Giuseppe Ferrata
Giuseppe Ferrata was an Italian-American pianist, composer, and university professor. He was a student of Giovanni Sgambati and Franz Liszt at the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome, Italy. Ferrata was knighted by the Royal Court of Portugal, the Royal Court of Belgium, and the King of Italy.
Although Ferrata was productive in his early career in Italy, his most notable contributions occurred following his emigration to the United States, especially his time as a professor at Tulane University in New Orleans, Louisiana. His opera "Il Fuoruscito" won accolades including a significant financial award as part of the Sonzogna Prize.
Ferrata composed for two different audiences. Some of his works were composed for their popular appeal. Other compositions were intended to advance orchestral music as a musical art form, for audiences that were musicians, other composers, and people with deep appreciation of orchestral music.
Ferrata was also an inventor, having obtained three United States Patents.
Early life and education
Ferrata was born in Gradoli, Italy, to a family of small landowners. His parents were Paolo Ferrata and Lucia Ferrata, and he was the oldest of nine children. As a small child in his hometown, his original intent was to become a Roman Catholic priest. His parents encouraged this, equipping him with a chapel in the home which he used to deliver homilies to neighbors' children. His uncle Domenico Ferrata already joined the priesthood and influenced his desire to become a priest.Ferrata became enamored with music on hearing a performance by the band of the Italian Army in his hometown. Thereafter, Ferrata's father arranged for music lessons for him.
Ferrata played the clarinet. Later in his childhood, he served as assistant conductor for the local municipal band. By age 14, he earned a scholarship to pursue his training as a musician and composer at the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia.
Ferrata initially studied piano with Giovanni Sgambati and musical composition with Antonio Terziani at the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia and then later while still at the academy with Franz Liszt. Ferrata had auditioned for Liszt who then invited Ferrata to study with him, the studies lasting three years, until nearly the time of Liszt's death.
On his 1886 graduation from the academy, Ferrata won several awards, for performance and for composition. At that time, he became a member of the Royal Philharmonic Academy of Rome and participated both as soloist and as conductor.
In a 1904 account, Liszt is quoted as assessing Ferrata's ability as follows:
"He is even now an artist of great distinction, and bids fair to distinguish himself still further.’’
Emigration
, who was Giuseppe Ferrata's uncle, arranged for Ferrata's emigration to the United States, reportedly so as to dissuade Ferrata from a marriage considered undesirable by his family. He intended to marry a woman of a different religious heritage, and his family believed such a marriage would hamper Ferrata's career.Upon his immigration to the United States in 1892, Ferrata was met by Cardinal James Gibbons of Baltimore, Maryland, who arranged for Ferrata's faculty appointment at Mount St. Mary's College in Maryland. He subsequently took up a succession of college teaching posts related to music and musical composition.
Academic career
Ferrata served on the faculty of Mount Saint Mary’s College from 1892 to 1893. During his brief time there, he taught music, including voice, performed at the college and elsewhere in the United States, and concentrated on learning the English language, of which he knew little prior to his immigration.Ferrata then moved to Greenville Female College in South Carolina where he worked as a Music Department faculty member from 1894 until 1900. There, he had a hectic teaching schedule and recital schedule. He also suffered financial difficulties during this time. Ferrata briefly left the Greenville Female College, during his contract, to teach at the Nashville Conservatory of Music and became a shareholder of the conservatory despite his financial difficulties. He developed significant national recognition during his tenure at the Greenville Female College, from other musicians and for awards received
Ferrata subsequently was on the faculty at Brenau College and Conservatory in Georgia until 1902. At the time, Brenau College and Conservatory was a for-profit institution, and Ferrata had part ownership. During his tenure there, he also served as director of the Georgia Music Festival. He continued to gain recognition for his performances and compositions.
Afterwards Ferrata received a faculty appointment at Beaver College in Pennsylvania until 1907. At the time, Beaver College was an extension center of the New York Conservatory of Music. While at Beaver College, he became acquainted with Victor Herbert, then conductor of the Pittsburgh Symphony. The two collaborated on creating orchestral versions of some of Ferrata's songs composed for a popular audience.
In 1909, Ferrata joined the faculty of H. Sophie Newcomb Memorial College which was the coordinate women's college of Tulane University. His title was professor of piano and composition. He remained on the faculty there until the time of his death. The New Orleans French Opera House was still in operation at the time and was the largest opera house in the United States outside of the northeast region of the United States. Ferrata reportedly believed that this could be a venue for performances of his operatic compositions which was one of Ferrata's principal goals. This goal and the fact that his wife was a native of New Orleans were part of the appeal for Ferrata to join the faculty at Newcomb College of Tulane University.
As a faculty member at Tulane University, Ferrata taught courses covering composition, instrumentation, and conducting. He additionally taught piano sightreading and piano reperatory interpretation.
During the course of his academic career, Ferrata frequently traveled to Italy in order to promote his music.
As a music instructor, Ferrata authored a book of scales and of exercises to improve musical technique.
New Orleans musical culture
New Orleans had been a major music center in the United States through the 19th century, with many musicians with European training living and performing there. Even though the musical focus of New Orleans was shifting to Jazz in the early 20th century, significant interest in orchestral music continued in the city for much of the duration of Ferrata's career. He performed publicly in New Orleans from the beginning of his career there for which he gained significant local recognition.Ferrata became active in the Louisiana Music Teachers Association. At one meeting of the association in 1911, Ferrata described the melodic qualities of composer Richard Wagner, during which he articulated three essential qualities of a composer. These are: Knowledge of what has been composed before the point of departure, Intellect, and Sense of esthetic beauty. He further contended that all three qualities are seldom embodied to a high degree in a single individual.
Inventions
Ferrata was awarded three United States Patents. One of these was for his invention of a piano attachment which enables the piano to bow a string like a violin and producing a sound like a violin. The United States Patent and Trademark Office published the patents with the inventor's name as "Chevalier Giuseppe Ferrata" in apparent recognition of his knighthood, which he had already earned.Ferrata also invented a type of ventilated shoe heel that provided extra comfort and a novel type of pipe for smoking tobacco. Whether any of Ferrata's inventions were manufactured commercially is uncertain. All of Ferrata's patent applications occurred while he was a faculty member at the Greenville Female College.
Compositions
Ferrata's compositions covered a range of musical genres, from light songs, to solo piano works, masses, string quartets, and operas, with about 300 works in total. He composed approximately 70 musical works for piano or violin, operas, and a symphonic poem.Some of Ferrata's works were composed prior to his emigration to the United States. Ferrata was a member of the Royal Philharmonic of Rome for four seasons, and his original compositions were first published during this portion of his career. These were published by G. Ricordi, with 11 works published at that time. Others were rejected by Ricordi because of excessive complexity and therefore perceived lack of marketability. While still in Italy, Ferrata often used a pseudonym, G.F. Casimiro Virowski. The G.F. in the pseudonym are Ferrata's true initials. One historian has reported that Ferrata chose to use this pseudonym while still in Italy because the name sounded Polish and therefore could be useful for marketing purposes, consistent with the Biblical passage that a "prophet is without honor in his own country."
Ferrata's musical compositions were published by G. Ricordi, John Church, G. Schirmer, Inc., and J. Fischer & Brothers, with most of the publications occurring by 1920.
Late in his career, Ferrata composed works influenced by Jazz Music. These were sometimes orchestrated versions and were influenced by other musicians such as Paul Whiteman. An example of his Jazz compositions is "Bolsheviki Jazz", a piano duet which Ferrata considered to be a humorous piece. During this period of his career, he also often publicly performed contemporary music composed by others.
One of Ferrata's objectives was for his operas to be performed by a major opera company. Due to the risk averse nature of opera production by the early 20th century that made them reluctant to perform operas unproven before audiences, he did not achieve this objective.