(b Lucca, 19 June 1854; d Milan, 7 Aug 1893). Italian composer. After studying in Lucca, Paris and Milan, he became associated with the Scapigliatura, an artistic and literary reform movement, and with the music publisher Lucca, for whom he wrote Elda (1876, rev. as Loreley, 1888), Dejanice (1883)and Edmea (1886). He achieved a personal style most successfully in La Wally (1892). Boito and Toscanini championed him but he was dismissed by Verdi, Puccini and the publisher Ricordi. He stressed orchestration and atmosphere over characterization and was old-fashioned in his high Romanticism. Yet his operas were among the most important in the period preceding the verismo school. He was professor at the Milan Conservatory from 1886.
Alfredo Catalani created richly romantic operas intended to create a synthesis of Wagnerian opera and Italian operatic tradition.
Lucca was home to two established musical families, the Puccinis and the Catalanis. Alfredo was born four years ahead of Giacomo Puccini. He and young Puccini both studied music, as boys, with Fortunato Magi, Puccini's uncle. Catalani's progress was rapid, and he was sent to Paris where he studied with Bazin, though he did not enroll at the Paris Conservatory. He returned to Lucca in 1873 to report for military service, but was rejected due to tuberculosis. He went to Naples to study with Antonio Bazzini. Bazzini introduced him to the salon of Clara Maffei, which was frequented by young artists, musicians, and literary figures like Arrigo Boito and Franco Faccio. They introduced him to Wagner's music, which made a large impression on him. Ignoring the developing trend of verismo opera, Catalani emulated Wagner in choosing, often, tales of the fantastic, with dramatic action. He received a commission from publisher Giovannina Lucca. The result, Elda, was based on the Lorelei legend and published in 1876 and performed in Turin with lukewarm results. Dejanice, the next opera, premiered in 1883 and did poorly.
Catalani was already in declining health due to his tuberculosis, and suffering from guilt over having an affair with his best friend's wife. He roused himself from depression to write a symphonic poem, Hero and Leander. Its success in 1885 gave him new confidence, and he wrote a successful opera, Edmea, premiered at La Scala in 1886. The same year he was appointed professor of composition, at the Milan Conservatory to succeed Ponchielli.
Giovannina Lucca's publishing firm had been promoting his career, but it merged with the more powerful Ricordi firm. Ricordi was promoting Giacomo Puccini's career, and neglected Catalani, seriously damaging his prospects. He hired the composer Zanardi to carry out his planned revisions to Elda. Catalani got no support from Ricordi, and had to arrange for a performance himself. Retitled Loreley, the opera was given on February 16, 1890, in Turin, and was a success.
During this time, Catalani had been devoting his dwindling strength to writing a new opera, La Wally, based on a German romance. The conductor Mascheroni realized that the success of Loreley might make Ricordi more receptive to this new opera. Though Catalani was embittered by his treatment by the firm, Mascheroni brought about a reconciliation. Ricordi accepted the work and promoted it, securing a La Scala premiere on January 20, 1892. It was a huge success, particularly after it was adopted by Arturo Toscanini, who conducted it widely and even named his daughter "Wally." Catalani is remembered today almost entirely for La Wally. He started another opera, based on a Tolstoy text, but soon after starting work suffered a hemorrhage, and died five days later. ~ Joseph Stevenson, All Music Guide
Alfredo Catalani (19 June 1854 – 7 August 1893) was an Italian operatic composer. He is best remembered for his operas Loreley (1890) and La Wally (1892). La Wally was composed for a libretto by Luigi Illica, and features Catalani's most famous aria "Ebben? Ne andrò lontana." His other operas were less successful, partly hampered by inferior libretti.
Catalani was born in Lucca and trained at the Conservatory of Milan under Antonio Bazzini.
Despite the growing influence of the verismo style of opera during the 1880s Catalani chose to compose in a more traditional manner. As a result his operas have largely lost their place in the modern repertoire, even compared to those of Massenet and Puccini, whose style his works most closely resemble.
The influence of Amilcare Ponchielli can also be recognized in Catalani's work. Like Ponchielli, Catalani's reputation now rests almost entirely on one work. La Wally continues to enjoy occasional revivals in much the same way as Ponchielli's La Gioconda.
In 1893, upon his premature death from tuberculosis in Milan, Catalani was interred in the Cimitero Monumentale, where Ponchielli and conductor Arturo Toscanini also lie. Toscanini was a strong advocate of Catalani's music and named his daughter Wally in recognition of the composer's most successful opera.
Berrong, Richard M. (editor and translator). The Politics of Opera in Turn-Of-The-Century Italy: As Seen Through the Letters of Alfredo Catalani. 1992. (Studies in the History and Interpretation of Music)
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