Umberto Giordano - opera composer

Death of the musician remembered for Andrea Chenier

Umberto Giordano was a contemporary
of Mascagni and Puccini, among others

Composer Umberto Giordano died on this day in 1948 in Milan at the age of 81.

He is perhaps best remembered for his opera, Andrea Chenier, a dramatic work about liberty and love during the French revolution, which was based on the real life story of the romantic French poet, André Chenier.

The premiere of the opera was held at Teatro alla Scala in Milan in 1896. At the time, its success propelled Giordano into the front rank of up-and-coming Italian composers alongside Pietro Mascagni, to whom he is often compared, and Giacomo Puccini.

Another of Giordano’s works widely acclaimed by both the public and the critics, is the opera, Fedora.

This had its premiere in 1898 at the Teatro Lirico in Milan. A rising young tenor, Enrico Caruso, played the role of Fedora’s lover, Loris. The opera was a big success and is still performed today.

Some of Giordano’s later works are less well-known but they have achieved the respect of the critics and music experts and are occasionally revived by opera companies.

The Teatro Argentina in Rome, which staged the first
production of Giordano's debut opera, Mala vita

Giordano was born in Foggia in Puglia in August 1867. He studied under Paolo Serrao at the Conservatoire of Naples.

He wrote his first opera, Marina, for a competition organised by the music publishers Casa Sonzogno for the best one-act opera. It was placed sixth of 73 entries. The competition, which is seen as marking the beginning of verismo movement in Italian opera, was won by Mascagni's Cavalleria rusticana. 

There was much interest in Marina, nonetheless, and Sonzogno commissioned Giordano to develop the idea further. The result was Mala vita, a gritty verismo opera about a labourer who vows to reform a prostitute if he is cured of his tuberculosis. 

The audience at the Teatro Argentina in Rome were somewhat scandalised when it played there in February 1892 but it was greeted with acclaim by audiences in Vienna, Prague and Berlin.


Giordano tried a more romantic topic with his next opera, Regina Diaz, but this was a failure and was cancelled after just two performances.

He moved to Milan and it was there he returned to verismo with Andrea Chenier and Fedora.

The theatre in Piazza Cesare Battisti in Foggia, the town where Giordano was born, has been renamed Teatro Giordano in his memory. There is also a large statue of the composer in Piazza Umberto Giordano in Foggia.

Teatro alla Scala opened in 1778, having been built to replace
the Teatro Regio Ducale, which had been destroyed in a fire 

Travel tip:

Opera lovers should visit Teatro alla Scala in Milan and go round the theatre’s museum to see the fantastic costumes and memorabilia from the history of opera on display. The museum in Largo Ghiringhelli, just off Piazza Scala, is open every day except the Italian Bank Holidays and certain days in December. Opening hours are from 9.00 to 12.30 and 1.30 to 5.30 pm.  The theatre opened in 1778 as the Nuovo Regio Ducale Teatro alla Scala, having been commissioned by the Empress Maria Theresa of the House of Hapsburg, of which the Duchy of Milan was at the time a part, as replacement for the Teatro Regio Ducale following a fire in 1776.  It was built on the site of the former church of Santa Maria alla Scala.

The statue of Umberto Giordano in
Piazza Umberto Giordano

Travel tip:

Foggia, where Umberto Giordano was born in 1867, is an important city in Puglia in the south of Italy. As well as the Teatro Giordano and Piazza Umberto Giordano, which honour the composer, Foggia has a Cathedral dating back to the 12th century well worth visiting. The city was once known as the ‘granary of Italy’, thanks to its proximity to a large plain, known as the Tavoliere delle Puglie, which enabled the growing of wheat and other grain plants on a large scale. There are many pasta factories, although productivity in the area is not limited to grains, being a significant producer of olives, grapes and cheeses too.  The old centre of the city is a network of narrow streets, at the heart of which is the part-Romanic, part-Baroque cathedral of Santa Maria de Fovea.

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Victor Emmanuel III

Birth of the King who ruled Italy through two world wars

Italy’s longest reigning King, Victor Emmanuel III (Vittorio Emanuele III di Savoia), was born on this day in Naples in 1869.

The only child of King Umberto I and Queen Margherita of Savoy, he was given the title of Prince of Naples.

The National Library, named after Victor Emmanuel III
is housed inside the Palazzo Reale

He became King of Italy in 1900 after his father was assassinated in Monza.

During the reign of Victor Emmanuel III, Italy was involved in two world wars and experienced the rise and fall of Fascism.

At the height of his popularity he was nicknamed by the Italians Re soldato (soldier King) and Re vittorioso (victorious King) because of Italy’s success in battle during the First World War. He was also sometimes called sciaboletta (little sabre) as he was only five feet (1.53m) tall.

Italy had remained neutral at the start of the First World War but signed treaties to go into the war on the side of France, Britain and Russia in 1915. Victor Emmanuel III enjoyed popular support as a result of visiting areas in the north affected by the fighting while his wife, Queen Elena, helped the nurses care for the wounded.

But the instability after the First World War led to Mussolini’s rise to power. Victor Emmanuel III was later to claim that it was fear of a civil war that stopped him moving against Mussolini right at the start. But his apparent weakness had dire consequences for the country and he lost support.

He finally dismissed Mussolini and had him arrested in 1943. To try to save the monarchy, Victor Emmanuel III transferred powers to his son, Umberto, and formally abdicated in 1946, hoping the new King, Umberto II, would be able to strengthen support for the monarchy.

Victor Emmanuel III went into exile in Alexandria in Egypt, where he died in 1947.

Travel tip:

The National Library in Naples is named after Italy’s longest reigning monarch. Biblioteca Nazionale Vittorio Emanuele III in Piazza Plebiscito is one of the most important libraries in Italy with more than two million books, manuscripts and parchments and is well worth visiting. It is open daily from 8.30 to 7.30 pm,  but closed on Sundays.

Travel tip:

When in Naples, try an authentic Pizza Margherita, named after the mother of Victor Emmanuel III, Queen Margherita. It is claimed that the pizza, with its tomato, basil and mozzarella topping, was created to represent the Italian flag and was named after Queen Margherita in 1889 by Neapolitan pizza maker, Raffaele Esposito.

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Lord Byron in Venice

Romantic English poet finds renewed inspiration

Aristocratic English poet Lord Byron and his friend, John Cam Hobhouse, arrived in Venice for the first time on this day in 1816.

They put up at the Hotel Grande Bretagne on the Grand Canal and embarked on a few days of tourism.

Byron spent first night at an hotel on Grand Canal

But it was not long before Byron decided to move into an apartment just off the Frezzeria, a street near St Mark's Square, and settled down to enjoy life in the city that was to be his home for the next three years.

Byron has become one of Venice’s legends, perhaps the most famous, or infamous, of all its residents.

Tourists who came afterwards expected to see Venice through his eyes. Even the art critic, John Ruskin, has admitted that on his first visit he had come in search of Byron’s Venice.

Byron once wrote that Venice had always been ‘the greenest island of my imagination’ and he never seems to have been disappointed by it.

He also wrote in a letter to one of his friends that Venice was ‘one of those places that before he saw them he thought he already knew’. He said he appreciated the silence of the Venetian canals and the ‘gloomy gaiety’ of quietly passing gondolas.

He found the city inspiring for his poetry and was particularly impressed with the Palazzo Ducale (Doge’s Palace) and the Pozzi Prison, settings that were to feature in two of his dramas, Marino Faliero and The Two Foscari.

Byron wrote: “I stood in Venice on the Bridge of Sighs, A palace and a prison on each hand…”

The Bridge of Sighs links the palace to the prison

It is believed he went to see the Bridge of Sighs on 11 November, the first morning after his arrival in the city and actually stood on the Ponte della Paglia, the bridge that stands between the Bridge of Sighs and the lagoon.

According to Ruskin, the view he saw that day became “the centre of the Byronic ideal of Venice’.

Travel tip:

From the San Zaccharia vaporetto stop head towards the Ponte della Paglia (literally Bridge of Straw) over the Rio di Palazzo canal that separates the Doge’s Palace from the prison. If the bridge is crowded, wait for a spot by the balustrades to become free to make sure you see the same view of the Bridge of Sighs that Byron had found so inspiring.

Travel tip:

To see Byron’s first lodgings in Venice, where he conducted his affair with the landlord’s wife, Marianna Segati, look for Calle della Piscina, off the Frezzeria, which is close to St Mark’s Square. Number 1673 marks the entrance to the rooms Byron rented nearly 200 years ago.

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Enrico De Nicola - politician

Italy’s ‘reluctant’ first president

Enrico de Nicola

The man who was to become the first president of the Republic of Italy was born on this day in Naples in 1877.

Enrico De Nicola studied law at Naples University and went on to become one of the most esteemed criminal lawyers in Italy. He also worked as a journalist writing about legal issues.
He later joined the Italian liberal party and was elected to the Camera dei Deputati (Chamber of Deputies) in 1909.

He held minor government posts until the advent of Fascism when he retired from public life to concentrate on his legal career.

De Nicola took an interest in politics again after Mussolini’s fall from power in 1943.

At first King Victor Emmanuel III tried to extricate the monarchy from its association with the Fascists and his son Umberto became Lieutenant General of the Realm and took over most of the functions of the Sovereign. Victor Emmanuel later abdicated and his son became King Umberto II.

But after a constitutional referendum was held in Italy, the country became a republic in 1946.

Umberto went into exile and Enrico De Nicola was elected head of state on 28 June 1946 with 80 per cent of the votes.

He is remembered by his colleagues as a modest man who was unsure at the time whether to accept the nomination.

De Nicola was formally named President of the Italian Republic on 1 January 1948 after having guided Italy through the first difficult months of becoming a republic.

Rome's Palazzo del Quirinale, official residence of the
Italian President: Picture by Markus Mark

But when the first constitutional elections were held the following May he refused to stand for office again.

As a former Head of State he was made a Senator for life in 1956.

He died in October, 1959 at Torre del Greco near Naples.

Travel tip:

When in Rome, you can see the Palazzo di Montecitorio, where the Chamber of Deputies has met since 1871, not far from the Pantheon. You can also see the Palazzo del Quirinale, which became the President’s official residence in 1947, near the Trevi Fountain.

Travel Tip:

Torre del Greco, where De Nicola spent his last years, is south of Naples near Pompeii. Its name derives from an ancient watch tower and from the vineyards in the area which produce wine from a grape variety called Greco. The main trade for centuries was coral fishing and Torre del Greco is now famous for producing fine pieces of carved coral and other jewellery.

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