| His vocation for music
Gaspare Luigi Pacifico Spontini was born in Maiolati, one
of the "castles" of Jesi's Contado in the Marca of Ancona, on 14th November 1774;
he was the second of Giambattista Spontini and Teresa Guadagnini's children. His
family came from Albacina in the territory of Fabriano; it was originally named
Sponta, meaning "the sun rose", as demonstrated by the family's coat of arms:
they later on took on the diminutive name Spontino. Gaspare Spontini was pressed
by his father to begin religious life, as some of his brothers had already done;
still a young boy, he was therefore sent to one of his paternal uncles, don Giuseppe
Spontini, who was a priest, at the Church of Santa Maria del Piano in Jesi. After
a short learning period, being personally followed by his uncle, Spontini was
enrolled in the seminary of Jesi, as recalled by a memorial plate that was placed
inside the building in 1850. But the young Spontini did not show a big interest
in the clerical studies: he therefore succeeded in attending music lessons and
overcoming his father's opposition, and was later on sent to Naples to complete
his music education. (menù)
The Neapolitan
education
In January 1793 Gaspare Spontini was admitted
to one of Naples' four Musical Schools, the Conservatorio della Pietà dei Turchini.
Renowned musicians like Paisiello and Cimarosa lived at that time in Naples. Probably
tired of the education received, in 1795 Spontini decided to leave Naples for
other Italian cities: he first went to Rome, then back to Naples, then to Palermo,
Florence and Venice. A Roman manager, a certain Sigismondi or Sismondi, was so
impressed by Spontini's talent that he commissioned him to compose an opera, Li
puntigli delle donne, staged for the first time at the Teatro della Pallacorda
in Piazza Firenze in Rome on the occasion of the 1796 carnival. The libretto,
probably by Francesco Cerlone, is centered on a traditional comic episode. The
autograph score is kept at the Library of the Conservatoire of San Pietro a Majella
in Naples. The work's debut was a great success: Spontini was again admitted to
the Conservatorio della Pietà dei Turchini, enjoyed Cimarosa and Piccinni's esteem
and, most importantly, was entrusted with the composition of other works: L'eroismo
ridicolo in 1798 (at the Teatro Nuovo in Naples, based on a libretto by Domenico
Piccinni, brother of the famous composer Niccolò), later on revised together with
La finta filosofa. (menù) Spontini
at Napoleon's court
Gaspare Spontini arrived in Paris
in 1803. In less than four years he first joined the court of Count of Rémusat,
who was a very good friend of the future empress Josephine and her daughter Ortensia:
both were enormously fond of opera singing and romances, two extremely fashionable
genres in Paris at that time. And thanks to emperor Napoleon Bonaparte's support,
Spontini later on succeeded in entering the Académie Impéeriale de Musique (Grand
Opéra de Paris). On 31st December 1803 Spontini made his début at the Theatre-Italien
de Paris; on 11th February 1804 the opera buffa La finta filosofa, which had already
been performed in Naples in 1799, was represented at the same theatre: the work
was acclaimed as a great success. On 12th May 1804 Spontini presented also the
comic opera Le petite maison; the relative score has not been found up to now,
yet Berlioz is reported to have praised the very good quality of this work. On
27th November of the same year Spontini's Milton was performed at the Theatre
Feydeau: the opera, recalling the Mozart style and rich in timbral variations
and liederistic elements, was dedicated to empress Josephine and enabled the musician
to start cooperating with Victor-Joseph-Etienne De Jouy. Thanks to the success
obtained by his comic operas in French language, Spontini succeeded in entering
the Académie Impéeriale de Musique and was appointed as compositeur particulier
de la chambre de S.M. l'imperatrice in 1805. (menù)
The success gained by "La Vestale"
La Vestale, composed by Spontini in 1805, was first represented at the Thèatre
de l'Académie Impéeriale de Musique in Paris before empress Josephine on 15th
December 1807. The famous singer Caroline Branchu acted as the vestal Giulia,
whereas the renowned Etienne Lainez played the character of Licinio. The opera
was a tremendous success and was replicated two-hundred times, also thanks to
the excellent corps de ballet and extraordinary musicians, like the horn player
Frèdèric Duvernoy who was entrusted by Spontini himself to play the solo of Giulia's
air in the second act. The work was namely full of historical and ideological
references with which emperor Napoleon and his court could easily identify: certain
vocal features, the mixture between some Italian expressions and the sensuous
French language, the ancient scenography with temples, imperial eagles and the
old Rome's iconography. After Napoleon's divorce from his wife Josephine, Spontini
had to distance himself from his patron; yet he was always granted trust and protection
from the emperor, as evidenced by the many honours and awards he received. Following
a suggestion by Napoleon himself, Spontini was commissioned in 1808 to compose
the Fernand Cortez, a historical and celebratory work. In 1810 La Vestale was
awarded as the best opera ever represented in the previous ten years; in the same
year Spontini was appointed as conductor of the Thèatre Italien de Paris, maintaining
this office until 1812, and of the Empress' Theatre; in 1813 he was also appointed
as member of the jury in charge with the examination of the new librettos presented
at the opera theatre.(menù)
Fernand Cortez
Following La Vestale's enormous success,
Gaspare Spontini was commissioned the historical and celebratory work Fernand
Cortez, composed in cooperation with De Jouy. It was Napoleon himself who in 1808
suggested Spontini the topic of the new opera, which had to completely line up
with the imperial politics like the previous one. Fernand Cortez was namely conceived
as an efficient political means aimed at supporting Napoleon's actions in Spain;
it was meant at highlighting the striking contrast between Cortez' liberal and
humanitarian feelings and the mexicans' religious fanatism, thereby creating the
ideal historical relation and comparison between the Spanish conquer of Mexico
and Napoleon's occupation of Spain. The opera was represented on 28th November
1809: magnificent and rich in costumes, scenography and staging, its budget amounting
to 180.000 francs, the Fernand Cortez officially confirmed Gaspare Spontini's
success in France and is rightly considered to be the key-opera of the French
Empire. The work was represented at the Thèatre de l'Académie Impéeriale de Musique
before emperor Napoleon and the Saxony and Westphalia's kings; some of the singers,
like the famous soprano Branchu, had already performed in La Vestale. Fernand
Cortez definitely paved the way for the Baroque opera of mythological content
to evolve into the grand opéra of the Romantic Age, of which Gaspare Spontini
is considered to be one of the major predecessors: the Cortez' heroic war aspects
became fundamental elements of the 19th century French melodrama in the following
twenty years, as evidenced by the success obtained by Meyerbeer's Huguenots, Auber's
La muette de Portici and Berlioz' Troyens. In composing the libretto the musicians
wanted to faithfully represent the historical events related to the Mexican conquer
as well as the Mexican costumes; to them, this was necessary in order to pass
from the tragedy and myth of 18th century operas to epic. As in the case of La
Vestale, Fernand Cortez remained for a long time in the Opéra's repertoire. It
was represented for the first time in Berlin on 15th October 1814 and was soon
popular; the first representation in an Italian theatre was not very successful:
it took place at the Teatro San Carlo in Naples in February 1820. The work was
revised by Spontini in 1817. (menù)
Spontini's
marriage to Celeste Erard
On 3rd August 1811 the
37-year-old Spontini married Maria Caterina Celeste Erard. She was born in Paris
on 10th July 1790, the daughter of Giovanni Battista and niece of Sebastiano Erard,
who were both famous manufacturers of harps and pianos. Empress Josephine was
particularly pleased with their marriage, as evidenced by "Joséphine"'s signature
on the notarial deed regulating the couple's economic relationship. Although her
husband's success obscured her figure, Celeste always played a fundamental role
in the artistic life of the musician, who dedicated her his greatest work Agnes
von Hohenstaufen. The Spontinis did not have any children. This fact, however,
did not ruin the harmony and love relationship between them, but led the couple
to set up a vast number of Charity Boards for Jesi and Maiolati. When Spontini
died, his wife Celeste continued managing these charities, the Opere Pie, thus
once again showing all her love and sensibility towards her beloved husband and
the small village hosting his tomb. She was used to the luxurious and refined
life of European courts, yet she was always eager to live in the small village
of Maiolati, surrounded by humble but sincere people. This is clearly shown by
the following sentence, which Celeste once uttered: "The immense city of London
is … marvellous…But now, if I could choose, I'd prefer my little house in Maiolati
to a whole building in this the first capital of the world". (menù)
Olimpie
Spontini had started composing Olimpie
since 1815; the opera's libretto was based on Voltaire's tragedy and written by
Dielafoi and Brifaut. The musician was strongly attached to his new work: it was
represented at the Theatre of the Royal Academy of Music on 22nd December 1819,
the famous soprano Branchu performing once among the singers; yet the opera was
suspended after a few representations because of the murder of Louis XVIII's nephew
Duke du Berry in 1820. Spontini wasn't disheartened: he profited by the interruption
to revise his work and eliminate what the public had shown to dislike, namely
the double catastrophes. Olimpie with the happy ending was dedicated to Frederik
William III of Prussia and successfully represented in May 1821 in Berlin, where
Spontini now lived. The third of Spontini's heroic operas, Olimpie presents impressive
key-scenes one after the other that are rich in processions, bacchanals and battles;
Spontini masterly succeeds in using music to perfectly accompany strongly emotive
and gestural situations. The starting ouverture provides us with the beauty, greatness,
kindness and immediacy that were already present in the heroic ouvertures of La
Vestale and Fernand Cortez. The character of Statira, Alexander the Great's worthy
heroine, has to be particularly highlighted, as she can be rightly compared to
Cherubini's Medea or Gluck's Armida. And the graceful and transparent Olimpia,
the symbol of love, is also worth mentioning. (menù)
Spontini in Berlin
Gaspare Spontini examined
the proposals by Frederik William III, who had already been present at La Vestale
and Fernand Cortez' representations in 1814, and decided to move to his court
in Berlin in 1820. Olimpie was translated here into German by Ernst Theodor Hoffmann
and performed in its final version of an opera combining the French grand-opéra
and the German dramatic lyricism: it is these two elements which, according to
Lorenzo Tozzi, make Olimpie a borderline opera, which is too often not taken enough
into consideration in order to understand much of the European music. Spontini
was appointed as first chapel-master as well as general music superintendent with
the title of General Music Director (General-Musik-Direktor); outside the territory
of Prussia he was also granted the title of General Music Superintendent of the
King. Spontini's first new opera was a Festspiel, Lalla Rookh (1821). In the following
year he revised it and created from Lalla Rookh the two-act music drama Nurmahal
oder das Rosenfest von Kaschmir. Spontini was relieved from his commitments for
the rest of 1822. In July he went back to Italy, where he visited the places of
his childhood; on that occasion the Commune of Jesi decided on the musician's
official inclusion in Jesi's aristocracy. Back to Berlin, Spontini started working
again on a new great opera commissioned to him by the king: Alcidor. The latter
was a Zauberoper in three acts, which was very much in line with the royal court's
preferences, and was represented for the first time at the Königliches Opernhaus
in Berlin. Set in an imaginary place in Asia Minor, Alcidor combines the esoteric
fairy-tale aspects of operas like Mozart's The Magic Flute with images from Nordic
cultures . (menù) Agnes
von Hohenstaufen
Based on a libretto by Ernst Raupach,
the Agnes von Hohenstaufen was first represented at the Königliches Theater in
Berlin on 12th June 1829. The work, which was a real große historisch-romantische
Oper, was successfully performed in Berlin in its final revisited three-act version
by Baron Karl August von Liechtenstein on 6th December 1837. Agnes von Hohenstaufen,
considered by Spontini as his masterpiece, offered Wagner a remarkable reference
work for his operas Rienzi (completed in 1840), Tannhäuser (first "Dresden version"
of 1843-1845) and Lohengrin (1845-1848); Spontini's work also paved the way for
the Italian and European melodrama. Some critics have highlighted that Agnes von
Hohenstaufen can be compared to some of the major historical dramas by Giuseppe
Verdi, like Don Carlo and Simon Boccanegra (Q. Principe). (menù)
Spontini and Wagner
Frederik William III, Gaspare Spontini's main supporter in Berlin, died in 1840.
Owing to a few controversies with the Theater von Redern's new superintendent,
in 1841 Gaspare Spontini was even accused of having committed lese-majeste and
condemned to a 9-month-imprisonment in July of the same year. After removing him
from his position, Frederik William IV granted the musician a pension in 1842.
And Spontini also suffered the humiliation of seeing his fierce adversary Meyerbeer
being entrusted with his former office. Yet in these difficult years of continuous
disappointments the city of Dresden paid a great homage to the musician: in 1844
La Vestale was represented in Dresden and obtained an enormous success. On this
favourable occasion Gaspare Spontini met Richard Wagner for the first time and
started cooperating with him. In the same year Spontini was conferred the papal
title of Sant'Andrea. "The widespread and enormous fame of Italian composers like
Cherubini and Spontini could not have derived from the German operetta, it must
have originated in Italy…Auber, Boieldieu, and even I, have all learnt a lot from
such a fame… " Richard Wagner, Vita, Turin 1953. After La Vestale's success in
Copenhagen, Spontini was in Dresden in November 1844, as the Director of the Court
Theatre Richard Wagner had been entrusted to prepare the staging for the great
opera of the Italian musician. Richard Wagner was impressed and caught by surprise
by Gaspare Spontini's request not to use the common light baton, but to work with
a black ebony baton with white endings: and the Italian musician stood out to
Wagner's eyes because of the intensity with which Spontini held the baton in the
middle of it and vehemently used it to command, rather than to conduct, the orchestra
just like a real marshal. Richard Wagner's autobiography is full of exceptional
and illuminating memories on Gaspare Spontini, with which the German composer
was able to identify and highlight the moral and musical importance of the Italian
Maestro. Wagner well described Gaspare Spontini's extreme sorrow, felt when he
realized that, after his so much loved masterpiece Agnes von Hohenstaufen, he
could no longer produce a better orchestration for another opera; and he also
recalled the musician's realization that his work La Vestale had strongly influenced
almost every following work by other musicians (e.g. Il barbiere di Siviglia,
to name one, with sixteen times just like Spontini's opera). Another remarkable
memory, which is worth mentioning, is Richard Wagner's firm belief that the whole
of the modern melody would not exist without Spontini's major sixth; or the page
in which the Italian Maestro greatly regretted that Germany was much more willing
to valorize F. J. Mendelssohn Bartholdy and F. Liszt at the russian King's court
in Berlin, rather than becoming an adequate environment for the renewal of the
European music.(menù) Gaspare
Spontini 's last years
During his long release from
his office in the summer of 1838, Gaspare Spontini went to England and was warmly
welcomed at Queen Victoria's court, for whom he also composed a number of cantatas.
He then went first to France and later on to Italy. On 30th October he reached
Jesi and stayed there fourty days, thereby establishing a Pawnshop in favour of
Jesi and Maiolati's poor and donating it 30,000 francs. During his stay in Jesi
Spontini had frequent talks with Jesi's archibishop Cardinal Ostini; these conversations
led the Cardinal to issue the Edict "against the abuse of theatrical music in
churches" on 27th November 1838. Spontini studied this topic even more in depth
and eventually drew up a vast and exhaustive paper on the reform of sacred music,
culminating in his Report on the reform of sacred music of 1839. The musician
considered his conceptual work of great importance and supported all efforts to
promote it; he was therefore strongly disappointed when in 1847 Pope Pius IX entrusted
other people with the reform of the profaned sacred and church music. In the same
year Spontini conducted Olimpie at the Lower Rhine Music Festival in Cologne,
thereby putting an end to his artistic career. Gaspare Spontini and his wife went
to Jesi in 1850 and were warmly welcomed with great honours and celebrations;
once he left Jesi with Celeste Erard, the musician reached Maiolati and remained
there for the rest of his life. Gaspare Spontini died at the age of 76 in his
wife's arms on 24th January 1851 owing to pulmonary complications. His corpse,
dressed up in the winter uniform of the French Academy, was buried in the Church
of Santo Stefano in Maiolati and later on transferred in the sarcophagus, wanted
by the Maestro, in the Church of San Giovanni. (menù)
Texts by Marta Paraventi, journalist specialized
in history of art |
