Umberto Giordano
Umberto Menotti Maria Giordano (28 August 1867 – 12 November 1948) was an Italian composer, mainly of operas. His best-known work in that genre was Andrea Chénier (1896). He was born in Foggia in Apulia, southern Italy, and studied under Paolo Serrao at the Conservatoire of Naples. His first opera, Marina, was written for a competition promoted by the music publishers Casa Sonzogno for the best one-act opera, remembered today because it marked the beginning of Italian verismo. The winner was Mascagni's Cavalleria rusticana. Giordano, the youngest contestant, was placed sixth among seventy-three entries with his Marina, a work which generated enough interest for Sonzogno to commission the staging of an opera based on it in the 1891–92 season. The result was Mala vita, a gritty verismo opera about a labourer who vows to reform a prostitute if he is cured of his tuberculosis. This work caused something of a scandal when performed at the Teatro Argentina, Rome, in February 1892. It played successfully in Vienna, Prague and Berlin and was re-written as Il Voto a few years later, in an attempt to raise interest in the work again. Giordano tried a more romantic topic with his next opera, Regina Diaz, with a libretto by Giovanni Targioni-Tozzetti and Guido Menasci (1894), but this was a failure, taken off the stage after just two performances. Giordano then moved to Milan and returned to verismo with his best-known work, Andrea Chénier (1896), based on the life of the French poet André Chénier. Fedora (1898), based on Victorien Sardou's play, featured the rising young tenor Enrico Caruso. It was also a success and is still performed today. His later works are much less known, but occasionally revived and in the case of La cena delle beffe (based on the play of the same title by Sem Benelli) recognised by musicologists and critics with some respect. He died in Milan at the age of 81. The most important theater in his home town of Foggia has been dedicated to Umberto Giordano. A square in Foggia is also named after him and contains several statues representing his most famous works. |
= Recordings are available for online listening.
= Recordings were issued from this master. No recordings issued from other masters.
Recordings (Results 26-50 of 138 records)
Company | Matrix No. | Size | First Recording Date | Title | Primary Performer | Description | Role | Audio |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Victor | BVE-34941 | 10-in. | 3/10/1926 | Amor ti vieta di non amar | Giovanni Martinelli | Tenor vocal solo, with orchestra | composer | |
Victor | BVE-34942 | 10-in. | 3/11/1926 | Mia madre, la mia vecchia madre | Giovanni Martinelli | Tenor vocal solo, with orchestra | composer | |
Victor | CVE-34944 | 12-in. | 3/12/1926 | Un dì all' azzurro spazio | Giovanni Martinelli | Tenor vocal solo, with orchestra | composer | |
Victor | CVE-34998 | 12-in. | 4/8/1926 | Come un dì di maggio | Giovanni Martinelli | Tenor vocal solo, with orchestra | composer | |
Victor | BVE-37869 | 10-in. | 3/25/1927 | Mi svesti | Antonio Cortis | Tenor vocal solo, with orchestra | composer | |
Victor | BVE-37873 | 10-in. | 3/28/1927 | Ahi che tormento | Antonio Cortis | Tenor vocal solo, with orchestra | composer | |
Victor | CVE-43752 | 12-in. | 4/26/1928 | Come un bel dì di maggio | Bernardo De Muro | Tenor vocal solo, with orchestra | composer | |
Victor | CVE-43753 | 12-in. | 4/26/1928 | Un dì all'azzurro spazio | Bernardo De Muro | Tenor vocal solo, with orchestra | composer | |
Victor | BVE-48297 | 10-in. | 1/21/1929 | Si fui soldato | Giovanni Zenatello | Tenor vocal solo, with orchestra | composer | |
Victor | BVE-51101 | 10-in. | 3/28/1929 | Coro pastorelle | Metropolitan Opera Chorus ; Giulio Setti | Mixed vocal chorus, with orchestra | composer | |
Victor | CVE-57594 | 12-in. | 12/10/1929 | Un dì all azzurro spazio | Armand Tokatyan | Tenor vocal solo, with orchestra | composer | |
Victor | BS-033739 | 10-in. | 2/16/1939 | Amor ti vieta | Richard Crooks ; Wilfrid Pelletier | Tenor vocal solo, with orchestra | composer | |
Victor | CVE-Test-180 | 12-in. | 4/19/1929 | Racconto di Maddalena | Hilda Burke | Soprano vocal solo, with piano | composer | |
Columbia | 38321 | 10-in. | 10/9/1912 | Amor ti vieta | Alessandro Bonci | Tenor vocal solo, with orchestra | composer | |
Columbia | 45821 | 10-in. | 6/24/1915 | Canzone guerresca | Umberto Sorrentino | Male vocal solo, with instrumental quartet | composer | |
Columbia | 98107 | 12-in. | 12/17/1923 | Un di all'azzurro spazio | Charles Hackett | Tenor vocal solo, with orchestra | composer | |
Columbia | 98119 | 12-in. | 2/5/1924 | Nemico della patria | Cesare Formichi | Baritone vocal solo, with orchestra | composer | |
Columbia | W140921 | 10-in. | 9/9/1925 | Amor ti vieta | Charles Hackett | Tenor vocal solo, with harp and orchestra | composer | |
Columbia | 5970 | 10-in. | between 1903 and 1908 | Racconto de Magdalena | Sara Rendon Sánchez | Soprano vocal solo, with orchestra | composer | |
Columbia | 10287 | 10-in. | approximately 1903 to 1908 | Fedora : Morte di Fedora | Clara Joanna | Soprano vocal solo | composer | |
Columbia | 10292 | 10-in. | approximately 1903 to 1908 | Un di mi era di gioia | Luigi Baldassare | Male vocal solo | composer | |
Columbia | 10310 | 10-in. | approximately 1903 to 1908 | Fedora : Potpourri | Band (unidentified; Columbia Records) | Band | composer | |
Columbia | 10313 | 10-in. | approximately 1903 to 1908 | Andrea Chénier : Potpourri | Band (unidentified; Columbia Records) | Band | composer | |
Columbia | 10358 | 10-in. | approximately 1903 to 1908 | Andrea Chenier : Son sessant'anni | Vincenzo Reschiglian | Baritone vocal solo | composer | |
Columbia | 10359 | 10-in. | approximately 1903 to 1908 | Fedora : La donna russa | Vincenzo Reschiglian | Baritone vocal solo | composer |
Citation
Discography of American Historical Recordings, s.v. "Giordano, Umberto," accessed September 28, 2024, https://adpprod2.library.ucsb.edu/names/102526.
Giordano, Umberto. (2024). In Discography of American Historical Recordings. Retrieved September 28, 2024, from https://adpprod2.library.ucsb.edu/names/102526.
"Giordano, Umberto." Discography of American Historical Recordings. UC Santa Barbara Library, 2024. Web. 28 September 2024.
DAHR Persistent Identifier
External Sources
Wikipedia: Umberto Giordano
Discogs: Umberto Giordano
Allmusic: Umberto Giordano
Apple Music: Umberto Giordano
Grove: Umberto Giordano
IMSLP: Umberto Giordano
RILM: Umberto Giordano
RISM: Umberto Giordano
IMDb: Umberto Giordano
Britannica: Umberto Giordano
Linked Open Data Sources
LCNAR: Giordano, Umberto, 1867-1948 - http://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/n79107709
Wikidata: Umberto Giordano - http://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q294826
VIAF: http://viaf.org/viaf/12491416
MusicBrainz: Umberto Giordano - https://musicbrainz.org/artist/e3d1c4a4-d64e-4afa-9fc7-264fb871d0e0
Wikipedia content provided under the terms of the Creative Commons BY-SA license
Feedback
Send the Editors a message about this record.