Wikipedia

Arrigo Boito

Arrigo Boito(Italian:[arˈriːɡoˈbɔito];bornEnrico Giuseppe Giovanni Boito;[1]24 February 1842 – 10 June 1918) was an Italianlibrettist,composer,poetand critic whose only completed opera wasMefistofele.Among the operas for which he wrote thelibrettiareGiuseppe Verdi's monumental last two operasOtelloandFalstaffas well asAmilcare Ponchielli'sLa Gioconda.

Arrigo Boito

Along withEmilio Pragaand his brotherCamillo Boito,he is regarded as one of the prominent representatives of theScapigliatura(Italian bohemian) artistic movement. He wrote essays under the anagrammaticpseudonymof Tobia Gorrio.[2]

Biography

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Boito at age 44
Birthplace in Padua

Boito was born inPadua.He was the son ofSilvestro Boito,a painter of miniatures, who was not of noble birth but passed himself off as a nobleman, and his wife, aPolishcountess, Józefina Radolińska. His older brother,Camillo Boito,was an Italian architect and engineer as well as a noted art critic, art historian and novelist.

Boito studied music at theMilan ConservatorywithAlberto Mazzucatountil 1861, where he was a contemporary ofAlbert VisettiandAmintore Galli.In 1866, with Galli,Franco Faccio,andEmilio Praga,[3]Boito fought underGiuseppe Garibaldiin theSeven Weeks' Warin which theKingdom of ItalyandPrussiafought againstAustria,after whichVenicewas ceded toItaly.

Between 1887 and 1894, he had an affair with the celebrated actressEleonora Duse.Their relationship was carried out in a highly clandestine manner, presumably because of Boito's many aristocratic friends and acquaintances. Despite this, their voluminous correspondence over the years survives. The two remained on good terms until his death.

Towards the end of his musical career, Boito succeededGiovanni Bottesinias director of theParma Conservatoryafter the latter's death in 1889 and held the post until 1897. He received the honorary degree of Doctor of Music from theUniversity of Cambridgein 1893, and on his death in Milan, he was interred there in theCimitero Monumentale.He was an atheist.[4]

A memorial concert was given in his honour at La Scala in 1948. The orchestra was conducted byArturo Toscanini.Recorded in very primitive sound, the concert has been issued onCD.

Career in music

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Boito wrote very little music, but completed (and later destroyed) the operaEro e Leandroand left incomplete a further opera,Nerone,which he had been working at, on and off, between 1877 and 1915. Excluding its last act, for which Boito left only a few sketches,Neronewas finished after his death byArturo ToscaniniandVincenzo Tommasiniand premiered at La Scala in 1924. He also left a Symphony in A minor in manuscript.[5]

Mefistofele

His only completed opera,Mefistofele,based onGoethe'sFaust,was given its first performance on 5 March 1868, atLa Scala,Milan.The premiere, which he conducted himself, was badly received, provoking riots and duels over its supposed "Wagnerism",and it was closed by the police after two performances. Verdi commented," He aspires to originality but succeeds only at being strange. "[citation needed]Boito withdrew the opera from further performances to rework it, and it had a more successful second premiere, inBolognaon 10 April 1875. This revised and drastically cut version also changed Faust from a baritone to a tenor.Mefistofeleis the only work of his performed with any regularity today, andEnrico Carusoincluded its two tenor arias in his first recording session.[6]The prologue to the opera, set in heaven, is a favourite concert excerpt.

Libretti

Boito's literary powers never waned. As well as writing the libretti for his own operas, he wrote them for greater operas by two other composers. As "Tobia Gorrio" (ananagramof his name), he provided the libretto forAmilcare Ponchielli'sLa Gioconda.

Collaboration with Verdi

Shortly after he had collaborated with Verdi onInno delle nazioni( "Anthem of the Nations", London, 1862), Boito offended him in a toast to his long-time friend, the composer (and later conductor)Franco Faccio.Therapprochementwas effected by the music publisherGiulio Ricordi,whose long-term aim was to persuade Verdi to write another opera. Verdi agreed that Boito should revise the libretto of the original 1857Simon Boccanegra.MusicologistRoger Parkerspeculates that this was based on a desire to "test the possibility" of working with Boito, before possibly embarking on a larger project. The revisedBoccanegrapremiered to great acclaim in 1881. With that, their mutual friendship and respect blossomed, and that larger project becameOtello.[7]Although Verdi's aim to write the music for an opera based on Shakespeare'sKing Learnever came to fruition (despite the existence of a libretto), Boito provided subtle and resonant libretti not just forOtello(based on Shakespeare's playOthello) but also forFalstaff(which was based on two other Shakespeare plays,The Merry Wives of Windsorand parts ofHenry IV). After those many years of close association, when Verdi died in 1901, Boito was at his bedside.

Libretti by Boito

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The years given are those of the premieres. Boito also provided the text to Verdi's cantataInno delle Nazioniwhich was first given on 24 May 1862 atHer Majesty's Theatre,London.

Recordings

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Recordings of two operas exist:

Depictions in media

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  • The playAfter Aida— a 1985 play-with-music byJulian Mitchell— depicts the struggle ofGiulio RicordiandFranco Faccioto get the retired Verdi to collaborate with young Boito on a project, which resulted inOtello.
  • In November 2001,Tell Giulio the Chocolate is Ready,a radio play by Murray Dahm, was produced and broadcast by Radio New Zealand. The play is based on the letters of the Verdi-Boito correspondence and explores the genesis and production of Verdi and Boito's operaOtello.The play and broadcast included those sections of the opera as they appeared in the correspondence (such as Iago'sCredo).

See also

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References

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Notes

  1. ^Arrigo Boitoat theEncyclopædia Britannica
  2. ^Ashbrook 1998, in Sadie, p. 528
  3. ^Di Cesare, Maria Carmela (1998). "Galli, Amintore".Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani[Biographical Dictionary of Italians] (in Italian). Vol. 51.Retrieved5 January2024.
  4. ^Businelli, p. 51
  5. ^Boito, Arrigo. Przeslica, Agnieszka (ed.)."Publication of Boito's A minor Symphony".Boccaccini E Spada.Retrieved11 November2008.[permanent dead link]
  6. ^[author missing],The Independent Review,4 August 2003, p. 15.
  7. ^Parker, p. 382
  8. ^ab"CLBONERO.HTM".

Sources

  • Ashbrook, William(1998), "Boito, Arrigo", inStanley Sadie,(Ed.),The New Grove Dictionary of Opera,Vol. One, pp. 527–529. London: Macmillan Publishers, Inc. 1998ISBN0-333-73432-7ISBN1-56159-228-5
  • "Arrigo Enrico Boïto",Opera GlassComposer Index, (Stanford University) on opera.stanford.edu. Retrieved 17 January 2014
  • Budden, Julian(1984),The Operas of Verdi, Volume 2: From Il Trovatore to La Forza del Destino.London: Cassell.ISBN978-0-19-520068-3(hardcover)ISBN978-0-19-520450-6(paperback).
  • Budden, Julian(1984),The Operas of Verdi, Volume 3: From Don Carlos to Falstaff.London: Cassell.ISBN0-304-30740-8
  • Businelli, Mariella; Giampiero Tintori (1986),Arrigo Boito, Musicista e Letteratto,Nuove Edizioni
  • D'Angelo, Emanuele (2007), "Arrigo Boito", inEncyclopedia of Italian Literary Studies,edited by Gaetana Marrone. New York: Routledge. Vol. 1, pp. 271–274.
  • D'Angelo, Emanuele (2010),Arrigo Boito drammaturgo per musica: Idee, visioni, forma e battaglie,Venezia, Marsilio.
  • De Van, Gilles (trans. Gilda Roberts) (1998),Verdi's Theater: Creating Drama Through Music.Chicago & London: University of Chicago Press.ISBN0-226-14369-4(hardback),ISBN0-226-14370-8
  • Kimball, David (2001), inHolden, Amanda(Ed.),The New Penguin Opera Guide,New York: Penguin Putnam, 2001.ISBN0-14-029312-4
  • Maeder, Costantino,Il real fu dolore e l'ideal sogno. Arrigo Boito e i limiti dell'arte,Cesati: Firenze, 2002.
  • Parker, Roger(1998), "Simon Boccanegra ",inStanley Sadie,(Ed.),The New Grove Dictionary of Opera,Vol. Four. London: Macmillan Publishers.ISBN0-333-73432-7ISBN1-56159-228-5
  • Viagrande, Riccardo (2008),Arrigo Boito "Un caduto chèrubo", poeta e musicista,Palermo, L'Epos.
  • Viagrande, Riccardo (2013),Verdi e Boito. "All'arte dell'avvenire". Storia di un'amicizia e di una collaborazione artistica,Monza, Casa Musicale Eco.
  • Walker, Frank (1982), "Boito and Verdi" inThe Man Verdi,New York: Knopf, 1962, Chicago: University of Chicago Press.ISBN0-226-87132-0
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