The Italian Intermezzo

Featuring

Gianandrea Noseda
BBC Philharmonic
Francesco Cilea
Giacomo Puccini
Alfredo Catalani
Umberto Giordano

Amilcare Ponchielli
Pietro Mascagni
Giuseppe Verdi
Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari
Ruggero Leoncavallo

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1/7

Critical Reception

Puccini's second opera, Edgar, was a disaster at its 1889 premiere at La Scala, and even a revised three-act version did not fare much better.

Compositional Technique

Amilcare Ponchielli's 'Dance of the Hours' from La Gioconda is a ballet that mirrors the passing of time from dawn to night, dramatizing the conflict between darkness and light.

Compositional Technique

Giuseppe Verdi's Prelude to Act III of La traviata uses tremulous strings to evoke a sick room, pizzicato basses for ticking time, and woodwinds to suggest sacrifice, demonstrating music's expressive power.

Composer Biography

Giacomo Puccini studied composition with Amilcare Ponchielli in Milan in the 1880s, and Ponchielli served as an operatic role model for Puccini.

Composer's Artistic Vision

The album explores the rise of orchestral intermezzos and preludes in Italian opera, which allowed music to comment on the action and paint scenes without words.

Compositional Technique

The Intermezzo from Ruggero Leoncavallo's I Pagliacci is distinctly Wagnerian, with dark descending chords hinting at a funeral march and high strings suggesting Brünnhilde, before transitioning to the melody of 'Vesti la giubba'.