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Opera: The Creative Expression of Italy

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 February 2024

John Navone SJ
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...so long as people keep getting born Greek or French or Italian their culture-production will bear the unmistakable signature of the place.

Lawrence Durrell

A map of Italy showing the birthplaces of its principal composers reveals that nine of its twenty regions can boast of no one: Piedmont, Valle d’Aosta, Trentino-Alto Adige, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Umbria, Abruzzi, Molise, Basilicata, and Sardinia. Four of the nine are border regions; most are mountainous. Two regions have produced one composer: Calabria, Cilea (1866-1950); Liguria, Paganini (1782-1840) .Three regions have produced two: Sicily, Alessandro Scarlatti (1660-1725) and Bellini (1801-1835); Puglia, Paisiello (1740-1816) and Giordano (1867-1948); Latium, Palestrina (1525-1594) and Clementi (1752-1832). Two regions have produced three: Marche, Pergolesi (1710-1736), Spontini (1774-1851), Rossini (1792-1868); Campania, Domenico Scarlatti (1685-1757), Cimarosa (1749-1801), Leoncavallo 1857-1919). Emilia-Romagna produced four, Frescobaldi (1583-1643), Corelli (1653-1713), Verdi (1813-1901), Respighi (1879-1936). Two regions have produced five: Veneto, Gabrieli (1557-1612), Vivaldi (1678-1741), Salieri (1750-1825), Boito (1842-1918), Wolf-Ferrari (1876- 1948); Lombardy, Monteverdi (1567-1643), Cavalli (1602-1676), Donizetti (1797-1848), Ponchielli (1834-1886), Menotti (1911- ). Tuscany is in first place with seven: Lully (1632-1687), Cherubini (1760-1842), Boccherini (1743-1805), Puccini (1858-1924), Mascagni (1863-1945), Busoni (1866-1924), Castelnuovo-Tedesco (1895-1968).

In terms of the Italian boundaries fixed by the Congress of Vienna (1815), eight of the above composers would come from both the Papal States and the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies; one would come from the Kingdom of Sardinia.

Type
Research Article
Information
New Blackfriars , Volume 74 , Issue 874 , September 1993 , pp. 400 - 407
Copyright
Copyright © 1993 Provincial Council of the English Province of the Order of Preachers

References

1 Gammond, Peter, The Harmony Illustrated Encyclopedia of Classical Music (New York, 1988) p. 130–131Google Scholar.

2 Gammond, Peter, The Harmony Illustrated Encyclopedia of Classical Music (New York, 1988) p. 90Google Scholar.

3 Barzini, Luigi, The Italians (London, 1964) p. 307.Google Scholar