Franco Faccio
Franco Faccio (March 8, 1840 – July 21, 1891) was an Italian composer and conductor.
[edit] Biography
Born in Verona, Faccio became known as a conductor of Verdi's music. He studied music at the Milan Conservatory where he was a pupil of Stefano Ronchetti-Monteviti. After finishing his studies he began his career as a composer, writing I Profughi Fiamminghi (Milan, 1863) and Amleto (Genoa, 1865), the latter being one of the many operas based on William Shakespeare's Hamlet. Both operas failed to achieve success either among the critics or the general public. However the Marcia Funebre composed for the Amleto is considered as an important example of Faccio's lyricism. Its popularity is made evident by its transcriptions for wind band in late 19th century. One can still listen to this part of the opera in Corfu during Easter, where the band of Philharmonic Society of Corfu performs it during the epitaph litany of Saint Spyridon in the morning of Holy Saturday. Faccio was one of the initiators of the Scapigliatura movement with poet Emilio Praga and poet and composer Arrigo Boito.
Conductor Anthony Barese edited Amleto's score in 2004 and presented the work on stage, thereby allowing a re-evaluation of its merits. Barese has also presented the marcia funebre with the Dallas Opera Young Artists' Symphony Orchestra.
In 1867 Faccio became director of the Milan Conservatory and in 1872 he was nominated director of Milan's Teatro alla Scala. Faccio conducted the first performance of Verdi's Otello (1887), which starred his long-time lover Romilda Pantaleoni as Desdemona, Francesco Tamagno as Otello and Victor Maurel as Iago. He also conducted Otello in its London premiere with Tamagno repeating his triumph as the Moor. He had previously conducted the first Italian performance of Aida (1872) and the premiere of the revised version of Simon Boccanegra (1881).
Faccio died in Monza at the young age of 51.
[edit] Depictions in media
The play After Aida — a 1985 play-with-music by Julian Mitchell — depicts Faccio's struggle to get the retired Verdi to collaborate with a young librettist, Arrigo Boito, on a project, which resulted in Otello.
[edit] External links
- The Amleto Project at anthonybarrese.com
- Amleto Audio and piano vocal score excerpts
- Amleto complete libretto in Italian and English
| Preceded by unknown |
Music Director, La Scala 1871–1879 |
Succeeded by Arturo Toscanini |
