Saverio Mercadante

Saverio Mercadante in a portrait by Andrea Cefaly (Museo di San Martino, Naples)

Giuseppe Saverio Raffaele Mercadante (baptised 17 September 1795 – 17 December 1870) was an Italian composer, particularly of operas. While Mercadante may not have retained the international celebrity of Gaetano Donizetti or Gioachino Rossini beyond his own lifetime, he composed as impressive a number of works as either; and his development of operatic structures, melodic styles and orchestration contributed significantly to the foundations upon which Giuseppe Verdi built his dramatic technique.

Biography

Early years

Mercadante was born in Altamura, near Bari in Apulia; his precise date of birth has not been recorded, but he was baptised on 17 September 1795. Mercadante studied flute, violin and composition at the conservatory in Naples, and organized concerts among his compatriots.[1] The opera composer Gioachino Rossini said to the conservatory Director, Niccolo Zingarelli, "My compliments Maestro – your young pupil Mercadante begins where we finish".[1] In 1817 he was made conductor of the college orchestra, composing a number of symphonies, and concertos for various instruments – including six for flute about 1818–1819, and whose autograph scores are in the Naples conservatory, where they were presumably first performed with him as soloist.[1]

The encouragement of Rossini led him to compose for the opera, where he won considerable success with his second such work (Violenza e Constanza), in 1820. His next three operas are more or less forgotten, but an abridged recording of Maria Stuarda, Regina di Scozia was issued by Opera Rara in 2006. His next opera Elisa e Claudio was a huge success, and had occasional revivals in the 20th century, most recently by Wexford Festival Opera in 1988.

He worked for a time in Vienna, in Madrid, in Cadiz, and in Lisbon, but re-established himself in Italy in 1831. He was invited by Rossini to Paris in 1836, where he composed I Briganti for four of the most-known singers of the time, Giulia Grisi, Giovanni Battista Rubini, Antonio Tamburini and Luigi Lablache, all of whom worked closely with Bellini. While there, he had the opportunity to hear operas by Meyerbeer and Halévy, which imparted a strong influence on him, especially the latter's La Juive. This influence took the form of greater stress on the dramatic side.

Return to Italy, 1831

Composer
Saverio Mercadante

When Mercadante returned to Italy after living in Spain and Portugal, Donizetti's music reigned supreme in Naples,[2] an ascendancy which did not end until censorship problems with the latter's Poliuto caused a final break. But Mercadante's style began to shift with the presentation of I Normanni a Parigi at the Teatro Regio in Turin in 1832: "It was with this score that Mercadante entered on the process of development in his musical dramaturgy which, in some aspects, actually presaged the arrival of Verdi, when he launched, from 1837 on, into master works of his artistic maturity: the so-called "reform operas".[2]

The beginnings of the so-called "reform movement", of which Mercadante was part, arose from the publication of a manifesto by Giuseppe Mazzini which he wrote in 1836, the Filosofia della musica.[3]

In the period after 1831 he composed some of his most important works. These included Il giuramento which was premiered at La Scala in November 1837. One striking and innovative characteristic of this opera has been noted:

..it marks the first successful attempt in an Italian opera premiered in Italy of depriving the prima donna, or some other star singer, of her until-then inalienable right of having the stage to herself at the end. By doing this, Mercadante sounded what was to be the death knell of the age of bel canto.[4]

Early in following year, while composing Elena da Feltre (which premiered in January 1839), Mercadante wrote to Francesco Florimo, laying out his ideas about how opera should be structured, following the "revolution" begun in his previous opera:

I have continued the revolution I began in Il giuramento: varied forms, cabalettas banished, crescendos out, vocal lines simplified, fewer repeats, more originality in the cadences, proper regard paid to the drama, orchestration rich but not so as to swamp the voices, no long solos in the ensembles (they only force the other parts to stand idle to the detriment of the action), not much bass drum, and a lot less brass band.[4]

Elena da Feltre followed; one critic found much to praise in it:

A work of harmonic daring, subtlety and originally orchestrated, it suddenly makes sense of oft quoted comparisons between Mercadante and Verdi. It has the overall coherence one looks for and finds in middle and late Verdi – a surprising anticipation, for Elena da Feltre dates from 1838, the year before Verdi's first opera[5]

These temporarily put him in the forefront of composers then active in Italy, although he was soon passed by Giovanni Pacini with Saffo and Giuseppe Verdi with several operas, especially Ernani.

Later works

Mercadante in middle age

Some of Mercadante's later works, especially Orazi e Curiazi, were also quite successful. Many performances of his operas were given throughout the 19th century and it has been noted that some of them received far more than those of Verdi's early operas over the same period of time.[6]

Throughout his life he generated more instrumental works than most of his contemporary composers of operas due to his lifelong preoccupation with orchestration, and, from 1840, his position as the Director of the Naples conservatory for the last thirty years of his life.[1] From 1863 he was almost totally blind.

In the decades after his death in Naples in 1870, his output was largely forgotten, but it has been occasionally revived and recorded since World War II, although it has yet to achieve anything like the present-day popularity of the most famous compositions by his slightly younger contemporaries: See Donizetti's compositions and Bellini's compositions.

The French soloist Jean-Pierre Rampal notably recorded several Mercadante concertos for flute and string orchestra*, including the grand and romantic E minor concerto, which has since gained some popularity among concert flautists.

Operas

TitleGenreActsLibrettoPremièreCity, theatreNotes
apoteosiL'apoteosi d'Ercoledramma per musica2 actsschmidtGiovanni Schmidt1819081919 August 1819Naples, Teatro San Carlo
violenzaViolenza e costanza, ossia I falsi monetaridramma per musica2 actstottolaAndrea Leone Tottola1820011919 January 1820Naples, Teatro NuovoRevised as: Il castello dei spiriti: Lisbon, 14 March 1825
anacreonteAnacreonte in Samodramma per musica2 actsschmidtGiovanni Schmidt182008011 August 1820Naples, Teatro San CarloBased on Anacréon chez Polycrate by Jean Henri Guy.
gelosoIl geloso ravvedutomelodramma buffo2 actssignoriniBartolomeo Signorini18201000October 1820Rome, Teatro Valle
scipioneScipione in Cartaginemelodramma serio2 actsferrettiJacopo Ferretti1820122626 December 1820Rome, Teatro Argentina
mariaMaria Stuarda, regina di Scoziadramma serio2 actsrossiGaetano Rossi1821052929 May 1821Bologna, Teatro ComunaleBased on Friedrich Schiller
elisaElisa e Claudio, ossia L'amore protetto dall'amiciziamelodramma semiserio2 actsromanelliLuigi Romanelli1821103030 October 1821Milan, Teatro alla ScalaBased on Rosella, ossia Amore e crudeltà by Filippo Casari
andronicoAndronicomelodramma tragico2 actskreglianovicGiovanni Kreglianovich1821122626 December 1821Venice, Teatro La Fenice
adeleIl posto abbandonato, ossia Adele ed Emericomelodramma semiserio2 actsromaniFelice Romani1822092121 September 1822Milan, Teatro alla Scala
amletoAmletomelodramma tragico2 actsromaniFelice Romani1822122626 December 1822Milan, Teatro alla ScalaBased on Shakespeare play Hamlet.
alfonsoAlfonso ed Elisamelodramma serio2 acts1822122626 December 1822Mantua, Teatro NuovoBased on Filippo by Alfieri; Revised as Aminta ed Argira for Reggio Emilia, Teatro Pubblico, 23 April 1823
didoneDidone abbandonatadramma per musica2 actstottolaAndrea Leone Tottola1823011818 January 1823Turin, Teatro RegioBased on Metastasio
scitiGli scitidramma per musica2 actstottolaAndrea Leone Tottola1823031818 March 1823Naples, Teatro San CarloBased on Les scythes by Voltaire.
costanzoCostanzo ed Almeriskadramma per musica2 actstottolaAndrea Leone Tottola1823112222 November 1823Naples, Teatro San Carlo
amiciGli amici di Siracusamelodramma eroico2 actsferrettiJacopo Ferretti182402077 February 1824Rome, Teatro ArgentinaBased on Plutarc.
doraliceDoralicemelodramma2 acts1824091818 September 1824Vienna, Kärntnertortheater
nozzeLe nozze di Telemaco ed Antiopeazione lirica7 actsbassiCalisto Bassi182411055 November 1824Vienna, KärntnertortheaterPastice, with music by other composers.
podestaIl podestà di Burgos, ossia Il signore del villaggiomelodramma giocoso2 actsbassiCalisto Bassi1824112020 November 1824Vienna, KärntnertortheaterUnder the title of Il signore del villaggio given in Naples at Teatro del Fondo on 28 maggio 1825 (in Neapolitan dialect); Titled Eduardo ed Angelica, given in Naples at the Teatro del Fondo in 1828.
nitocriNitocridramma per musica2 actspiossascoLodovico Piossasco Feys1824122626 December 1824Turin, Teatro RegioWith recitatives by Apostolo Zeno
ipermestraIpermestradramma tragico2 actsricciutiLuigi Ricciuti1825122929 December 1825Naples, Teatro San CarloBased on Eschilo
erodeErode, ossia Mariannadramma tragico2 actsricciutiLuigi Ricciuti1824121212 December 1824Venice, Teatro La FeniceBased on Voltaire
cariteaCaritea regina di Spagna, ossia La morte di Don Alfonso re di Portogallo
(Donna Caritea)		melodramma serio2 actspolaPaolo Pola1826022121 February 1826Venice, Teatro La Fenice
ezioEziodramma per musica2 actsmetastasioPietro Metastasio182702022 February 1827Turin, Teatro Regio
montanaroIl montanaromelodramma comico2 actsromaniFelice Romani1827041616 April 1827Milan, Teatro alla ScalaBased on August Lafontaine
testaLa testa di bronzo, ossia La capanna solitariamelodramma eroicomico2 actsromaniFelice Romani182712033 December 1827Lisbon, Teatro privato dei Baroni Quintella a Laranjeiras
adrianoAdriano in Siriadramma eroico2 actsmetastasioPietro Metastasio1828022424 February 1828Lisbon, Teatro de São Carlos
gabriellaGabriella di Vergydramma tragico2 actsprofumoAntonio Profumo182808088 August 1828Lisbon, Teatro de São CarlosBased on Gabrielle de Vergy by Dormont de Belloy; Revised with a text by Emanuele Bidera for Genoa, Teatro Carlo Felice, 16 June 1832
rappresagliaLa rappresagliamelodramma buffo2 actssterbiniCesare Sterbini1829022121 February 1829Cadiz, Teatro Principal
donchisciotteDon Chisciotte alle nozze di Gamacciomelodramma giocoso1 attoferreroStefano Ferrero1830021010 February 1830Cadiz, Teatro PrincipalBased on Cervantes
francescaFrancesca da Riminimelodramma2 actsromaniFelice Romani183100001831Composed for Madrid but probably not performed there.
zairaZairamelodramma tragico2 actsromaniFelice Romani1831083131 August 1831Naples, Teatro San CarloBased on Voltaire
normanniI normanni a Parigitragedia lirica4 actsromaniFelice Romani183202077 February 1832Turin, Teatro Regio
ismaliaIsmalia, ossia Amore e mortemelodramma3 actsromaniFelice Romani1832102727 October 1832Milan, Teatro alla Scala
conteIl conte di Essexmelodramma3 actsromaniFelice Romani1833031010 March 1833Milan, Teatro alla Scala
emmaEmma d'Antiochiatragedia lirica3 actsromaniFelice Romani183403088 March 1834Venice, Teatro La Fenice
uggeroUggero il danesemelodramma4 actsromaniFelice Romani1834081111 August 1834Bergamo, Teatro Riccardi
gioventuLa gioventù di Enrico Vmelodramma4 actsromaniFelice Romani1834112525 November 1834Milan, Teatro alla ScalaIn parte Based on Shakespeare
duefigaroI due Figaromelodramma buffo2 actsromaniFelice Romani1835012626 January 1835Madrid, Teatro PrincipeBased on Les deux Figaro by Honoré-Antoine Richaud Martelly; Composed in 1826.
francescaFrancesca Donato, ossia Corinto distruttamelodramma3 actsromaniFelice Romani1835021414 February 1835Turin, Teatro RegioBased on Byron; Revised by Salvatore Cammarano for the Teatro San Carlo, Naples, 5 January 1845.
brigantiI brigantimelodramma3 actscresciniJacopo Crescini1836032222 March 1836Paris, Théâtre-ItalienBased on Die Räuber by Schiller; Revised for Milan's Teatro alla Scala, 6 November 1837.
giuramentoIl giuramentomelodramma3 actsrossiGaetano Rossi1837031111 March 1837Milan, Teatro alla ScalaUner the title of Amore e dovere given in Rome in 1839.
dueilustriLe due illustri rivalimelodramma3 actsrossiGaetano Rossi1838031010 March 1838Venice, Teatro La FeniceRevised for the Teatro alla Scala, 26 December 1839.
elenaElena da Feltredramma tragico3 actscammaranoSalvatore Cammarano183901011 January 1839Naples, Teatro San CarloCompleted in the autumn of 1837.
bravoIl bravo, ossia La venezianamelodramma3 actsrossiGaetano Rossi183903099 March 1839Milan, Teatro alla ScalaBased on La vénitienne by Auguste Anicet-Bourgeois and The Bravo, a Venitian Story by James Fenimore Cooper.
vestaleLa vestaletragedia lirica3 actscammaranoSalvatore Cammarano1840031010 March 1840Naples, Teatro San CarloGiven under the title of Emilia in Rome in the autumn of 1842; As San Camillo given in Rome in 1851.
solitariaLa solitaria delle Asturie, ossia La Spagna ricuperatamelodramma5 actsromaniFelice Romani1840031212 March 1840Venice, Teatro La Fenice
proscrittoIl proscrittomelodramma tragico3 actscammaranoSalvatore Cammarano184201044 January 1842Naples, Teatro San CarloBased on Le proscrit by F. Soulié.
reggenteIl reggentedramma lirico3 actscammaranoSalvatore Cammarano184302022 February 1843Turin, Teatro RegioBased on Gustave III ou Le bal masqué by Eugène Scribe; Revised with changes for Trieste, 11 November 1843.
leonoraLeonoramelodramma4 actsBased on rienzoMarco D'Arienzo184412055 December 1844Naples, Teatro NuovoBased on Lenore by Gottfried August Bürger; Arranged as I cacciatori delle Alpi for Mantua in 1859.
vascelloIl Vascello de Gamamelodramma romantico1 prologo e 3 actscammaranoSalvatore Cammarano184503066 March 1845Naples, Teatro San CarloBased on Le naufrage de la Meduse by Desnoyers de Biéville.
oraziOrazi e Curiazitragedia lirica3 actscammaranoSalvatore Cammarano1846111010 November 1846Naples, Teatro San CarloBased on Horace by Pierre Corneille.
schiavaLa schiava saracena, ovvero Il campo dei crociatimelodramma tragico4 actspiaveFrancesco Maria Piave1848122626 December 1848Milan, Teatro alla ScalaRevised for Teatro San Carlo, Naples, 29 October 1850.
medeaMedeatragedia lirica3 actscammaranoSalvatore Cammarano

Felice Romani		185103011 March 1851Naples, Teatro San Carlo
statiraStatiratragedia lirica3 actsbologneseDomenico Bolognese185301088 January 1853Naples, Teatro San CarloBased on Olympie by Voltaire
violettaViolettamelodramma4 actsBased on rienzoMarco D'Arienzo1853011010 January 1853Naples, Teatro Nuovo
pelagioPelagiotragedia lirica4 actsBased on rienzoMarco D'Arienzo1857021212 February 1857Naples, Teatro San Carlo
VirginiaVirginiatragedia lirica3 actscammaranoSalvatore Cammarano186604077 April 1866Naples, Teatro San CarloBased on Alfieri; Composed in December 1849-March 1850.
orfanoL'orfano di Brono, ossia Caterina dei Medici
(Caterina di Brono)		melodramma3 actscammaranoSalvatore Cammarano Incomplete; only the first act exists.
Composed in 1869/1870

References

Notes

  1. 1 2 3 4 Michael Rose, "Mercadante: Flute Concertos", booklet accompanying the 2004 RCA CD recording with James Galway and I Solisti Veneti under Claudio Scimone.
  2. 1 2 Couling (trans.) 1997, p. 6
  3. ↑ Blaha, Peter 2006, (trans. Stewart Spencer), "A gratifying experience", Booklet accompanying the 1979 live Orfeo recording of Il giuramento
  4. 1 2 Kaufman, Tom, "The Neglected Bel Canto Composers", The Meyerbeer Fan Club, online at meyerbeer.com
  5. ↑ Schmid, Patric April 1975, "Rediscovering Mercadante", Opera, vol. 26, No.4, p.332
  6. ↑ Kaufman, Thomas 1995, "Mercadante and Verdi", Opera Quarterly, date unk.: For example, Il giuramento received 400 performances and La vestale 150 compared to Giovanna d'Arco, Don Carlo (in all its versions), and Aroldo 's approx. 90 each.

Sources

External links

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