Giacomo Facco – composer

The forgotten talent of the musician from Padua

Giacomo Facco's music was
rediscovered in 1962

Giacomo Facco, a Baroque composer, was born on this day in 1676 in Marsango, a small town just north of Padova (Padua).

Highly regarded during his own lifetime, he was completely forgotten about until 1962 when his work was rediscovered by Uberto Zanolli, a musicologist.

Facco is believed to have worked as a violinist and a conductor and he is known to have been given a job in 1705 by the Viceroy of Sicily as a choirmaster, teacher and violinist in Palermo.

In 1708 he moved with the Viceroy to Messina where he composed The Fight between Mercy and Incredulity. In 1710 he presented a work dedicated to King Philip V of Spain, The Augury of Victories, in Messina Cathedral.

By 1720 it is known Facco was working in the Spanish court because his pay is mentioned in a report dating from that year. He is later named as clavichord master to the Spanish princes.

At the height of his success he was commissioned to compose an opera to celebrate the marriage of one of the princes in 1721.

He then seems to have fallen out of favour and was just employed as a violinist in the orchestra of the Royal Chapel until his death in Madrid in 1753.

The composer had earlier written 12 violin concertos under the title Pensieri Adriarmonici. Bright and buoyant, they are reminiscent of the music composed by his contemporary, Vivaldi. These concertos were discovered in a library in Mexico City by Uberto Zanolli in 1962 along with Facco’s birth certificate.  Since his remarkable discovery, Zanolli has put together a biography of Facco and a list of his known works.

Some of Facco’s solo cantatas, written using his own poetry, were presented at a concert in Mexico City in 1962, conducted by Zanolli.

But it is thought other music Facco wrote while working in Spain may have been destroyed in a fire in Madrid in 1734.

The gate into Castelfranco Veneto at
Via Francesco Maria Preti

Travel tip:

Facco was born and spent his early years in the hamlet of Marsango in the commune of Campo San Martino about 15 kilometres north of Padua in the beautiful countryside of the Veneto. Marsango lies between the cities of Treviso and Vicenza, with the walled city of Castelfranco Veneto just to the north.

Travel tip:

Messina, where Facco was employed by the Viceroy of Sicily, is in the north east corner of the island and has close ties with Reggio Calabria on the mainland. The cathedral where Facco’s music was presented in 1710 dates back to the 12th century but has had to be rebuilt twice because of suffering earthquake and fire damage.

Also on this day:

1667: The birth of painter Alessandro Magnasco

1875: The birth of patriotic campaigner Cesare Battisti

1892: The birth of playwright Ugo Betti

2014: The death of novelist Eugenio Corti

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Giuseppe Forlenza – eye surgeon

Napoleon recognised brilliance of eye specialist

This portrait of Giuseppe Forlenza
by Jacques-Antoine Vallin is
housed in London's National Gallery

Giuseppe Forlenza, an important 18th century ophthalmologist and surgeon, was born on this day in 1757 in Picerno in the province of Potenza.

He became famous for performing successful cataract surgery and for his treatment of eye diseases.

Forlenza was born in the region of Basilicata, which at that time was part of the Kingdom of Naples. His father and two uncles were all surgeons.

He went to Naples and then on to France to study surgery. He spent two years gaining experience at St George’s Hospital in London and then returned to France where he concentrated on treating eye diseases.

Forlenza carried out eye surgery at a retirement home in Paris and performed many remarkable operations on soldiers returning from fighting in Egypt who were suffering from eye problems.

He was recognised as a leading eye surgeon by Napoleon, who in a royal decree assigned him to treat eye disease throughout France.

Forlenza eventually returned to Italy where he performed many free operations in Turin and Rome and he wrote what was considered at the time to be a forward thinking medical work about the treatment of eye disease.

Forlenza died in 1833 in Paris at the age of 76.

A surviving tower from an ancient
castle is an attraction in Potenza

Travel tip:

Potenza is the capital of the Basilicata region in southern Italy, built on high ground overlooking a valley in the Apennine mountains of Lucania. A tower from an old castle and three gates from the former city walls still remain and there are the ruins of a Roman villa to see.

Travel tip:

The University of Naples was founded in 1224 by the Emperor Frederick II. One of its most famous students was the theologian and philosopher Thomas Aquinas who went on to lecture there in the 13th century. A former college built in the 16th century in Via Paladino, in the area of Spaccanapoli, has been the main university building since 1777.


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Antonio Maria Valsalva – anatomist

Work by brilliant professor benefits astronauts today

A line engraving of Antonio Maria Valsalva
by Romuald Ceracchi

Antonio Maria Valsalva, a much respected anatomist, died on this day in 1723 in Bologna.

Valsalva’s research focused on the anatomy of the ear and his discoveries were so important that a piece of equipment used by astronauts today is named after him.

The Valsalva device in spacesuits allows astronauts to equalise the pressure in their ears by performing the Valsalva manoeuvre inside the suit without using their hands to block their nose. It has also been used for other purposes, such as to remove moisture from the face.

Valsalva was born in Imola in 1666. He received an education in humanities, mathematics and natural sciences before going on to study medicine and philosophy at Bologna University. He later became Professor of Anatomy at Bologna University.

His main interest was the middle and inner ear and it was Valsalva who coined the term Eustachian tube for a part within the ear. It was named after the 16th century anatomist Bartolomeo Eustachi who had described the tube in his written work.

The Valsalva manoeuvre, the forcible exhalation against a closed airway, often practised by people to equalise pressure between the ears when on an aeroplane, is still used by doctors today to help them with diagnosis in certain situations.

Valsalva’s most substantial contribution to the field of medicine was his detailed, illustrated work about the anatomy, physiology and pathology of the ear, published in 1704.

Valsalva died after a stroke in 1723 and was buried in the church of San Giovanni in Monte in Bologna.

Imola's well-preserved Rocca Sforzesca dates back to the 14th
century, when control was disputed by powerful families

Travel tip:

Imola, where Antonio Valsalva was born, is a City in the province of Bologna in Emilia-Romagna. It dates back to Roman times and there are many fascinating historic buildings to see in the centre. The castle, the Rocca Sforzesca, is well preserved, and is nowadays the home of an internationally respected piano academy and the Cinema d’Este, which shows films in July and August. Imola is also home to the Autodromo Internazionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari, a famous automobile racing circuit. 

Bologna's historic university, founded in 1088, is the
oldest in the world

Travel tip:

Bologna University was founded in 1088 and is the oldest in the world. There is a portrait of Valsalva in the university’s oldest surviving building, the Archiginnasio, which is now a library. It is open Monday to Friday from 9am to 7pm, and on Saturdays from 9am to 2pm and is just a short walk from Piazza Maggiore and the Basilica di San Petronio in the centre of the city.



More reading:

The founding father of Italian psychiatry, Andrea Verga

The professor who turned pathology into a science

Samantha Cristoforetti, Italy's firsy female astronaut

Also on this day:

1891: The birth of Sardinia's first prime minister of Italy, Antonio Segni

1925: The birth of Olympic showjumper Raimondo D’Inzeo 

(Picture credits: Sforza Castle at Imola by Ruben Alexander via Creative Commons)

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Renata Tebaldi – opera singer

Performer with a beautiful lirico soprano voice

Renata Tebaldi pictured in 1961

Opera singer Renata Tebaldi was born on this day in 1922 in Pesaro.

Said by the conductor Arturo Toscanini to possess ‘the voice of an angel’, Tebaldi had a long stage career and made numerous recordings.

Her parents had separated before her birth and she grew up in the home of her maternal grandparents in Langhirano in the province of Parma in Emilia-Romagna.

Tebaldi was stricken with polio at the age of three but later became interested in music and sang in the church choir. She was sent to have piano lessons but the teacher decided she should study singing instead and arranged for her to attend the conservatory in Parma. She later transferred to Liceo Musicale Rossini in Pesaro.

Tebaldi made her stage debut in 1944, while Italy was still at war, in Arrigo Boito’s Mefistofele at the Teatro Sociale in Rovigo but her beautiful voice first began to attract attention in 1946 when she appeared as Desdemona in Giuseppe Verdi’s Otello in Trieste.

She auditioned for Toscanini who was immediately impressed by her and she made her debut at Teatro alla Scala in 1946 singing in a concert to mark the reopening of the theatre after the Second World War.

Mario Del Monaco was famous for his
portrayal of Giuseppe Verdi's Otello

The following year, she played her first operatic role - Eva in Wagner’s Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg - at the same opera house.

Toscanini encouraged her to learn to sing the part of Aida and to rehearse in his own studio.

She made her debut in the role at La Scala in 1950 alongside Mario Del Monaco, which helped launch her international career.

In 1950 Maria Callas was taken on at La Scala as a substitute Aida when Tebaldi was indisposed.

There were rumours of rivalry between them for the rest of their careers although Tebaldi considered herself to be a lyric soprano and Callas considered herself to be a dramatic coloratura soprano.

Nonetheless, partly for the sake of peace, Tebaldi decided to spend a lot of time in the United States. She made her debut at the Metropolitan Opera in New York in 1955, where she sang regularly until her last appearance in 1973, signing off as she had begun with a performance as Desdemona in Otello.

She retired from singing completely in 1976 and died at the age of 82 at her home in San Marino.

A small museum dedicated to Tebaldi has been opened in the stables of the Villa Pallavicino in Busseto - Verdi's home town - which is also the home of the National Giuseppe Verdi Museum. Among the exhibits are many costumes and mementoes from her personal life, including letters from John F Kennedy and Rudy Giuliani, the former Mayor of New York.

The Teatro Lirico Giuseppe Verdi in Trieste, where
Renata Tebaldi enjoyed her first success

Travel tip:

Teatro Lirico Giuseppe Verdi in Trieste, where Tebaldi had her first big stage success, was built to replace a smaller theatre and inaugurated as Teatro Nuovo in 1801. It was the site of the premiere of Verdi’s opera Il Corsaro in 1848 featuring soprano Giuseppina Strepponi, who Verdi later married. Within hours of Verdi’s death in 1901 the theatre had been renamed in honour of the composer.

The Castle of Torrechiara towers above the town
of Langhirano, near the city of Parma

Travel tip:

Langhirano, Renata Tebaldi’s home town, is situated about about 90km (56 miles) west of Bologna and about 20km (12 miles) south of Parma in Emilia-Romagna. It is known for the big 15th century Castle of Torrechiara, perched on high ground overlooking a valley, where a music festival dedicated to Renata Tebaldi is held each summer. Although Tebaldi died in San Marino, she was buried at Langhirano Cemetery.

More reading:

Chance opportunity that turned cellist Toscanini into a conductor

Arrigo Boito - the composer who fought under Garibaldi

What made Mario Del Monaco one of the great Otellos

Also on this day:

1690: The birth of virtuoso violinist Francesco Maria Veracini

1891: The birth of Corradino d'Ascanio, designer of the Vespa scooter

(Picture credits: Renata Tebaldi by Umberto Borsò; Castle of Torrechiara by Fabio Macor via Creative Commons)


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