François Coppée.

François Edouard Joachim Coppée (26 January 1842 – 23 May 1908) was a French poet and novelist.

Biography[link]

He was born in Paris to a civil servant. After attending the Lycée Saint-Louis he became a clerk in the ministry of war, and won public favour as a poet of the Parnassian school. His first printed verses date from 1864. In 1869 his first play, Le Passant, was received with approval at the Odéon theatre, and later Fais ce que dois (1871) and Les Bijoux de la délivrance (1872), short poetic dramas inspired by the Franco-Prussian War, were applauded.

After holding a post in the library of the senate, Coppée was chosen in 1878 as archivist of the Comédie Française, an office he held till 1884. In that year his election to the Académie française caused him to retire from all public appointments. He was made an officer of the Legion of Honour in 1888.

Coppée was famed as le poète des humbles (the poet of the humble). His verse and prose focus on plain expressions of emotion, patriotism, the joy of young love, and the pitifulness of the poor. He continued to write plays, mostly serious dramas in verse, two in collaboration with Armand d'Artois. The performance of a short episode of the Commune, Le Pater, was prohibited by the government in 1889. Coppée published his first prose work in 1875 and went on to publish short stories, an autobiography of his youth, a series of short articles on miscellaneous subjects, and La Bonne Souffrance, a popular account of his reconversion to the Roman Catholic Church. His conversion was due to a severe illness which twice brought him close to death. He was also interested with public affairs, joining the most violent section of the Nationalist movement (while remaining contemptuous of the apparatus of democracy) and taking a leading part against Alfred Dreyfus in the Dreyfus affair. He was one of the founders of the Ligue de la Patrie Française.

The poet Arthur Rimbaud, a young contemporary of Coppée, published numerous parodies of Coppée's poetry. Rimbaud's parodies were published in L'Album Zutique (in 1871? 1872?). Most of these poems parody the style ("chatty comfortable rhymes" that were "the delight of the enlightened bourgeois of the day") and form (Alexandrine couplets arranged in ten line verses) of some short poems by Coppée (examples can be found in the collection Promenades et Intérieurs). Rimbaud published them under the name François Coppée.

Works[link]

Coppėe early in his career.

Poetry[link]

• Le Reliquaire (1866)
• Intimités (1867)
• Poémes modernes (1867-9)
• Les Humbles (1872)
• Le Cahier rouge (1874)
• Olivier (1875)
• L'Exilée (1876)
• Contes en vers (1881)
• Poèmes et récits (1886)
• Arrière-saison (1887)
• Paroles sincères (1890)
• Dans la prière et la lutte
• Vers français
• Salut, Petit Jesus

Plays[link]

• Le Passant (1869) Translated into Portuguese by Alves Crespo (playwright, 1847-1907) as Sonho and published in 1905.
• Deux Douleurs (1870)
• Fais ce que Dois (1871)
• L'Abandonnée (1871)
• Les Bijoux de la Délivrance (1872)
• Le Rendez-Vous (1872)
• Prologue d'Ouverture pour les Matinées de la Gaîté (1874)
• Le Luthier de Crémone (1876)
• La Guerre de Cent Ans (1877)
• Le Tresor (1879)
• La Bataille d'Hernani (1880)
• La Maison de Moliére (1880)
• Madame de Maintenon (1881)
• Severo Torelli (1883) Translated into Portuguese by Jaime Victor and Macedo Papança, Visconde de Monsaraz, and performed in Lisbon at the National Theatre in 1887. Published in the same year.
• Les Jacobites (1885)
• Le Pater (1889) Translated into Portuguese by Margarida de Sequeira as O Pater.
• Pour la couronne (1895) Translated into English by John Davidson as For the Crown and performed at the Lyceum Theatre, London, in 1896. For the Crown was performed at Covent Garden as a prize-winning opera The Cross and the Crescent with music by Colin McAlpin in 1903.

Prose works[link]

• Une Idylle pendant le siège (187)
• Toute une jeunesse (1890)
• Les Vrais riches (1892)
• Le Coupable (1896)
• Mon franc-parler (1893-96) (articles)
• La Bonne Souffrance (1898)

References[link]

•  Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Coppée, François Édouard Joachim". Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. 

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: François Coppée

• Works by François Coppée at Project Gutenberg

Little Wolf (Cheyenne: Ó'kôhómôxháahketa, sometimes transcribed Ohcumgache or Ohkomhakit, more correctly translated Little Coyote, c. 1820–1904) was a Northern Cheyenne Chief. He was known as a great military tactician and led a dramatic escape from confinement in Oklahoma back to the Northern Cheyenne homeland in 1878, known as the Northern Cheyenne Exodus.

Overview[link]

Born in present day Montana, by the mid-1820s, Little Wolf had become a prominent chieftain of the Northern Cheyenne, leading a group of warriors called the "Elk Horn Scrapers" during the Northern Plains Wars. He fought in Red Cloud's War, the war for the Bozeman Trail, which lasted from 1866 to 1868. As chief, he signed the Treaty of Fort Laramie.

He was chosen one of the "Old Man" chiefs among the Council of Forty-four, a high honor in traditional Cheyenne culture. He was also chosen as Sweet Medicine Chief, bearer of the spiritual incarnation of Sweet Medicine, a primary culture hero and spiritual ancestor of the Cheyenne. Because of this honorary title, he was expected to be above anger, as well as concerned only for his people and not for himself

Battles[link]

He was not present at the Battle of Little Bighorn, but played a part before and after the battle. Some scouts from his camp apparently found some food left behind by Custer's attack force, and were observed by U.S. military scouts. This fact was reported to Custer, who incorrectly assumed he had been discovered by the main camp of Sioux and Cheyenne on the Little Bighorn, and urgently pressed on with his attack, trying to prevent the escape of the Indians. After the battle, Little Wolf arrived and was detained and almost killed by the angry Sioux, who suspected he was scouting for the whites. Only his fierce denial of complicity in the attack and the support of his fellow Northern Cheyenne present during the fighting saved him from harm.

Escape from Fort Robinson[link]

Following the defeat of Morning Star (Dull Knife) by Col. Ranald S. Mackenzie in November 1876, Little Wolf was forced onto a reservation in Oklahoma's Indian Territory. Around 1878, he and Dull Knife led almost 300 Cheyenne from their reservation near Fort Reno, Oklahoma, through Kansas, Nebraska, and the Dakota Territory into the Montana Territory, their ancestral home.

During the journey, they managed to elude the U.S. cavalry units which were trying to capture them. The two groups split up after reaching Nebraska, and while Dull Knife's party was eventually forced to surrender near Fort Robinson, Little Wolf's group made their way to Montana where there were finally allowed to remain. ^[1][2][3]

Later life[link]

Little Wolf would later become a scout for the U.S. Army under Gen. Nelson A. Miles. He was involved in a dispute regarding one of his daughters, which resulted in the death of Starving Elk. Allegedly, Little Wolf was intoxicated when he shot and killed him at the trading post of Eugene Lamphere on December 12, 1880. Little Wolf went into voluntary exile as a result of this disgrace.

In his later years, he lived on the Northern Cheyenne Indian Reservation, where he died in 1904. George Bird Grinnell, a close friend and ethnographer who documented Little Wolf's life, called him, "the greatest Indian I have ever known."

Timeline[link]

Little Wolf[link]

• 1820 (circa) Birth
• 1856 Involved in the affair of the 'stolen' horse at the Platte Bridge
• 1866 Takes part in the Fetterman Fight
• 1868 Signs a treaty with the U.S. Government at Fort Laramie
• 1868 Burns Fort Phil Kearny
• 1873 Visits Washington D.C.
• 1876 Takes part in the so-called Dull Knife Fight
• 1877 Ordered to go south to confinement in Oklahoma
• 1878 Leads dramatic escape from reservation and returns to Montana
• 1879 Scouts for the U.S. military
• 1880 Kills Starving Elk; removed as Chief; goes into voluntary exile
• 1904 Death

Cheyenne Timeline[link]

• 17th-18th century: Migrated from Minnesota to North Dakota
• 1804: Visited by the Lewis and Clark Expedition
• 1851: Ft. Laramie Treaty
• 1859: Colorado Gold Rush
• 1864: Colorado War
• 1864: November, Sand Creek Massacre
• 1868: Battle of Washita River
• 1876: Battle of the Little Bighorn
• 1877: Moved to Indian Territory
• 1884: New reservation established near the Black Hills

Errata[link]

"Little Wolf" is a fairly common name among American Indians. More than one Cheyenne chief bore the name, an early example being a Southern Cheyenne chief who participated in a famous horse-stealing raid (c. 1830) on the Comanches with Yellow Wolf.

See also[link]

• Eugene Little Coyote

Notes[link]

This article includes a list of references, related reading or external links, but its sources remain unclear because it lacks inline citations. Please improve this article by introducing more precise citations. (September 2009)

References[link]

• Fisher, Louise; Wayne Leman, Leroy Pine Sr., Marie Sanchez (2006) Cheyenne Dictionary. Lame Deer, Montana: Chief Dull Knife College
• Britannica Student Encyclopedia

Further reading[link]

• Berthrong, Donald J., The Cheyenne and Arapaho Ordeal: Reservation and Agency Life in the Indian Territory, 1875–1907, University of Oklahoma Press, 1976.
• Grinnell, George Bird, The Cheyenne Indians: Their History and Ways of Life, Yale University Press, 1924.
• Grinnell, George Bird, Fighting Cheyennes, University of Oklahoma Press, 1915.
• Sandoz, Mari, Cheyenne Autumn, McGraw-Hill, 1953.
• Stands in Timber, John, and Margot Liberty, Cheyenne Memories, Yale University Press, 1967.
• Svingen, Orlan J., The Northern Cheyenne Indian Reservation, 1877–1900, University Press of Colorado, 1993.

External links[link]

• Cheyenne Honor Little Wolf: Chief led ancestors of today's tribe to homeland in 1879
• Little Wolf as Remembered by Ohiyesa (Charles A. Eastman)
• This Day in History: March 25, 1879, Cheyenne Chief Little Wolf surrenders

Håkan Hagegård (born November 25, 1945, Karlstad, Sweden) is a Swedish operatic baritone.

He studied at the Royal College of Music in Stockholm and has performed on stages across the world, including Carnegie Hall, the London Royal Opera House, La Scala, the Metropolitan Opera, the Sydney Opera House, the Deutsche Oper Berlin, the Vienna State Opera (Così fan tutte conducted by Nikolaus Harnoncourt), and the Royal Swedish Opera in Stockholm. He played the role of Papageno in Ingmar Bergman's acclaimed film version of Mozart's Die Zauberflöte (Trollflöjten, 1975). He sang the baritone solos in choral conductor Robert Shaw's acclaimed and highly popular 1980 recording of Carmina Burana, with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and Chorus. In 1985, he was appointed vocalist to King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden. He is currently Senior Lecturer in Music at the Indiana University Bloomington School of Music. Hagegard also holds a Professorship in Vocal Studies at the Norwegian Academy of Music in Oslo, Norway.

He has premiered notable song cycles by such prominent composers as Dominick Argento and Stephen Paulus.

External links[link]

• Håkan Hagegård at the Internet Movie Database

This article about a Swedish opera singer is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. v t e

Pietro Mascagni in 1903

Pietro Antonio Stefano Mascagni (Italian pronunciation: [ˈpjɛːtro anˈtɔːnjo ˈsteːfano masˈkaɲɲi]; December 7, 1863 – August 2, 1945) was an Italian composer most noted for his operas. His 1890 masterpiece Cavalleria rusticana caused one of the greatest sensations in opera history and single-handedly ushered in the Verismo movement in Italian dramatic music. Though it has been stated that Mascagni, like Leoncavallo, was a "one-opera man" who could never repeat his first success, this is inaccurate. L'amico Fritz and Iris have been popular in Europe since their respective premieres. In fact, Mascagni himself claimed that at one point Iris was performed in Italy more often than Cavalleria (cf. Stivender).

Mascagni wrote fifteen operas, an operetta, several orchestral and vocal works, as well as songs and piano music. He enjoyed immense success during his lifetime, both as a composer and conductor of his own and other people's music. If he never repeated the international success of Cavalleria, it was probably because Mascagni refused to copy himself. The variety of styles in his operas — the Sicilian passion and warmth of Cavalleria, the exotic flavor of Iris, the idyllic breeze that ventilates the charming L'amico Fritz and Lodoletta, the Gallic chiaroscuro of Isabeau, the steely, Veristic power of Il piccolo Marat, the overripe postromanticism of the lush Parisina — demonstrate a versatility that surpasses even that of Puccini.

Biography[link]

Early life[link]

Pietro Antonio Stefano Mascagni was born in Livorno, Tuscany, the second son of Domenico and Emilia Mascagni. The father was the owner of a bakery. Mascagni's lifelong friend and collaborator, Giovanni Targioni-Tozzetti ("Nanni") was born the same year in the same city.

In 1876, he began musical studies with Alfredo Soffredini, who founded the Instituto Musicale di Livorno (later called Istituto Cherubini) after having just completed his musical studies in Milan. Also from Livorno, Soffredini was a composer, teacher and musical critic.

In 1879, he composed several works: Sinfonia in do minore, Elegia, Kyrie, Gloria and Ave Maria.

1880-1889[link]

The premiere of Mascagni's first cantata, In Filanda, took place at the Istituto Cherubini on February 9, 1881. The cantata was presented at a musical contest in Milan and won the first prize. In the same year Mascagni met Arrigo Boito and Amilcare Ponchielli in Milan.

In 1882, he composed his Cantata alla gioia from a text by Schiller, La stella di Garibaldi for voice and piano and La tua stella. On May 6, Mascagni left Livorno for Milan. He passed the admission examination of the Milan Conservatory on October 12. In Milan, Mascagni met Giacomo Puccini.

On January 9, 1883, Mascagni's sister, Maria, died. The cantata In Filanda became Pinotta, and was proposed for the musical contest of the Conservatorio, but the registration, being late, was not accepted.

In 1884, he composed Ballata for tenor and piano; M'ama non m'ama, scherzo for soprano and piano; Messagio d'amore, and Alla luna.

In 1885, Mascagni composed Il Re a Napoli in Cremona, romance for tenor and orchestra, on a text by Andrea Maffei. He left Milan without completing his studies. He toured as conductor in the operetta companies of Vittorio Forlì, Alfonso and Ciro Scognamiglio, and in Genova, the company of Luigi Arnaldo Vassallo.

Mascagni met the impresario Luigi Maresca in 1886. That December, Mascagni arrived in Cerignola with Maresca's company. He was accompanied by Argenide Marcellina Carbognani (Lina), his future wife. Helped by the mayor Giuseppe Cannone, Mascagni soon left the company of Maresca, not without problems, and became master of music and singing of the new philharmonia of Cerignola, where he earned a lot of esteem. He also gave piano lessons.

In February 1888, work on the Messa di Gloria started. In July, Casa Sonzogno announced in the Teatro Illustrato its second competition for a one-act opera.

Pietro and Lina were married on February 3, 1889. The next day Domenico Mascagni ("Mimì") was born. The composition of Cavalleria rusticana was completed on May 27 and the manuscript sent to Milan.

1890-1899[link]

On February 21, 1890, Mascagni was summoned to Rome to present his opera. The première of Cavalleria rusticana, winner of the Sonzogno contest, was held May 17 at the Teatro Costanzi in Rome. The success was outstanding, and very soon the opera was performed in Florence, Turin, Bologna, Palermo, Milan, Genoa, Naples, Venice and Trieste. In December, Gustav Mahler conducted the opera in Budapest. Soon thereafter, the cities of Munich, Hamburg, St. Petersburg, Dresden and Buenos Aires welcomed the opera. In March 1891, it was sung in Vienna. At age 26, Mascagni had become famous overnight. In the meantime (January 3) his second son, Dino, was born. He was followed by a daughter, Emi, in 1892.

L'amico Fritz, Mascagni's second most successful opera, was premiered October 31 at the Teatro Costanzi in Rome. I Rantzau was premiered November 10 at the Teatro La Pergola, in Florence, under the direction of the composer himself.

Next Mascagni's opera was the Silvano (1894). On February 16, 1895 Guglielmo Ratcliff was premiered at the Teatro alla Scala of Milan. On March 15, Silvano was premiered at the Teatro alla Scala of Milan. Mascagni in the same year accepted the directorship of the Liceo Rossini in Pesaro.

On March 2, 1896, Mascagni conducted the première of Zanetto at the Liceo.

On June 29, 1898 in Recanati, Mascagni conducted the première of a symphonic poem, A Giacomo Leopardi. Iris, Mascagni's first collaboration with Luigi Illica was premiered on November 22 at the Teatro Costanzi in Rome.

Mascagni's father died in May 1899.

1900-1909[link]

Original Amica poster (1905).

In 1900, Mascagni toured Moscow and St. Petersburg.

On January 17, 1901, Le maschere was premiered in six Italian theaters. Giuseppe Verdi died on January 27 and the following month Mascagni commemorated Verdi's passing. That same year, he conducted Verdi's Requiem in Vienna.

Mascagni composed the incidental music for Hall Caine's play, The Eternal City in August 1902; the première of the play with Mascagni's music took place in London on October 2.

In 1902 and 1903, he toured in Canada and in the United States, (in particular Montreal, New York City, Philadelphia, Boston and San Francisco), where he conducted many of his and other composers' works. The tour was mostly a fiasco, except for the visit to San Francisco where Mascagni was extremely well received.

In 1903, Mascagni left Pesaro after problems with the authorities. He became director of the Scuola Musicale Romana, in Rome. In the same year he signed a contract with the French editor Paul de Choudens.

Amica, based on a poem by Choudens with French libretto by Paul Collin,^[1] was premiered on March 16, 1905, in Monte-Carlo. That year, he had disputes with Ruggiero Leoncavallo and Giacomo Puccini. He also had the Livornese première of Le maschere.

Mascagni was director of the Costanzi for the season beginning in August 1909.

1910-1919[link]

On April 4, 1910, Mascagni began a relationship with Anna Lolli. In October he was reconciled with Puccini.

Mascagni ceased his activity as director of the Scuola Musicale Romana in 1911. That May, he left for Buenos Aires, beginning a seven-month tour in South America. The première of Isabeau took place in Buenos Aires on June 2.

The Italian première of Isabeau was held simultaneously at La Scala in Milan (conductor Tullio Serafin) and at La Fenice in Venice (conductor Mascagni) in 1912. On March 28, he began to work on Parisina in Bellevue ^{[disambiguation needed ]}, near Paris, sometimes with his daughter Emi, his mistress Anna Lolli, and the librettist Gabriele d'Annunzio.

Parisina was premiered in Milan on December 15 of that year. Almost all the important Italian composers of the time were present, among them Puccini, Umberto Giordano and Riccardo Zandonai. The new work was premiered in Livorno and Rome in 1914. On July 28 occurred the events that shortly led to World War I: Puccini and Mascagni were against the involvement of Italy in this war, where Mascagni's son Dino was later made a prisoner.

In 1915 Mascagni wrote music for Nino Oxilia's movie Rapsodia Satanica; the custom was for silent films to be accompanied live in a theater by organ, piano, or an orchestra, often using a prepared score (sometimes with original music) with cues for the conductor or musician. Mascagni had a quarrel regarding the rights of Louise de la Ramée's Two Little Wooden Shoes (I due Zoccoletti), that inspired both Puccini and Mascagni. The subject was retained by Mascagni for Lodoletta. The latter opera was premiered on April 30, 1917 in Rome. The Livornese première of the opera was on July 28 with Beniamino Gigli as Flammen.

Sì, Mascagni's operetta, was premiered on December 13 in Rome.

1920-1939[link]

In 1920 Mascagni composed Il piccolo Marat, which was premiered in Rome on May 2, 1921, following by a premiere in Buenos Aires in September. The composer returned to South America for a tour beginning in May 1922.

In 1923, he composed Visione Lirica. He moved to the Albergo Plaza in Rome in 1927, a place he would not leave until his death.

In 1930, Mascagni conducted La bohème in Torre del Lago, as a homage to Puccini, who had died in 1924. In 1931, Le maschere was performed at La Scala.

Pinotta was premiered in San Remo on March 23, 1932. He joined the PNF (Fascist party), following the example of many contemporary musicians, including Giordano.

Nerone was premièred in Milan on January 16, 1935, followed by the première in Livorno on August 24.

In June 1936, Mascagni's son^[which?] died in Somalia.

Last years[link]

Plaque dedicated to Mascagni in Rome.

In 1940, celebrations for the fiftieth anniversary of his most popular opera, Cavalleria rusticana, took place all over Italy, often with Mascagni conducting. The opera was recorded for La Voce del padrone ("His Master's Voice") at La Scala under the direction of Mascagni, who recorded a special spoken introduction. EMI later reissued the recording on LP and CD.

In 1942, after an audience with Pope Pius XII, newspapers quoted Mascagni, a Roman Catholic, as saying that his tuberculosis-stricken niece was cured after receiving a rosary and silver medal blessed by the pope.^[2]

In April 1943, Mascagni appeared for the last time at La Scala to conduct L'amico Fritz. By that time he had to conduct sitting on a chair. The last season of Mascagni at the Rome Opera (Cavalleria rusticana and L'amico Fritz) was 1944–45.

Mascagni died on August 2, 1945 in his apartment at the Hotel Plaza di Roma. The funeral ceremony was August 4. The Italian authorities were not present. In 1951, the mortal remains of Mascagni were transferred from Rome to Livorno, where finally Mascagni received an official homage.

Selected works[link]

Operas[link]

• 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, in French) - 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
• 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 1930s

Operetta[link]

• Sì (13 December 1919 Teatro Quirino, Rome)

Sacred music[link]

• Messa di Gloria in F major for soloists, chorus and orchestra

Orchestral music[link]

• A Giacomo Leopardi, cantata for voice (soprano) and orchestra (June 19, 1898, Teatro Persiani, Recanati)
• Il re a Napoli, romanza for tenor and orchestra (18 March 1885 Teatro Municipale, Cremona)

Projects contemplated[link]

During his long career, Mascagni contemplated writing many operas. The following is an incomplete list of such projects, which never saw the light of day:

• Zilia, probably on a libretto by Felice Romani (c. 1877)
• Scampolo, probably on a libretto by Dario Niccodemi (c. 1921)
• I Bianchi ed i Neri, on a libretto by Mario Ghisalberti (c. 1938)

Cutural references[link]

	Cavalleria Rusticana: Intermezzo Sinfonico
Problems listening to this file? See media help.

The 1980 film Raging Bull prominently features the following music: the Intermezzo from Cavalleria rusticana, the Barcarolle from Silvano, and the Intermezzo from Guglielmo Ratcliff (known as Il sogno di Ratcliff).

The 1990 film The Godfather Part III used a production of Cavalleria rusticana at the Teatro Massimo to set its climax, with Michael Corleone's son Anthony as Turiddu. The movie ends with the Intermezzo playing.

In 2000, electronic musician William Orbit included a modern, electronic orchestration of an excerpt from Mascagni's Cavalleria rusticana on his album Pieces in a Modern Style.

See also[link]

• List of people on the cover of Time Magazine: 1920s - 6 Sep. 1926

References[link]

Sources[link]

This article includes a list of references, related reading or external links, but its sources remain unclear because it lacks inline citations. Please improve this article by introducing more precise citations. (April 2009)

• Mallach, Alan (2002). Pietro Mascagni and His Operas. Boston: Northeastern University Press. ISBN 1-55553-524-0. 
• Flury, Roger (2001). Pietro Mascagni - A Bio-Bibliography. London: Greenwood Press. ISBN 0-313-29662-6. 
• Iovino, Roberto (1987). Mascagni, l'avventuroso dell'opera. Camunia. ISBN 88-7767-014-2. 
• English web site about Pietro Mascagni
• Official Italian web site about Pietro Mascagni
• Buoso Donati, "Mascagni and Mussolini" Bibliography.
• Opera at Stanford University
• Works by Pietro Mascagni at Project Gutenberg

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Pietro Mascagni

• Mascagni cylinder recordings, from the Cylinder Preservation and Digitization Project at the University of California, Santa Barbara Library.
• Free scores by Pietro Mascagni at the International Music Score Library Project

Carl Maria von Weber, by Thomas Lawrence, 1814

Carl Maria Friedrich Ernst von Weber (18 or 19 November 1786 – 4–5 June 1826) was a German composer, conductor, pianist, guitarist and critic, one of the first significant composers of the Romantic school.

Weber's operas Der Freischütz, Euryanthe and Oberon greatly influenced the development of the Romantic opera in Germany. Der Freischütz came to be regarded as the first German "nationalist" opera, Euryanthe developed the Leitmotiv technique to a hitherto-unprecedented degree, while Oberon anticipated Mendelssohn's music for A Midsummer Night's Dream and, at the same time, revealed Weber's lifelong interest in the music of non-Western cultures. This interest was first manifested in Weber's incidental music for Schiller's translation of Gozzi's Turandot, for which he used a Chinese melody, making him the first Western composer to use an Asian tune that was not of the pseudo-Turkish kind popularized by Mozart and others.

A brilliant pianist himself, Weber composed four sonatas, two concertos and the Konzertstück (Concert Piece) in F minor, which influenced composers such as Chopin, Liszt and Mendelssohn. The Konzertstück provided a new model for the one-movement concerto in several contrasting sections (such as Liszt's, who often played the work), and was acknowledged by Stravinsky as the model for his Capriccio for Piano and Orchestra. Weber's shorter piano pieces, such as the Invitation to the Dance, was later orchestrated by Berlioz, while his Polacca Brillante was later orchestrated by Liszt.

Weber compositions for woodwind instruments occupy an important place in the musical repertoire. His compositions for the clarinet, which include two concertos, a concertino, a quintet and a duo concertante, are regularly performed today. His Concertino for Horn and Orchestra requires the performer to simultaneously produce two notes by humming while playing—a technique known as "multiphonics". His bassoon concerto and the Andante e Rondo ungarese (a reworking of a piece originally for viola and orchestra) are also popular with bassoonists.

Weber's contribution to vocal and choral music is also significant. His body of Catholic religious music was highly popular in 19th century Germany, and he composed one of the earliest song cycles, Die Temperamente beim Verluste der Geliebten ([Four] Temperaments on the Loss of a Lover). Weber was also notable as one of the first conductors to conduct without a piano or violin.

Weber's orchestration has also been highly praised and emulated by later generations of composers – Berlioz referred to him several times in his Treatise on Instrumentation while Debussy remarked that the sound of the Weber orchestra was obtained through the scrutiny of the soul of each instrument.

His operas influenced the work of later opera composers, especially in Germany, such as Marschner, Meyerbeer and Wagner, as well as several nationalist 19th-century composers such as Glinka. Homage has been paid to Weber by 20th century composers such as Debussy, Stravinsky, Mahler (who completed Weber's unfinished comic opera Die drei Pintos and made revisions of Euryanthe and Oberon) and Hindemith (composer of the popular Symphonic Metamorphosis of Themes by Carl Maria von Weber).

Weber also wrote music journalism and was interested in folksong, and learned lithography to engrave his own works.

Life[link]

Childhood[link]

Weber was born in Eutin, Holstein, the eldest of the three children of Franz Anton von Weber and his second wife, Genovefa Brenner, a Viennese singer. The "von" was an affectation; Franz Anton von Weber was not actual aristocracy. Franz Anton began his career as a military officer in the service of the Duchy of Holstein, and after being fired, went on to hold a number of musical directorships. In 1787 Franz Anton went on to Hamburg where he founded a theatrical company.

Franz Anton's brother Fridolin, married Cäcilia Weber and had four musical daughters, Josepha, Aloysia, Constanze and Sophie, all of whom became notable singers. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart attempted to woo Aloysia, composing several pieces for her. But after she rejected his advances, Mozart went on to marry Constanze.

A gifted violinist, Franz Anton had ambitions of turning Carl into a child prodigy like Franz's nephew-by-marriage, Mozart. Carl was born with a congenital hip disease and did not begin to walk until he was four. But by then, he was already a capable singer and pianist.^[1]

Education[link]

Weber's father gave him a comprehensive education, which was however interrupted by the family's constant moves. In 1796, Weber continued his musical education in Hildburghausen, where he was instructed by the oboist Johann Peter Heuschkel.

On 13 March 1798, Weber's mother died of tuberculosis. That same year, Weber went to Salzburg to study with Michael Haydn, the younger brother of Joseph Haydn, who agreed to teach Carl free of charge.^[1] Later that year, Weber traveled to Munich to study with the singer Johann Evangelist Wallishauser and organist Johann Nepomuk Kalcher.

1798 also saw the twelve year old Weber's first published work, six fughettas for piano, published in Leipzig. Other compositions of that period, among them a mass, and his first opera, Die Macht der Liebe und des Weins (The Power of Love and Wine), are lost; but a set of Variations for the Pianoforte was later lithographed by Weber himself, under the guidance of Alois Senefelder, the inventor of the process.

In 1800, the family moved to Freiberg in Saxony, where Weber, then 14 years old, wrote an opera called Das stumme Waldmädchen (The Silent Forest Maiden), which was produced at the Freiberg theatre. It was later performed in Vienna, Prague, and Saint Petersburg. The young Weber also began to publish articles as a music critic, for example in the Leipziger Neue Zeitung in 1801.

In 1801, the family returned to Salzburg, where Weber resumed his studies with Michael Haydn. He later continued studying in Vienna with Georg Joseph Vogler, known as Abbé Vogler, founder of three important music schools (in Mannheim, Stockholm, and Darmstadt); another famous pupil of Vogler was Giacomo Meyerbeer, who became a close friend of Weber.

Early career 1803–1810[link]

In 1803, Weber's opera, Peter Schmoll und seine Nachbarn (Peter Schmoll and his Neighbors) was produced in Augsburg, and gave Weber his first success as a popular composer.

Vogler, impressed by his pupil's talent, recommended him to the post of Director at the Opera in Breslau in 1806. Weber sought to reform the Opera by pensioning off older singers, expanding the orchestra, and tackling a more challenging repertoire. His attempts at reform were met with strong resistance from the musicians and the Breslau public. Weber's time at Breslau was further complicated one night when he accidentally ingested engraver's acid that his father had left stored in a wine bottle. Weber was found unconscious and took two months to recover. The incident permanently ruined his singing voice.^[2]

He left his post in Breslau in a fit of frustration and from 1807 to 1810, Weber served as private secretary to Duke Ludwig, brother of King Frederick I of Württemberg. Weber's time in Württemberg was plagued with troubles. He fell deeply into debt and had an ill-fated affair with Margarethe Lang, a singer at the opera. Furthermore, Weber's father Franz Anton misappropriated a vast quantity of Duke Ludwig's money. Franz Anton and Carl were charged with embezzlement and arrested on 9 February 1810. Carl was in the middle of a rehearsal for his opera Silvana when he was arrested and thrown in prison by order of the king. Though no one doubted Carl's innocence, King Frederick I had grown tired of the composer's pranks. After a summary trial, Carl and his father were banished from Württemberg. Nevertheless, Carl remained prolific as a composer during this period, writing a quantity of religious music, mainly for the Catholic mass. This however earned him the hostility of reformers working for the re-establishment of traditional chant in liturgy.

Later career 1810–1826[link]

In 1810, Weber visited several cities throughout Germany; from 1813 to 1816 he was director of the Opera in Prague; from 1816 to 1817 he worked in Berlin, and from 1817 onwards he was director of the prestigious Opera in Dresden, working hard to establish a German Opera, in reaction to the Italian Opera which had dominated the European music scene since the 18th century. On 4 November 1817, he married Caroline Brandt, a singer who created the title role of Silvana.^[3] In 1819, he wrote perhaps his most famous piano piece, Invitation to the Dance.

The successful premiere of Der Freischütz on 18 June 1821 in Berlin led to performances all over Europe. On the very morning of the premiere, Weber finished his Konzertstück in F minor for Piano and Orchestra, and he premiered it a week later.

In 1823, Weber composed the opera Euryanthe to a mediocre libretto, but containing much rich music, the overture of which in particular anticipates Richard Wagner. In 1824, Weber received an invitation from The Royal Opera, London, to compose and produce Oberon, based on Christoph Martin Wieland's poem of the same name. Weber accepted the invitation, and in 1826 he travelled to England, to finish the work and conduct the premiere on 12 April.

Weber's grave in Dresden

Weber was already suffering from tuberculosis when he visited London; he died at the house of Sir George Smart during the night of 4–5 June 1826.^[3] Weber was 39 years old. He was buried in London, but 18 years later his remains were transferred to the family vault in Dresden. The eulogy at the reburial was performed by Wagner.

His unfinished opera Die drei Pintos (The Three Pintos) was originally given by Weber's widow to Giacomo Meyerbeer for completion; it was eventually completed by Gustav Mahler, who conducted the first performance in this form in Leipzig on 20 January 1888.

Legacy[link]

Weber's piano music all but disappeared from the repertoire. One possible reason for this is that Weber had very large hands and delighted in writing music that suited them.^[4] There are several recordings of the major works for the solo piano (including complete recordings of the piano sonatas and the shorter piano pieces, by Garrick Ohlsson, Alexander Paley and others), and there are recordings of the individual sonatas by Claudio Arrau (1st Sonata), Alfred Brendel (2nd Sonata), Sviatoslav Richter (3rd Sonata) and Leon Fleisher (4th Sonata). The Invitation to the Dance, although better known in Berlioz's orchestration (as part of the ballet music for a Paris production of Der Freischütz), has long been played and recorded by pianists (e.g., Benno Moiseiwitsch [in Carl Tausig's arrangement]). Invitation to the Dance also served as the thematic basis for Benny Goodman's swing theme song for the radio program Let's Dance.

Works[link]

	Der Freischütz - Overture Skidmore College Orchestra; courtesy of Musopen Concerto for Bassoon in F Major, 1st movement (piano transcription) Kat Walsh (bassoon) and Amy Crane (piano)
Problems listening to these files? See media help.

Grand Duo Concertant for clarinet and piano 1. Allegro con fuoco 2. Andante con moto 3. Allegro William McColl (clarinet) and Joeseph Levine (piano)

Operas[link]

Church music[link]

• Missa sancta No. 1 in E-flat, J. 224 (1818)
• Missa sancta No. 2 in G, Op. 76, J. 251 (1818–19)

Symphonies[link]

• Symphony No. 1 in C (1812)
• Symphony No. 2 in C (1813)

Vocal works with orchestra[link]

• Cantata Der erste Ton for chorus and orchestra, Op. 14, J. 58 (1808 / revised 1810)
• Recitative and rondo Il momento s'avvicina for soprano and orchestra, Op. 16, J. 93 (1810)
• Hymn In seiner Ordnung schafft der Herr for soloists, chorus and orchestra, Op. 36, J. 154 (1812)
• Cantata Kampf und Sieg for soloists, chorus and orchestra, Op. 44, J. 190 (1815)
• Scene and Aria of Atalia Misera me! for soprano and orchestra, Op. 50, J. 121 (1811)
• Jubel-Cantata for the 50th royal jubilee of King Frederick Augustus I of Saxony for soloist, chorus and orchestra, Op. 58, J. 244 (1818)

Concertos[link]

• Piano Concerto No. 1 in C major, Op. 11, J. 98 (1810)
• Piano Concerto No. 2 in E-flat major, Op. 32, J. 155 (1812)
• Konzertstück in F minor for Piano and Orchestra, Op. 79, J. 282 (1821)
• Bassoon Concerto in F major, Op. 75, J. 127 (1811 / revised 1822)
• Andante and Rondo Hungarian (Andante e Rondo Ongarese) for Bassoon and Orchestra in C minor, Op. 35, J. 158 (1813), revised from J. 79 (1809) for viola
• Clarinet Concerto No. 1 in F minor, Op. 73, J. 114 (1811)
• Clarinet Concerto No. 2 in E-flat major, Op. 74, J. 118 (1811)
• Concertino for Clarinet and Orchestra in C minor/E-flat major, Op. 26, J. 109 (1811)
• Grand Potpourri for Cello and Orchestra in D major, Op. 20, J. 64 (1808)
• Variations for Cello and Orchestra in D minor, J. 94 (1810)
• Concertino for Horn and Orchestra in E minor, Op. 45, J. 188 (1815)
• Romanza Siciliana for Flute and Orchestra, J. 47 (1805)
• Six Variations on the theme A Schüsserl und a Reind'rl for Viola and Orchestra, J. 49 (1800 / revised 1806)
• Andante and Hungarian Rondo for Viola and Orchestra, J. 79 (1809)
• Adagio and Rondo for Harmonichord and Orchestra in F major, J. 115 (1811)

References[link]

Notes

Sources

• Friese-Greene, A. (1993) Weber, The Illustrated lives of the great composers, New ed., London : Omnibus, ISBN 0-7119-2081-8
• Henderson, D. G. and Henderson, A. H. (1990) Carl Maria von Weber : a guide to research, Garland composer resource manuals 24, New York ; London : Garland, ISBN 0-8240-4118-6
• Meyer, S. C. (2003) Carl Maria Von Weber and the Search for a German Opera, Indiana University Press, ISBN 0-253-34185-X
• Reynolds, D. (Ed.) (1976) Weber in London, 1826, London : Wolff, ISBN 0-85496-403-7
• Warrack, J. H. (1976) Carl Maria Von Weber, Cambridge University Press, ISBN 0-241-91321-7
• Warrack, J. H., Macdonald, H. and Köhler, K-.H. (1985) Early romantic masters 2: Weber, Berlioz, Medelssohn, The composer biography series, London : Macmillan, ISBN 0-333-39014-8

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Carl Maria von Weber

• Information about the new Carl Maria von Weber Edition
• The works of Carl Maria von Weber
• Carl Maria von Weber cylinder recordings, from the Cylinder Preservation and Digitization Project at the University of California, Santa Barbara Library.
• Free scores by Carl Maria von Weber in the Werner Icking Music Archive (WIMA)
• Free scores by Carl Maria von Weber at the International Music Score Library Project
• Free scores by Carl Maria von Weber in the Choral Public Domain Library (ChoralWiki)
• Der Freischütz Soprano (free MP3)
• Texts on Wikisource:
  • "Weber, Karl Maria von". New International Encyclopedia. 1905. 
  • Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Weber, Carl Maria Friedrich Ernest von". Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. 
  • Beach, Chandler B., ed. (1914). "Weber, Karl Maria von". The New Student's Reference Work. Chicago: F. E. Compton and Co.. Wikisource 
  • Karl Maria von Weber in the University Musical Encyclopedia