News Archive

The first New York performance of Zanetto since 1902 will take place on June 4, 2007, conducted by Peter Tiboris.

Artistic Director and General Director Peter Tiboris will conduct the Manhattan Philharmonic in an evening of opera music featuring the first New York performance of Mascagni's opera Zanetto since 1902, in concert form, with mezzo-soprano Jennifer Larmore (Zanetto) and soprano Eilana Lappalainen (Sylvia).

The evening will be completed with works by Verdi, Cilea and Donizetti.

The Martina Franca (Italy) festival will present two performances of Amica on August 4 and August 6 2007. The performances will be in French, the language of the original libretto written by French editor Choudens, and will likely be the first performances in French of Amica since its premiere in 1905.

The libretto was adapted in Italian by Mascagni's long-time friend and librettist, Giovanni Targioni-Tozzetti. However, the music was written to the French text, which makes these performances an important milestone in the history Amica.

Teatro Grattacielo will present a single concert performance of Riccardo Zandonai's La farsa amorosa this coming Saturday.

Teatro Grattacielo specialises in operas from the verismo period, and has presented Mascagni's Iris in 1998 and Guglielmo Ratcliff in 2003. Riccordo Zandonai studied at the Liceo of Pesaro with Mascagni. He is primarily known for the masterpiece Francesca da Rimini, on a text by Gabriele D'Annunzio (the librettist of Mascagni's masterpiece Parisina).

Soprano Denia Mazzola Gavazzeni will perform a concert this Sunday in Caravaggio, Italy. An homage to the late composer, essayist and conductor Gianandrea Gavazzeni, the concert will include excerpts from Mascagni's Parisina.

The program will include works by W. A. Mozart (Ave Verum Corpus KV 618), G. Donizetti (Concertino in Fa), P. Mascagni (from Parisina), A. Ponchielli (from Marion Delorme), F. Chopin (Notturno in Do min. Op. n. 48) and G. Gavazzeni (Iscrizioni di Meridiane, Mattutino, Due arie religiose, Interludio da Canti per Sant'Alessandro e Bergamasca), featuring of course the voice of Denia Mazzola Gavazzeni accompanied by the Ensemble "Collini" from the Lodi Camber Orchestra and Giovanni Brollo on the piano.

Maestro Gavazzeni was the companion of the soprano and a fervent supporter of the music of Mascagni. In particular we owe him most of the reprises of Parisina since Mascagni's passing, including performances given in 1952, 1978, and 1995 (Act IV, performed by Denia Mazzola Gavazzeni). The soprano sang the role of Parisina wonderfully in Montpellier in 1999, a performance available on CD.

The Teatro Goldoni of Livorno has just announced performances of individual acts from Guglielmo Ratcliff, Parisina and Il Piccolo Marat in November 2006, in the context of the Mascagni Project of the Teatro Goldoni Foundation.

These three operas are among the most beautiful Mascagni has ever written, so this is an occasion that should not be missed. In particular, according to Mascagni specialists such as the late David Stivender and the late conductor Gianandrea Gavazzeni, Act IV of Parisina contains some of Mascagni's most beautiful music.

These performances are co-produced with the Association Clara Schumann of Collesalvetti.

The Teatro Goldoni of Livorno has just announced two performances of Iris in September and October 2006, in the context of the Mascagni Project of the Teatro Goldoni Foundation.

This is a new production of the Teatro Goldoni Foundation of Livorno and the Teatro Verdi Foundation of Trieste, co-produced with the Teatro Verdi Foundation of Pisa, the Teatro Sociale of Rovigo, the Azienda Teatro del Giglio of Lucca, and the Teatro Communale Foundation of Modena. The complete cast has not yet been announced.

An audio file of Calogero Di Liberto's beautiful Fantasia sulla Cavalleria Rusticana (Fantasy on Cavalleria Rusticana), performed by the composer.

The audio file is available in mp3 and ogg formats, from the recording page or from the Cavalleria Rusticana Audio Files page. With the kind permission of the artist and Casa Sonzogno.

Mascagni.org presents 20 new audio recordings converted from historical 78 rpm records. The excerpts range from the magnificent, including Beniamino Gigli's arias from Isabeau, to the rare, like some excerpts from Amica and Le maschere.

The new selection includes:

• Two excerpts from Isabeau sung by tenor Beniamino Gigli.

• Four versions of Mascagni's most famous and maybe most beautiful song, Serenata, sung by Alessandro Ziliani, Alessandro Valente, Giovanni Martinelli and Giacomo Lauri-Volpi.

• Several excerpts from L'amico Fritz: O Amore, o bella luce del cor sung by Dino Borgioli, Son pocchi fiori and Non mi resta che il pianto sung by Lucrezia Bori, and a wonderful Cherry Duet sung by Mafalda Favero and Tito Schipa.

• A large selection from Cavalleria rusticana in German.

• Two excerpts by Aureliano Pertile, O Lola ch'ai di latti la cammisa (Siciliana) from Cavalleria rusticana and Apri la tua finestra (Serenata) from Iris.

• Tu qui Santuzza... No, no, Turiddu from Cavalleria rusticana, a duet sung by Beniamino Gigli and Dusolina Giannini.

• Two versions of what is possibly the best soprano aria of Cavalleria rusticana (and one of the top opera arias in general), Voi lo sapete o mamma, sung by Eva Turner and Claudia Muzio.

• Rare recordings of La Pavana from Le maschere, Più presso al ciel from Amica and Or dammi il braccio tuo from Iris.

Some beautiful "B-sides" include:

• Funiculi-Funicula sung by tenor Alessandro Ziliani.

• Si, fui soldato sung by tenor Alessandro Valente.

• Colombetta sung by soprano Claudia Muzio.

For more audio excerpts, please visit the Audio Files section of the web site, which provides a categorized access to all the audio excerpts.

Note that the audio quality of the recordings varies greatly depending on the condition of the records and initial recording quality. Some declicking and minor equalization have been performed, but no advanced sound restoration has been done.

Maestro Alfredo Silipigni has passed away on March 25 at age 72. Among operas by other composers, he had conducted Mascagni's Iris, Lodoletta, and Guglielmo Ratcliff in 2003.

Maestro Silipigni was the founder of the New Jersey State Opera and specialized in lesser-known Italian operas. In particular, he conducted the yearly performances of Teatro Grattacielo in New York, headed by Duane Printz. Quoted by the Star-Ledger, she comments:

"He was unique in all the world [...] There's no one left who understands the difficulty of verismo. He knew how to bring it to life."

Maestro Silipigni will be missed by the lovers of rare Italian operas.

Mascagni.org presents Poetry and Music: Pietro Mascagni's Parisina, an article written by Alessandro Rizzacasa. An Italian version of this article, written in 2000 on the occasion of the release of a recording of this magnificent opera, was already available on Mascagni.org. It is now available for the first time in an English translation.

The author begins with a review of the CD from the performance of Parisina that took place in Montpellier in July 1999. He follows with considerations about the opera, discussing in particular the criticisms that have historically been directed at the work. He concludes with comments about the unfortunate attitude some critics have today when writing about opera.

"Gavazzeni remembers Mascagni". A TV station from Tuscany, Toscana TV, has shown on January 15 and will show again on January 23 an interview never broadcast before of conductor Gianandrea Gavazzeni, who passed away in 1995.

A translation of the broadcast presentation follows:

"I remember an evening we were walking together under the Milan gallery. He was never tired and he liked talking: he was a "livornesaccio" (typical Livornese); but in the end he was a likable person."

This "he" was Pietro Mascagni, the author of Cavalleria, and the narrator is maestro Gianandrea Gavazzeni, in an interview-meeting of almost one hour with Goffredo Gori, music critic, who met him in October 1995 not long before the maestro passed away. This was the occasion for conductor Gavazzeni to celebrate Mascagni 50 years after his death, with a concert at the Communale Theater in Florence, conducting among aothers the last act of this Parisina, on a text by D'Annunzio, which the maestro helped being reevaluated by the critic and the musical world, in general skeptical regarding everything related to verismo: this was a lifelong fight for maestro Gavazzeni. In this document by Goffredo Gori, the maestro talks about the premiere of Parisina in 1913 (publisher Sonzogno) with so much anectodal force that it transforms into an authentic historical testimony useful for future exegesis, because loaded with humorous but humane and passionate provocation. The regional broadcaster "Toscana TV" will broadcast this rare testimony in the feature "Di quella pira", handled by Goffredo Gori, on two occasions: January 15, and January 23, at 19:30 (7:30 PM).

Maestro Gavazzeni is responsible for several of the reprises of Mascagni's masterpiece, Parisina, after Mascagni's death. In particular, he conducted the work in Livorno in 1952 and in 1978 in Rome. He also conducted act IV on two occasions in 1995. His wife, Denia Mazzola, to whom the maestro transmitted the love for Parisina, beautifully sung the role in Montpellier in 1999, in a cut down, three-act version available on CD. The rarely performed act IV arguably contains some of Mascagni's most beautiful music.

Mascagni.org presents a series of eleven cards on the subject of Le Maschere (1901) entitled Mascagni in Maschera (Mascagni masked). The cards feature ten commedia dell'arte characters, all of them present in Mascagni's opera except "Stenterello" and "Meneghino". One character of the opera, "Brighella", is missing from the series. Each character is a caricature of Mascagni drawn by NASICA.

Mascagni.org presents a two-page manuscript letter sent by Mascagni to the newspaper La Tribuna regarding a dispute with Maestro Mascheroni. The letter does not bear a date, but can safely be dated to around June 1898, as Mascagni discussed this matter in other letters (in particular in a letter to Giulio Ricordi dated June 24, 1898).

The actual paper documents feature extra notes added possibly by the recepient of the letter (La Tribuna), stating in Italian that the document is a letter sent by Mascagni, quoting the text by Mascagni, and finally adding notes at the end of the letter. Those notes have been electronically removed to provide a "restored" version of the letter, while the original document is also presented for historical purposes.

Following are the original text written by Mascagni and a literal English translation (corrections are welcome):

The seller of the letter was unable to confirm its authenticity, however Mascagni.org and other Mascagni specialists believe the handwriting and style are clearly Mascagni's.

The manuscript score for Alla Gioia (Ode to Joy), a work composed by the young Mascagni in 1882 just after his early In filanda, was for sale in a Christie's auction in Rome in December. This is an important event, as the music has probably not been heard in its complete form since the early 1880s, and it was feared that the manuscript score had been lost, having surfaced for the last time at Milan exhibit in December 1963, according to Cesare Orselli's notes for In filanda.

The description of the auction item reads as follows (Mascagni.org's translation).

MASCAGNI, Pietro. Important autograph music manuscript signed (three times: on the front page, with a dedication to Conte Florestano de Larderel; on the title page, in calligraphy; at the bottom of the last page with date Livorno 1882): Alla Gioia, Cantata. Text by Schiller. Translation by Maffei. Music by Pietro Mascagni, student of the Istituto Musicale Cherubini of Livorno. Executed in Livorno at R. Teatro degli Avvalorati in March of 1882 (introduction on the title page), 121 pages 4º gr. in good copy (bound in half skin with inscription on the back MASCAGNI ALLA GIOIA) of the score for solists, choir and piano. The composition, divided in sixteen closed numbers of various lengths (Invocazione - Romanza - Quartetto con coro - Preghiera a sole voci - Romanza - Coretto - Romanza - Arioso - Romanza - Danze (per solo pianoforte) - Brindisi e Fuga - Fuga - Preludino (per solo pianoforte) - Romanza - Giuramento - Quartetto - Finale), is obviously a work done for the conservatory (the presence of two fugues is telling, offering a catalog of proofs of composition technique), and suffers from the implicit and heavy confrontation with one of the most famous choral pages of the times which, in spite of being composed sixty years later, remains of incomparably greater expressive freedom (we are talking of course about the finale of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony). Although of course the Italian version of the famous verses by Schiller (for example: O miriadi di viventi atterratevi al Signor Universo, e tu non senti che ti regge un fren d'amor) could have in a way reduced the strength of the impact of Beethoven's piece, which necessarily had to influence the promising nineteen years-old student of Cherubini. A fascinating document.

Estimate: €10,000-15,000 / US$ 12,000-18,000

It is to be hoped that, if the item actually sold, the buyer will promptly arrange for the publication and performance of the music. The work is characterized by Alan Mallach in his biography as "overambitious", and Mascagni himself later recognized that he had probably aimed a little too high. However, the recent release on CD of In filanda, composed when Mascagni was only 17, demonstrates the extraordinary talent of the young Mascagni, and makes his subsequent Ode to Joy all the more intriguing.

Italian label Bongiovanni has just released the world first recording of In Filanda. The recording, from a performance of April 6, 2003 in Naples, Italy, features Rossella Redoglia as Ninetta, Massimiliano Fichera as the manager of the factory, Antonio de Palma as Beppo, and I Solisti di Napoli under the baton of Susanna Pescetti.

As reported by Alan Mallach in his excellent biography, Mascagni started work on this early cantata on a text by his teacher Alfredo Soffredini on December 2, 1880, just before his 17^th birthday. The piano-vocal score was finished just over a month later, on January 7, 1881, and most of the orchestral score by January 29. The premiere took place on February 9, 1881. The cantata was reworked into an opera for a competition two years later, under the name Pinotta. The music saw its first performance under that name only fifty years later, in 1932. Two recordings of Pinotta already exist.

The Bongiovanni catalog also includes several other works by Mascagni, including a recent release of Isabeau, but also Nerone, Il piccolo Marat (all three conducted by Kees Bakels), Sì, Rapsodia Satanica and Visione Lirica, L'apoteosi della cicogna, Pinotta, A Giacomo Leopardi and Zanetto, as well as songs and works for piano.

The Teatro Goldoni Foundation of Livorno, with the perspective of productions of Mascagni operas during upcoming opera seasons, is setting up a cycle of auditions in order to look for voices adapted to the music of Mascagni, for possible inclusion within performances at the theater, in particular performances under the umbrella of the Mascagni Project. Update: The next audtions will take place on November 29, 2005 and November 30, 2005 at the Goldoni Theater in Livorno.

Theose auditions are open to singers up to 35 year old for female voices, and up to 45 year old for male voices. Italian singers as well as foreign singers (including from outside the European Union) are welcome.

A specific section will be dedicated to tenors, with reference to the following titles of Mascagni's production: Cavalleria Rusticana, Iris, Isabeau, Lodoletta, Il Piccolo Marat, Nerone, and possibly other works chosen by the performer. For all the other registers it is required, by decision of the artistic committee, to choose three pieces out of the Mascagni repertoire, with a particular recommendation to prepare Il piccolo Marat, Iris, Isabeau and Nerone.

The auditions are entirely free. The theater is providing the candidates with a "maestro collaboratore". In case the artist finds it necessary, an accompanist can be provided. The candidates will have to personally provide the pianist with the piano/vocal scores of the works they plan to perform.

The auditions will have a regular schedule and will take place at the Teatro Goldoni every month.

The artistic committee will be presided by M° Alberto Paloscia, artistic director of the opera season and of the Mascagni Project of the Goldoni Foundation of Livorno.

To register, please send a request with your artistic curriculum, photo and repertoire by recommended letter to:

Uff. Segreteria Artistica
Sig.ra Laura Faucci
Fondazione Teatro Goldoni
Via Goldoni n. 83
57125 Livorno

It is also possible to communicate by email ([email protected]) or by phone (0586/204221 – office open from 9 AM to 2 PM). The direction is not responsible for lost letters or emails.

The next audtion will take place on October 25, 2005 at the Goldoni Theater in Livorno.

Update: This announcement has also appeared in Il giornale della musica.

Pietro Mascagni - la vita e le opere by Nedo Benvenuti, noted Mascagni scholar, is a revision of Pietro Mascagni nella vita e nell'arte by the same author, published in 1981.

The new version covers a wide range of topics, organized into the following sections:

• Life (37 pages)
• Mascagni and Livorno (21 pages)
• Photos and illustrations (17 pages)
• Works (15 pages)
• Libretti (8 pages)
• Quick catalog of Mascagni's librettists (2 pages)
• Report of the second Sonzogno competition (4 pages)
• Critical musical analysis (38 pages)
• Chronology (18 pages)
• Appendix: Letters from Mascagni to Guido Menasci during the composition of Amica (12 pages)
• Appendix: Parisina press book (65 pages)

It is difficult to rapidly compare the new version (256 pages) with the earlier one (160 pages) as the layout and typography have changed and have in fact been significantly improved. It is however worth noting that several sections of the new version are entirely new, as are all the illustrations, and that the text appears to have been entirely revised.

Pietro Mascagni - la vita e le opere is available immediately.

The soundtrack of the movie Raging Bull, which features three pieces by Mascagni, has just been released.

The double CD has 37 tracks, including the three Mascagni tracks:

• Intermezzo from Cavalleria Rusticana (twice)
• Barcarola from Silvano
• Intermezzo (Il Sogno di Ratcliff) from Guglielmo Ratcliff

According to preliminary information, the three pieces appear to have been performed by the Orchestra of the Municipal Theatre of Bologna conducted by Arturo Basile. It is the first time with this release that the Barcarola from Silvano becomes widely available.

The score for a Fantasia sulla Cavalleria Rusticana (Fantasy on Cavalleria Rusticana), a work for piano composed by pianist Calogero Di Liberto, is now available from Casa Musicale Sonzogno

The 8-minute long piece is essentially inspired from themes out of Cavalleria Rusticana. A CD is also in the works. It will feature a performance of the Fantasy, performed by the composer.

A single performance of Amica (Italian version) will be performed at the Parco di Villa Carmignani in Collesalvetti on August 27, 2005.

Maria Elèna Mexia, a young Spanish producer, will stage the opera with an ample use of media sources. Nada Matosevic (see picture), the artistic director of Rijeka Theater in Croatia, will conduct the "Festival Mascagni d'Estate" orchestra.

In the title role, Giovanna De Liso makes a comeback in Livorno, where she has a large number of supporters. Maurizio Comencini and Carlo Morini sing the two passionate brothers Giorgio and Rinaldo, and Antonio Marani and Fulvia Bertoli will sing Padron Camoine and Maddalena. The Società Corale Pisana supports the chorus.

The opera is sung in Italian and celebrates the centennary of the first world performance of Amica in Monte Carlo on March 16, 1905 and the first perfomance in Livorno at the Teatro Goldoni on Aug 5, 1905.

A rich 48-page booklet with notes by Fulvio Venturi will be available for the performance.

The full details are available below:

Update: Mascagni.org has learned that the performance could not take place because of bad weather.

A single performance of Silvano has been performed in Livorno on July 2, 2005, at an open air summer stage next to the Goldoni Theater.

This is the same production done in Collesalvetti in August 2003. Maurizio Comencini (see picture) was outstanding in the very difficult title role, earning warm applause right since the first act, and Paola Di Gregorio (Matilde), Carlo Morini (Renzo) and Miria Adriani were all very well received. Mario Menicagli conducted with enthusiasm and Emanuele Gamba was in charge of the staging and lighting.

The performance was promoted by the commune of Livorno (Assessore Attilio D'Alesio) on the occasion of the "Palio Marinaro" events.

It is with deep regret that Mascagni.org is announcing the passing of Mario Morini, famous Mascagni scholar, on July 11.

Mario Morini was the author, in the 1960s, of the first serious scholarly volumes about Mascagni, published by Casa Sonzogno. Those two volumes, now hard to find, have been the reference for mascagnani for decades. Mario Morini was also one of the curator of the Mascagni epistolary in two volumes, published in the 1990s, and the author of many articles and talks over the years.

Mercury Opera Rochester will perform L'amico Fritz this coming October in Rochester.

The full details are available below:

Two more recitals in homage to verismo opera will take place in the house of Gemma Bellincioni and Roberto Stagno in Livorno at the end of July and August.

The program of the recitals is available below, including the original Italian text:

Gemma Bellincioni [orig. Cesira Matilda] era nata nel 1864 a Monza, figlia d’arte di toscani, a sei anni esordì in una arietta di una commedia data al Teatro Filodrammatico milanese, dieci anni dopo debuttò a Napoli nel Segreto della Duchessa di Orefice. Da quel momento le sue tournèe all’estero non si contano più; si rivelò anche in Traviata nel 1884. Ha avuto successo nel repertorio standard del tempo grazie alla presenza scenica, il suo recitare e l’interpretazione attirarono una considerevole attenzione e furono utilizzate nel nuovo genere musicale del tempo: il verismo. Fu selezionata con il marito Roberto Stagno come Turiddu, per creare il ruolo di Santuzza nella prima assoluta di Cavalleria Rusticana (17 maggio 1890). La Bellincioni creò anche il personaggio di Fedora di Giordano (17 novembre 1898) e fu scelta anche per la prima Salomè di Strauss (1906). In seguito insegnò canto a Berlino e pubblicò a questo proposito un suo metodo d’insegnamento; nel 1912 diede alle stampe un’autobiografia “Io e il palcoscenico”. Sposò dopo molti anni di convivenza il tenore Roberto Stagno. Morì a Napoli nel 1950.

Roberto Stagno [Vincenzo Andreoli] nacque a Palermo nel 1840 e divenne ben presto grande tenore internazionale grazie a un repertorio eccezionalmente vasto raccogliendo allori nelle sue numerose tournèes in Europa, America, Russia. A partire dalla prima rappresentazione della Cavalleria Rusticana fino al 1895 cantò spesso opere veriste. Fu sempre amico devoto e poi marito della Bellincioni, tra le braccia della quale morì a Genova nel 1897.

Bianca Bellincioni (1888-1981), figlia dei cantanti Gemma Bellincioni e Roberto Stagno, seguì le orme dei genitori nel campo operistico dopo il suo matrimonio con una membro della famiglia Ricordi. Debuttò nel 1913 a Graz (Austria) come Cio-Cio-San in Madama Butterfly. Dopo la carriera operistica, si dedicò al film muto (da ricordare la sua interpretazione in un film in cui compare lo stesso Mascagni “La regina della Scala” del 1937).

The most important thing, after all, is listening to Mascagni's music. Mascagni.org has had some audio files for a long time, but this section has recently been redone, and now features a better-organized entry page.

You can now navigate to audio files categorized per work, and from there go to the relevant recordings in the discography. Conversely, if a discography entry has associated audio files, those can be played directly.

Many new audio files have also been added, most from authentic 78 rpm records, including the wonderful duet from Il piccolo Marat, a pure gem recorded by Hipolito Lázaro and Mafalda de Voltri. The music comes from four 78 rpm sides, for a total of almost 15 minutes of dream music.

Another gem is the version of Stornelli Marini, one of Mascagni's best songs, sung by Beniamino Gigli. Also notable, the overture to Il barbiere di Siviglia conducted by Mascagni himself; a rare choral excerpt from Silvano; and much more, since there is at the moment over three hours of Mascagni music to listen to!

Finally, don't miss the songs and piano works recorded by Patricia Wright, David Vine, Cheri Rose Katz, and Alan Mallach, which have been on the site for a long time.

Mascagni.org presents a series of gorgeous colorized French postcards illustrating scenes from Cavalleria Rusticana and L'ami Fritz (L'amico Fritz).

The first series illustrates five dramatic scenes from Cavalleria Rusticana, from Alfio's entrance (Il cavallo scalpita, or Piaffe, mon cheval fringant in the French version) to the famous Hanno ammazzato compare Turiddu (On a tué Torido !! in the French version).

The second series illustrates ten scenes from L'ami Fritz, from the initial meal scene of the opera to the last love scene. Both series appear to be from the same publisher, featuring the same layout and style but bearing different numbers: AS 814 for Cavalleria Rusticana, AS 818 for L'ami Fritz.

MYTO Records has just recorded a new studio version of Cavalleria rusticana. The CD is likely due around September 2005. The cast includes Mara Zampieri, Carlo Torriani, Alberto Mastromarino, conducted by Francesco Ledda.

Mascagni.org presents a new original document: Intermezzo From The Eternal City, a four-page insert published in the San Francisco Examiner on December 7, 1902, Mascagni's birthday.

The Intermezzo presented here is just one and a half page long, the remaining one and a half page featuring a movement from Act IV. This is in fact the central part of a piece called Valley of the Shadow, an intermezzo to Act II, the first bars of which appear on the first page of the document. The actual score has the following commentary:

Nothing can stop Roma's destiny. She has met David Rossi and has fallen in love with him. An overwhelming passion is the result of their intercourse, and her past and her present are forgotten in the hopes she builds for her future with the man of whom she is enamoured.

Mascagni wrote incidental music for Hall Caine's play The Eternal City in the summer of 1902. At the time this document was published, he was in the middle of his troubled North American tour, during which he would regularly perform excerpts from his latest composition.

While the piano score for The Eternal City is still available, the orchestral score remains lost.

A few pieces by Mascagni, including Regina coeli, Gli aranci olezzano, Viva il vino spumeggiante, and the Intermezzo from Cavalleria rusticana, will be performed this Sunday in Mendrisio, Switzerland, along with pieces from Bellini, Cairoli, Verdi, Rossini, and Wagner.

This is a gala concert for the 20 years of the Foundation Presenza Sud of Mendrisio.

Update: here is a review of the concert.

The Forest Hills Symphony Orchestra is announcing the third and last concert of its season on Sunday, April 17 at 2pm at the Forest Hills Jewish Center, 106-06 Queens Blvd. It will feature oboist Joan Dawidziak and bassoonist Howard Rockwin in the Vivaldi Concerto for oboe and bassoon. Also on the program will be Bizet’s L’Arlesienne Suite and the prelude and intermezzo from L’Amico Fritz by Mascagni.

Tickets are $5 and $3 for senior citizens and students. Tickets are available by calling 516-785-2532.

This hasn't been confirmed yet, but it looks like there is a chance that Amica will be performed in Collesalvetti in August 2005. This year marks the centenary of this musically very interesting opera, initially composed to a French libretto.

A new CD of Messa di Gloria (Glory Mass) has been released on label Fonit Cetra. Tenor Stefano Secco and baritone Cosimo Diano are conducted by Claudio Scimone.

Mascagni's Messa di Gloria was composed for young music students in 1888, two years before the premiere of Cavalleria rusticana.

Chelsea Opera Group will be performing Cavalleria rusticana in concert form at the Queen Elizabeth Hall in London on Saturday 26, 2005. Cavalleria is being twinned on this occasion with Puccini’s first opera Le villi, thus giving opera-goers the rare opportunity to hear together the first operatic works of the two leading post-Verdi Italian composers.

Following its success last January with a concert performance of a rarely-heard Puccini opera, The Academy of Vocal Arts presents a concert version of Pietro Mascagni's L'amico Fritz on January 20 and 21 at the Kimmel Center's Perelman Theater, and January 22 at Centennial Hall in Haverford.

The brilliant Christofer Macatsoris conducts AVA's rising vocal stars and The Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia.

Update: a performance will be broadcast on WRTI:

Rolando Villazón's new CD (released in 2004) features two arias by Mascagni: Ed anche Beppe amò... O Amore, o bella luce del cor from L'amico Fritz, and Vergine muse... Quando al soave anelito from Nerone.

Pierino Mascagni, grandson of the composer, has passed away.

The following is a translation of the statement issued by the Mascagni family:

Pietro Mascagni junior, called by the maestro and his family Pierino, estimated surgeon and man of great humanity, has died in Rome on January 1 after a long illness. Among the grandchildren of the maestro, Pierino was the one who best remembered his grandfather, of whom he was carrying the name. Like him he was a man full of life, passionate and exuberant and he has been for the Mascagni family a crucial anchor. We will all miss Pierino a lot, in particular his wife, his sister Maria Teresa, his children, the grandchildren and all the friends who remember him with great love.

The funeral will take place Monday, January 3, at the church of Sacro Cuore in Rome. The ashes will be kept in Livorno in the tomb of the Mascagni family, where the maestro is at rest.

Mascagni.org presents a new original document: the piano / vocal score for La canzone del sole, a song based on Mascagni's earlier La ballata di Maggio for the 1933 movie La canzone del sole with Giacomo Lauri-Volpi.

Chelsea Opera and the Chelsea Opera Chamber Orchestra present Cavalleria Rusticana by Pietro Mascagni, libretto by G. Targioni-Tozzetti and G. Menasci, after a story by Giovanni Verga.

Four performances of Cavalleria Rusticana and Rapsodia Satanica will take place a the Teatro dell'Opera di Roma (Rome Opera) in March 2005.

A new DVD of Zanetto has been released on label Kicco. The DVD is from a live November 2003 performance in Savona, Italy. Denia Mazzola Gavazzeni and Romina Basso are conducted by Bruno Aprea. The DVD also includes a concert with Denia Mazzola Gavazzeni as well as interviews.

Mascagni.org presents a selection of songs and piano pieces performed live by Cheri Rose Katz (mezzo soprano) and Alan Mallach (piano), recorded in Roosevelt, New Jersey, USA on March 20, 2004.

Mascagni.org presents two new original documents: Mascagni Prima della Cavalleria, an article by Mascagni librettist Giovanni Targioni-Tozzetti; and Mascagni Leads His Thousands, a 1-page "article" published in Musical America of May 25, 1929 featuring Mascagni conducting an orchestra of five thousand musicians.

The text of Mascagni Leads His Thousands reads:

Music as an indispensable part of national life is a well-recognized fact by the Italian Fascisti, knowing the Italian love of spectacle, the powers that rule gathered together five thousand musicians in the national stadium in Rome for a recent Fascisti anniversary celebration and many fives of thousands of people gathered to listen. Musicans, in modern Rome, have taken the place of lions.

Above is a general view of the national stadium with the orchestra of five thousand, and at the left is Pietro Mascagni, conducting 'Youth', the Facisct hymn.

Mascagni.org presents a rare document: the contract signed between Mascagni and New York editor Liebler & Co in 1902 relative to the incidental music Mascagni would compose for Hall Caine's play The Eternal City.

Mascagni.org presents a rare 1902 vintage recording in Russian of M'ama... non m'ama, one of Mascagni's best-known songs, sung by barytone Oskar Kamionskiy.

Sheffield City Opera presents Opera for All, an unusual double bill of productions for their Autumn season. Mascagni’s famous one act opera Cavalleria Rusticana is twinned with Gilbert and Sullivan’s Trial by Jury.

Director Freda Chapple has set each of the works at the same time historically i.e. c1935. Two entirely different places, rural Italy in Mussolini’s grip and Cosmopolitan London are the settings. The musical styles are poles apart. Yet, however, an intriguing theme of women facing power structures links the two - in the case of Cavalleria Rusticana the Church, and in Trial by Jury the Law Courts. The sets and costumes are specially designed to complement and help explore these musical ideas.

Musical Director David Barnard and Freda Chapple have assembled an experienced and vocally distinguished cast for each of the productions. Award winning soprano Joanna Shacklock makes a welcome return as Santuzza whilst Argentinian tenor Ernesto Coreas makes his debut with Sheffield City Opera, as Turiddu.

The Sheffield City Opera Orchestra under the baton of David Barnard has been assembled from musicians from famous national orchestras including the Halle Orchestra and Manchester Camerata.

Four performances of Isabeau will take place at the Park of the Teatro Palazzo Ducale of Sassuolo, (near Modena and Parma, in Italy), on the following dates: June 21, June 24, June 26, and June 29, 2004. The June 21 date has not been confirmed.

The performers have been selected among the students of the class "Il Verismo. La vocalità solista" promoted by the Arturo Toscanini Foundation, funded by the Emilia Romagna Region with contributions from the European Social Fund and in collaboration with the Commune of Sassuolo.

A new DVD of L'amico Fritz has just been released on label Kultur (Kicco). The DVD is from a live Livorno performance of November 2002. Roberto Tolomelli conducts José Bros as Fritz Kobus, Dimitra Theodossiou as Suzel and Alessandro Paliaga as David.

A new CD of Silvano has just been released on label Kicco. The CD is from a live performance in Collesalvetti in August 2003. The cast includes Maurizio Comencini as Silvano, Paola Di Gregorio as Matilde, conducted by Mario Menicagli.

A new DVD of Nerone has just been released on label Membran. The performance is from one of two live concerts that took place in Rome in August 2001.

Not much work has gone into making this DVD fancy: it contains the bare performance and that is it. The availability on DVD, as opposed to just an audio CD, is made somewhat less interesting by the fact that there is not much happening in a concert performance, but the image and audio quality are excellent, and you can get an idea of what the wonderful venue, Emperor Adrian's Villa in Rome, looks like.

Of the cast, Adriana Damato and Madelyn Renée Monti stand out as Egloge and Atte. Mario Marchesi also makes a quite good Nerone. Although he is lacking in subtelty, he has a beautiful voice appropriate for the role. The most disappointing part is the orchestra and conductor, who are far from the level of detail and effectiveness attained by Kees Bakels and the Radio Symphony Orchestra of Hilversum on the Bongiovanni CD set. In addition, this performance features several cuts, the most dramatic one being the intermezzo, an incredible piece in my opinion, here almost entirely amputated. Other cuts include the wonderful, typical Mascagni-style orchestral commentary that follows the Nerone / Egloge duet.

Pianist, composer and writer Alan Mallach (piano and commentary) and Cheri Rose Katz (mezzo soprano) will perform songs and piano pieces at the Roosevelt Borough Hall of Roosevelt, New Jersey, this coming Saturday, March 20, at 8 PM.

Directions from the program: "The Roosevelt Borough Hall is located on Route 571 approximately 5 miles southeast of Hightstown. From Exit 8 of the NJ Turnpike follow Route 33 east to the 2^nd light and turn right on Milford Road for one mile to a T intersection. At the intersection turn left on Route 571 and follow it for 3 miles. The municipal building will be on your left as you enter town."

A voluntary contribution of $5 is suggested. For further information call Robin Gould at 609.448.4616.

Maestro Massimo de Bernart has passed away in Rome, on March 1, 2004 at age 54. Among his achievements, he conducted Iris in 1998 for the centenary production in Catania, Livorno, Pisa, Lucca, and Mantova.

He was also the conductor in Livorno of Lodoletta (1994), Guglielmo Ratcliff (1995, centenary production), Silvano (1996, concert performance), Cavalleria rusticana (1997). Finally, on January 24, 2004, he conducted Cavalleria rusticana in Livorno for the reopening of the Goldoni theater. Maestro De Bernart had over two hundred titles in his repertoire, among them operatic and symphonic works, but his favorite works were those of Mascagni and Puccini. A great interpreter is gone.

A performance of the Messa di Gloria will take place on July 10, 2004 at 7 PM at the church of the monastery of Ochsenhausen (Klosterkirche Ochsenhausen), about 30 km from Ulm.

The music will be performed by the Kammerorchester der Stadt Ochsenhausen (Chamber Orchestra of Ochsenhausen) and the Coro Polifonico di Subiaco (Italy) under the direction of Josef Christ.

The society Milano Classica will dedicate a day to the performance of unpublished Mascagni works. The program includes, in the morning, two symphonies (in F major and C minor), recovered by Franco Gallini; and in the afternoon, a roundtable about Mascagni's symphonic and chamber music, followed by the performance of the following pieces:

• Symphony in F major (version for two pianos)
• Canzone militare
• Canzone amorosa (for flute, violin, cello and piano, found by Orselli at the Conservatory of Florence)
• Serenatella for mandoline and piano (which contains a melody that Mascagni later used in the Preludio of Guglielmo Ratcliff)

The acts of the Mascagni Convention held in Livorno on December 7, 2000 (Mascagni's birthday) have finally been published in the magazine Civiltà musicale number 46/47. The 160-page volume contains the following essays:

• Maledettismo di Mascagni, by Marzio Pieri
• Mascagni e Tozzi, by Marco Marchi
• Vicende di una giovanile cantata: da "In filanda" a "Pinotta" 1883 e 1932, by Cesare Orselli
• La musica vocale di Mascagni, by Fabio De Sanctis De Benedicti
• L'afflato religioso nella musica di Pietro Mascagni, by Fulvio Venturi
• Hall Caine e "The Eternal City", by Matteo Sansone
• Il verista Mascagni si mette al pianoforte, by Cesare Orselli
• Intorno al giapponesismo di "Iris", by Eleonora Negri
• L'enigma dei due finali di "Isabeau", by Carlo Botteghi
• Discografia dell'altro Mascagni, by Attilio Lolini
• Ascolti e Letture, by Francesco Ermini Polacci e Riccardo A. Luciani

The Centro Studi Mascagnani has just published the second album of Mascagni songs, editions Boccaccini & Spada, under the supervision of Cesare Orselli. The album contains the following songs:

• Ballata medievale
• M'ama...non m'ama
• Risveglio
• Sintomi d'amore
• Allora ed ora
• Sera d'ottobre (poesia di Giovanni Pascoli)
• Serenata
• A Lilia
• L'addio di Palamidone

Ballata medievale, on a text by Ezio Cappelli, was initially published in 1883 under the name Serenata ("Serenade", not to be confused with the famous Serenata from 1894, published many times and recorded among others by Di Stefano, Bergonzi, and Pavarotti) in L'ondina, a magazine of Livorno. Although listed in catalogs, the piece could not be found until Orselli found a manuscript copy at the Library of the Conservatory of Foggia. The Serenata was then renamed Ballata medievale.

The Goldoni Theatre of Livorno, Mascagni's hometown, is reopening its doors today, after a long and dedicated work of restauration. The Italian president, Carlo Azeglio Ciampi, himself from Livorno, will conduct the inauguration. The theatre will open with a performance of Cavalleria Rusticana.

For the occasion, the mayor of the city, Gianfranco Lamberti, will present the heirs of Mascagni and the heirs of Galliano Masini with the "Livornina d'oro", the highest honor that the city can deliver.

Other performances will take place on February 3 and 4, with La vida breve by Manuel de Falla. The performances will then move on to Pisa (February 7 and 8) and Lucca (February 18 and 19).

The Goldoni is famous to Italians not only because of its elegance, but also because it hosted in 1921 the Congress of the Socialist Party, which led to the division of the Italian Communist Party. Built between 1843 and 1847 by architect Giuseppe Cappellini, the theatre was once one of the most prestigious in Italy. The only major venue of Livorno to have survived the damages of World War II, the Goldoni was closed in 1984 for not meeting security norms. It was later acquired by the commune of Livorno in 1990, in order to be restored. The total cost of the work amounts to 18 millions of euros.

A new CD of Isabeau has just been released by Bongiovanni. Although the performance is not recent (it was recorded in 1982 in the Netherlands), this is an important release, as it is the first time that a complete version of Isabeau is available with good sound quality. It took efforts from dedicated people, including Belgian Mascagnano Hilaire de Slagmeulder, to secure all the authorizations and finally get the performance released.

Isabeau (1911) is the third and last opera Mascagni composed on a libretto by Luigi Illica, after Iris (1898) and Le Maschere (1901). The action is set in the Middle Ages, which is the pretext for a wonderful, archaic musical atmosphere. Mascagni's music has rarely been more original. In particular, the opera features some of the most intriguing and beautiful arias for tenor: "Non colombelle !... Tu ch'odi lo mio grido" (also known as the falcon song) and "E passera la viva creatura".

The Bongiovanni catalog also includes several other works by Mascagni, including Nerone, Il piccolo Marat (both conducted by Kees Bakels), Sì, Rapsodia Satanica and Visione Lirica, L'apoteosi della cicogna, Pinotta, A Giacomo Leopardi and Zanetto, as well as songs and works for piano.

The excellent and well restored excerpts of the opera sung by Mariella Pobbe, as well as the tenor arias sung by Beniamino Gigli, should also be noted.

The Rome Teatro dell'Opera is presenting 7 performances of Cavalleria Rusticana during the Spring of 2004. The performances will take place on March 23, 25, 27, 30, 31 and April 2 and 4.

The main performers of this new production are Giovanna Casolla, Nicola Martinucci and Franco Giovine, conducted by Marcello Panni.

Il Cordovano, a one-act opera from a piece by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, translated by Eugenio Montale and put in music by Goffredo Petrassi, will be performance along with Cavalleria Rusticana. The main performers are Rosa Ricciotti, Giorgio Surian, Valentina Valente, and Antonella Trevisan.

Opera San Jose is presenting a series of 14 performances of Cavalleria Rusticana and Pagliacci interpreted by two separate casts. The first cast will perform on November 8, 11, 14, 16, 20, 22, 30, the second cast on November 9, 13, 15, 21, 23, 25, 29.

Each performance features a free 1-hour introduction to opera (at 5:30 PM for the 8 PM performances and at 12:30 for the 3 PM matinees). A free preview will take place at the San Jose Museum of Art on Tuesday, November 4, at noon. The same evening, another preview, complete with wine and hors d'oeuvres for $15 per person, will take place in the Grand Ballroom of the Hyatt Sainte Claire.

This is an English translation of the text sent by the submitter:

"Exactly one year after a well received Pinotta, the School of Music "Clara Schumann" of Collesalvetti is preparing a new production of an opera by Mascagni by staging Silvano. The intent of the previous production has not changed: in this case again Mascagni is considered the genius loci and a little known score is proposed. The initiative tries to avoid polemic, even if the temptation is strong to launch a crusade in favor of an author who is today receiving more attention outside Italy than within its borders. It is not the intent of the "Schumann" to rewrite chapters of the history of music, but instead to designate good but forgotten pages of music. And Silvano appears to be rich of such pages. An opera almost without subject, born just after a major and much more anticipated work, it ended being unsuccessful, but it is an opera-landscape like few others. Listening to Silvano, images come to mind one after the other, evoking poetic passages and picturesque views. The sea accompanies the melody. On stage, in the difficult part of the protagonist, Maurizio Comencini, now used to the Mascagni revivals after the happy experience of Le Maschere (CEL 2001), the excellent Carlo Morini, and the interesting Paola Di Gregorio and Miria Adriani, supported by the baton of Mario Menicagli. Silvano has not been put on stage since 1980. For more information, call +39 3289190602."

The San Francisco Opera will produce 8 performances of Cavalleria Rusticana and Pagliacci in the production of Jean-Pierre Ponnelle. The dates are: September 19, 23 and 27; and October 2, 5, 8, 11 and 17.

The cast for Cavalleria Rusticana will consist of Andrea Gruber, Antonio Nagore, Judith Christin, Anthony Michaels-Moore. For Pagliacci: Jon Fredric West, Catherine Naglestad, Anthony Michaels-Moore, Felipe Rojas, and James Westman.

A concert in homage to Mascagni ("Omaggio a Mascagni") will take place at the Ippodromo "Federico Caprilli" in Livorno on Friday August 8. Tenor Lance Ryan will perform, in addition to excerpts from Cavalleria Rusticana, "Quando al soave anelito..." from Nerone and "Fu vile l'editto..." from Isabeau.

Update: The program included:

• O Lola ch'ai di latti la cammisa (Cavalleria Rusticana)
  Lance Ryan, tenore
• Voi lo sapete, o mamma (Cavalleria Rusticana)
  Maria Fratarcangeli, soprano
• Tu qui, Santuzza (Cavalleria Rusticana)
  Lance Ryan, tenore - Maria Fratarcangeli, soprano
• Oh, il Signore vi manda (Cavalleria Rusticana)
  Maria Fratarcangeli, soprano - Carlo Morini, baritono
• Addio alla madre (Cavalleria Rusticana)
  Lance Ryan, tenore
• È sempre il vecchio andazzo (Descrizione di Londra) (Guglielmo Ratcliff)
  Carlo Morini, baritono
• Forse, domani, al canto delle allegre campagne (Silvano)
  Maria Fratarcangeli, soprano
• Aria della Piovra (Iris)
  Maria Fratarcangeli, soprano
• Se una spada tieni al fianco (La "bravata" del capitano) (Le Maschere)
  Carlo Morini, baritono
• Fu vile l'editto (Isabeau)
  Lance Ryan, tenore
• La mia mano è quella d'un soldato (Il piccolo Marat)
  Carlo Morini, baritono
• Quando al soave anelito (Nerone)
  Lance Ryan, tenore

The performance of Silvano in Collesalvetti, initially planned for July 11, has been postponed to August 26. The initial cast was:

Silvano: Maurizio Comencini
Matilde: Marina Fratarcangeli
Renzo: Carlo Morini
Conductor: Mario Menacagli
Set designer: Sergio Seghettini

In the context of the season of the Circuito Lirico Regionale Lombardo, a series of performances combining Rapsodia Satanica (with movie projection and live orchestra) and Cavalleria Rusticana will take place in December. The known dates so far include Como (December 16 and 18) and Cremona (December 3 and 5). There is a possibility that performances will take place in Brescia and Bergamo as well.

A new CD set of Le maschere has just been released on label Kicco. The CD is from a live Livorno performance of November 2001. Bruno Aprea conducts the large cast comprising Antonia Cifrone as Rosaura, Danilo Formaggia as Florindo, Alessandro Battiato as Tartaglia, and Susanne Bungaard as Colombina.

Performances of Cavalleria Rusticana will take place in August 2, 6, 9, 13 in Macerata, Italy, at the Arena Sferisterio, an open-air theatre. The cast will be as follows:

Teatro Grattacielo will present a concert performance of Guglielmo Ratcliff on November 25, 2003 at 8 PM.

Teatro Grattacielo had their Annual Spring Benefit on June 4, where a concert of verismo excerpts was presented, including a transcription for piano and harp of the Intermezzo from Act III of Guglielmo Ratcliff.

A world's first recording of A pensiero a San Francisco, as well as the score of the piece, are now available on Mascagni.org.

June 2 is the Italian National Day (or "Festa Nazionale della Repubblica). Among the events that will take place at the presidential palace ("Palazzo del Quirinale") on Sunday June 1 and Monday June 2, Maestro Gianluigi Gelmetti, known to Mascagnani as conductor of Iris and Le Maschere at the Rome Opera, will conduct the Intermezzo from Cavalleria Rusticana and the Inno del Sole from Iris.

The performance will be broadcast on RAI UNO on Sunday June 1 at 23:30.

Rete 4, an Italian TV channel, will show the film "Melodie Immortali" at 4.05 AM on Friday May 9, 2003. The movie is about "the life of Pietro Mascagni, from his first work, which cost him his place at the conservatory, to the triumphs which made him immortal." Comment from the TV magazine: "An elegant biography, guided by an excellent musical comment." The 100 minutes movie is from 1952 and stars Carla del Pioggio and Pierre Cressoy.

Performances of Rapsodia Satanica will take place on Friday, Saturday and Sunday April 25, 26 and 27 in the Netherlands. The first two performances will take place at the Koninklijk Conservatorium (Royal Conservatory) in The Hague. The last performance will take place in Amsterdam at the Tuschinsky theater. Composer John De Simone has adapted the music for the restored version of the film and Jonathan Stockhammer will conduct the symphonic orchestra of the Koninklijk Conservatorium. The projections are organized in collaboration with the Nederlands Filmmuseum of Amsterdam.

The film was restored around 1995 after an original hand-colorized version was found in the archives of the Cinematheque Suisse in Switzerland.

Following the great success of Pinotta's performance last year, Silvano will be staged in Collesalvetti (20 km from Livorno) on July 11, 2003. An interesting cast had been involved:

Silvano: Maurizio Comencini
Matilde: Marina Fratarcangeli
Renzo: Carlo Morini
Conductor: Mario Menacagli
Set designer: Sergio Seghettini

Articles and notes on the evening program by Fulvio Venturi.

Number 46/47 of the music magazine "Civiltà musicale", directed by Marcello de Angelis, will feature the acts of the last convention of the Centro Studi Mascagnani of Livorno, that took place on December 7, 2000. The issue will contain essays by Pieri, Marchi, Orselli, De Sanctis De Benedictis, Sansone, Botteghi, Negri, and Venturi. The essays are mostly dedicated to Mascagni's non-operatic works, like The Eternal City, the cantata In filanda, the songs, the music for piano and the religious music. Also included are a discography of "the other Mascagni" by Lolini; "Ascolti e letture" by Ermini Polacci and Luciani; and the unpublished Un pensiero a San Francisco, written in the United States in 1903.

The cantata In filanda will be performed at the Teatro Mercadante in Naples on April 6, 2003 for the first time since 1881. The cast will be as follows:

Conductor: Susanna Pescetti
Soprano: Rossella Redoglia
Tenor: Antonio De Palma
Baritone: Massimiliano Fichera

Composed at the age of 17, the cantata is Mascagni's first major symphonic and choral work. In filanda was later adapted into the opera Pinotta. Brought back by Cesare Orselli, it will be recorded on CD by Bongiovanni.

Italian-American producer and songwriter Tony Renis will produce an opera movie based on Cavalleria Rusticana with tenor Andrea Bocelli and actor Giancarlo Giannini. "È un grande progetto internazionale in cui vorrei coinvolgere professionisti italiani" ("It is a large international project in which I would like to involve Italian professionals"), said Renis at the "Capri, Hollywood" festival.

Stefano Profeti's "Iconografie mariane" ("Marian Iconographies") proposes a reading of the libretto of Isabeau under the light of the iconography of the Virgin Mary. With a preface by Marco Marchi, the volume, covering authors from Collodi to Luzi, was recently published by Gruppo Edicom, collection "Tempi e Società", Cerro Maggiore-Milano, 2002.

The CEL Teatro di Livorno will perform L'amico Fritz in Livorno on November 27 and 28 at 21:00. The opera will be presented it the 1991 production, co-produced by Città Lirica. The cast is as follows:

Conductor: Roberto Tolomelli
Suzel: Dimitra Theodossiu
Fritz: José Bros
Production: Simona Marchini
Orchestra and chorus: Città Lirica

The grandchildren and the great-grandchildren of Mascagni will be present at the premiere.

The opera will also be performed at the Teatro Verdi of Pisa on December 3 an 4 and at the Teatro di Lucca on December 14 and 15.

Two series of performances of Amica and Nerone at the Rome opera have been announced. Amica will be performed during the 2004 season and Nerone during the 2005 season. Gianluigi Gelmetti will conduct both operas.

Amica was to be performed during the 2003 season, but the performances have been postponed until the 2004 season.

The recently rediscovered score of In Filanda, the first significant symphonic and vocal work by Mascagni, composed at the age of 17, will be performed in January and February 2003 in Naples. The work will also be recorded and published by Bongiovanni.

The Centro Studi Mascagnani has published the first album of Mascagni songs, editions Boccaccini & Spada, under the supervision of Cesare Orselli. The album contains the following scores:

Ave Maria
Pater noster (recently discovered)
Invocazione alla Madonna
O Roma felix (last composition of Mascagni)
La tua stella
Alla luna
Pena d'amore
Messaggio d'amore
Rosa

A staged performance of Pinotta will take place on August 22 in Collesalvetti, a town 15 km from Livorno, Mascagni's birth place.

This will be Pinotta's first performance in Italy since 1977 (Genoa) and the first performance in the Livorno area ever. Pinotta's premiere in 1932 took place in San Remo, and only a handful of performances followed in 1932 and 1933 in Florence, Naples, Rome and Turin. Since then only a few revivals were undertaken in the 70's and 90's.

Details of the performance:

GIOVEDI 22 AGOSTO ore 21,30

COLLESALVETTI - PARCO DI VILLA CARMIGNANI

PINOTTA

IDILLIO IN DUE ATTI

Parole di
GIOVANNI TARGIONI TOZZETTI

Musica di
PIETRO MASCAGNI

PERSONAGGI e INTERPRETI

PINOTTA: Serena FARNOCCHIA
BALDO: Leonardo MELANI
ANDREA: Alessandro LUONGO

DIREZIONE MUSICALE: Mario MENICAGLI
ORCHESTRA CLARA SCHUMANN
MAESTRO del CORO: Gianfranco COSMI
CORO LIRICO TOSCANO

CONSULENZA ARTISTICA: Fulvio VENTURI

Produzione Clara Schumann
Edizioni CURCI-MILANO

Update: The performance was a great success. The mise en scene was superb and Serena Farnocchia as Pinotta got a standing ovation in a crowded theatre! Pictures from the production are available here.

A series of 10 performances will take place in October, November and December 2002.

At long last the new version of the Mascagni.org web site, dubbed Mascagni.org 2.0, was released today!

The new web site features a much improved discography, listing not only complete recordings of operas but also a fair amount of recordings of other works, individual arie and orchestral pieces. It is possible to navigate from recorded performances to individual recordings and works, leveraging the hypertext capabilities of the web.

Minor improvements include a new look, more pictures, more bibliography entries, and a new page about the Centro Studi Mascagnani headed by Carlo Botteghi.

Of course the web site can in no way be considered complete. From now on the intent is to improve the site more incrementally. More than ever, contributions are welcome.

Alan Mallach's biography of Mascagni is now available (I just received my copy from Amazon.com). Pietro Mascagni and His Operas is the first critical biography of Mascagni available in English. It also features a selective discography and a bibliography.

Update: See the bibliography entry for more details.

A monologue featuring Italian actress Piera Degli Esposti was performed on March 27 ^th at the Teatro dei Rozzi in Siena. The piece, based on Federigo Tozzi's novels and tales, was written by Marco Marchi, professor of Italian literature at the University of Florence. According to the author, the music of Iris must be considered as part of the text and not a simple soundtrack. As a side note, Marchi thinks that Tozzi was influenced in his novel "Adele" by the music of Iris.

The performance was a success and got many people interested in the music of Iris!

The Oviedo Theater, in Spain, will produce L'amico Fritz on November 11, 13 and 15, 2002. The role of Suzel will be sung by Miriam Gauci. Other protagonists will be sung by Javier Palacios (Fritz), Ismael Pons (David) and Alexandra Rivas. Michael Laus will conduct the OSPA (Orquesta Sinfónica del Principado de Asturias).

The next season of the Rome Opera will open with Amica (instead of Isabeau) in its French version, co-produced by the Opera of Montecarlo, and conducted by Gianluigi Gelmetti.

Tenor Fausto Tenzi and pianist Roberto Negri have published on label Audiophile a large antology of the operas of Mascagni. The duo has already released an album, "Leoncavallo: 19 Arie Inedite", available on label Nuova Era.

Cesare Orselli has found several works that where thought to be lost:

First, the early cantata In filanda, later used by Mascagni to elaborate Pinotta. There is hope to see it performed and recorded by Bongiovanni during the next season of the CEL of Livorno.

Second, the "Pater Noster" written during the years of Livorno, for voice and string quartet. The version for voice and piano (published by Lucca, Milano) will be included in the first album of songs published by the Centro Studi Mascagnani, ed. Boccaccini & Spada (the same editor that published the works for piano).

Third, the "Serenata" of Mascagni, written in 1883 the the Livorno review "L'ondina".

The last CD of Andrea Bocelli, Cieli di Toscana, features a song dedicated to Mascagni simply called Mascagni. Credits go to Paolo Marioni, Luigino Biagioni, and Carlo Botteghi. The music is largely taken from the Intermezzo of Cavalleria Rusticana.

It appears that contrary to what had been announced, Isabeau won't be performed in Rome this season. The reasons are unknown.

The book "Le Maschere 1901 - 2001 / il centenario" will be officially presented on Sunday, November 11 at 5 PM at "La goldonetta", the ridotto of the Goldoni Theatre in Livorno (Via Goldoni).

The presentation will be followed by a concert performance of Zanetto by the students of the local music school.

The Dicapo Opera Theater in New York City will have six performances of L'amico Fritz in April 2002. This is the first production of this opera in New York in 25 years.

In November a new book about Mascagni's Le maschere will be released under the title "Le Maschere 1901 - 2001 / il centenario". Written by Alessandro Rizzacasa and Fulvio Venturi, the 180 page illustrated volume is produced by the Circolo Livornese Amici dell'opera Galliano Masini and will be published by Casa Editrice De Batte of Livorno.

Update: See the bibliography entry for more details.

Two new CDs of Mascagni conductor and pianist are published by Fonoteca under the titles Mascagni Conductor and Mascagni Conductor and Pianist. The first CD is available now and the second one is in the works. The CDs include pieces already released on the Mascagni Conducts CD, as well as other pieces, in particular a piano roll recorded by Mascagni himself.

More information about the first CD in the discography section.

Track listing of the second CD:

1. "Hymn to the sun", from Iris - Berlin State Opera Orchestra and Chorus, (rec. 1927 ca.).
2. Intermezzo, from Act 4 of Guglielmo Ratcliff - Berlin State Opera Orchestra (rec. 1927 ca.)
3. Looking at Bernini's Statue of Santa Teresa (Visione lirica) comp. 1923 - Berlin State Opera Orchestra (rec. 1927 ca.)
4. "Il canto del lavoro" (Rossoni - Bovio - Mascagni) - Orchestra of La Scala Theatre, Milan (rec. 1935 ca.)
5. "Il canto del lavoro" (Rossoni - Bovio - Mascagni) - Chorus and Orchestra of La Scala Theatre, Milan (rec. 1935 ca.)
6. "Il canto del lavoro" (Rossoni - Bovio - Mascagni) - Live performance of February 2 ^nd 1928 in Teatro Lirico of Milan - Orchestra of 100 performers; chorus of 500 singers
7. Ballettmusic from Aida (Verdi) - Berlin State Opera Orchestra, (rec. 1927 ca.)
8. Ouverture from I Vespri Siciliani (Verdi) - Berlin State Opera Orchestra (rec. 1927 ca.)
9. Ouverture from William Tell (Rossini) - Berlin State Opera Orchestra (rec. 1927 ca.)
10. The composer plays at piano excerpts from Cavalleria (Hupfeld piano rolls - 1908 ca.)

Teatro Sociale di Mantova, November 24-25
Conductor: Bruno Aprea; Production: Linday Kemp; performers: Franco di Franescantonio, Graziano Polidori / Danilo Serraiocco, Raffella Angeletti / Antonia Cifrone, Maurizio Comenicini / Danilo Formaggia, Paolo Servidei / Carmine Monaco, Eleonora Cantucci / Elena Monti, Carlo Bosi / Antonio De Angelis, Giuseppe Garro / Carlo Morini, Davide Livermore / Marcello Bedoni, Giorgio Caoduro / Dario Giorgiolè.

Le Maschere will be peformed on November 17 and 18 2001 in Livorno, conductor Bruno Aprea, production Lindsay Kemp. Le Maschere premiered a century ago on January 17, 1901, in six different theaters simultaneously.

The set will be released in autumn and is dedicated to the feminine characters of Mascagni's operas. The set will feature arie from L'amico Fritz, Pinotta, Guglielmo Ratcliff, Isabeau, Nerone, Lodoletta, Parisina, Il piccolo Marat, Zanetto, Iris, I Rantzau, Le maschere and the cantate A Giacomo Leopardi. The booklet will contain two essays, one by Sergio Segalini, and one by Cesare Orselli ("Una storia infinita").

Update: See the discography entry for more details.

The Rome audience was lucky to be able to attend performances of Nerone on August 3 and August 5 at the Grandi Terme Villa Adriana, in the context of the Festival Euro Mediterraneo. The cast was as follows: Mario Marchesi Leonardi (Nerone), Adriana Damato (Egloge), Madelyn Renee Monti (Atte), Michele Porcelli (Menecrate), Leopoldo Lo Sciuto (Nevio), Ruben Martinez (Faonte), Ernesto Morillo (Eulogio), Pierluigi Dilengite (Epafrodito), Carlo Riccioli (Vinicio), Marco Grimaldi (Babilio), Cesidio Jacoboni (Rufo / Mucrone), Antonio Faieta (Icelo / il Pastore), Stefan Poen (Petronio), Tamas Pal conducting the Orchestra Filarmonica di Roma, Stefano Cucci handling the Coro Sinfonico Romano.

The full program is now available, both in its original Italian version and in English translation. The acts of the convent will be published in the Italian magazine "Civiltà musicale".

The web site has been down again for quite some time because of a DNS issue that could not be resolved. Hopefully this time it's going to stay up! The Mascagni.org domain name is now registered at Dotster.com.

This news has not been verified yet, but it looks like Isabeau will be performed in Rome in January 2002, conducted by Gianluigi Gelmetti. Carlo Guelfi will be one of the singers. Maestro Gelmetti has already conducted performances of Le Maschere in 1988, and Iris in 1996 in Rome.

Update: an article of Il Manifesto, dated November 19, 2000, seems to confirm this new - "[...] Ma sarà l'opera di Roma ad inaugurare la stagione del 2002 (sempre con il regista De Ana e Gianluigi Gelmetti) con la mascagnana Isabeau."

The web site has been down for a little over a week because of hardware problems. It's now back up.

A convention about "L'altro Mascagni" ("The other Mascagni"), organized by the Centro Studi Mascagnani of Livorno, will take place on December 7, Mascagni's birthday. The subject will include early works and non-operatic works (piano, chamber music, songs, sacred music, etc.). The participating members will be Piero Santi, Carlo Botteghi, Alberto Paloscia, Matteo Sansone, Cesare Orselli, Eleonora Negri, Jacopo Pellegrini, Fabio De Sanctis, Fulvio Venturi, Alberto Iovino and the conductor Gianluigi Gelmetti.

The same day, presentation to the public of the book "Piano music by Mascagni", edited by Boccaccini & Spada in cooperation with the Centro Studi Mascagnani. The book covers ten pieces (the sames played by Marco Sollini on the Bongiovanni CD).

The evening, recital by Marco Sollini (piano) with music of Mascagni, Puccini, Giordano.

NOTE: The Centro Studi Mascagnani of Livorno, directed by Cesare Orselli, has difficulties finding money to fund the event. Even small donations are welcome! Please contact Cesare Orselli for more information!

Bongiovanni has just released a CD of Mascagni's music for piano. The recording, performed by Marco Sollini, also includes all the piano music by Puccini and Giordano. In other words it's a superb collection of many unpublished works. The reference is Bongiovanni GB 5100-2.

Some of the pieces exist only as manuscripts, and some have been discovered only recently by Cesare Orselli, not being listed in any catalogue.

The ten titles by Mascagni are: Novellina (1881), Sulle rive di Chiaja (1883), Intermezzo (1888), Pifferata di Natale (1890), Tema di Andante (1899), La gavotta delle bambole (1900), La prima bagnante (1908), Sunt lacrymae rerum! (1914), Visione lirica. Guardando la S. Teresa del Bernini (1923), and Tomina (1930).

All these piano pieces will be performed, along with the juvenile Symphony for two pianos, at the autumn concert in Leghorn by the duo Canino-Ballista.

In the words of Mike Volpe: "The production was a fantastic success. The audiences flocked to it (sold out weeks before) and the response was amazing. Indeed, we are considering bringing it back next season. Mascagni has, perhaps, found a home in Britain."

Two Iris and one Amico Fritz in four years: one can only hope that this is the beginning of a long tradition! Kudos to Mike and all the people who contributed to this success!

Bongiovanni released last year a CD of songs by Mascagni (see information about the album above). The CD contains 23 songs interpreted by Anastasia Tomaszewska-Schepis (soprano), Angel Rodriguez (tenor) and Fausta Cianti (piano). Included is a booklet with an essay about Mascagni's Songs ("La lirica da camera di Mascagni") by Cesare Orselli, as well as all the lyrics of the songs, both in original Italian and in English translation.

On December 8, 1999, in the context of the C.E.L. - Teatro di Livorno, soprano Anastasia Tomaszewska-Schepis and pianist Fausta Cianti performed all the songs in a recital which was repeated in Siena (Teatro dei Rozzi) in January 2000.

Next September they will be performed again at the Montecatini Terme (where Mascagni used to go), in November in Firenze, Cremona and Genova, and next year in Madrid.

The piano recital will also be performed in October in Livorno, during the Theatre season, with also a performance of an early Sinfonia for piano at four hands. Performers will be Bruno Canino/Antonio Ballista.

On a similar subject, Bongiovanni will publish soon a CD with all the works for piano by Mascagni, Puccini and Giordano, performed by pianist Marco Sollini, who also recorded two CDs of piano music by Leoncavallo. More news when the CD is released!

Last summer's performance of Parisina in Montpellier is now available on CD, label Actes Sud. Availability in the US is yet unknown, but you can order it from Fnac.com, a French site.

This is a landmark since Parisina was the only opera by Mascagni not officially released on CD. Although this recording has many cuts and cruelly lacks the last act, it's a must have for every mascagnano! Although vocally uneven, the performance reaches excellence at times, mostly due to Denia Mazzola's interpretation of Parisina d'Este and Enrique Diemecke's very good conducting.

See the links above for more information about the recording and performance. This news will be updated once the exact reference is known.

The web site has been down during three days because of hardware problems. It's now back up, and, as always, waiting for new contributions! Some are already in line, stay tuned!

A concert will take place in Livorno on April 4. The program will include rare symphonic music from Le Maschere, Amica, Iris, etc., as well as Romanza senza parole and two romances for voice and orchestra, La stella di Garibaldi and Ballata medievale.

Denia Mazzola Gavazzeni (soprano) will be the star of the evening and receive the first "Mascagni Prize" for her work as an interpreter of the music of Mascagni (Iris, Sì, Parisina). Petre Sbarcea will conduct the Orchestra and the chorus of the Opera of Cluj (Romania).

Opera Holland Park will be producing L'amico Fritz in late June 2000. The director will be Mattais Janser, and the conductor John Gibbons, the brilliant director of the previous year's Iris.

The opera will be performed on the following dates: 27, 28, 29, 30 June and 1 July at 7.30 PM. For more information, call the box office at: +44 207 602 7856. Tickets will go on sale in May 2000.

Opera in the Heights in Houston will be performing L'amico Fritz (on a double bill with Gianni Schicchi) January 13 - 22 in Italian with orchestra.

"Opera in the Heights is in its fourth year of operation here in Houston. We perform at Lambert Hall at Heights Christian Church, a turn of the century (last) building that seats about 400. This is the first year of a full season (Traviata and L'Elisir under our belts, Flute still to come). Needless to say, we don't have Houston Grand Opera's $21 million budget, but it is a great chance for us locals to learn our craft. The company may be contacted at 713/861-5303."

More soon about L'amico Fritz at Holland Park this summer!

Two "Alleluia" composed respectively in 1881 and 1882, and Mascagni's last creation, "O Roma felix", have been found recently by Alberto Paloscia, Fulvio Venturi and Sergio Licursi.

The three pieces will be performed on Saturday, October 9, 1999 in the church of Santa Maria del Soccorso in Livorno, as part of a concert of choral music by Mascagni under the title "Mascagni Religioso", with 180 chorus singers and 6 solists under the direction of Maestro Stefano Visconti. The concert is organized by the CEL-Teatro di Livorno and the Diocesi di Livorno.

The program will consist of: Il piccolo Marat - "O Vergine confido"; Isabeau - "A Te umilemente veniam"; Parisina - "Sequenza delle tre donzelle", "Laus Virginis", "Cantilena dei marinai", "Le Litanie lauretane"; "Alleluja" (1881, unpublished); "Alleluja dies santificatus" (1882, unpublished); "Invocazione alla Madonna" (1932); "O Roma felix" (1942); Cavalleria rusticana - "Regina Coeli laetare - Inneggiamo il Signor non è morto".

Update: The concert was a great success, with more than 2000 people attending.

In the context of the Festival Radio France, a concert performance of Parisina (created in 1913, libretto Gabriele D'Annunzio) will take place in Montpellier on July 22. The cast will be as follows: Denia Mazzola (Parisina Malatesta), Vitali Taraschenko (Ugo d'Este), Maria Luisa Tamez (Stella dell'Assassino) [Update: replaced by Tea Demurishvili], Alexandre Vaneev (Nicolò d'Este), Laura Brioli (La Verde), Valery Ivanov (Aldobrandino dei Rangoni). Enrique Diemecke will conduct the Orchestre Philharmonique de Montpellier Languedoc-Roussillon and the Choeur de la Radio Lettone.

This will be the first performance of Parisina in France. According to the program, unfortunately, only the first three acts will be performed. For those who don't know this opera yet, it's really a jewel (Mascagni's real masterpiece according to David Stivender), and I think it's a pity it's not performed more often!

For reservations, call +33 467 02 02 01. An e-mail address is also supplied in the program: [email protected].

The web site has received a bunch of changes and additions recently, including this news page. Lots of entries have been added to the discography, as well as new lists of performances for I Rantzau, Guglielmo Ratcliff, Parisina and Nerone, (thanks to the amazing work of Fulvio Venturi).

Of course, contributions are welcome now more than ever!

Opernglass, a german opera magazine, features a rave review of a performance of L'amico Fritz by Roberto Algna (Fritz) and Angela Gheorghiu (Suzel) in Monte Carlo last March. Alagna reportedly gave a somptuous performance. Gheorghiu was not as excellent, but still very enjoyable, and the whole production benefited from the small size of the Salle Garnier. The author welcomes the comeback of L'amico Fritz to the international opera scenes, and thinks that a new recording will probably be issued soon by EMI. Stay tuned!

The Iris project, contributed by Hagy Averbuch and Maria Adamo, bring us a very nice introduction to Iris that you can browse offline! It includes background information, synopses, notes on the characters as well as musical motives and short Real Audio excerpts.

This is to remind the availability of a compact disc recording produced by Roger Flury which features beautiful performances of 6 Mascagni songs. The soprano is Patricia Wright, accompanied by pianist David Vine. The disc also has songs by Puccini, Bellini, Donizetti and Verdi. The American Record Guide gave it a good review in the Jan/Feb 1999 issue: "This disc is charming. Patricia Wright's gleaming soprano sounds uncannily like Kiri Te Kanawa's. David Vine's pianism is magical."

It's on ATOLL 9803 and can be purchased from many internet stores or from the submitter.

Update: See the discography entry for more details.

PIETRO MASCAGNI: A BIO-BIBLIOGRAPHY. Published by Greenwood Press. c.420 pages. It contains a biography; full list of works; editions; synopses; premiere casts; a chronology of hundreds of selected performances with dates, venues and casts; an anotated bibliography of 363 titles; a discography of more than 2,000 items; a chronology of Mascagni's conducting career; an index of compositions and a general index.

The book will be completely finished in the next few weeks, so should be available by the end of the year.

Update: See the bibliography entry for more details.