July 23 - Francesco Cilea (The Musical Birthday Series, 5th Annual Cycle)

Previous posts for July 23rd are here: Leon Fleisher (2019), Francesco Cilea (2020), Franz Berwald (2021), and Eduard Marxsen (2022)

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Francesco Cilea (23 July 1866 – 20 November 1950) was an Italian composer, best known for his opera Adriana Lecouvreur. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Giving Up

Cilea's last opera, Gloria, premièred at La Scala on 15 April 1907. The opera was withdrawn after only two performances; and the failure of this work was enough to drive him to abandon the operatic stage for good. – adapted from Wikipedia

Cilea welcomed in the century

  Writing for La Scala’s stage,

And with the failure of that venture, he

  Spent his life ‘til ripe old age

Saying no to stage commissions,

  Never answering with yes,

And though it hampered his ambitions,

  He went through life with less distress.

 

 

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