Tomaso Albinoni - Venetian composer

Prolific writer of operas and instrumental music

Tomaso Albinoni

The composer Tomaso Albinoni, perhaps best known for the haunting and powerful Adagio in G Minor, was born on this day in 1671 in Venice.

Albinoni was a contemporary of two other great Venetian composers, Arcangelo Corelli and Antonio Vivaldi, and was favourably compared with both.

It is his instrumental music for which he is popular today, although during his own lifetime he was famous for his operas, the first of which was performed in Venice in 1694.  He is thought to have composed some 81 operas in total, although they were not published at the time and the majority were lost.

His first major instrumental work also appeared in 1694. With the support of sponsorship from noble patrons, he published nine collections - in Italy, Amsterdam and London - beginning with Opus 1, the 12 Sonate a Tre, which he dedicated to his fellow Venetian, Cardinal Pietro Ottoboni, the grand-nephew of Pope Alexander VIII.

It was this work that established his fame.  He followed it with an other collection of instrumental pieces, dedicated to Charles IV, Duke of Mantua, who may have employed him as a violinist. His Opus 3, a collection of  suites, was sponsored by Cosimo III de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany.

His career output numbered 99 sonatas, 59 concertos and nine symphonies.  By his seventh Opus he was writing regular pieces for the oboe and is regarded as the first composer to include the instrument in concertos. His ninth Opus was his last.

Albinoni came from a privileged background.  His family manufactured playing cards and owned several shops in Venice, allowing Tomaso to indulge his musical talents - he was a talented singer and violinist as well as a composer - as an amateur, known as a Dilettante Veneto.

A poster advertising the premiere
of an Albinoni opera in 1716

He would have expected, at some stage, to take over the running of the family business, but after the commercial success of his 12 Sonate a Tre, his father changed the terms of his will so that the business would be placed instead in the hands of his younger brothers.  This meant Tomaso could pursue a career in music.

In 1705, Albinoni married an opera singer, Margherita Raimondi. He always lived in Venice but travelled extensively as his works were performed around Italy and later in northern Europe.  He died in Venice in 1751, apparently of diabetes.

Ironically, given his prolific output, his best loved work - the Adagio in G Minor - was written largely by someone else.

A good deal of Albinoni's work was damaged or destroyed in the bombing of Dresden towards the end of the Second World War when it was being kept in the Dresden State Library.  The ruins were visited in 1945 by a musicologist from Rome, Remo Giazotto, who was catalogueing the composer's output.

When Giazotto later published the adagio, copyrighted in his own name, he claimed it had been based on what remained of manuscript discovered in the ruins, which consisted of just the bass line and six bars of melody from a church sonata that was possibly included in Albinoni's Opus Four, written in about 1704.

Giazotto said he had constructed the piece as a complete movement based on that fragment of manuscript, although the claim was never corroborated and no one else saw the scrap of paper.  The consensus among musical scholars is that it should be seen as Giazotto's work, yet the piece continues to be referred to as Albinoni's Adagio in G Minor.

The former Chiesa San Vidal in Venice

Travel tip:

Performances of Albinoni's music form part of the season performed annually by the Interpreti Veneziani, a chamber music ensemble who specialise in Venetian music.  They perform at a former church, the Chiesa San Vidal, situated between the Accademia Bridge and Campo Santo Stefano, and sometimes at the Scuola Grande di San Rocco, both in the San Marco district.  For more information, visit www.interpretiveneziani.com.

Travel tip:

The Scuola di San Rocco was established in 1478 by a group of wealthy Venetian citizens, next to the church of San Rocco. In 1564 the painter Tintoretto was commissioned to provide paintings for the Scuola, and his most renowned works are to be found in the Sala dell'Albergo and the Sala Superiore.

More reading:

Where to see Tintoretto's work in Venice

Success and sadness of Antonio Vivaldi

How Arcangelo Corelli's music influenced others

(Photo of Chiesa San Vidal by Didier Descouens CC BY-SA 4.0)

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Federico da Montefeltro – condottiero

Patron of the arts made money through war

Piero della Francesca's stark portrait
of Federico da Montefeltro

Federico da Montefeltro, one of the most successful of the Italian condottieri, was born on this day in 1422 in Gubbio.

He has been immortalised by the famous portrait painted of him by Piero della Francesca, where he was dressed in red and showing his formidable profile.

Federico ruled Urbino from 1444 until his death, commissioning the building of a large library where he employed his own team of scribes to copy texts.

He was the illegitimate son of Guidantonio da Montefeltro but he was legitimised by the Pope with the consent of Guidantonio’s wife.

Federico began his career as a condottiero - a kind of mercenary military leader - at the age of 16. When his half brother, who had recently become Duke of Urbino, was assassinated in 1444, Federico seized the city of Urbino.

To bring in money he continued to wage war as a condottiero. He lost his right eye in an accident during a tournament and later commissioned a surgeon to remove the bridge of his nose to improve his field of vision and make him less vulnerable to assassination attempts.

Subsequently, he refused to have his portrait painted in full face, hence he is depicted in profile by Piero della Francesca.

Federico fought on behalf of the Sforza family, the King of Naples and various Popes.

In 1482 he was asked to command the army of Ercole I of Ferrara in his war against Venice but he then caught a fever and died in Ferrara.

Federico imposed justice and stability on Urbino and supported up and coming artists such as Raphael.

He took care of his soldiers when they were killed or wounded by providing dowries for their daughters. As a result his soldiers remained loyal to him and he never lost a battle.

The Ducal Palace in Urbino, a Unesco World
Heritage Site

Travel tip:

Urbino, which is inland from the Adriatic resort of Pesaro, in the Marche region, is a majestic city on a steep hill. It was once a centre of learning and culture, known not just in Italy but also in its glory days throughout Europe. The Ducal Palace, a Renaissance building made famous by The Book of the Courtier, is one of the most important monuments in Italy and is listed as a Unesco World Heritage site.

Travel tip:

Gubbio, where Federico was born, is a small town in Perugia in the region of Umbria that still has many of its medieval buildings. It became absorbed into the territory of the Montefeltro family in the 15th century and Federico Montefeltro had the ancient Palazzo Ducale rebuilt in a similar style to his palace in Urbino.

(Photo of Ducal Palace at Urbino by Florian Prischi CC BY-SA 3.0)

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Camillo Benso, Count of Cavour

Prime Minister died after creating a united Italy

Camillo Benso Count of Cavour, depicted by
Michele Gordigiani in a painting circa 1850

The first Prime Minister of Italy, Camillo Benso Count of Cavour, died on this day in 1861 in Turin.

A leading figure in the struggle for Italian unification, Cavour died at the age of 50, only three months after taking office as Prime Minister of the new Kingdom of Italy. He did not live to see Venice and Rome become part of the Italian nation.

Cavour was born in 1810 in Turin, the second son of the fourth Marquess of Cavour. He was chosen to be a page to Charles Albert, King of Piedmont, when he was 14.

After attending a military academy he served in the Piedmont-Sardinian army but eventually resigned his commission and went to run his family’s estate at Grinzane in the province of Cuneo instead.

He then travelled extensively in Switzerland, France and England before returning to Turin where he became involved in politics.

The monument to Cavour in front of the
Palace of Justice in Rome

Originally he was interested in enlarging and developing Piedmont-Sardinia economically rather than creating a unified Italy.

As Prime Minister he took the kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia into the Crimean war hoping it would gain him the support of the allies for his plans for expansion.

But he became expert at playing off the French against the Austrians, charming the British and making use of Garibaldi. As a result, Cavour became the architect of the Risorgimento that eventually led to the creation of a united Italy ruled by the House of Savoy.

When the Kingdom was finally created in 1860 he became Victor Emmanuel II’s first Prime Minister.

But worry and hard work took their toll on Cavour and he became ill with malaria. He died while he was at the height of his career in 1861.

Today many Italian cities have streets and squares named after Cavour, who is considered to have been the person responsible for establishing the new unified Italy.

The Grinzane Cavour, near Turin, which was Cavour's
home from 1830 until his death in 1861

Travel tip:

The 13th century castle of Grinzane Cavour near Turin is now a UNESCO World Heritage site. Camillo Benso Count of Cavour lived there from 1830 until his death in 1861. During his stays there he restored the building and improved the cultivation of the vines in the area. The castle has rooms dedicated to Cavour as well as the Cavour Regional Enoteca, which showcases the best wines produced in the region.

Travel tip:

Turin, where Cavour was born and died, is the capital city of the region of Piedmont. It is an important business centre and also has architecture demonstrating its rich history, which is linked with the Savoy Kings of Italy. Piazza Castello, with the royal palace, royal library and Palazzo Madama, which used to house the Italian senate, is at the heart of ‘royal’ Turin.

More reading:

Victor Emmanuel II - first king of the united Italy

Giuseppe Mazzini - hero of the Risorgimento

(Photo of Grinzane Cavour by Sbisolo CC BY-SA 3.0)
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Salvatore Ferragamo - shoe designer

From humble beginnings to giant of the fashion industry

Shoes by Salvatore Ferragamo

Salvatore Ferragamo, the craftsman once dubbed 'Shoemaker to the Stars' after his success in creating made-to-measure footwear for movie stars and celebrities, was born on this day in 1898 in Bonito, a small hill town in Campania, in the province of Avellino.

Although in time he would become a prominent figure in the fashion world of Florence, Ferragamo learned how to make shoes in Naples, around 100 kilometres from his home village.  He was apprenticed to a Neapolitan shoemaker at the age of just 11 years and opened his first shop, trading from his parents' house, at 13.

When he was 16 he made the bold decision to move to the United States, joining one of his brothers in Boston, where they both worked in a factory manufacturing cowboy boots.  Salvatore was impressed at how modern production methods enabled the factory to turn out large numbers of boots but was concerned about compromises to quality.

This led him to move to California and to set up shop selling his own hand-made shoes in Santa Barbara, where he made his first contacts in the burgeoning American film industry.  Eager to make shoes that not only looked good but were comfortable to wear, he enrolled at the University of Southern California to study anatomy.

He moved to Hollywood when the movie makers relocated there and it was after opening the Hollywood Boot Shop that he acquired the label 'shoemaker to the stars'.

The famous Ferragamo logo

In 1927, after 13 years in the United States, Ferragamo returned to Italy to base his business in Florence, a city with a wealth of skilled craftsmen. He opened a workshop in the Via Mannelli and was soon making shoes for some of the wealthiest women in the world.

The collapse of the US stock market in 1929, sparking the Great Depression, hit him hard, virtually destroying the export side of his business, and he filed for bankruptcy in 1933.  Yet such was his enterprise and appetite for work that, by concentrating on the domestic market, he was able to make a rapid recovery.

In 1936 he rented two workshops and opened a shop in Palazzo Spini Feroni in Via de' Tornabuoni, which he subsequently bought and which remains the company's headquarters.

By the 1950s, as Italy recovered from wartime austerity and embraced la dolce vita, Ferragamo was the shoe of choice for wealthy young socialites in Italy and beyond and the company workshops were employing 700 craftsmen turning out up to 350 pairs of shoes per day.

The Rainbow platform sandal Ferragamo crafted for the
 actress and singer Judy Garland

Among Salvatore's creations were stiletto heels with metal reinforcement made famous by Marilyn Monroe, and a platform sandal he made for Judy Garland, which he called The Rainbow as a tribute to the actress and singer's performance in the Wizard of Oz. His 'invisible' sandal, which featured almost transparent nylon thread uppers, won the Neiman Marcus Award in 1947, the first time the prestigious mark of recognition in the fashion world was given to a shoe designer.

In 1940 Salvatore had married the daughter of the local doctor in Bonito, Wanda Miletti, who joined him in Florence. They had six children: three sons - Ferruccio, Leonardo and Massimo - and three daughters - Fiamma, Giovanna and Fulvia.

Salvatore died in 1960 aged just 62, leaving the company to be run by the family, with Wanda initially in charge.  Nowadays, Ferruccio is the president of a business employing more than 4000 people with 550 stores in Europe, Asia and the Americas.

It now has a range of products that includes eyewear, perfume, belts, scarves, bags, watches and clothing, as well as shoes.

Travel tip:

Bonito, perched on top of a hill between the valleys of the Arvi and Calore rivers, is roughly equidistant between Benevento and Avellino in inland Campania.  The Church of the Assunta contains the tomb of Santa Crescenzo, an 11-year-old boy killed during the persecution by the Roman Emperor Diocletianus in the third century and subsequently celebrated as a martyr.

The entrance to the Ferragamo museum at
the Palazzo Spini Feroni

Travel tip:

A museum dedicated to the life and work of Salvatore Ferragamo was opened in 1996 within the company's headquarters at the historic Palazzo Spini Feroni in Via de' Tornabouni, Florence's famed upmarket shopping street.  The museum has films, press cuttings, advertising posters, clothing and accessories and a staggering 10,000 shoes created by Salvatore himself or the skilled craftsmen he employed.

(Photo of Ferragamo shoes by Ben CC BY-SA 2.0)
(Photo of Judy Garland shoe by Sailko CC BY-SA 3.0)

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