Antonio Ghislanzoni (Italian pronunciation: [anˈtɔːnjo ɡizlanˈtsoːni]; 25 November 1824 – 16 July 1893) was an Italian journalist, poet, and novelist who wrote librettos for Verdi, among other composers, of which the best known are Aida and the revised version of La forza del destino.
Life and career
editGhislanzoni was born in Lecco, Lombardy, and studied briefly in a seminary, but was expelled for bad conduct in 1841. He then decided to study medicine in Pavia, but abandoned this after a short time to pursue a singing career as a baritone and to cultivate his literary interests.
In 1848, stimulated by the nationalist ideas of Mazzini, Ghislanzoni founded several republican newspapers in Milan but eventually had to take refuge in Switzerland. While travelling to Rome, where he wanted to help defend the nascent republic, Ghislanzoni was arrested by the French and briefly detained in Corsica.
In the mid-1850s, having forsaken the stage, Ghislanzoni became active in journalism in the bohemian circles of Milan, serving as director of Italia musicale and editor of the Gazzetta musicale di Milano. He also founded L'uomo di pietra the magazine Rivista minima, collaborating with, among others, Arrigo Boito.
In 1869, Ghislanzoni retired from journalism and returned to his native Lombardy, where he dedicated himself to literature and writing libretti for operas. He wrote many short stories in verse and diverse novels including Un suicidio a fior d'acqua (1864), Angioli nelle tenebre (1865), La contessa di Karolystria (1883), Abracadabra: Storia dell'avvenire (1884). His novel of theatrical life Gli artisti da teatro, (1865), was republished into the 20th century. He also published musical essays, the most important being Reminiscenze artistiche.
Ghislanzoni wrote some eighty-five libretti, including Edmea for Catalani (1866), Aida (1870), Fosca (1873) and Salvator Rosa (1874) for Gomes, I Lituani for Ponchielli (1874) and the second version of La forza del destino (1869). He also contributed a few verses to the revised translation into Italian of Verdi's Don Carlos.
Ghislanzoni ran a hotel for artists called Il Barco in Caprino Bergamasco, Bergamo,[1] where he died in 1893, at age 68. He was an atheist.[2]
Filmography
edit- Aida, directed by Clemente Fracassi (1953)
- Aida, directed by Claes Fellbom (1987)
See also
edit
References
edit- ^ Wilson, Conrad (2008). Giacomo Puccini. London, U.K.: Phaidon Press. p. 75. ISBN 9780714847757.
Edgar had been completed at Caprino Bergamasco, in the hills between Lecco and Bergamo, because that was where Fontana spent much of his time and Ghislanzoni ran his artists' hotel, Il Barco. Today the tiny village is dominated by a restaurant and stables called La Staffa ('The Stirrup') and nobody seems to remember Il Barco.
- ^ Rossana Bossaglia, Arte e società in Italia: dal realismo al simbolismo, Assessorato agli Enti Locali e alla Cultura della Regione Lombardia, 1979, p. 451.
External links
edit- Works by Antonio Ghislanzoni at Project Gutenberg
- Works by or about Antonio Ghislanzoni at the Internet Archive
- Works by Antonio Ghislanzoni at LibriVox (public domain audiobooks)
