TEATRO GRATTACIELO - RICCITELLI

Conducted by David Wroe

I COMPAGNACCI

Compagnacci was a group or political faction numbering one hundred fifty men in Florence, Italy. They were opposed to Girolamo Savonarola, a Dominican friar who came to dominate Florentine religious life and politics in the 1490s. Along with Pope Alexander VI they were a crucial part of Savonarola's demise in the early spring of 1498.

The Compagnacci were also known as the Rowdy Companions. Their leader was a nobleman named Doffo Spini. He was assisted in his opposition to Savonarola by two Medici brothers of the cadet line, one of whom married a Sforza princess. The Compagnacci were dedicated pleasure seekers who dressed finely and partied with music as an accompaniment. Their influence was reinforced by support they picked up during street demonstrations. In time the Compagnacci won votes in the Great Council.

Primo Riccitelli (9 August 1875 – 27 March 1941)

One of four children, he was born in the village of Cognoli, Campli in the Abruzzo Region of Italy. His father, Giuseppe, was a small land owner and his mother, Maria Maiaroli, a homemaker. The one-day old infant was baptized at the local parish hall of Molviano with the first name Pancrazio. He would later perform under the stage name, Primo Riccitelli.

Primo Riccitelli began his studies in the town of Teramo and then transferred to the Rossini Conservatory in Pesaro where he soon became the protégé of Pietro Mascagni. He is perhaps best remembered for two operas, I Compagnacci and Madonna Oretta. Lesser known compositions include Madonnetta, Francesca da Rimini, Lory, Nena; Heremos, Suora Maddalena and Maria sul Monte. The one-act opera 'I Compagnacci,' was performed in Rome and at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York, USA. All traces of several other of Primo Riccitelli's operas have been lost.

After a brief illness Primo Riccitelli died on the 27th of March, 1941 in Giulianova where he is now buried. A street in the town of Teramo bears the name of this illustrious citizen. Also carrying the name of this composer is a musical and theater society headquartered in Teramo and performing in Bellante. On 20 April, 2006 a bronze statue was dedicated to Primo Riccitelli at the entrance to the cemetery in the small village of Sant'Onofrio located near his birthplace.

IL RE

'Il Re', dates from 1929, a commedia dell'arte-style opera about a headstrong girl who becomes uninterested in her lover because she has seen the king. The family petition the king with their problem and he commands that the girl should stay the night with him. When he starts to take off his robes and jewels she sees a fat old man, and is soon restored to her lover. Originally written as a vehicle for coloratura star Toti dal Monte, it features Giordano in his later period, after Puccini's death, embracing the more pungent harmonies of Strauss and other composers beyond the Alps.

He was born in Foggia in Puglia, southern Italy, and studied under Paolo Serrao at the Conservatoire of Naples. His first opera Marina, was written for the competition staged by the music publishers Casa Sonzogno for the best one-act opera, remembered today because it marked the beginning of Italian verismo; the winner was Mascagni's Cavalleria rusticana. Giordano, the youngest candidate, placed sixth among seventy-three with Marina, which generated enough interest for Sonzogno to commission an opera to be staged in the 1891–92 season.

The result was Mala Vita, a gritty verismo opera concerning a labourer who vows to reform a prostitute if he is cured of his tuberculosis. This caused something of a scandal when performed at the Teatro Argentina, Rome, in February 1892. It played successfully at Vienna, Prague and Berlin, and was re-written as Il Voto a few years later.

Giordano then moved to Milan, and returned to verismo with his best-known work, Andrea Chénier (1896), based on the life of the French poet, André Chénier. Fedora (1898), based on Victorien Sardou's play, featured a rising young tenor named Enrico Caruso; it was also a success, and is still performed today. He died in Milan at the age of 81.

I COMPAGNACCI

Primo Riccitelli (9 August 1875 – 27 March 1941)

IL RE