Vittorio Gnecchi


Vittorio Gnecchi was an Italian composer.

Life

Vittorio Gnecchi Ruscone was the son of a wealthy industrialist. Thanks to his solid financial position, he was able to take private lessons, and had among his teachers Michele Saladino, Tullio Serafin, Gaetano Coronaro and Carlo Gatti.
As soon as he was nineteen years old, he achieved success with the pastoral action Virtù d'amore, which allowed him to publish his work with the prestigious publisher Ricordi. The next work was the opera Cassandra, whose libretto, taken from Oresteia by Aeschylus, was first set by Gnecchi himself, then entrusted to the librettist Luigi Illica. Cassandra was completed in 1903 and premiered on 5 December 1905 at the Teatro Comunale di Bologna under the direction of Arturo Toscanini with Solomiya Krushelnytska and Giuseppe Borgatti.
Shortly after the first performance of Elektra by Richard Strauss, an article appeared in Italy by musicologist Giovanni Tebaldini, entitled "Telepatia Musicale". In this article, Cassandra and Elektra were compared, and the author concluded that Strauss must have known Gnecchi's work, and may possibly have plagiarised it. Strauss denied plagiarism and, although there appear to be established correspondence about the work between him and Gnecchi, critics are inclined to believe that the similarities are coincidental. Gnecchi never commented on the case, but his name was linked to it throughout his life. The uproar caused by the article curbed the circulation of Cassandra in Italy, while abroad there were several performances until 1933. In more recent times, the opera was revived in Montpellier on 13 July 2000 in a concert that resulted in a recording. It then arrived in 2011 at the Teatro Massimo Bellini, with performers Giovanna Casolla, John Treleaven and Maria Pentcheva and conductor Donato Renzetti.
Gnecchi's next opera was La Rosiera in 1927, which was followed by the ballet Atlanta. The composer, whose style is characterised by the use of post-wagnerian chromatic harmonies within classical forms, came late to the honours of the Salzburg Festival, in which some of his works were performed, including the Missa Salisburgensis, the Cantata Biblica and the opera Giuditta, also as Cassandra with a libretto by Illica, the composition of which had begun almost forty years earlier, in 1914.
Gnecchi died in Milan, where he was born, aged 77.

Compositions

Operas

Virtù d'amore, pastoral action in two acts, libretto by Maria Rossi Borzotti.Cassandra, tragedy for music in a prologue and two parts, libretto by Luigi Illica

Instrumental, orchestral and vocal music

Atalanta, Symphonic ballet of Greek dances Adagio for cello and piano Adagio cantabile, sacred piece for string instruments and organ Poema eroico, for orchestra Salve, Regina!, motet for soprano solo, choir and orchestra O sacrum convivium, motet for soprano, choir and orchestra Missa Salisburgensis, for soprano, baritone, choir and large orchestra Cantata biblica, three preludes and three parts for voice and piano Dances and Greek rites, for violin, cello and piano Pavane for pianoPreghiera, sacred piece for string instruments and organAve Maria, for three voices and organTempo di sinfonia in D flat

Songs wih piano

Invocazione italica: coro di popolo, text by Giovanni Borelli Preghiera del soldato, text by F. Pastonchi Dormi, tesoro, own text Die kleine Mutter, text by Manfred Hausmann Sorride ella, from a text by Rabindranath Tagore Non partire, from a text by Rabindranath Tagore The Secret, from a text by Rabindranath Tagore La lampada, text by Raniero Nicolai Tristezza d'una notte di primavera, text by Gabriele D'AnnunzioNozze rosee, text by Maria Rossi BorzottiBirdy song, text by J. Madden

Recordings

Cassandra – Denia Mazzola, Alberto Cupido, Arnold Kocharyan, Tea Demurishvili, Pierre Lebon, Andzella Kirse, Jean Marc Ivaldi, Jean Marc Ivaldi, Nikola Mijailovic ; conductor: Enrique Diemecke, Orchestre National de Montpellier Languedoc-Roussillon, Latvian Radio Chorus. Live recording 2000, Agorà Musica AG 260.2