Zanella, (Castore) Amilcare

(b Monticelli d’Ongina, Piacenza, 26 Sept 1873; d Pesaro, 9 Jan 1949). Italian composer, conductor and pianist. He studied with Bottesini and others at the Parma Conservatory. In 1890 he first conducted the orchestra of the Teatro Regio di Parma. From 1893 to 1900 he was in South America, at first as substitute conductor in Marino Mancinelli’s opera company, then independently as a pianist. He directed the Parma Conservatory (1903–5) and the Liceo Musicale, Pesaro (1905–40).

Some of Zanella’s earlier pieces were considered adventurous in their day, especially in their rhythmic freedom: the intriguing Due studi op.44 dispense entirely with bar-lines, as do the opening and closing sections of the evocative, Leopardi-inspired Il passero solitario. Moreover his unpublished compositions of the period include some (mostly piano pieces gathered under the general title L’arte del fare il nuovo and described as ‘composizioni burlesche, avveniristiche’) which were deliberately freakish, with nonsense titles paralleling those of Satie. Later he became, on the whole, more staid and conformist – overproductive and often lapsing into a rather prolix academicism, out of touch with contemporary trends. Even the would-be-modish Rondò-jazz da concerto shows no understanding whatever of jazz idioms. Only three of his operas ever reached the stage. Aura and La sulamita suffer from unconvincing librettos, and the music of the latter especially lacks dramatic tension. Only in Il revisore, which won albeit ephemeral success in both Germany and Italy, did Zanella create something with real theatrical vitality, showing clear signs of the bizarre sense of humour that had been evident in the early piano pieces.

WORKS

(selective list)

Stage, orchestral and vocal-orchestral

Stage: Aura (op, Haydée [I. Finzi], Pesaro, Rossini, 27 Aug 1910; La sulamita (op, 3, A. Lega, after Bible: Song of Solomon), Piacenza, Municiple, 11 Feb 1926; Il revisore (Il trappolone) (op, Lega, after N.V. Gogol: The Inspector General), 1938, Trieste, Verdi, 20 Feb 1940; 4 other ops, ballet, all unperf., some apparently never orchd

Orch: Conc. sinfonico, pf, orch, 1897–8; Fede, sym. poem, 1901; Sym. no.1, e, op.24, 1901; Fantasia e grande fugato sinfonico, op.25, pf, orch, 1902; Vita, sym. poem, 1907; 2 pezzi, op.58: Lacrymae rerum, Umoresca [arr. from pf pieces], also arr. hp, str; Fantasia sinfonica, 1918; Sym. no.2 (Sinfonia fantastica), A, op.76, 1919; Edgar Poe, sym. impression, ?1921; Poemetto, vn, orch, 1922; Elegia e momento frenetico, keyed xyl, str, 1923; smaller pieces

Vocal-orch: Panteismo, op.53 (G. Carducci), T, orch, ?1908; I due fanciulli, op.75 (G. Pascoli), chorus, str, pf, org, 1918; Il racconto del figlio, 1v, orch, 1927; L’infinito (G. Leopardi), T, chorus, orch, 1929; Alla Madonna della neve (M. di Savoia), 1v, chorus, pf, org, orch, 1930; Rapsodia dei canti di trincea, male chorus, orch, 1932; Felix mater, chorus, orch, 1934; other pieces

Other works

Chbr: Pf Trio no.1, e, op.23, 1899; Brass Qt, op.30, 3 tpt, trbn; Nonet, op.45, fl, ob, cl, bn, pf qt, db, 1906; Str Qt no.1, A, op.62, 1918; Pf Qnt, op.64, 1917; Sonata, f , op.71, vn, pf, 1917; Sonata, A, op.72, vc, pf, 1917; Str Qt no.2, d, 1924; Pf Trio no.2, g, 1928; Preludio drammatico e danza dei fiori, db, pf, 1928; Intermezzi per il Macbeth di Shakespeare, op.94, pf qt, db, also orchd; smaller pieces, some with unconventional scoring (3 hps; 2 fl, 2 hps, hpd; 6 vc; etc.)

Pf: Sonata drammatica, op.5, 1890; Il passero solitario, 1898; L’arte del fare il nuovo: pezzi stupidi e nuovi, ?c1902 [incl. Danza senile di un fanciullo precocemente invecchiato, Lotta tumultuosa fra l’acido solforico e il marmo, Passeggiata di un pazzo nel giardino del manicomio]; 2 studi (amaritmiche), op.44 (1906); 2 leggende, op.47 (1912); Introduzione e fuga a 2 soggetti, op.67, 1915–16; Lacrymae rerum, Umoresca, op.58, 1915–16, orchd; Sonata, e , op.70, 1917; Poema fantastico, op.90 (1937); Jota da concerto, op.91 (1938); Rondò-jazz da concerto, op.92 (1939); c30 other works

Sacred: Messa di Requiem, op.63, 3 male vv, org, 1915; De profundis, unison vv, str qt, org, hp (1950); other pieces

Other works: choral pieces, most of them unacc. or with pf [incl. Canone enigmatico cancherizzato, scorbutico e antivocale, 4vv]; songs; band pieces; arrs. of Rossini and others

Principal publishers: Bongiovanni, Carisch, Giuliana (Trieste), Ricordi, Sonzogno

BIBLIOGRAPHY

GroveO (J.C.G. Waterhouse)

La sulamita: opera in tre atti di Amilcare Zanella (Cremona, 1927)

Amilcare Zanella: artista, uomo, educatore (Ferrara, 1932)

A. Dioli and M.F. Nobili: La vita e l’arte di Amilcare Zanella (Bergamo, 1941)

Cronaca musicale [Pesaro], new ser., i/1 (1963) [Zanella issue, incl. list of works and bibliography]

J.C.G. Waterhouse: The Emergence of Modern Italian Music (up to 1940) (diss., U. of Oxford, 1968), 620–24

F. Bussi: ‘Amilcare Zanella musicista piacentino (1873–1949) emulo di Busoni e paladino di Rossini, vent’anni dopo’, Studi storici in onore di Emilio Nasalli Rocca (Piacenza, 1971), 83–121

A. Dioli: Girolamo Frescobaldi principe degli organisti – Amilcare Zanella: nonetto op.45, Il revisore (Bologna, 1971)

JOHN C.G. WATERHOUSE/R

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