Alberto Franchetti

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Alberto Franchetti (born 18 September 1860, Turin; died 4 August 1942, Viareggio) was an Italian opera composer. A Jewish nobleman of independent means, he studied first in Venice, then in Dresden under Draeseke, and finally at the Munich Conservatory under Rheinberger. His first major success occurred in 1888 with his opera Asrael. His operatic style combined Wagnerianism and Meyerbeer with Italian verismo. During his life, critics sometimes referred to him as the "Meyerbeer of modern Italy."

The words of music critic G. B. Nappi sum up Franchetti's primary talents: "His character is perhaps unsuitable for passionate dramas, but rather for those subjects, where the fantastic, romantic and epic are required in the symphonic texture and large choral pictures. In this regard Alberto Franchetti knows that he has no rival" (from "Orfeo" 6.3, 1915)

Grove calls Cristoforo Colombo (1892) Franchetti's best work. However, his most popular opera was Germania (1902). It clung to the general operatic repertoire until the First World War, was performed worldwide, and Enrico Caruso held it high regard, recording various arias. It then lapsed into obscurity.

Among the reasons for Franchetti's descent into obscurity is the fact that after the promulgation of the Fascist Racial Laws of 1938, which largely disenfranchised Italy's Jewish population, Franchetti's works were banned from performance. This was despite a plea for tolerance on his behalf from Pietro Mascagni to Benito Mussolini, which was rejected, just before Franchetti's death.

Recent revivals and recordings of Cristoforo Colombo and Germania (Berlin Oper 2006/7) show his work to be of genuine quality with a fine ability in orchestration and use of the chorus, symphonic in style. These traits, along with an unfortunate tendency for two-dimensional characters, were recognised early.

He also wrote a Symphony in E minor.

[edit] Performed Operatic Works

• Asrael (1888)
• Cristoforo Colombo libretto by Luigi Illica, (1892)
• Fior d’Alpe (1894)
• Il signor di Pourceaugnac (1897)
• Germania libretto by Luigi Illica (includes the tenor aria Studenti! Udite) (1902)
• La figlia di Iorio libretto by Gabriele D'Annunzio, (1906)
• Notte di Legenda (1915)
• Giove a Pompei (1921) Joint composition with Umberto Giordano.
• Glauco (1922)
• Fiori del Brabante (1930)

[edit] References

• Rosenthal, Harold and John Warrack. (1979, 2nd ed.). The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Opera. London, New York and Melbourne: Oxford University Press. p. 178. ISBN 0-19-311318-X.

[edit] Links

• Alberto Franchetti (1860-1942) at www.albertofranchetti.it