Everything about Leopoldo Mugnone totally explained
Leopoldo Mugnone (b.
Naples, 29 September 1858; d.
Capodichino, Naples 22 December 1941) was an
Italian conductor, especially of opera, whose most famous work was done in the period 1890-1920, both in Europe and South America. He conducted various operatic premieres, and was also a composer of operas.
Training
The son of Antonio Mugnone, principal double-bass in the orchestra of the San Carlo Theatre in Naples, Mugnone studied from an early age at the Royal Conservatorio of
San Pietro a Maiella under
Paolo Serrao and
Beniamino Cesi. He composed his first theatre work, a little opera buffa
Il Dottor Bartolo Salsapariglia, at the age of 12, in which he wished to take part in the basso comico role, though he'd then only an alto voice. At 16 he began conducting. A year later he was recruited as a chorus director for an operetta troupe at the Teatro Nuovo, run by F. Sadowsky. From there he went on to the Garibaldi Theatre, first as chorus master and later as
concertatore. Two other early operettas by him,
Don Bizzarro e le sue figlie (1 act), and
Mamma Angot al serraglio di Costantinopoli (3 acts) were produced during the later 1870s at Naples.
Mugnone was himself the teacher of the conductor
Uriel Nespoli.
Early career
Mugnone established his reputation in Italy and beyond, and conducted a tour with the double-bass player Bottesini. In 1887 at the Costanzi Theatre (Rome) in a single season he conducted
La forza del destino and
Filippo Marchetti's
Ruy Blas. After this the publisher Sonzogno, recognising his potential, took him under his wing: in 1888 he was promoted to conduct at La Scala, at the
Theatre de la Gaîté in
Paris, and at the Municipale in
Nice (amongst others). According to
Giuseppe Depanis, a
Carmen of his of 1888, with
Luisa Borghi, at the Carignano in
Turin was the last artistic experience enjoyed by
Friedrich Nietzsche before madness overtook him.
Mugnone was very esteemed by
Verdi, who especially admired his performances of
Otello and
Falstaff, and became a friend of the conductor. After a May 1894 performance of
Falstaff at the Paris Opera,
Boito wrote to Verdi: "Mugnone has understood the entire score with a great power of penetration." With the same work Mugnone gave the inaugural concert of the
Teatro Massimo at
Palermo on 16 May 1897. A story goes that he once got hold of a score with
Toscanini's annotations and flung it from him, saying: "Bah! Puzza di Parma!" (It stinks of Parma). The Verdi centenary celebrations of October 1913, at La Scala, opened with a memorable performance of
Nabucco which he arranged and directed.
His own compositions, however, and many of his most important premieres, were in the field of
verismo opera. In 1890 he conducted the sensational premiere of
Mascagni's
Cavalleria rusticana (who had won the
Concorso Sonzogno with this work), at the Costanzi with
Gemma Bellincioni and
Roberto Stagno. After this he was sought out by composers of the young school as one likely to be sympathetic to their work. His own one-act opera
Il biricchino (Venice 1892) didn't fare well in Vienna, for after it was presented at the Teatro dell’Esposizione in 1892, the critic
Hanslick pronounced it to be a mediocre and objectionable thing. It appeared in
Barcelona in 1893. Mugnone became famous for other revivals of important operas, including
Glück's
Orfeo, Rossini's
Guglielmo Tell, and
Berlioz's
La Damnation de Faust in its original form as an oratorio. During the Exhibition of 1899 he directed a Grand Opera season in
Paris.
Mugnone conducted the world premiere of
Tosca in Rome in 1900 (including interruptions for a bomb scare). His own opera
Vita Brettona was premiered at Naples in 1905. Between 1904 and 1906 he'd busy seasons at
Covent Garden, performing
Andrea Chénier (with
Strakosch,
Zenatello,
Sammarco),
Don Giovanni (Strakosch and
Battistini),
Madame Butterfly (with
Giachetti),
Faust and
La traviata (with
Melba),
Manon Lescaut,
La bohème,
Tosca,
Mefistofele,
Aida,
Un ballo in maschera, and
Rigoletto (with Melba,
Stracciari, and Battistini). He gave the first London performances of
Cilea's
Adriana Lecouvreur (November 1904) and Giordano's
Fedora (November 1906, with Giachetti and Zenatello).
He gave the first performance of
Franchetti's
La figlia di Iorio (on a text by
d'Annunzio) at La Scala in 1906. (Like Mugnone, Franchetti had been a student of Serrao). He conducted for
Eugenia Burzio's famous La Scala debut in March 1906 as Katiusha in the
Risurrezione of
Franco Alfano (another Serrao pupil). In 1910 (17 March) he gave the premiere of
Giordano's
Mese Mariano at the Teatro Massimo.
Other Italian premieres of this period given by him were:
- Carlotta Clépier by Pietro Floridia (Naples, Circo Nazionale, May 1882);
- Regina e Contadina di Sarria (Naples, Teatro dei Fiorentini, 24 June 1882, with Gemma Bellincioni and Antonio Pini-Corsi);
- Medgé by S. Samara (Rome, Costanzi, 11 Dec. 1888, with Emma Calvé and De Vries);
- Il Conte di Gléichen by Salvatore Auteri-Manzocchi (Rome, season of 1888-89);
- Le Cid by Massenet (first Rome production);
- Patria by Paladilhe. (Rome, autumn 1888);
- Djamileh by Bizet, (Rome, season of 1889-90, with Bellincioni);
- Orfeo by Gluck, (revival, Rome 1889);
- Labilia by N. Spinelli (Rome, 9 May 1890, with Bellincioni and Stagno);
- Andrea del Sarto by Baravalle and Spartacus by Pietro Platania (Rome, season 1890-91, with Mme Marconi and Cattaneo);
- Rudello by Vincenzo Ferroni (Rome, 28 May 1890, with Bellincioni e Stagno);
- I Pagliacci by Leoncavallo (first at Rome, Teatro Nazionale, 1892);
- Le Villi by Puccini, (first Rome production, Costanzi, 28 October 1899, with Pasini and R. Galli);
- Werther by Massenet (first Rome production, 30 December 1899, with Savelli and De Luca);
- Sappho by Massenet, (first Rome production, 20 March 1900, with Bellincioni and Moreo);
- Le Maschere by Mascagni (Naples, San Carlo, 19 January 1901, with Angelica Pandolfini, Giachetti e Schiavazzi).
South America
It was through
Sonzogno that Mugnano began to develop his work in operatic seasons in
Argentina and elsewhere in
South America, where he made a significant impact. In Buenos Aires he gave the first South American
Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg (in Italian) in August 1898. He conducted premieres in
Uruguay of
Die Walküre,
Tosca,
Zazà,
Don Giovanni,
Franchetti's
Germania,
Thais and his own
Vita Brettona, and in 1910 conducted
Götterdämmerung and
Gustave Charpentier's
Louise.
Later Tours
Between May and August 1919 he conducted a Covent Garden Italian season, including
Aida,
Tosca,
Madame Butterfly and other works, and the first England performance of Mascagni's
Iris (July, with
Margaret Sheridan). This appearance was under the management of
Thomas Beecham, who describes him as a man of fiery and uncontrollable temper... 'never a day passed without a stormy scene with singers, chorus and orchestra, coupled with threats to return to Italy at once.' These scenes always ended in Beecham's room, and after several such experiences Beecham called his bluff by producing tickets for Mugnone and his family to return to Italy the following day. 'He opened and closed his mouth, rolled his eyes, ruffled his hair and after several abortive attempts at speech finally roared out "I will never leave you".' A long speech of justification, explanation, and declaration of fondness for England followed, and the season proceeded: life was a little quieter after that, at least for Beecham, who considered Mugnone's interpretations of Verdi the finest he ever heard.
In March 1921 he began a season at
Lexington, USA, with an opera troupe headed by
Iva Pacetti. From May to July 1925 he was back at Covent Garden for
Aida,
Andrea Chénier (with Margaret Sheridan,
Giacomo Lauri-Volpi,
Benvenuto Franci),
Il barbiere di Siviglia (with
Toti dal Monte) and
Tosca (with
Maria Jeritza).
Archive and Memorial
Around 1933 Mugnano gave to the Museums of La Scala and the Rome Opera, and to the Naples Conservatorio, about 2000 documents including letters of Verdi, Massenet, Mascagni, Strauss and Leoncavallo, and a voluminous cache of Puccini materials.
A 'Teatro Mugnone' (named in honour of Leopoldo Mugnone) has recently been restored and opened for modern theatre in the Italian Comune of
Marcianise.
Sources
A. Eaglefield-Hull, A Dictionary of Modern Music and Musicians (Dent, London 1924).
G. Gatti-Cassazza, Memories of the Opera
Enzo Raucci,, "Vita e Opere di L. Mugnone", in Aspettando il Teatro Mugnone, Omaggio al Mo. Leopoldo Mugnone, (Unartgroup, Associazione Culturale Universitaria at www.unartgroup.it).
Titta Ruffo, La mia parabola artistica, (Milano 1937).
E. De Leva, "Leopoldo Mugnone nel dolore e nell’arte," Corriere di Napoli, 6 August 1941.
A. De Angelis, "Aneddoti sit Mugnone," in La Voce d’Italia, 23 November 1941.
Giuseppe Depanis, I Concerti Popolari ed il Teatro Regio di Torino: Quindici Anni da Vita Musicale, 1872-1886 (2 vols). (Societa Tipografico-Editrice Nazionale, Torino 1914-1915)Further Information
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