Book Description
Just twenty-six when the electrifying premiere of his Cavalleria Rusticana at the Teatro Costanzi in Rome catapulted the impoverished musician into sudden fame and fortune, Pietro Mascagni (1863-1945) went on to write fifteen more operas, including L'Amico Fritz, Guglielmo Ratcliff, Iris, Parisina, and Il Piccolo Marat.

With privileged access to extensive primary sources, including Mascagni's 4,200 letters to Anna Lolli, his mistress for more than three decades, author Alan Mallach provides a compelling portrait of a flamboyant, combative, and emotional man who was passionately devoted to the Italian opera tradition and committed to innovation in musical language and dramatic form.

Deftly combining serious biography with critical commentary, Mallach begins with the captivating story of Mascagni's rags-to-riches adventure, from his birth in Livorno in Tuscany, to his musical studies first with Alfredo Soffredini and later at the Milan Conservatory, to his years as a vagabond musician, to the worldwide success of his breakthrough opera. He then traces Mascagni's private and professional life after Cavalleria, examining a prolific yet controversial career that was forever overshadowed by the work that unexpectedly thrust him into the limelight.

Mallach provides a full analysis of Mascagni's oeuvre and discusses his complex relationships with such Italian cultural and political figures as Edoardo Sonzogno, Giacomo Puccini, Gabriele D'Annunzio, Luigi Illica, and Benito Mussolini. He also thoroughly chronicles Mascagni's bouts with manic depression, his marriage to Lina and devotion to their three children, his grueling schedule of concert and operatic tours, his patriotism and bitter opposition to Italy's involvement in both world wars, and his passionate love affair with Anna Lolli.

This richly textured biography will appeal to fans of the still beloved and popular Cavalleria, and it will introduce opera enthusiasts to the power, intensity, and melodic beauty of the brilliant composer's many other significant works. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Superb book on this great musical figure
Pietro Mascagni burst onto the operatic stage with the perennially popular "Cavalleria Rusticana" - his first produced opera - in 1890. Although he went on to create many other operas he was destined never to repeat the success unlike his contemporary Puccini who produced a string of successful operas many of which have held the stage.

Mascagni's later operas are flawed works - poor libretti, lack of hit tunes - but they are not insignificant works. Mallach traces the life of Mascagni and provides details on all his musical works. Aside from composition Mascagni was also a conductor, music school director, and doting father. Mallach paints a picture of a man who saw himself as the defender of Italian opera.

This is an excellent book for those who are interested in the man who wrote "Cavalleria Rusticana" but also provides interesting details on the Italian opera scene in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Make Room for Mascagni in your operatic world!
Pietro Mascgni is a nineteenth century operatic composer whose works deserve recongnition!Mascagi was a composer whose strength was melody; whose oeuvre was extensive and whose career spanned over half a century.The talented son of humble folks he became famous when his first opera Cavalleria Rusticana made him rich and famous!Like Lord Byron he woke up to find himself famous! Mallach describes the salient plot lines and comments with his musical expertise on all of the many unknown Mascagni operas.Mascagni was much more than a one opera composer. His character was bipolar and he was complex.His affair with his only mistress as well as stormy times with friends and family are given attention.However, the real value of this book is in the details of the maestro's works.Opera fans will relish Mallach's years of research in this first English language biography.

For anyone who has thrilled to a Pietro Mascagni opera
Exhaustively researched and adroitly written by pianist, composer, and independent scholar Alan Mallach, Pietro Mascagni And His Operas is the informative biography of talented Italian opera writer Pietro Mascagni (1863-1945) whose great works include L'Amico Fritz, Guglielmo Ratcliff, Iris, Parisina, and many others. Written with privileged access to Mascagni's 4,200 letters to Anna Lolli, his mistress for more than thirty years, Pietro Mascagni and His Operas is an eye-opening portrait of a man's complex, talented life and his most remarkable music. Pietro Mascagni And His Operas is a welcome and very highly recommended addition to any Music History collection and "must" reading for anyone who has thrilled to a Pietro Mascagni opera. ... Read more

Book Description

Customer Reviews (3)

Underappreciated Master
Cavalleria Rusticana is the most celebrated masterwork of Pietro Mascagni, one of the innovators of the Verismo school of Operatic thought. Tradition has designated it to be the opening act in the famous Cav/Pag duet, howeverin my estimation, the duo's finest music is found in this score. The famousIntermezzo is only one example of the langorous passion one can luxuriatein while listening to this opera. The Dover Cav is a reprint of an earlyRicordi edition. As far as I'm concerned, when it comes to Italian RomanticOpera, one simply cannot do better, for scholarship purposes, than theearly Ricordi scores. Like always, Dover prints on high quality paper, andbinds books in such a way that their products could survive any abuse shortof a nuclear blast. Also, this score is large enough to conduct from. AtDover's outlandishly low prices, this Cav is a necessity for all ItalianOpera lovers.

Underappreciated Master
Cavalleria Rusticana is the most celebrated masterwork of Pietro Mascagni, one of the innovators of the Verismo school of Operatic thought. Tradition has designated it to be the opening act in the famous Cav/Pag duet, howeverin my estimation, the duo's finest music is found in this score. The famousIntermezzo is only one example of the langorous passion one can luxuriatein while listening to this opera. The Dover Cav is a reprint of an earlyRicordi edition. As far as I'm concerned, when it comes to Italian RomanticOpera, one simply cannot do better, for scholarship purposes, than theearly Ricordi scores. Like always, Dover prints on high quality paper, andbinds books in such a way that their products could survive any abuse shortof a nuclear blast. Also, this score is large enough to conduct from. AtDover's outlandishly low prices, this Cav is a necessity for all ItalianOpera lovers.

Underappreciated Master
Cavalleria Rusticana is the most celebrated masterwork of Pietro Mascagni, one of the innovators of the Verismo school of Operatic thought. Tradition has designated it to be the opening act in the famous Cav/Pag duet, howeverin my estimation, the duo's finest music is found in this score. The famousIntermezzo is only one example of the langorous passion one can luxuriatein while listening to this opera. The Dover Cav is a reprint of an earlyRicordi edition. As far as I'm concerned, when it comes to Italian RomanticOpera, one simply cannot do better, for scholarship purposes, than theearly Ricordi scores. Like always, Dover prints on high quality paper, andbinds books in such a way that their products could survive any abuse shortof a nuclear blast. Also, this score is large enough to conduct from. AtDover's outlandishly low prices, this Cav is a necessity for all ItalianOpera lovers. ... Read more

Product Description
Vocal score with piano reduction. ... Read more

Book Description
This digital document is an article from New Criterion, published by Foundation for Cultural Review on September 1, 2001. The length of the article is 1092 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Pietro Mascagni: A Bio-Bibliography.(Review)
Author: R. J. Stove
Publication: New Criterion (Magazine/Journal)
Date: September 1, 2001
Publisher: Foundation for Cultural Review
Volume: 20Issue: 1Page: 114

Article Type: Book Review

Distributed by Thomson Gale ... Read more

Book Description
Bringing together a vast amount of information on Pietro Mascagni and his works, this volume in the Greenwood Press series Bio-Bibliographies in Music includes a catalogue of the composer's works and performances, bibliography, discography, and brief biographical sketch. Mascagni is best known for Cavalleria Rusticana, but he wrote fifteen other stage works and over 100 other compositions, including sacred music, songs and film scores. Overshadowed by his contemporary Puccini and tainted by association with the fascist regime of Mussolini, Mascagni is both a famous and neglected opera composer. This volume charts the decline in performances of Mascagni's operas other than Cavalleria Rusticana and reveals a growing interest in and changing attitude toward the composer. The discography includes more than 2,500 recordings, and the annotated bibliography includes 361 titles. This research tool will appeal to Mascagni and to opera scholars. Each section is cross-referenced throughout. An appendix includes a chronology of Mascagni's conducting career. ... Read more

Book Description
A complete guide to Mascagni's CAVALLERIA RUSTICANA which includes the STORY SYNOPSIS, PRINCIPAL CHARACTERS in the opera, STORY NARRATIVE with ONE-BAR MUSIC HIGHLIGHT EXAMPLES, and an ESSAY providing background about the opera and its composer, analysis, and insightful commentary. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Mini-sized guide with maxi-helpful information
The Opera Journeys Mini Guide Series is just wonderful; it's like a "CliffNote" of the opera, and extremely informative and educational.Iparticularly like the size; these guides are not cumbersome and fit rightinto my shirt pocket. The ladies will find sufficient room in theirpocketbooks.

The story narrative with the music examples is excellent. Iprefer it to a libretto; indeed, it's a much easier way to follow theessence of the story. The essay is magnificent; very well written, notpedantic, and extremely insightful and comprehensible. I congratulateBurton Fisher for a job very well done and Amazon for making these handy,information-laden booklets available. The Opera Journeys Mini Guide Seriesis a wonderful contribution to opera education and opera appreciation.

Mytip: acquire the entire collection because you will be in easy reach ofsuperbly presented opera guides consisting of story analysis, principalcharacters in the opera, story narrative with music highlights, background,analysis, and commentary.

Heinz Dinter, Ph.D. ... Read more