Franco Leoni (24 October 1864 – 8 February 1949)One source gives his date of death as 11 November 1938, but the later date is cited in Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians, The Oxford Companion to Music, and Baker's Biographical Dictionary of Musicians was an Italian opera composer. After training in Milan, he made most of his career in England, composing for Covent Garden and West End theatres. He is best known for the opera L'oracolo, written for Covent Garden but taken up successfully by the Metropolitan Opera in New York. In addition to his operas, Leoni wrote several cantatas and oratorios and many ballads and other songs. He also worked as a conductor in London, both in the concert hall and in the theatre.
Life and works
Early years Leoni was born in Milan and studied music at the Milan Conservatory under Amilcare Ponchielli and Cesare Dominiceti.Burton, Anthony. "Leoni, Franco". The Oxford Companion to Music, accessed 18 June 2010 (requires subscription) His opera Raggio di Luna (Moonbeam) to a libretto by Camillo Zanoni was first performed at the Teatro Manzoni in Milan in June 1890.Blyth, Alan. "Leoni, Franco". Grove Online, Oxford University Press, accessed 18 June 2010 (requires subscription) Two years later, Leoni emigrated to England, which remained his home until 1917. At first he worked for the music publisher Chappell & Co., for whom he wrote "charming songs for our most famous vocalists.""Rip Van Winkle", The Era, 28 August 1897, p. 17 In 1896, he wrote what he called "a dramatic musical poem", "Sardanapalus", inspired by Byron's 1821 play of the same name.For the involvement of William Boosey, of Chappell & Co., in Sardanapalus and subsequent works of Leoni's, see W. Boosey, Fifty Years of Music (Ernest Benn Limited, London 1931), pp. 136-38. The work, for soloists, chorus and orchestra, was premiered at the Queen's Hall and was well reviewed, although reviewers commented on the influence of earlier composers on the score."Our London Correspondence", The Manchester Guardian, 9 March 1896, p. 5
In 1897, Leoni's operatic version of Rip van Winkle was presented at Her Majesty's Theatre. The libretto, based on the story by Washington Irving, was by William Akerman. The score was through-composed, with no spoken dialogue, and received qualified praise from critics. One wrote: "Colour of a sort there is in the music, and some dramatic point, but of downright individuality and humour there is little" (The Times).The Times, 6 September 1897, p. 5 Another commented, "Mr Leoni's instrumentation is clever, but there is a little too much of it" (Lloyd's Weekly Newspaper).Lloyd's Weekly Newspaper, 5 September 1897, p. 13 A third stated, "his music flows on with the alternate suavity, passion and grace characteristic of modern Italian composers" (The Morning Post).The Morning Post, 6 September 1897, p. 3 A recurrent theme in criticisms of Leoni's music was that it was not strikingly individual: "Mr Leoni's score is throughout melodious, dramatically appropriate, well and picturesquely orchestrated … the composer's chief fault at present is his excellent memory [for] the works of Dvořák, Mascagni, Wagner, Bizet.""Her Majesty's Theatre", The Observer, 5 September 1897, p. 5 The opera ran briefly and was taken off after a month."Her Majesty's", The Era, 2 October 1897, p. 11 In 1898, Leoni presented another choral work, the cantata, The Gate of Life, which was premiered by the Royal Choral Society in March of that year and was then taken up by other choirs."The Royal Choral Society", The Pall Mall Gazette, 17 March 1898; and The Musical Times, June 1901, p. 412 Also in 1898, he took on the role of musical director for a West End show, conducting the theatre orchestra for the run of "The Topsy-Turvy Hotel" by Victor Roger and Lionel Monckton.The Era, 24 September 1898, p. 13 He also took on the conductorship of the newly formed Queen's Hall Choral Society.
In 1901, Leoni wrote the music for an operatic version of Hans Andersen's children's story, Ib and Little Christina, to a libretto by Basil Hood. Styled "A Picture in Three Panels", it opened at the Savoy Theatre on 14 November 1901 together with Hood's The Willow Pattern. The Times described it as "an opera of ultra-modern type" and compared it unflatteringly to the work of Arthur Sullivan, who had died earlier in that year."Savoy Theatre", The Times, 15 November 1901, p. 9 The Manchester Guardian later said that "the music, though clever and attractive in many ways, was too realistic and too Southern to reflect the Northern symbolism of Andersen's story, and that its peculiar vein of passion was out of place.""Music in London", The Manchester Guardian, 13 January 1904, p. 4 The opera ran for 16 performances and closed before the end of November.The Times, 28 November 1901, p. 8 It was revived in London at Daly's Theatre from 11 to 13 January 1904, then transferred to the Lyric Theatre from 19 January to 5 March 1904 for a limited season of 23 matinée performances.The Times, 6 January 1904, p. 6; 8 February 1904, p. 8; and 5 March 1904, p. 10.Wearing, J.P. The London Stage 1900-1909 (2 vols), Scarecrow (1981) The opera is not quite a full length piece and is played in three short scenes.Ib and Little Christina homepage at the G&S Archive
In the same year, Leoni composed incidental music for James Bernard Fagan's play "The Prayer of the Sword."When a recording of Leoni's L'Oracolo was issued in 1977, the incidental music from "The Prayer of the Sword" was included. Later in 1904, Leoni published a song-cycle entitled "Fairy Dreams", which was premiered by four well-known soloists, Suzanne Adams, Muriel Foster, Ben Davies and Kennerley Rumford (the husband of Clara Butt)."Yesterday's Concerts", The Observer, 27 November 1904, p. 6
Covent Garden and later years L'oracolo, premiered at Covent Garden in 1905, is a piece of operatic Grand Guignol with a kidnapping and two murders within its one hour of music."Covent Garden Opera", The Musical Times, August 1905, p. 543. The Musical Times estimated the running time at 50 minutes, but a 1977 recording spans 64 minutes. A later critic said of the work, "Hokum, but any opera that begins with three crashes, a very loud cock-crow, a chorus shouting in fake-Chinese and then launches into a vehement unaccompanied solo … has clearly got something going for it.Oliver, Michael. "Leoni: L'Oracolo". The Gramophone, March 1997, p. 91, accessed 18 June 2010 The one-act piece, which depicts melodramatic events in and around a San Francisco opium den, had a libretto by Camillo Zanoni, based on the play The Cat and the Cherub by Chester Bailey Fernald."Royal Opera", The Times, 29 June 1905, p. 11 The London performances, conducted by André Messager with Antonio Scotti as the villain, Cim-Fen, were well received: The Observer wrote of the score, "It is never for an instant dull. … Melody he has at easy command … completely a master of his orchestra. ... His music belongs to no school save that of modernity – with a modern Italian flavour.""The Week's Music", The Observer, 2 July 1905, p. 7 Nevertheless, L'Oracolo made no more than a modest impact in London and dropped out of Covent Garden's repertory.
In 1908, Leoni turned again to the concert hall. Henry Wood conducted the premiere of The Bells, Leoni's "vocal scena" for baritone and orchestra, set to Edgar Allan Poe's poem of the same name. Once more, the reviews praised the skill of the scoring, but found no strong individual personality in the music."Concerts", The Times, 14 February 1908, p. 12 Leoni's next opera was Tzigana, to a libretto by E. Moschini, which premiered in Genoa in February 1910 and also played in Milan and in Budapest.The Observer, 2 January 1910, p. 5 and 31 March 1912, p. 7 In 1912, a revival of Tzigana was performed at the with Elsa Raccanelli in the principal role.
In 1911, Leoni's cantata, Golgotha, depicting the Gospel story of Christ's passion and crucifixion, was premiered in London, with soloists including Gervase Elwes and Clara Butt. The notices were good, ranging from polite to strongly enthusiastic. The critic of The Observer praised the work in unequivocal terms, and members of the audience wrote in endorsing his praise."Music", The Observer, 22 January 1911, p. 7; and "Mr. Leoni's Golgotha", 29 January 1911, p. 7 The last large-scale work that Leoni composed before leaving his English domicile was Francesca da Rimini, a one-act piece based on a play by Francis Marion Crawford, given in a French version by Marcel Schwob at the Opéra Comique, Paris, in 1914. It was presented in a double bill with the French première of Falla's La vida breve. According to The Musical Times, the Falla work made the greater impact, but Leoni's also achieved a moderate success."Music in Paris", The Musical Times, February 1914, p. 124
In 1917 Leoni left England, and returned to Italy. Thereafter he appears to have shared his time among three countries: Italy, France and England. His later operas were Le baruffe chiozzotte, to a libretto based on a play by Carlo Goldoni (1920), La terra del sogno and Falene, to libretti by C. Linati (1920).Kuhn, Laura (ed). "Leoni, Franco". Baker's Biographical Dictionary of Musicians, Schirmer Reference, 2001, accessed 18 June 2010 (requires subscription) He died in London at the age of 84.
Legacy Little of Leoni's work outlived him. Gramophone recordings survive of his contemporaries Clara Butt and Frances Alda performing his songs.Butt recorded "The Leaves and the Wind" and Alda recorded "The Birth of Morn", reissued, respectively, on CD on Prima Voce NI7912 and Romophone 81034-2. Later singers, including Julie Andrews and Bryn Terfel, have continued to perform his hunting song (in which the fox escapes), "Tally Ho!"Review. The Gramophone, June 1958, p. 78; and Higgins, Charlotte. "Less! Less!", The Guardian, 6 December 2003, p. B23
Of Leoni's operas, only L'oracolo has retained a foothold in the repertory of major opera houses. Scotti's fondness for the work led the Metropolitan Opera to stage it from time to time, and he chose it for his farewell appearance in 1933. Thereafter it was rarely performed, but it came to public attention again when the conductor Richard Bonynge made a complete recording of the piece in 1975 starring his wife, Joan Sutherland, and the veteran Tito Gobbi as the villain.Decca catalogue, accessed 2 August 2011 That LP recording was reissued on CD in 1997."Leoni: L'Oracolo", Gramophone, March 1997, p. 91, accessed 18 June 2010 Occasional stage revivals have included those at the Curtis Institute (1949), the Philadelphia Opera (1952), the Glasgow Grand Opera Society (1994), Teatro Grattacielo in a 2007 concert performance, and the Frankfurt Opera, 2009, with another run scheduled for 2011.Frankfurt Opera , accessed 18 June 2010Production Programme, L'Oracolo and Dido and Aeneas, Glasgow Grand Opera Society, 1994
Notes
References Profile of Leoni at the 'Who Was Who in the D'Oyly Carte' website Profile of Leoni at the Gilbert and Sullivan Archive
External links Profile of Leoni with links to some of his operas