Benutzer:Meister und Margarita/Angelo Mariani (Dirigent)

Angelo Mariani, 1857
(dargestellt von Augusto Bedetti)

Angelo Maurizio Gaspare Mariani (11. Oktober 1821 in Ravenna – 13. Juni 1873 in Genua) war ein italienischer Komponist und Dirigent.

Als Dirigent wurde er von Giuseppe Verdi, Giacomo Meyerbeer, Gioachino Rossini und Richard Wagner hoch geschätzt. Er dirigierte zumindest zwei Uraufführungen – Verdis Aroldo und Faccios Amleto – und vier Italienische Erstaufführungen – Meyerbeers L’Africaine, Verdis Don Carlos und die Wagner-Werke Lohengrin und Tannhäuser. Als Komponist ist er weitgehend in Vergessenheit geraten.

Leben und Werk

Über Marianis Geburtsjahr gibt es divergierende Angaben. Er selbst behauptet in mehreren Dokumenten und in einer Autobiographie, im Jahr 1924 geboren worden zu sein. Fest steht, dass er an der Accademia Filarmonica seiner Geburtsstadt Ravenna Bratsche, auf ital. Viola, studierte und bereits im Alter von 15 Jahren in der Romagna Konzerte bestritt. Danach studierte er Harmonielehre und Komposition bei einem Edelmann aus dem Klerus, Girolamo Roberti. Er setzte seine Studien bei einem Mönch namens Levrini in einem Kloster Ravennas fort. Levrini war ein Schüler des bekannten Komponisten, Musiktheoretikers und Musikpädagogen Stanislao Mattei.

In 1843 he played the viola in an opera orchestra at Macerata and wrote two overtures, which were performed. He went to Faenza in 1844 as teacher and conductor at the Academy there. One of his overtures came to the attention of Gioachino Rossini, who had it performed. He then worked in Trento (where he made his debut as an operatic conductor), Bologna (where he studied counterpoint with Marchesi) and Messina. At Messina, the orchestra refused to play under him. He wrote pieces for the Messina Royal Orphanage's brass band and for the Academy there. After further work in Naples, Bologna and Messina (where again the orchestra was hostile to him, but he possibly played in the orchestra rather than conduct), in 1846 he had a fresh start as a conductor in Milan. He appeared first at the Teatro Re and then at the Teatro Carcano. He also conducted later at Stradella and Vicenza.

He claimed to have abolished the system whereby an opera orchestra was jointly conducted by a maestro concertatore at the cembalo and a violin-conductor. This may be what led to his trouble in Messina.

Seine ersten großen Erfolge hatte er mit Verdis I due Foscari (1846) und Nabucco (1847), beide in Mailand.

In September 1847 he conducted Giovanni Pacini's music for a performance of Sophocles' Oedipus rex, with a colossal chorus and orchestra. This led to his being appointed conductor of the Hofteatret in Copenhagen in November. While there, King Christian VIII of Denmark died, and Mariani's Requiem Mass written for the late king was performed twice.

Mariani returned to Italy after the revolution of March 1848 and enrolled in the volunteers. From there, he went to Constantinople, where he conducted the Italian Theatre for two years, in succession to Giuseppe Donizetti, the well-known composer's brother. He also composed two dramatic cantatas, and for the visit of Sultan Abdülmecid I to the newly rebuilt Naum Theatre, a new national hymn, the Turkish words of which the Italian singers had learned phonetically. The National Hymn has been recorded.

In December 1851 he returned to Messina for four months, before going to Naples, and then as conductor for the Teatro Carlo Felice in Genoa. He intended to stay for only two months, but his contract was made permanent, and he spent the majority of the rest of his life there, and also died there. His reputation was now strong, and he was offered positions in places such as Paris, Madrid, and Naples, but seemed unable to make up his mind about any of them, so all these offers lapsed. He made the acquaintance of Verdi in around 1853, and they became firm friends.

Am 16. August 1857 dirigierte er die Uraufführung von Verdis Aroldo, eine Überarbeitung seiner frühen Oper Stiffelio, im Teatro Nuovo von Rimini. Am 30. Mai 1865 leitete er die Uraufführung der Oper Amleto nach einem Libretto von Arrigo Boito und mit der Musik Franco Faccios im Teatro Carlo Felice von Genua. Im selben Jahr folgte die Italienische Erstaufführung von Meyerbeers L’Africaine im Teatro Comunale di Bologna. Zwei Jahre später, am 27. Oktober 1867, dirigierte Mariani im selben Haus Verdis Don Carlos, ebenfalls eine prima italiana, eine Italienische Erstaufführung.

In late 1868, Verdi asked Mariani to be the conductor for a requiem mass he was planning in honour of Gioachino Rossini, who had died on 13 November. This would be a collaboration between 13 composers, including Verdi himself. Mariani agreed to be involved in the organising committee, although he was less than enthusiastic (since he was simultaneously engaged in the commemorative celebrations for Rossini in Pesaro). The 13 composers all wrote their sections of the work (Verdi's was the "

Libera me, Domine

"), but the planned performance on the first anniversary of Rossini's death did not happen because disagreements arose with Mariani regarding the performance in the Basilica of San Petronio in Bologna. On 4 November, to Verdi's great sorrow, the organising committee formally abandoned the project. Verdi blamed this in considerable part on Mariani's lack of energy and commitment, and it marked the real beginning of a permanent break in their friendship (although there are indications trouble was already brewing in 1867

In the following years, Mariani tried to heal the rift, writing letters to Verdi expressing his love and admiration for him, but Verdi refused to be swayed, and continued to castigate Mariani for what he considered to be his failure over the Rossini Requiem. A complicating factor was Mariani's romantic relationship with the soprano Teresa Stolz, a favourite of Verdi's (she was his choice for the title role in the Milan premiere of Aida in February 1872, which as far as Verdi was concerned was the real premiere). Mariani and Stolz were engaged to be married. However, around 1871 she left him, in very unclear circumstances. There were suggestions and even public accusations that she was also carrying on an affair with Verdi, but this has never been proved to be true.

Despite Verdi's break with Mariani personally, he still had respect for him as a conductor, and he invited him to conduct the world premiere of Aida in Cairo in December 1871. Mariani declined, saying he was not well enough to travel. This was indeed true, as he was already suffering symptoms of the cancer that would kill him less than two years later. However, it served only to further widen the rift between the two men.

Angelo Mariani-portrait in later life

On 1 November 1871, Mariani conducted the Italian premiere of Richard Wagner's Lohengrin at the Teatro Communale di Bologna to great acclaim. This was the first performance of any Wagner opera in Italy. On 9 November, Verdi attended a Mariani performance of Lohengrin and annotated a copy of the vocal score with his impressions and opinions of Wagner (this was almost certainly his first exposure to Wagner's music). In 1872, Mariani conducted the Italian premiere of Wagner's Tannhäuser, also at Bologna, but it was much less successful than Lohengrin had been.

In June 1873, aged only 51, Angelo Mariani died of cancer in the attic of the Palazzo Sauli, a house he had long rented from Verdi in Genoa.

Kompositionen

• produzione strumentale sia sinfonica che da camera (cito la Sinfonia in sol min, 1844, e due Overtures, la Fantasia per Fagotto e pianoforte, Una notte sul Bosforo, per cello e pianoforte, la raccolta Rimembranze di Arenzano, per cello e pianoforte e numerosi pezzi per pianoforte a due e quattro mani),
• produzione vocale e strumentale
  • le Cantate, Matilde o la fidanzata del guerriero, Gli esuli, poi
  • gli Inni, fra cui ricordiamo l’Inno a Dante,
  • le Romanze, voce e pianoforte)
• composizione sacra (Requiem, Salve Regina, Ave Maria, ecc.)
• le trascrizioni per quartetto d’archi di Macbeth, I Vespri Siciliani, Un Ballo in Maschera di G. Verdi.

Aufnahmen

• Angelo Mariani: Chiamatelo destino. Liriche da camera. Mit Lucia Rizzi (Mezzosopran) und Riccardo Zadra (Pianoforte). Amadeus Rainbow.

Gedenken

Das Teatro Angelo Mariani in Sant'Agata Feltria (errichtet in Jahr 1605) wurde umgewidmet und trägt jetzt seinen Namen.

Weiters besteht seit 1963 eine Associazione Musicale Angelo Mariani in Ravenna, die im dortigen Teatro Aligheri ein hochkarätiges Konzertprogramm veranstaltet.

Quellen

• Ramon Bisogni Vincenzo: Angelo Mariani. Tra Verdi e la Stolz. Zecchini Editore, Varese 2009, ISBN 978-88-87203-73-8.
• Gregory W. Harwood: Giuseppe Verdi: A Guide to Research (Routledge Music Bibliographies). Routledge 1998, ISBN 0824041178, ISBN 9780824041175
• Roger Parker: The New Grove Guide to Verdi and His Operas. Oxford and New York et al 2007, ISBN 978-0-19-531314-7
• Mary Jane Phillips-Matz: "Mariani, Angelo" in Stanley Sadie (Hrsg.): The New Grove Dictionary of Opera, Vol. Three, S. 212 und 213. London: MacMillan Publishers 1998, ISBN 0-333-73432-7, ISBN 1-56159-228-5
• Stanley Sadie (Hrsg.): Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians, 5th edition 1954

Weblinks

• Noten und Audiodateien von Angelo Marian im International Music Score Library Project
• Vorlage:Find a Grave

Einzelnachweise

Kategorie:Dirigent Kategorie:Komponist Kategorie:Musiker (Italien) Kategorie:Italiener Kategorie:Geboren 1821 Kategorie:Gestorben 1873 Kategorie:Mann