Umberto Menotti Maria Giordano (28 August 1867 – 12 November 1948) was an Italian composer who wrote many operas. His most famous opera was Andrea Chénier, which he composed in 1896.
He was born in Foggia, a city in Apulia, southern Italy. He studied music under Paolo Serrao at the Conservatoire of Naples. His first opera, Marina, was written for a competition organized by the music publishers Casa Sonzogno. This competition sought the best one-act opera, and it marked the beginning of a musical style called verismo. The winning opera was Cavalleria rusticana by Mascagni. Giordano, the youngest participant, placed sixth out of seventy-three entries with his opera Marina. This work interested Casa Sonzogno enough to commission a full-length opera based on it for the 1891–92 season.
The result was Mala vita, a realistic verismo opera about a laborer who promises to reform a prostitute if he is cured of tuberculosis. This opera caused controversy when it was first performed at the Teatro Argentina in Rome in February 1892. It was later performed successfully in Vienna, Prague, and Berlin. A few years later, the opera was rewritten as Il Voto in an effort to revive interest in the work.
Giordano next tried a more romantic story with his opera Regina Diaz, which had a libretto written by Giovanni Targioni-Tozzetti and Guido Menasci in 1894. However, this opera was not successful and was removed from the stage after only two performances.
Giordano then moved to Milan and returned to verismo with his most famous work, Andrea Chénier, which was based on the life of the French poet André Chénier. Another successful opera he wrote was Fedora in 1898, which was based on a play by Victorien Sardou and featured the young tenor Enrico Caruso. This opera is still performed today. His later works are less well known, but some, like La cena delle beffe, are occasionally performed and respected by music experts. Giordano died in Milan at the age of 81.
The most important theater in his hometown of Foggia is named after Umberto Giordano. A square in Foggia is also named in his honor and includes statues that represent his most famous works.
Operas
The opera "Marina" premiered in 1888. The opera "Mala Vita" premiered on February 21, 1892, at Teatro Argentina in Rome. The opera "Regina Diaz" premiered on March 5, 1894, at Teatro Mercadante in Naples. The opera "Andrea Chénier" premiered on March 28, 1896, at Teatro alla Scala in Milan. The opera "Fedora" premiered on November 17, 1898, at Teatro Lirico in Milan. The opera "Il Voto," a revised version of "Mala Vita," premiered on September 6, 1902, at Teatro Bellini in Naples. The opera "Siberia" premiered on December 19, 1903, at Teatro alla Scala in Milan and was revised in 1927. The opera "Marcella" premiered on November 9, 1907, at Teatro Lirico in Milan. The opera "Mese mariano" premiered on March 17, 1910, at Teatro Massimo in Palermo. The opera "Madame Sans-Gêne" premiered on January 25, 1915, at the Metropolitan Opera in New York. The opera "Giove a Pompei" premiered on July 6, 1921, at Teatro La Pariola in Rome. The opera "La cena delle beffe" premiered on December 20, 1924, at Teatro alla Scala in Milan. The opera "Il re" premiered on January 12, 1929, at Teatro alla Scala in Milan. The opera "La festa del Nilo" was incomplete.