Auguste Vianesi
Auguste Charles Léonard François Vianesi (2 November 1837 - 4 November 1908)[1] was an opera conductor, born in Italy and later naturalised French. His repertoire was mostly of French and Italian opera, in which he directed some of the world's great singers including Pauline Viardot, Christine Nilsson, Marcella Sembrich and the brothers Edouard and Jean de Reszke in the opera houses of London, Paris, Melbourne, St. Petersburg, Boston and New York. He retired around the time when sound recording became commercially available, and he seems not to have left any recorded legacy.
Contents
Life
Born in Legnano,[n 1] northern Italy, he was taught music on the advice of Giovanni Pacini and Theodor Döhler.[1] In 1857 he went to Paris to complete his musical training, armed with a letter of introduction to Gioacchino Rossini from Giuditta Pasta. His first professional engagement was in London at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane (1858-9).[2] He also toured Britain with Pauline Viardot, including Verdi's Macbeth in Manchester with some locally-engaged witches who had only acted in Shakespeare's play with music, and knew not a word of Italian or a note of Verdi's music. They were swiftly dismissed at the rehearsal and replaced by the (heavily-disguised) prompter and a couple of orchestral musicians.[[3]
Vianesi held further conducting positions in New York, Moscow (1863-4) and St Petersburg (1867-9).[2] Returning to London, he conducted the Italian Opera for ten years at the Covent Garden Royal Opera House from 1870 to 1880 under Frederick Gye, with a season at the Théâtre Lyrique in Paris in 1873. He conducted the first London performances of Lohengrin (1875), Tannhäuser (1876), Il Guarany (Antonio Gomes 1872), and Jules Massenet's Le Roi de Lahore in 1879. He toured widely in Britain with the Covent Garden Italian Opera company.[2]
He directed the first season (1883-4) of the 'old' New York Metropolitan Opera House under the management of Abbey, Schoeffel & Grau. The house opened for the first time with Faust with Italo Campanini, Christine Nilsson and Sofia Scalchi.[4] The second night featured Marcella Sembrich in Lucia.[5] The season was a critical success but a financial disaster.
In 1885 he became a naturalized French citizen, and two years later was appointed to succeed Ernest Altès as chief conductor of the Paris Opera at the Palais Garnier (1887-91).[6] He conducted Messiah (Handel) (in the Mozart arrangement) at the 1889 Paris World's Fair, with Gabriel Fauré at the organ. This performance was not particularly well-reviewed.[7] Also he directed first performances of Saint-Saëns's Ascanio (1890) and Jules Massenet's Le mage (1891).[1] He returned to New York in 1891-2 with Abbey, Schoeffel & Grau when they took over the Metropolitan Opera for the second time, including the US premiere of Gluck's Orfeo ed Euridice.[1][8] He taught singing in New York from 1892 onwards. He directed a season of opera in New Orleans in 1899-1900.[2]
He died in New York City on 4 November 1908, two days after his 71st birthday.
Works
He wrote a 3-act opera, Una fortuna in prigione.[n 2]
Family life
He seems to have divorced his wife Maria (maiden name unknown) in England in 1875, during his time at Covent Garden.[9]
References
- Notes
- Citations
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Auguste Vianesi. Opera Scotland. Retrieved 15 May 2017.
- ↑ Kendall-Davies 2014, p. 538.
- ↑ Faust {1} Metropolitan Opera House: 10/22/1883 Metropolitan Opera Archives. Retrieved 16 May 2017.
- ↑ Search results for New Production at the Metropolitan Opera Archives.
- ↑ Vianesi, Auguste Charles Leonard. Grande Musica. Retrieved 16 May 2017.
- ↑ Fauser 2005, p. 37.
- ↑ List of performances February-April 1892: Auguste Vianesi OpusAtlas. Retrieved 15 May 2017.
- ↑ Divorce Court File: 3684. Appellant: Auguste Vianesi. Respondent: Maria Henderson, 1875. National Archives. Retrieved 16 May 2017.
Sources
- Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
