Emilio Usiglio
Emilio Usiglio was an Italian composer and conductor.
Life and career
Usiglio was born on 18 January 1841 in Parma. He studied music in Parma, first with Giuseppe Barbacini and then with Giovanni Rossi, before continuing his education in Pisa with Carlo Romani and in Florence with Teodulo Mabellini. At the age of 20 he began his operatic career with some success with La locandiera. He wrote exclusively opere buffe, his most famous being 1879's Le donne curiose after the play by Carlo Goldoni.As a conductor, Usiglio led the premiere, in 1875, of the new version of Arrigo Boito's Mefistofele in Bologna, and in 1877 he conducted the Italian premiere of Georges Bizet's Carmen in Naples and of Hamlet by Ambroise Thomas in Venice. In 1889 he led the first Modena performances of Fosca by Antonio Gomes.
Due primarily to his increasing alcoholism, Usiglio was forced to retire as a conductor in 1897. He died in Milan on 7 July 1910. His wife was the soprano Clementina Brusa.
Works
Operas
- La locandiera, libretto by Giuseppe Barilli
- Un'eredità in Corsica, libretto by Raffaello Berninzone
- Le educande di Sorrento or La figlia del generale, libretto by Raffaello Berninzone
- La scommessa, libretto by Benedetto Rado
- La secchia rapita, libretto by Angelo Anelli, written in collaboration with five other composers
- Le donne curiose, libretto by
- Nozze in prigione, libretto by Angelo Zanardini
- La guardia notturna ossia La notte di San Silvestro, libretto by Raffaello Berninzone, not performed
- I fratelli di Lara, not performed
Ballet
- ''Atabalipa degli Incas o Pizzarro alla scoperta delle Indie''