Customer Reviews

Pietro Mascagni and His Operas

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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.

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.

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.

This is one of the best musical biographies I have encountered. The author's style is direct, thoughtful, and avoids the myopia commonly encountered with researchers who have pursued detail as relentlessly as this writer has. Some of them are never able to return to a commonly shared reality that evinces a raison d'etre for their work. He speaks with a voice that persuades the reader to take interest in this subject. A highlight is his discussion of the reasons Italian opera was unable to sustain a future after Puccini's time, with the exception of Mascagni. It had to do with the advent of international modernism, and the subsequent loss of a broadly based audience in Italy for new operas that attempted to continue the old traditions. A book worth reading.