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drplaceboIt's Forgotten Masterpiece Friday!
In the 19th century, Italy was a difficult place to get an audience for symphonic music. Italians were obsessed with opera, to the exclusion of virtually all other art music. It was not until 1867, more than six decades after it was composed, that Beethoven's celebrated 3rd Symphony was first heard in Italy. And it wasn't an exception among symphonies. Beethoven's 7th (completed in 1812) only received its Italian premiere in 1870, and Brahms's 2nd (completed in 1877) was not performed in Italy until 1898. Not surprisingly, few Italian composers wrote any symphonies at all in that era.
The lone exception was Giovanni Sgambati (1841-1914), who in fact also conducted the Italian premieres of Beethoven's 3rd and 7th Symphonies. Born in Rome but educated in Germany, Sgambati made it his life's work to reintroduce symphonies to Italy, and produced three symphonies of his own.
Sgambati's First Symphony was composed in 1880-81 and was one of the few symphonies to become popular in Italy before the 20th century. It was part of the standard repertoire of Italian orchestras for decades; elsewhere in Europe, it was a favorite of Grieg and Saint-Saëns. Unusually for the time, Sgambati combined a sense of melody taken from Italian opera with a distinctly symphonic style of orchestration, especially in the slow second movement as well as the "Serenata" that he inserted between the scherzo and the finale. A different sort of operatic influence can be found in the scherzo movement, which seems to take some cues from Wagner. The first and last movements, meanwhile, show some of the influence of Sgambati's own mentor Franz Liszt: although they are a sonata allegro movement and a rondo as was traditional, they rely less on developing main themes than on transforming and recombining smaller motives in kaleidoscopic fashion.
Movements:
I. Allegro vivace, non troppo
II. Andante mesto (10:20)
III. Scherzo: Presto (21:32)
IV. Serenata: Andante (27:19)
V. Finale: Allegro con fuoco (35:05)
In the 19th century, Italy was a difficult place to get an audience for symphonic music. Italians were obsessed with opera, to the exclusion of virtually all other art music. It was not until 1867, more than six decades after it was composed, that Beethoven's celebrated 3rd Symphony was first heard in Italy. And it wasn't an exception among symphonies. Beethoven's 7th (completed in 1812) only received its Italian premiere in 1870, and Brahms's 2nd (completed in 1877) was not performed in Italy until 1898. Not surprisingly, few Italian composers wrote any symphonies at all in that era.
The lone exception was Giovanni Sgambati (1841-1914), who in fact also conducted the Italian premieres of Beethoven's 3rd and 7th Symphonies. Born in Rome but educated in Germany, Sgambati made it his life's work to reintroduce symphonies to Italy, and produced three symphonies of his own.
Sgambati's First Symphony was composed in 1880-81 and was one of the few symphonies to become popular in Italy before the 20th century. It was part of the standard repertoire of Italian orchestras for decades; elsewhere in Europe, it was a favorite of Grieg and Saint-Saëns. Unusually for the time, Sgambati combined a sense of melody taken from Italian opera with a distinctly symphonic style of orchestration, especially in the slow second movement as well as the "Serenata" that he inserted between the scherzo and the finale. A different sort of operatic influence can be found in the scherzo movement, which seems to take some cues from Wagner. The first and last movements, meanwhile, show some of the influence of Sgambati's own mentor Franz Liszt: although they are a sonata allegro movement and a rondo as was traditional, they rely less on developing main themes than on transforming and recombining smaller motives in kaleidoscopic fashion.
Movements:
I. Allegro vivace, non troppo
II. Andante mesto (10:20)
III. Scherzo: Presto (21:32)
IV. Serenata: Andante (27:19)
V. Finale: Allegro con fuoco (35:05)