Composer, born in Livorno, W Italy. After leaving the Milan Conservatory prematurely (disliking the discipline there), he joined a travelling opera company. In 1890 he produced the brilliantly successful one-act opera, Cavalleria rusticana. His many later operas failed to repeat this success, though arias and intermezzi from them are still performed.
Pietro Mascagni (December 7, 1863 – August 2, 1945) was an Italian composer of opera.
Mascagni wrote a total of fifteen operas, plus an operetta, several orchestral and vocal works, as well as songs and piano music.
Biography
Early life
Pietro Antonio Stefano Mascagni was born in Livorno, Tuscany.
In 1876, he begins musical studies with Alfredo Soffredini (1854-1923), who founded the Istituto Musicale di Livorno (later called Istituto Cherubini) after having having just completed his musical studies in Milan.
1880-1889
The premiere of Mascagni's first cantata, In Filanda, took place at the Istituto Cherubini on 9 February, 1881. May 6 - Mascagni leaves Livorno for Milan. October 12 - Mascagni passes the admission examination of the Conservatorio di Milano.
1883: January 9 - Death of Mascagni's sister, Maria.
1885: Mascagni conducts Il Re a Napoli in Cremona, romance for tenor and orchestra, on a text by Andrea Maffei.
1886: Mascagni meets the impresario Luigi Maresca. December - Mascagni arrives in Cerignola with Maresca's company.
1886: Helped by the mayor Giuseppe Cannone, Mascagni leaves the company of Maresca, not without problems, and becomes master of music and singing of the new philharmony of Cerignola, where he will earn a lot of esteem.
1888: February - Work on the Messa di Gloria starts.
1889: February 3 - Pietro and Lina get married. February 4 - Birth of Domenico Mascagni ("Mimì").
1890-1899
1890: February 21 - Mascagni is summoned to Rome to present his opera. May 17 - Première of Cavalleria rusticana, winner of the Sonzogno contest, at the Teatro Costanzi in Rome.
1891: January 3 - Birth of Dino Mascagni. October 31 - Première of L'amico Fritz at the Teatro Costanzi in Rome.
1892: August 21 - Birth of Emi Mascagni. November 10 - Première of I Rantzau at the Teatro La Pergola, in Florence, under the direction of Mascagni himself.
1895: February 16 - Première of Guglielmo Ratcliff at the Teatro alla Scala of Milan. March 15 - Première of Silvano at the Teatro alla Scala of Milan.
1896: March 2 - Mascagni conducts the première of Zanetto at the Liceo.
1898: June 29 - Mascagni conducts the première of A Giacomo Leopardi, a symphonic poem, in Recanati. November 22 - Première of Iris, Mascagni's first collaboration with Luigi Illica, at the Teatro Costanzi in Rome.
1899: May - Death of Mascagni's father.
1900-1909
1900: Mascagni tours in Russia (Moscow and Petersburg).
1901: January 17 - Première in six Italian theaters of Le maschere. February - Mascagni commemorates Verdi's passing.
1902: August - Mascagni composes the music for Hall Caine's play, The Eternal City. October 2 - The première of the play with Mascagni's music takes place in London.
1902-1903: Tour in the United States (in particular New York, Philadelphia, Boston and San Francisco), where Mascagni conducts many of his and other composers' works.
1903: Mascagni leaves Pesaro after problems with the authorities.
1905: March 16 - Première of Amica, libretto by Choudens, in Monte-Carlo.
1909: August - Mascagni is director of the Costanzi for the following season.
1910-1919
1910: April 4 - Beginning of the relationship with Anna Lolli.
1911: Mascagni ceases his activity of director of the Scuola Musicale Romana.
1912: The Italian première of Isabeau takes place simultaneously at la Scala in Milan (conductor Tullio Serafin) and at la Fenice in Venice (conductor Mascagni).
1913: October - Emi Mascagni marries the musician Guido Farinelli in Rapallo.
1914: Premières of Parisina in Livorno and Rome.
1917: April 30 - Première of Lodoletta in Rome.
1919: August 9 - Death of Ruggero Leoncavallo. December 13 - Première of Sì, Mascagni's operetta, in Rome.
1921: May 2 - Première of Il piccolo Marat in Rome.
1922: May - Beginning of a tour in South America.
1926: Première of Puccini's Turandot.
1927: Mascagni moves to the Albergo Plaza in Rome, a place he will not leave until his death.
1930-1939
1930: Mascagni conducts La Bohème in Torre del Lago, an homage to Puccini.
1932: March 23 - Première of Pinotta in San Remo.
1934: May 30 - Giovanni Targioni-Tozzetti dies.
1935: January 16 - Première of Nerone in Milan.
1936: June - Death of Dino Mascagni in Somalia.
1940-1949
1940: Celebration of the fifty years of Cavalleria rusticana.
1943: April - Last appearance of Mascagni at La Scala for L'amico Fritz.
1943-1944: Last season of Mascagni at the Rome Opera (Cavalleria rusticana, L'amico Fritz).
1945: August 2 - At 7h15, death of Mascagni.
1950-1951
1951: The mortal remains of Mascagni are transfered from Rome to Livorno, and finally Mascagni receives an official homage.
Operas
Cavalleria rusticana (17 May 1890 Teatro Costanzi, Rome) - libretto, libretto L'amico Fritz (31 October 1891 Teatro Costanzi, Rome) - libretto I Rantzau (10 November 1892 Teatro La Pergola, Florence) Guglielmo Ratcliff (16 February 1895 Teatro alla Scala, Milan), composed between 1885 and the early 1890s - libretto Silvano (25 March 1895 Teatro alla Scala, Milan) Zanetto (2 March 1896 Liceo Musicale, Pesaro) - libretto Iris (22 November 1898 Teatro Costanzi, Rome) - libretto Le maschere (17 January 1901 Teatro Carlo Felice, Genoa - Teatro Regio, Turin - Teatro alla Scala, Milan - Teatro La Fenice, Venice - Teatro Filarmonico, Verona - Teatro Costanzi, Rome) Amica (16 March 1905, Monte Carlo) - Italian libretto Isabeau (2 June 1911 Teatro Coliseo, Buenos Aires) Parisina (15 December 1913 Teatro alla Scala, Milan) - libretto Lodoletta (30 April 1917 Teatro Costanzi, Rome) - libretto Sì (13 December 1919 Teatro Quirino, Rome), operetta Il piccolo Marat (2 May 1921 Teatro Costanzi, Rome) Pinotta (23 March 1932 Casinò, San Remo), adapted from the cantata In filanda (1881) Nerone (16 January 1935 Teatro alla Scala, Milan), with music written between the 1890s and the 1930sMedia
Cavalleria Rusticana: Intermezzo Sinfonico (file info) — play in browser (beta) Problems playing the files? See media help.Resources
English web site about Pietro Mascagni Alan Mallach's Pietro Mascagni biography ISBN 1-55553-524-0 Official Italian web site about Pietro Mascagni Mascagni, l'avventuroso dell'opera, by Roberto Iovino ISBN 88-7767-014-2 Buoso Donati, "Mascagni and Mussolini" Bibliography. Works by Pietro Mascagni at Project Gutenberg
{{Persondata |NAME=Mascagni, Pietro |ALTERNATIVE NAMES= |SHORT DESCRIPTION=Italian Opera Composer |DATE OF BIRTH=December 7, 1863 |PLACE OF BIRTH=Livorno, [[Italy] |DATE OF DEATH=August 2, 1945
|PLACE OF DEATH=Rome, Italy }}
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