Umberto Giordano

Umberto Giordano August 28 1867 – November 12 1948 Was An Italian Composer Mainly Of Opera. He Was Born In Foggia In Puglia Italy And Studied Under Paolo Serrao At The Conservatoire Of Naples. His First Opera Marina Was Written For The Competition Staged By The Music Publishers Casa Sonzogno For The Best One-Act Opera Remembered Today Because It Marked The Beginning Of Italian Verismo The Winner Was Mascagni's Cavalleria Rusticana. Giordano The Youngest Candidate Placed Sixth Among Seventy-Three With Marina Which Generated Enough Interest For Sonzogno To Commission An Opera To Be Staged In The 1891-92 Season. The Result Was Mala Vita A Gritty Verismo Opera Concerning A Labourer Who Vows To Reform A Prostitute If He Is Cured Of His Tuberculosis. This Caused Something Of A Scandal When Performed At The Teatro Argentina Rome In February 1892. It Played Successfully At Vienna Prague And Berlin.
Giordano Tried A More Romantic Approach With His Next Opera Regina Diaz 1894 But This Was Also A Failure Taken Off The Stage After Just Two Performances.
Giordano Then Moved To Milan And Returned To Verismo With His Best-Known Work Andrea Chénier 1896 Based On The Life Of The French Poet André Chénier. Fedora 1898 Based On Victorien Sardou's Play Featured A Scarcely -Known Young Tenor Enrico Caruso It Was Also A Success And Is Still Performed Today. His Later Works Are Much Less Known But Occasionally Revived.
The Most Important Theater In Foggia Has Been Dedicated To Umberto Giordano In Which Andrea Chenier Was Lately Performed. A Square In Foggia Is Also Dedicated To Him With Many Statues Representing His More Famous Works. read less