Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari
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Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari (born Ermanno Wolf) (January 12, 1876 – January 21, 1948)[1] was an Italian composer and teacher. He is best known for his comic operas such as Il segreto di Susanna (1909). A number of his works were based on plays by Carlo Goldoni, including Le donne curiose (1903), I quatro rusteghi (1906) and Il campiello (1936).
Life
Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari was born in Venice in 1876, the son of German painter August Wolf and Emilia Ferrari, from Venice. He added his mother's maiden-name, Ferrari, to his surname in 1895. Although he studied piano from an early age, music was not the primary passion of his young life. As a teenager Wolf-Ferrari wanted to be a painter like his father; he studied intensively in Venice and Rome and traveled abroad to study in Munich. It was there that he decided to concentrate instead on music, taking lessons from Josef Rheinberger. He enrolled at the Munich conservatory and began taking counterpoint and composition classes. These initially casual music classes eventually completely eclipsed his art studies, and music took over Wolf-Ferrari's life. He wrote his first works in the 1890s.
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At age 19, Wolf-Ferrari left the conservatory and traveled home to Venice. There he worked as a choral conductor, married, had a son called Federico Wolf-Ferrari, and met both
Wolf-Ferrari now began transforming the wild and witty farces of the 18th-century Venetian playwright Carlo Goldoni into comic operas. The resulting works were musically eclectic, melodic, and utterly hilarious; every single one became an international success. In fact, until the outbreak of World War I, Wolf-Ferrari's operas were among the most performed in the world. In 1902 he became professor of composition and director of the Liceo Benedetto Marcello.
In 1911 Wolf-Ferrari tried his hand at full-blooded Verismo with I gioielli della Madonna; a story of passion, sacrilege and madness. It was quite popular in its day and for a period after, especially in Chicago, where the great Polish soprano Rosa Raisa made it a celebrated vehicle. Maria Jeritza (and, later, Florence Easton) triumphed in it at the Metropolitan Opera, in an all-out spectacular production in 1926.
World War I, however, was a nightmare for Wolf-Ferrari. The young composer, who had been dividing his time between Munich and Venice, suddenly found his two countries at war with each other. With the outbreak of the War, he moved to
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He did not really pick up his rate of output until the 1920s, when he wrote
Music
As well as his operas, Wolf-Ferrari wrote a number of instrumental works, mainly at the very beginning and very end of his career. Only his
Wolf-Ferrari's work is not performed very widely (with the exception of several of his overtures and his Jewels of the Madonna intermezzo) although he is generally thought of as probably the finest writer of Italian comic opera of his time. His works often recall the opera buffa of the 18th century, although he also wrote more ambitious works in the manner of Pietro Mascagni, which are thought of less well.
Works
Operas
Other vocal works
- La sulamite (canto biblico), Op. 2 (1898)
- 8 cori (unaccompanied) (1898)
- Talitha Kumi (La figlia di Giaro) (oratorium, Bible: Mark), Op. 3 (1900)
- La vita nuova (cantata, after Dante), Op. 9 (1901)
- 4 Rispetti, Op. 11 (1902)
- 4 Rispetti, Op. 12 (1902)
- Canzoniere (Tuscan trad.) Op. 17 (1936)
- La passione (Tuscan trad.) Op. 21 (for chorus, 1939; for voice and piano, 1940),
Orchestral
- Serenade for Strings in E flat major
- Idillio-concertino in A major for Oboe and small orchestra, Op. 15 (1932)
- Suite-concertino in F major for Bassoon and small orchestra, Op. 16 (1933)
- Venezianische Suite (Suite Veneziana) in A minor, Op.18
- Triptychon (Trittico) op.19
- Divertimento in D major op.20
- Arabesken (Arabeschi) für Orchester op.22 (after a theme of Ettore Tito)
- Violin Concerto in D, Op. 26 Guila Bustabo in ammirazione (1943)
- Sinfonia Brevis in E flat major op.28
- Concertino in A flat major for English horn and small orchestra, Op. 34 (1947)
Chamber music
- String Sextet in C minor (1894/95, also as a string trio)[5]
- Sinfonia da Camera Op. 8 (1901)
- Sonata No.1 for Violin & Piano in G minor, Op.1 (1895)
- Sonata No.2 for Violin & Piano in A minor, Op.10 (1901)
- Sonata No.3 for Violin & Piano in E major, Op.27 (1943)
- Sonata for Cello & Piano in G major, Op.30 (1945)
- String Duo in G minor for Violin & Cello, Op.33b (1946)
- String Duo, "Introduzione e Balletto", for Violin & Cello, Op.35 (1948)
- String Trio in B minor for Violin, Viola & Cello, WoO. (1894)
- String Trio in A minor for Violin, Viola & Cello, Op.32 (1945)
- String Quartet in E minor, Op.23 (1940)
- String Quintet in C major for 2 Violins, 2 Violas & Cello, Op.24 (1942)
- Piano Trio No.1 in D major, Op.5 (1898)
- Piano Trio No.2 in F♯ major, Op.7 (1900)
- Piano Trio "Sonata" for in F major for 2 Violins & Piano, Op.25 (1943)
- Piano Quintet in D♭ major, Op.6 (1901)
Sources
Wolf-Ferrari, Ermanno by John C G Waterhouse, in The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, ed.
Wolf-Ferrari, Ermanno by John C G Waterhouse, in The
References
- ISBN 9780816190942.
- ^ "Wolf-Ferrari: Piano Music - Brilliant Classics".
- ^ "Wolf-Ferrari: 3 Violin Sonatas - Brilliant Classics".
- ^ "Wolf-Ferrari: Piano Quintet - Cello Sonata - Brilliant Classics".
- ^ In manuscript, mentioned by Hamann in his Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari, (Schneider, 1986). Performed in several concerts in Germany in 2011. - see http://www.kathrintenhagen.de/en/schedule.html
External links
- Wolf-Ferrari [Wolf], Ermanno in Grove Music Online
- Wolf-Ferrari.com Biography, current performances, publications, discography
- Wolf-Ferrari Piano Quintet Soundbites & Discussion
- Free scores by Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari at the International Music Score Library Project (IMSLP)