Castelnuovo-Tedesco Mario, *3 April 1895 Florence, †l6 March 1968 Beverly Hills (Los Angeles), Italian composer. He studied at Conservatorio Cherubini in Florence with I. Pizzetti (composition) and E. Del Valle de Paz (piano) until 1918. He started composing at the age of 15 – initially works for piano with programmatic titles, then solo and choral songs. He was already interested in the poetry of various nations (Italian, Spanish, French, Greek, Indian and English); in 1921, he started working on songs to dramas by Shakespeare, later reaching back to that source of inspiration on numerous occasions. His first opera La Mandragola brought him victory in 1925 in Concorso Lirico Nazionale and an enormous success at premieres in Venice and Wiesbaden. In the 1930s, Castelnuovo-Tedesco, who had previously focused on vocal-instrumental music, became interested in purely instrumental music, especially the concerto genre. In 1939, because of the growing anti-Semitism, he had to leave Florence and emigrate to the USA, where he settled in Larchmont (New York), and then – permanently – in Beverly Hills. In 1946, he received American citizenship; then he started working at the conservatory in Los Angeles, where he taught composition. Then he turned to wide-ranging vocal-instrumental, oratorio and cantata works based on texts from the Old Testament. In 1947, he took part in composing the oratorio Genesis (together with, among others, Stravinsky, Schönberg, Tansman and Milhaud), writing a fragment Noah’s Ark. He still maintained a close contact with Italy: his opera Il mercante di Venezia won at the Concorso Compari – competition organised in 1958 under the patronage of La Scala in Milan. He composed until the last moments of his life, with time devoting more and more attention to his works for the guitar.
From the beginning, Castelnuovo-Tedesco’s work was far from extreme avant-garde tendencies; however, in some piano pieces (Lucertolina, Danze del re David), the composer surprised with the sharpness of harmonic and rhythmic solutions. Equally far from expressionism, dodecaphony, neoclassicism or folklore, Castelnuovo-Tedesco remained associated with the tradition of Italian music of the 19th century. His music had a natively Italian character, above all, a melody with the features of a vocal cantilena, not very deep, sometimes almost banal, but always distinguished by refined elegance. As a composer of dramatic music, Castelnuovo-Tedesco had a traditional taste – he enjoyed popular melodies and some attempts of archaization. He does not go beyond the circle of tonal harmony. What is noteworthy, however, is the instrumentation; the composer shows a strong preference for the subtle orchestral palette of French impressionism, for a transparent, uncluttered texture, which was probably related to his studies with Pizzetti, who showed similar inclinations. The virtuoso effects used by Castelnuovo-Tedesco in concerts stem from the tradition of the 19th century. In his work, the composer combined elements of European tradition with some oriental elements (especially Hebrew) and – already during his stay in the USA – with elements of jazz and American music. Castelnuovo-Tedesco’s extraordinary interest in Shakespeare’s works is worth emphasising; its result is a cycle of 33 songs (including all the songs contained in Shakespeare’s plays), 28 Sonnets, 11 Shakespearean overtures and the opera Il mercante di Venezia.
Literature: N. Rossi, Catalogue of Works by Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco, New York 1977; F. Liuzzi, Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco, “Musikblätter des Anbruch” VII 1925; G. M. Gatti, Four Composers of Present-day Italy. Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco, “The Musical Quarterly” XII 1926; G. M. Gatti, Ricordo di Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco, “Accademia nazionale di Santa Cecilia. Annuario 1969”, Rome 1969; N. Rossi, Complete Catalogue of Works by Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco, New York 1977; N. Rossi, A Tale of Two Countries. The Opera of Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco, “The Opera Quarterly” VII 1990.
Instrumental:
orchestra:
11 Shakespeare overtures – La bisbetica domata 1930, La dodicesima notte 1933, Il mercante di Venezia 1933, Giulio Cesare 1934, Il racconto d’inverno 1934, A Midsummer Night’s Dream 1940; King John 1941, Antony and Cleopatra 1947, The Tragedy of Coriolanus 1947, Much Ado about Nothing 1953, As You Like It 1953;
Indian Songs and Dances, 1942;
5 Humoresques on Foster’s Themes, 1943;
An American Rhapsody, 1943
for solo instruments and orchestra:
Violin Concerto No. 1 “Italiano”, 1924;
Piano Concerto No. 1, 1927;
Variazioni sinfoniche for violin and orchestra, 1928;
Violin Concerto No. 2 “I profeti”, 1931;
Piano Concerto No. 2, 1937;
Concerto No. 1 for guitar and orchestra, 1939;
Violin Concerto No. 3, 1939;
poem Larchmont Woods for violin and orchestra, 1942;
Serenade for guitar and orchestra, 1943;
Concerto da camera for oboe, 3 horns, timpani ad libitum and string orchestra, 1950;
Concerto No. 2 for guitar and orchestra, 1953;
Concerto for 2 guitars and orchestra, 1962
chamber:
Concertino for harp, string quartet and quartet of woodwind instruments, 1937;
2 piano quintets – 1932, 1951;
Quintet for guitar, 2 violins, alto and cello, 1950;
3 string quartets – 1929, 1948
“Casa al dono”, 1963;
2 piano trios – 1928, 1932;
String Trio, 1950;
sonatas: for cello and piano, 1928; for violin and piano, 1929for violin and alto, 1945; for clarinet and piano, 1945; for bassoon and piano, 1946; for alto and cello, 1950; for violin and cello, 1950; 2 for trumpet and piano, 1955; for flute and guitar, 1965; for cello and harp, 1967;
Toccata for cello and piano, 1935;
Suite for alto and piano, 1960
numerous piano pieces, including Lucertolina 1916, Cipressi 1920, Epigrafe 1922, Le stagioni 1924, Le danze del re David 1925, Sonata 1928, Suite nello stile italiano 1947, Sonatina zoologica 1960;
pieces for 2 pianos, for organ, for harp solo
for guitar:
Variazioni attraverso i secoli, 1932;
Sonata, 1934;
Suite, 1947;
24 caprichos de Goya, 1961;
Appunti, 3 books, 1968 (book 3 uncompleted);
for 2 guitars: Sonatina canonica, 1961; 24 preludes and fugues Les guitares bien temperées, 1962
Vocal and vocal-instrumental:
solo songs, including:
Stelle cadenti, Tuscan folk lyrics, 1915;
Coplas, Spanish folk lyrics, 1915;
33 Shakespeare Songs, 1921–25;
Scherzi per musica, lyrics F. Redi, 1925;
9 Heine Lieder, 1926–29;
Quattro sonetti da La vita nuova, lyrics Dante, 1926;
3 Sonnets from the Portuguese, lyrics E. Barret-Browning, 1926;
Sei Odi di Orazio, 1930;
Trois poèmes de la Pléiade, 1934;
Dos romances viejos, 1935;
Louisiana, Leaves of Grass, Ocean, lyrics W. Whitman, 1936;
Trois fragments de M. Proust, 1936;
28 Shakespeare Sonnets, 1944–47;
Cinque poesie romanesche, lyrics M. dell’Arco, 1946;
3 Shakespeare Duets for soprano, tenor and piano, 1937
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songs accompanied by guitar
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songs for voice and chamber ensemble:
La sera fiesolana for voice, cello and piano, lyrics G. d’Annunzio, 1923;
Song of the Shulamite for voice, flute, harp and string quartet, 1953;
2 Schiller Balladen for recited voice, 2 pianos and percussion, 1961
for voice and orchestra:
Due liriche dal “Giardiniere,” lyrics R. Tagore, 1917;
Tre fioretti di San Francesco, 1920;
small overture The Princess and the Pea for recited voice and orchestra, 1943;
Noah’s Ark for recited voice and orchestra, 1945
numerous choral pieces a capella and accompanied by instruments, including cantatas:
Kol Nidrei for solo voice, organs and cello, 1944;
Naomi and Ruth for female choir and organ or piano, 1947;
The Queen of Sheba for female choir and piano, 1953;
The Fiery Furnace for baritone, children’s choir, piano or organ and percussion, 1958;
Memorial Service for the Departed for solo voice, choir and organ, 1960;
oratories:
The Book of Ruth, 1949;
The Book of Jonah, 1952;
The Book of Esther, 1962;
rustic wedding idyll The Song of Songs, 1955, staged in Hollywood 1963;
scenic oratory Tobias and the Angel, 1965, staged in New York 1975
Scenic:
operas:
La Mandragola, libretto by N. Machiavelli, 1923, staged in Venice 1926;
Il mercante di Venezia, libretto by Shakespeare, 1956, staged in Florence 1961;
The Importance of Being Earnest for 8 solo voices, 2 pianos and percussion, 1962, libretto by O. Wilde, Radiotelevisione Italiana 1972;
puppet show Aucassin et Nicolette, for solo voice and 10 instruments, libretto based on old-French poetry from the 12th century, 1938, staged on Florence 1952
ballets:
dithyramb Bacco in Toscana for solo voices, choir and orchestra, libretto F. Redi, 1926, staged in Milan 1931;
Pesce turchino, staged in Florence 1937;
Basrelief. La reine Nefertiti, 1937, staged in Paris 1938;
The Birthday of the Infanta, 1942, staged in New Orlean 1947;
The Octoroon Bali, libretto K. Dunham, staged in New Orlean 1947;
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music to theatre plays;
film music
