately 260 commercially released recordings from 1902 to 1920, all of these recordings, which span most of his stage career, remain available today on CDs and as downloads and digital streams. Enrico Caruso came from a poor but not destitute background, born in Naples in the Via San Giovannello agli Ottocalli 7 on 25 February 1873, he was baptised the next day in the adjacent Church of San Giovanni e Paolo. His parents originally came from Piedimonte dAlife in the Province of Benevento, in the Province of Caserta in Campania, called Errico in accordance with the Neapolitan language, he would later adopt the formal Italian version of his given name, Enrico. This change came at the suggestion of a singing teacher, Caruso was the third of seven children and one of only three to survive infancy. There is a story of Carusos parents having had 21 children,18 of whom died in infancy. However, on the basis of research, biographers Pierre Key, Francis Robinson. Caruso himself and his brother Giovanni may have been the source of the exaggerated number, Carusos widow Dorothy also included the story in a memoir that she wrote about her husband. She quotes the tenor, speaking of his mother, Anna Caruso, twenty boys and one girl – too many. Carusos father, Marcellino, was a mechanic and foundry worker, initially, Marcellino thought his son should adopt the same trade, and at the age of 11, the boy was apprenticed to a mechanical engineer who constructed public water fountains. Caruso later worked alongside his father at the Meuricoffre factory in Naples, at his mothers insistence, he also attended school for a time, receiving a basic education under the tutelage of a local priest. He learned to write in a script and studied technical draftsmanship. During this period he sang in his church choir, and his voice showed enough promise for him to contemplate a career in music. Caruso was encouraged in his musical ambitions by his mother. To raise cash for his family, he work as a street singer in Naples. Aged 18, he used the fees he had earned by singing at an Italian resort to buy his first pair of new shoes and his progress as a paid entertainer was interrupted, however, by 45 days of compulsory military service. He completed this in 1894, resuming his voice lessons upon discharge from the army
Enrico Caruso
–
The medal that Enrico Caruso gave to
Pasquale Simonelli, his New York City impresario Obverse: Caruso facing left. Lower right: Salanto, medal maker's signature.
Enrico Caruso
–
Enrico Caruso, c. 1907
Enrico Caruso
–
Reverse:
Muse of music with lyre over PER RICORDO (memento). Around the rim:
TIFFANY & Co. 24 CARAT GOLD Y (27 mm).
Enrico Caruso
–
Enrico Caruso, c. 1910
17.
Benito Mussolini
–
Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini was an Italian politician, journalist, and leader of the National Fascist Party, ruling the country as Prime Minister from 1922 to 1943. He ruled constitutionally until 1925, when he dropped all pretense of democracy, known as Il Duce, Mussolini was the founder of Italian Fascism. In 1912 Mussolini was the member of the National Directorate of the Italian Socialist Party. Mussolini was expelled from the PSI for withdrawing his support for the stance on neutrality in World War I. He served in the Royal Italian Army during the war until he was wounded and discharged in 1917, Mussolini denounced the PSI, his views now centering on nationalism instead of socialism, and later founded the fascist movement. Following the March on Rome in October 1922 he became the youngest Prime Minister in Italian history until the appointment of Matteo Renzi in February 2014, within five years he had established dictatorial authority by both legal and extraordinary means, aspiring to create a totalitarian state. Mussolini remained in power until he was deposed by King Victor Emmanuel III in 1943, a few months later, he became the leader of the Italian Social Republic, a German client regime in northern Italy, he held this post until his death in 1945. Mussolini had sought to delay a major war in Europe until at least 1942, however, Germany invaded Poland on 1 September 1939, resulting in declarations of war by France and the United Kingdom and starting World War II. In the summer of 1941 Mussolini sent Italian forces to participate in the invasion of the Soviet Union, and war with the United States followed in December. On 24 July 1943, soon after the start of the Allied invasion of Italy, the Grand Council of Fascism voted against him, on 12 September 1943, Mussolini was rescued from prison in the Gran Sasso raid by German special forces. In late April 1945, with total defeat looming, Mussolini attempted to escape north and his body was then taken to Milan, where it was hung upside down at a service station for public viewing and to provide confirmation of his demise. Mussolini was born in Dovia di Predappio, a town in the province of Forlì in Romagna on 29 July 1883. During the Fascist era, Predappio was dubbed Duces town, pilgrims went to Predappio and Forlì, to see the birthplace of Mussolini. His father, Alessandro Mussolini, was a blacksmith and a Socialist, while his mother, Benito was the eldest of his parents three children. His siblings Arnaldo and Edvige followed, as a young boy, Mussolini would spend some time helping his father in his smithy. His fathers political outlook combined views of anarchist figures like Carlo Cafiero and Mikhail Bakunin, the military authoritarianism of Garibaldi, in 1902, at the anniversary of Garibaldis death, Benito Mussolini made a public speech in praise of the republican nationalist. The conflict between his parents about religion meant that, unlike most Italians, Mussolini was not baptized at birth, as a compromise with his mother, Mussolini was sent to a boarding school run by Salesian monks. After joining a new school, Mussolini achieved good grades, in 1902, Mussolini emigrated to Switzerland, partly to avoid military service
Benito Mussolini
–
Benito Mussolini
Benito Mussolini
–
Birthplace of Benito Mussolini in
Predappio, now used as a museum
Benito Mussolini
–
Mussolini's father, Alessandro
Benito Mussolini
–
Mussolini's mother, Rosa
18.
Arturo Colautti
–
Arturo Colautti was an Italian journalist, polemicist and librettist. He was a supporter of Italian irredentism for his native Dalmatia. He was interested early in journalism, at the age of 17 he founded the newspaper Il Progresso. At that time he studied at the Universities of Vienna and Graz, majoring in political science and he thereafter went to Fiume to direct La Bilancia, to return again to his native Zara to direct Il Dalmata from 1872-74. He relocated to Spalato in 1876, where he founded the magazine of culture and literature, the magazine did not last long, because strongly pro-Italian and related to Antonio Bajamonti. In the same year, he was asked to direct LAvvenire, following the publication of an anti-Austrian article on his newspaper, in September 1880, Colautti was attacked by a group of soldiers that rendered him impaired for a few months. He first settled in Padua, where he founded L’Euganeo, then in Milan, Colautti founded the Corriere del Mattino in Naples, then became its director and remained there for fifteen years, after which he undertook the direction of the Corriere di Napoli. In the many years spent in Naples, he wrote hundreds of articles, some of his operatic librettos were set to music. Colautti was a writer and vehement polemicist. He also wrote a composition in seven sonnets, Annie, for Annie Vivanti. He dueled with Matteo Renato Imbriani, for the duration of the exile, Colautti maintained close contacts with the Dalmatian irredentists and actively participated nationally in various events and conferences. At the outbreak of World War I, Colautti was one of the many Dalmatian Italian interventionists, for matters of public order, he had no public honors, and his body was buried with a private ceremony at the cemetery of Verano. Dalmazia, Del Bianco, Udine 1992 G. Paoli Palcich, Arturo Colautti, la vita e le opere, in La Rivista Dalmatica, Roma 1984 Works by or about Arturo Colautti at Internet Archive
Arturo Colautti
–
Arturo Colautti
19.
Paris
–
Paris is the capital and most populous city of France. It has an area of 105 square kilometres and a population of 2,229,621 in 2013 within its administrative limits, the agglomeration has grown well beyond the citys administrative limits. By the 17th century, Paris was one of Europes major centres of finance, commerce, fashion, science, and the arts, and it retains that position still today. The aire urbaine de Paris, a measure of area, spans most of the Île-de-France region and has a population of 12,405,426. It is therefore the second largest metropolitan area in the European Union after London, the Metropole of Grand Paris was created in 2016, combining the commune and its nearest suburbs into a single area for economic and environmental co-operation. Grand Paris covers 814 square kilometres and has a population of 7 million persons, the Paris Region had a GDP of €624 billion in 2012, accounting for 30.0 percent of the GDP of France and ranking it as one of the wealthiest regions in Europe. The city is also a rail, highway, and air-transport hub served by two international airports, Paris-Charles de Gaulle and Paris-Orly. Opened in 1900, the subway system, the Paris Métro. It is the second busiest metro system in Europe after Moscow Metro, notably, Paris Gare du Nord is the busiest railway station in the world outside of Japan, with 262 millions passengers in 2015. In 2015, Paris received 22.2 million visitors, making it one of the top tourist destinations. The association football club Paris Saint-Germain and the rugby union club Stade Français are based in Paris, the 80, 000-seat Stade de France, built for the 1998 FIFA World Cup, is located just north of Paris in the neighbouring commune of Saint-Denis. Paris hosts the annual French Open Grand Slam tennis tournament on the red clay of Roland Garros, Paris hosted the 1900 and 1924 Summer Olympics and is bidding to host the 2024 Summer Olympics. The name Paris is derived from its inhabitants, the Celtic Parisii tribe. Thus, though written the same, the name is not related to the Paris of Greek mythology. In the 1860s, the boulevards and streets of Paris were illuminated by 56,000 gas lamps, since the late 19th century, Paris has also been known as Panam in French slang. Inhabitants are known in English as Parisians and in French as Parisiens and they are also pejoratively called Parigots. The Parisii, a sub-tribe of the Celtic Senones, inhabited the Paris area from around the middle of the 3rd century BC. One of the areas major north-south trade routes crossed the Seine on the île de la Cité, this place of land and water trade routes gradually became a town
Paris
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In the 1860s Paris streets and monuments were illuminated by 56,000 gas lamps, making it literally "The City of Light."
Paris
Paris
–
Gold coins minted by the Parisii (1st century BC)
Paris
–
The
Palais de la Cité and
Sainte-Chapelle, viewed from the Left Bank, from the
Très Riches Heures du duc de Berry (month of June) (1410)
20.
Massenet
–
Jules Émile Frédéric Massenet 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 and Werther and he also composed oratorios, ballets, orchestral works, incidental music, piano pieces, songs and other music. While still a schoolboy, Massenet was admitted to Frances principal music college, there he studied under Ambroise Thomas, whom he greatly admired. After winning the top musical prize, the Prix de Rome, in 1863, he composed prolifically in many genres. Massenet had a sense of the theatre and of what would succeed with the Parisian public. Despite some miscalculations, he produced a series of successes that made him the composer of opera in France in the late 19th. Like many prominent French composers of the period, Massenet became a professor at the Conservatoire and he taught composition there from 1878 until 1896, when he resigned after the death of the director, Ambroise Thomas. Among his students were Gustave Charpentier, Ernest Chausson, Reynaldo Hahn, by the time of his death, Massenet was regarded by many critics as old-fashioned and unadventurous although his two best-known operas remained popular in France and abroad. After a few decades of neglect, his works began to be favourably reassessed during the mid-20th century, Massenet was born at Montaud, then an outlying hamlet and now a part of the city of Saint-Étienne, in the Loire. He was the youngest of the four children of Alexis Massenet and his second wife Eléonore-Adelaïde née Royer de Marancour, Massenet senior was a prosperous ironmonger, his wife was a talented amateur musician who gave Jules his first piano lessons. By early 1848 the family had moved to Paris, where settled in a flat in Saint-Germain-des-Prés. Massenet was educated at the Lycée Saint-Louis and, from either 1851 or 1853 and his biographer Demar Irvine dates the audition and admission as January 1853. Both sources agree that Massenet continued his education at the lycée in tandem with his musical studies. At the Conservatoire Massenet studied solfège with Augustin Savard and the piano with François Laurent and he pursued his studies, with modest distinction, until the beginning of 1855, when family concerns disrupted his education. Alexis Massenets health was poor, and on advice he moved from Paris to Chambéry in the south of France. On his return he lodged with relations in Montmartre and resumed his studies, the familys finances were no longer comfortable, and to support himself Massenet took private piano students and played as a percussionist in theatre orchestras. His work in the pit gave him a good working knowledge of the operas of Gounod and other composers, classic. He gained some work as a piano accompanist, in the course of which he met Wagner who, in 1861 Massenets music was published for the first time, the Grande Fantasie de Concert sur le Pardon de Ploërmel de Meyerbeer, a virtuoso piano work in nine sections
Massenet
–
Massenet photographed by
Pierre Petit, 1880
Massenet
–
Massenet's birthplace in Montaud, photographed c. 1908
Massenet
–
Massenet in the early 1860s
Massenet
–
Auditorium of the
Opéra-Comique
21.
La Scala
–
La Scala is an opera house in Milan, Italy. The theatre was inaugurated on 3 August 1778 and was known as the Nuovo Regio Ducale Teatro alla Scala. The premiere performance was Antonio Salieris Europa riconosciuta, most of Italys greatest operatic artists, and many of the finest singers from around the world, have appeared at La Scala during the past 200 years. The theatre is regarded as one of the opera and ballet theatres in the world and is home to the La Scala Theatre Chorus, La Scala Theatre Ballet. The theatre also has a school, known as the La Scala Theatre Academy. La Scalas season traditionally opens on 7 December, Saint Ambroses Day, all performances must end before midnight, and long operas start earlier in the evening when necessary. La Scala also hosts the Accademia dArti e Mestieri dello Spettacolo and its goal is to train a new generation of young musicians, technical staff, and dancers. A fire destroyed the theatre, the Teatro Regio Ducale, on 25 February 1776. The neoclassical architect Giuseppe Piermarini produced a design but it was rejected by Count Firmian. A second plan was accepted in 1776 by Empress Maria Theresa, the new theatre was built on the former location of the church of Santa Maria alla Scala, from which the theatre gets its name. The church was deconsecrated and demolished, and over a period of two years the theatre was completed by Pietro Marliani, Pietro Nosetti and Antonio and Giuseppe Fe. The theatre had a total of 3,000 or so seats organized into 678 pit-stalls and its stage is one of the largest in Italy. Building expenses were covered by the sale of palchi, which were decorated by their owners. La Scala soon became the preeminent meeting place for noble and wealthy Milanese people, in the tradition of the times, the platea had no chairs and spectators watched the shows standing up. The orchestra was in sight, as the golfo mistico had not yet been built. Above the boxes, La Scala has a gallery—called the loggione—where the less wealthy can watch the performances, the gallery is typically crowded with the most critical opera aficionados, known as the loggionisti, who can be ecstatic or merciless towards singers perceived successes or failures. As with most of the theatres at that time, La Scala was also a casino, conditions in the auditorium, too, could be frustrating for the opera lover, as Mary Shelley discovered in September 1840, At the Opera they were giving Otto Nicolais Templario. La Scala was originally illuminated with 84 oil lamps mounted on the palcoscenico, to prevent the risks of fire, several rooms were filled with hundreds of water buckets
La Scala
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Exterior of La Scala in 1976
La Scala
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The Teatro alla Scala in Milan, by night
La Scala
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A nineteenth-century depiction of the Teatro alla Scala
La Scala
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Interior of the opera house in 1900
22.
Arturo Toscanini
–
Arturo Toscanini was an Italian conductor. He was one of the most acclaimed musicians of the late 19th and of the 20th century, renowned for his intensity, his perfectionism, his ear for detail and sonority. He was at times the music director of La Scala in Milan, the Metropolitan Opera in New York. Toscanini was born in Parma, Emilia-Romagna, and won a scholarship to the music conservatory. Living conditions at the conservatory were harsh, for example, his diet consisted almost completely of fish. When he became successful, he never ate anything that came from the sea and he joined the orchestra of an opera company, with which he toured South America in 1886. Carlo Superti and Aristide Venturi tried unsuccessfully to finish the work, in desperation, the singers suggested the name of their assistant Chorus Master, who knew the whole opera from memory. The public was taken by surprise, at first by the youth and sheer aplomb of this unknown conductor, for the rest of that season, Toscanini conducted eighteen operas, all with absolute success. Thus began his career as a conductor, at age 19, upon returning to Italy, Toscanini set out on a dual path for some time. He continued to conduct, his first appearance in Italy being at the Teatro Carignano in Turin, on November 4,1886, in the world premiere of the revised version of Alfredo Catalanis Edmea. This was the beginning of Toscaninis lifelong friendship and championing of Catalani, however, he also returned to his chair in the cello section, and participated as cellist in the world premiere of Verdis Otello under the composers supervision. The composer was impressed when Toscanini consulted him personally about Verdis Te Deum. Verdi said that he had left it out for fear that certain interpreters would have exaggerated the marking, gradually, Toscaninis reputation as an operatic conductor of unusual authority and skill supplanted his cello career. In the following decade, he consolidated his career in Italy, entrusted with the premieres of Puccinis La bohème. In 1896, Toscanini conducted his first symphonic concert and he exhibited a considerable capacity for hard work, conducting 43 concerts in Turin in 1898. By 1898, Toscanini was Principal Conductor at La Scala, where he remained until 1908, returning as Music Director and he brought the La Scala Orchestra to the United States on a concert tour in 1920/21, during which he made his first recordings. Outside Europe, Toscanini conducted at the Metropolitan Opera in New York as well as the New York Philharmonic Orchestra and he toured Europe with the New York Philharmonic in 1930. At each performance, he and the orchestra were acclaimed by critics, Toscanini was the first non-German conductor to appear at Bayreuth, and the New York Philharmonic was the first non-German orchestra to play there
Arturo Toscanini
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Toscanini's family tomb at the
Monumental Cemetery of Milan in 2015
Arturo Toscanini
–
Toscanini in 1908.
Arturo Toscanini
–
Arturo Toscanini poses on a ship's deck.
Arturo Toscanini
–
Toscanini lifts his hat for the camera on a ship's deck.
23.
Victorien Sardou
–
Victorien Sardou was a French dramatist. He is best remembered today for his development, along with Eugène Scribe, Victorien was born in rue Beautreillis, Paris on 5 September 1831. The Sardous were settled at Le Cannet, a village near Cannes, a nights frost killed all the trees and the family was ruined. Victoriens father, Antoine Léandre Sardou, came to Paris in search of employment, with all these occupations, he hardly succeeded in making a livelihood, and when he retired to his native country, Victorien was left on his own resources. He had begun studying medicine, but had to desist for want of funds and he taught French to foreign pupils, he also gave lessons in Latin, history and mathematics to students, and wrote articles for cheap encyclopaedias. At the same time he was trying to make headway in the literary world. His talents had been encouraged by an old bas-bleu, Mme de Bawl, who had published novels and enjoyed some reputation in the days of the Restoration, but she could do little for her protégé. Victorien Sardou made efforts to attract the attention of Mlle Rachel, La Taverne was withdrawn after five nights. Another drama by Sardou, Bernard Palissy, was accepted at the same theatre, a Canadian play, Fleur de Liane, would have been produced at the Ambigu but for the death of the manager. Sardou submitted to Adolphe Lemoine, manager of the Gymnase, a play entitled Paris à lenvers, montigny thought fit to consult Eugène Scribe, who was revolted by the scene in question. In 1857, Sardou felt the pangs of actual want, and he was living in poverty and was dying in his garret, surrounded with his rejected manuscripts. A lady who was living in the same house unexpectedly came to his assistance and her name was Mlle de Brécourt. She had theatrical connections, and was a favourite of Mlle Déjazet. She nursed him, cured him, and, when he was well again, Déjazet had just established the theatre named after her, and every show after La Taverne was put on at this theatre. Fortune began to smile on the author, garat and Gervais were done at Theatre des Varlétés and in English at Criterion Theatre in London. Les Pattes de mouche obtained a similar success at the Gymnase, fédora was written expressly for Sarah Bernhardt, as were many of his later plays. This was later adapted by Umberto Giordano, and he made an opera entitled Fedora, the play dealt with nihilism, which was coined from Fathers and Sons by Ivan Turgenev. He struck a new vein by introducing a strong element in some of his dramatic romances
Victorien Sardou
–
Sardou in 1880
Victorien Sardou
–
Sarah Bernhardt in the title role of Sardou's Théodora in 1884.
Victorien Sardou
–
Sardou's grave in Marly-le-roi
Victorien Sardou
–
Sardou in 1901.
24.
Renato Simoni
–
Renato Simoni was an Italian journalist, playwright, writer and theatrical critic noted for his collaboration work with Giuseppe Adami for Giacomo Puccinis Turandot. Simonis career was devoted to theater. His first job was as an editor and a critic at LAdige, in 1902, he wrote one of his best comedies, La Vedova, followed by Carlo Gozzi, Tramondo, Congedo and Il matrimonio di Casanova. In 1914, he succeeded John Pozza as an author and critic at Corriere della Sera newspaper and he worked for the company until the end of his life. He also held a position as a director for a weekly magazine, all his writings and critics were collected in volumes by Lucio Ridenti in 1951 under the title Trentanni di cronaca drammatica and was published in 1960. In 1952, Simoni donated 40,000 volumes of his writings and reviews to the Museum of La Scala and dedicated them to his mother, the museum library was named Biblioteca Livia Simoni after his mother. Simoni died in Milan in 1952 and is buried at the citys Monumental Cemetery, Simoni short biography Livia Simoni Library One of Simoni’s collaboration work
Renato Simoni
–
Simoni's grave at the
Monumental Cemetery of Milan, Italy
25.
Symphonic poem
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The German term Tondichtung appears to have been first used by the composer Carl Loewe in 1828. The Hungarian composer Franz Liszt first applied the term Symphonische Dichtung to his 13 works in this vein and this intention to inspire listeners was a direct consequence of Romanticism, which encouraged literary, pictorial and dramatic associations in music. The symphonic poem remained a popular composition form from the 1840s until the 1920s, some piano and chamber works, such as Arnold Schoenbergs string sextet Verklärte Nacht, have similarities with symphonic poems in their overall intent and effect. However, the symphonic poem is generally accepted to refer to orchestral works. A symphonic poem may stand on its own, or it can be part of a series combined into a suite or cycle. For example, The Swan of Tuonela is a poem from Jean Sibeliuss Lemminkäinen Suite. While the terms symphonic poem and tone poem have often used interchangeably, some composers such as Richard Strauss. The musicologist Mark Bonds suggests that in the quarter of the 19th century. While many composers continued to write symphonies during the 1820s and 30s, the real question was not so much whether symphonies could still be written, but whether the genre could continue to flourish and grow. Felix Mendelssohn, Robert Schumann and Niels Gade achieved successes with their symphonies, nevertheless, composers began to explore the more compact form of the concert overture. as a vehicle within which to blend musical, narrative and pictoral ideas. Examples included Mendelssohns overtures A Midsummer Nights Dream and The Hebrides, between 1845 and 1847, the Belgian composer César Franck wrote an orchestral piece based on Victor Hugos poem Ce quon entend sur la montagne. The work exhibits characteristics of a poem, and some musicologists, such as Norman Demuth and Julien Tiersot, consider it the first of its genre. However, Franck did not publish or perform his piece, neither did he set about defining the genre, Liszts determination to explore and promote the symphonic poem gained him recognition as the genres inventor. The Hungarian composer Franz Liszt desired to expand single-movement works beyond the concert overture form, the opening movement, with its interplay of contrasting themes under sonata form, was normally considered the most important part of the symphony. To achieve his objectives, Liszt needed a more flexible method of developing musical themes than sonata form would allow, Liszt found his method through two compositional practices, which he used in his symphonic poems. The first practice was cyclic form, a procedure established by Beethoven in which movements are not only linked. Liszt took Beethovens practice one step further, combining separate movements into a single-movement cyclic structure, many of Liszts mature works follow this pattern, of which Les Préludes is one of the best-known examples. The second practice was thematic transformation, a type of variation in one theme is changed, not into a related or subsidiary theme but into something new, separate
Symphonic poem
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Vyšehrad over the Vltava River, evoked musically in the first poem of Smetana's
Má vlast.
Symphonic poem
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Franz Liszt in 1858
Symphonic poem
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Hans Baldung Grien, Witches, woodcut, 1508. Mussorgsky's Night on Bald Mountain was meant to evoke a witches' sabbath.
Symphonic poem
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Honoré Daumier, Painting of Don Quixote, c.1855-1865
26.
Giuseppe Verdi
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Giuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi was an Italian opera composer. Verdi was born near Busseto to a family of moderate means. Verdi came to dominate the Italian opera scene after the era of Bellini, Donizetti and Rossini, whose works influenced him. In his early operas Verdi demonstrated a sympathy with the Risorgimento movement which sought the unification of Italy and he also participated briefly as an elected politician. He surprised the world by returning, after his success with the opera Aida. The baptismal register, prepared on 11 October 1813, lists his parents Carlo, additionally, it lists Verdi as being born yesterday, but since days were often considered to begin at sunset, this could have meant either 9 or 10 October. Verdi himself, following his mother, always celebrated his birthday on 9 October, Verdi had a younger sister, Giuseppa, who died aged 17 in 1833. From the age of four, Verdi was given lessons in Latin and Italian by the village schoolmaster, Baistrocchi. After learning to play the organ, he showed so much interest in music that his parents provided him with a spinet. Verdis gift for music was apparent by 1820–21 when he began his association with the local church, serving in the choir, acting as an altar boy for a while. After Baistrocchis death, Verdi, at the age of eight, Carlo Verdi was energetic in furthering his sons education. something which Verdi tended to hide in later life. He picture emerges of youthful precocity eagerly nurtured by a father and of a sustained, sophisticated. Verdi returned to Busseto regularly to play the organ on Sundays, at age 11, Verdi received schooling in Italian, Latin, the humanities, and rhetoric. By the time he was 12, he began lessons with Ferdinando Provesi, maestro di cappella at San Bartolomeo, director of the music school. This information comes from the Autobiographical Sketch which Verdi dictated to the publisher Giulio Ricordi late in life, in 1879, written, understandably, with the benefit of hindsight, it is not always reliable when dealing with issues more contentious than those of his childhood. The other director of the Philharmonic Society was Antonio Barezzi, a grocer and distiller. The young Verdi did not immediately become involved with the Philharmonic, by June 1827, he had graduated with honours from the Ginnasio and was able to focus solely on music under Provesi. By 1829–30, Verdi had established himself as a leader of the Philharmonic, none of us could rival him reported the secretary of the organisation, Giuseppe Demaldè
Giuseppe Verdi
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Giuseppe Verdi Portrait by
Giovanni Boldini, 1886
Giuseppe Verdi
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Verdi's childhood home at Le Roncole.
Giuseppe Verdi
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Antonio Barezzi, Verdi's patron and later father-in-law
Giuseppe Verdi
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Margherita Barezzi, Verdi's first wife.
27.
Sem Benelli
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Sem Benelli was an Italian playwright, essayist and librettist. He was a native of Prato, the play The Jesters Supper was a great New York theatre success in 1919 under the title The Jest, starring Lionel and John Barrymore. Ever since Pezzaglia carried on doing the role again and again. He wrote the screenplay for the 1942 film The Jesters Supper based on his own famous play
Sem Benelli
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This article may be expanded with text translated from the corresponding article in Italian. (September 2011) Click [show] for important translation instructions.
28.
Genoa
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Genoa is the capital of the Italian region of Liguria and the sixth-largest city in Italy. In 2015,594,733 people lived within the administrative limits. As of the 2011 Italian census, the Province of Genoa, over 1.5 million people live in the wider metropolitan area stretching along the Italian Riviera. Genoa has been nicknamed la Superba due to its glorious past, part of the old town of Genoa was inscribed on the World Heritage List in 2006. The citys rich history in notably its art, music. It is the birthplace of Christopher Columbus, Niccolò Paganini, Giuseppe Mazzini, Genoa, which forms the southern corner of the Milan-Turin-Genoa industrial triangle of north-west Italy, is one of the countrys major economic centres. The city has hosted massive shipyards and steelworks since the 19th century, the Bank of Saint George, founded in 1407, is among the oldest in the world and has played an important role in the citys prosperity since the middle of the 15th century. Today a number of leading Italian companies are based in the city, including Fincantieri, Selex ES, Ansaldo Energia, Ansaldo STS, Edoardo Raffinerie Garrone, Piaggio Aerospace, the Genoa area has been inhabited since the fifth or fourth millennium BC. In ancient times this area was frequented and inhabited by Ligures, Phoenicians, Phocaeans, Greeks, and Etruscans. The city cemetery, dating from the 6th and 5th centuries BC, testifies to the occupation of the site by the Greeks, but the fine harbour probably saw use much earlier, perhaps by the Etruscans. In the 5th century BC was founded the first oppidum at the foot of the today called the Castle Hill which now is inside the medieval old town. The ancient Ligurian city was known as Stalia, so referred to by Artemidorus Ephesius and Pomponius Mela, Ligurian Stalia was overshadowed by the powerful Marseille and Vada Sabatia, near modern Savona. Stalia had an alliance with Rome through a foedus aequum in the course of the Second Punic War, the Carthaginians accordingly destroyed it in 209 BC. The town was rebuilt and, after the Carthaginian Wars ended in 146 BC. it received municipal rights, the original castrum thenceforth expanded towards the current areas of Santa Maria di Castello and the San Lorenzo promontory. Trades included skins, wood, and honey, goods were shipped to the mainland, up to major cities like Tortona and Piacenza. Among the archeological remains from the Roman period, an amphitheatre was also found, another theory traces the name to the Etruscan word Kainua which means New City and still another from the Latin word ianua, related to the name of the God Janus, meaning door or passage. The latter is in reference to its position at the centre of the Ligurian coastal arch. The Latin name, oppidum Genua, is recorded by Pliny the Elder as part of the Augustean Regio IX Liguria, after the fall of the Western Roman Empire, the Ostrogoths occupied Genoa
Genoa
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A collage of Genoa, clockwise from top left:
Torre della Lanterna,
Piazza de Ferrari, Galleria Mazzini, Brigata Liguria Street, view of San Teodoro from
Port of Genoa
Genoa
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The Polcevera bronze tablet, evidence of the Roman and pre-Roman past of Genoa.
Genoa
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Portrait of
Christopher Columbus by
Ridolfo Ghirlandaio
Genoa
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The iconic
Lanterna, renaissance lighthouse of Genoa built in 1543
29.
Palermo
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Palermo is a city of Southern Italy, the capital of both the autonomous region of Sicily and the Metropolitan City of Palermo. The city is noted for its history, culture, architecture and gastronomy, playing an important role throughout much of its existence, Palermo is located in the northwest of the island of Sicily, right by the Gulf of Palermo in the Tyrrhenian Sea. The city was founded in 734 BC by the Phoenicians as Ziz, Palermo then became a possession of Carthage, before becoming part of the Roman Republic, the Roman Empire and eventually part of the Byzantine Empire, for over a thousand years. The Greeks named the city Panormus meaning complete port, from 831 to 1072 the city was under Arab rule during the Emirate of Sicily when the city first became a capital. The Arabs shifted the Greek name into Balarme, the root for Palermos present-day name, eventually Sicily would be united with the Kingdom of Naples to form the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies until the Italian unification of 1860. The population of Palermo urban area is estimated by Eurostat to be 855,285, in the central area, the city has a population of around 676,000 people. The inhabitants are known as Palermitani or, poetically, panormiti, the languages spoken by its inhabitants are the Italian language, Sicilian language and the Palermitano dialect. Palermo is Sicilys cultural, economic and touristic capital and it is a city rich in history, culture, art, music and food. Palermo is the main Sicilian industrial and commercial center, the industrial sectors include tourism, services, commerce. Palermo currently has an airport, and a significant underground economy. In fact, for cultural, artistic and economic reasons, Palermo was one of the largest cities in the Mediterranean and is now among the top tourist destinations in both Italy and Europe. It is the seat of the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Arab-Norman Palermo. The city is going through careful redevelopment, preparing to become one of the major cities of the Euro-Mediterranean area. Roman Catholicism is highly important in Palermitano culture, the Patron Saint of Palermo is Santa Rosalia whose Feast Day is celebrated on 15 July. The area attracts significant numbers of each year and is widely known for its colourful fruit, vegetable and fish markets at the heart of Palermo, known as Vucciria, Ballarò. Palermo lies in a basin, formed by the Papireto, Kemonia, the basin was named the Conca dOro by the Arabs in the 9th century. The city is surrounded by a range which is named after the city itself. These mountains face the Tyrrhenian Sea, Palermo is home to a natural port and offers excellent views to the sea, especially from Monte Pellegrino
Palermo
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Clockwise from top: Quattro Canti in Maqueda Street, San Domenico Church, Pretoria Square and Santa Caterina Church, and view of downtown Palermo from Mount Pellegrino
Palermo
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View of Palermo from Monte Pellegrino.
Palermo
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Monte Pellegrino pictured at the end of the 19th century; the mountain is visible from everywhere in the city
Palermo
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Mesolithic cave art at
Addaura
