Nicolò Gabrielli
Encyclopedia
Count Nicolò Gabrielli di Quercita (21 February 1814 - 14 June 1891) was an Italian
opera
composer
.
Born in Naples
, at the time capital of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies
, Nicolò Gabrielli was the scion of a distinguished yet decayed aristocratic family originally from Gubbio
and settled thereafter in Tropea
and Palermo
. He showed since his early childhood a talent for music that led him to enter the Naples
conservatory where he studied under the supervision of Nicola Zingarelli
and Gaetano Donizetti
. He dedicated himself especially to musical composition, and debuted in August 1835 with a melodrama in Neapolitan dialect, I dotti per fanatismo.
Nicolò Gabrielli was a very prolific composer, and from 1835 onwards worked at many opera buffas, commedias and farsas, including La lettera perduta (1836), Il Cid (1836), La parola di matrimonio (1837), L'americano in fiera ossia Farvest Calelas (1837), Vinclinda (1837), L'affamato senza danaro (1839), Edwige o Il sogno (1839), Il padre della debuttante (1839), La marchesa e il ballerino (1839), Nadan o L'orgoglio punito (1839), L'assedio di Sciraz ossia L'amor materno (1840), Basilio III Demetriovitz (1841), Il bugiardo veritiero (1841), Il condannato di Saragozza (1842), La zingara (1842), Carlo di Rovenstein (1843), L'assedio di Leyda (1843), Sara ovvero La pazza delle montagne di Scozia (1843), Il gemello (1845), Una passeggiata sul palchetto a vapore verso Capri
(1845), Giulia di Tolosa (1846), Il vampiro (1848), Bradamante e Ruggero (1849), Fiorina (1849), La regina delle rose (1850).
He also worked at several ballets, including Ester d'Engaddi (1837), Il rajah di Benares (1839), that, similarly to other later works, was composed and represented in occasion of the birthday of Ferdinand II of the Two Sicilies
, Amore alla prova (1839), Il duca di Ravenna (1841), Giaffar (1841), Olga di Cracovia (1841), L'istituto delle fanciulle (1841), Il gobbo del Giappone (1841), La conquista del Messico (1842), Erissena (1845), L'orfanella africana (1845), Merope (1846), Alcidoro (1847), Ifigenia in Aulide (1847), Il trionfo d'amore (1848), Olema (1848), Paquita (1848), Gisella (1849), I Candiano (1849), Schariar ovvero Le mille e una notte (1849), Mocanna (1850), La stella del marinajo (1851). Other ballets were Le spose veneziane and Stefano re di Napoli.
In 1840 he was appointed musical director of the Royal Theatre of San Carlo
in Naples
, a position that enabled him to travel all over Italy
and abroad and make acquaintance with the international society. In 1854 he was invited by Napoleon III to join the imperial court in Paris
, where he debuted at the Opéra
with a ballet, Gemma (1854, libretto by Théophile Gautier
and choreography by former ballerina Fanny Cerrito
). Other works followed, including I paggi del Conte di Provenza (1856), (1856), La ninfa Cloe (1857), (1859), Melissa, ossia I viaggiatori all'isola incantata (1859), (1860), (1861), Les memoirs de Fanchette (1865). His last work to be represented in a theatre was (1865).
The popularity of the comte Gabrielli, as he was known in the aristocratic and artistic circles du tout Paris, gradually decreased after the fall of Napoleon III and the advent of the Third French Republic. A staunch Bonapartist
, he went into semi-secluded retirement in his Paris
apartment, but still composed the military march Simon Bolívar
(1883), and dedicated it to the President of Venezuela, Antonio Guzmán Blanco
. A cantique composed by Nicolò Gabrielli was adopted by the Protestant communities of the French-speaking part of Switzerland
as their unofficial hymn, and was later included in the work Chants populaires de Suisse romande pour voix mixtes, published at Geneva
in 1887.
Nicolò Gabrielli was appointed Knight of the French Legion of Honor in 1864. He died in Paris
in 1891 and was buried in the Montparnasse
cemetery. His remains were later moved to the Père Lachaise
cemetery in the eastern part of the French capital.
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
opera
Opera
Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...
composer
Composer
A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...
.
Born in Naples
Naples
Naples is a city in Southern Italy, situated on the country's west coast by the Gulf of Naples. Lying between two notable volcanic regions, Mount Vesuvius and the Phlegraean Fields, it is the capital of the region of Campania and of the province of Naples...
, at the time capital of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies
Kingdom of the Two Sicilies
The Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, commonly known as the Two Sicilies even before formally coming into being, was the largest and wealthiest of the Italian states before Italian unification...
, Nicolò Gabrielli was the scion of a distinguished yet decayed aristocratic family originally from Gubbio
Gubbio
Gubbio is a town and comune in the far northeastern part of the Italian province of Perugia . It is located on the lowest slope of Mt. Ingino, a small mountain of the Apennines. See also Mount Ingino Christmas Tree.-History:...
and settled thereafter in Tropea
Tropea
Tropea is a municipality located within the province of Vibo Valentia, in Calabria .The town is a famous bathing place, situated on a reef, in the gulf of St...
and Palermo
Palermo
Palermo is a city in Southern Italy, the capital of both the autonomous region of Sicily and the Province of Palermo. The city is noted for its history, culture, architecture and gastronomy, playing an important role throughout much of its existence; it is over 2,700 years old...
. He showed since his early childhood a talent for music that led him to enter the Naples
Naples
Naples is a city in Southern Italy, situated on the country's west coast by the Gulf of Naples. Lying between two notable volcanic regions, Mount Vesuvius and the Phlegraean Fields, it is the capital of the region of Campania and of the province of Naples...
conservatory where he studied under the supervision of Nicola Zingarelli
Nicola Zingarelli
Nicola Zingarelli was an Italian philologist, the founder of the Zingarelli Italian dictionary.He was born in Cerignola and died in Milan....
and Gaetano Donizetti
Gaetano Donizetti
Domenico Gaetano Maria Donizetti was an Italian composer from Bergamo, Lombardy. His best-known works are the operas L'elisir d'amore , Lucia di Lammermoor , and Don Pasquale , all in Italian, and the French operas La favorite and La fille du régiment...
. He dedicated himself especially to musical composition, and debuted in August 1835 with a melodrama in Neapolitan dialect, I dotti per fanatismo.
Nicolò Gabrielli was a very prolific composer, and from 1835 onwards worked at many opera buffas, commedias and farsas, including La lettera perduta (1836), Il Cid (1836), La parola di matrimonio (1837), L'americano in fiera ossia Farvest Calelas (1837), Vinclinda (1837), L'affamato senza danaro (1839), Edwige o Il sogno (1839), Il padre della debuttante (1839), La marchesa e il ballerino (1839), Nadan o L'orgoglio punito (1839), L'assedio di Sciraz ossia L'amor materno (1840), Basilio III Demetriovitz (1841), Il bugiardo veritiero (1841), Il condannato di Saragozza (1842), La zingara (1842), Carlo di Rovenstein (1843), L'assedio di Leyda (1843), Sara ovvero La pazza delle montagne di Scozia (1843), Il gemello (1845), Una passeggiata sul palchetto a vapore verso Capri
Capri
Capri is an Italian island in the Tyrrhenian Sea off the Sorrentine Peninsula, on the south side of the Gulf of Naples, in the Campania region of Southern Italy...
(1845), Giulia di Tolosa (1846), Il vampiro (1848), Bradamante e Ruggero (1849), Fiorina (1849), La regina delle rose (1850).
He also worked at several ballets, including Ester d'Engaddi (1837), Il rajah di Benares (1839), that, similarly to other later works, was composed and represented in occasion of the birthday of Ferdinand II of the Two Sicilies
Ferdinand II of the Two Sicilies
Ferdinand II was King of the Two Sicilies from 1830 until his death.-Family:Ferdinand was born in Palermo, the son of King Francis I of the Two Sicilies and his wife and first cousin Maria Isabella of Spain.His paternal grandparents were King Ferdinand I of the Two Sicilies and Queen Marie...
, Amore alla prova (1839), Il duca di Ravenna (1841), Giaffar (1841), Olga di Cracovia (1841), L'istituto delle fanciulle (1841), Il gobbo del Giappone (1841), La conquista del Messico (1842), Erissena (1845), L'orfanella africana (1845), Merope (1846), Alcidoro (1847), Ifigenia in Aulide (1847), Il trionfo d'amore (1848), Olema (1848), Paquita (1848), Gisella (1849), I Candiano (1849), Schariar ovvero Le mille e una notte (1849), Mocanna (1850), La stella del marinajo (1851). Other ballets were Le spose veneziane and Stefano re di Napoli.
In 1840 he was appointed musical director of the Royal Theatre of San Carlo
Teatro di San Carlo
The Real Teatro di San Carlo is an opera house in Naples, Italy. It is the oldest continuously active such venue in Europe.Founded by the Bourbon Charles VII of Naples of the Spanish branch of the dynasty, the theatre was inaugurated on 4 November 1737 — the king's name day — with a performance...
in Naples
Naples
Naples is a city in Southern Italy, situated on the country's west coast by the Gulf of Naples. Lying between two notable volcanic regions, Mount Vesuvius and the Phlegraean Fields, it is the capital of the region of Campania and of the province of Naples...
, a position that enabled him to travel all over Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
and abroad and make acquaintance with the international society. In 1854 he was invited by Napoleon III to join the imperial court in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, where he debuted at the Opéra
Opera
Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...
with a ballet, Gemma (1854, libretto by Théophile Gautier
Théophile Gautier
Pierre Jules Théophile Gautier was a French poet, dramatist, novelist, journalist, art critic and literary critic....
and choreography by former ballerina Fanny Cerrito
Fanny Cerrito
Fanny Cerrito, originally Francesca Cerrito , was an Italian ballet dancer and choreographer.Born in Naples, she studied under Carlo Blasis and the French choreographers Jules Perrot and Arthur Saint-Léon, to the latter of whom she was married from 1845–1851. Notable roles included Ondine and a...
). Other works followed, including I paggi del Conte di Provenza (1856), (1856), La ninfa Cloe (1857), (1859), Melissa, ossia I viaggiatori all'isola incantata (1859), (1860), (1861), Les memoirs de Fanchette (1865). His last work to be represented in a theatre was (1865).
The popularity of the comte Gabrielli, as he was known in the aristocratic and artistic circles du tout Paris, gradually decreased after the fall of Napoleon III and the advent of the Third French Republic. A staunch Bonapartist
Bonapartist
In French political history, Bonapartism has two meanings. In a strict sense, this term refers to people who aimed to restore the French Empire under the House of Bonaparte, the Corsican family of Napoleon Bonaparte and his nephew Louis...
, he went into semi-secluded retirement in his Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
apartment, but still composed the military march Simon Bolívar
Simón Bolívar
Simón José Antonio de la Santísima Trinidad Bolívar y Palacios Ponte y Yeiter, commonly known as Simón Bolívar was a Venezuelan military and political leader...
(1883), and dedicated it to the President of Venezuela, Antonio Guzmán Blanco
Antonio Guzmán Blanco
Antonio Leocadio Guzmán Blanco was President of Venezuela for three separate terms, from 1870–1877, from 1879–1884, and from 1886–1887....
. A cantique composed by Nicolò Gabrielli was adopted by the Protestant communities of the French-speaking part of Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
as their unofficial hymn, and was later included in the work Chants populaires de Suisse romande pour voix mixtes, published at Geneva
Geneva
Geneva In the national languages of Switzerland the city is known as Genf , Ginevra and Genevra is the second-most-populous city in Switzerland and is the most populous city of Romandie, the French-speaking part of Switzerland...
in 1887.
Nicolò Gabrielli was appointed Knight of the French Legion of Honor in 1864. He died in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
in 1891 and was buried in the Montparnasse
Montparnasse
Montparnasse is an area of Paris, France, on the left bank of the river Seine, centred at the crossroads of the Boulevard du Montparnasse and the Rue de Rennes, between the Rue de Rennes and boulevard Raspail...
cemetery. His remains were later moved to the Père Lachaise
Père Lachaise Cemetery
Père Lachaise Cemetery is the largest cemetery in the city of Paris, France , though there are larger cemeteries in the city's suburbs.Père Lachaise is in the 20th arrondissement, and is reputed to be the world's most-visited cemetery, attracting hundreds of thousands of visitors annually to the...
cemetery in the eastern part of the French capital.
Sources
- Gabrielli, Count Nicolò by Francesco Bussi, in 'The New Grove Dictionary of OperaNew Grove Dictionary of OperaThe New Grove Dictionary of Opera is an encyclopedia of opera, considered to be one of the best general reference sources on the subject. It is the largest work on opera in English, and in its printed form, amounts to 5,448 pages in four volumes....
', ed. Stanley Sadie (London, 1992) ISBN 0-333-73432-7 - Gabrielli, Count Nicolò by Bruce R. Schueneman and William E. Studwell, in 'Minor Ballet Composers - Biographical Sketches of Sixty-six Underappreciated yet Significant Contributors to the Body of Western Ballet Music', The Haworth Press, Inc. (Binghamton, New York, 1997) ISBN 0-7890-0323-6