Stanislao Gastaldon - Works - Other Songs

Other Songs

In 1882, Gastaldon wrote "Ti vorrei rapire" (I want to carry you away), a sequel to "Musica proibita" which is meant to be sung by the young man referred to in the original song. Like "Musica probita", the text was by "Flick-Flock". It had considerable success in its day and was recorded in 1910 by the Italian baritone Taurino Parvis for Columbia Records. A variation on the theme came in 1885 with Gastaldon's "Musica non probita!" (Music not forbidden!) composed to a text by the theatre critic and poet Luigi Bevacqua Lombardo. Two of Gastaldon's other early songs, "Amor non è peccato" (Love is not a sin) and "Fiori di sposa" (Bridal flowers) were set to texts by a poet identified only as "Faustina". The first of these was dedicated to Leonora Genina Mancini, daughter of the Italian statesman Pasquale Stanislao Mancini and the poet Laura Beatrice Mancini. Leonora's younger sister Flora ran a famous musical salon, and both sisters wrote poems that had been set by Gastaldon's contemporaries.

Giovanni Domenico Bartocci-Fontana, who wrote the libretto for Gastaldon's opera Mala Pasqua!, also wrote the text for his song "Perché tacete" (Why are you silent?). Other poets whose texts were set by Gastaldon included Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer, Olindo Guerrini (under the pseudonym Lorenzo Stecchetti), Emilio Praga, Armando Perotti, Annie Vivanti, Fausto Salvatori, and Domenico Milelli (under the pseudonym Conte di Lara). Of all his songs, Gastaldon's favourite was reportedly "Mamma", dedicated to the memory of his mother, with lyrics by the poet and playwright Giovanni Arrighi. It was recorded by Renato Zanelli for the Victor Talking Machine Company in 1921. In a departure from his usual genre of songs for solo voice and piano, Gastaldon also wrote two choral pieces, "Viva il Re" and "Inno della Dante Alighieri". The patriotic anthem "Viva il Re" (Long Live the King) with text by Giosuè Carducci was published by Ricordi 1915. "Inno della Dante Alighieri" with text by Augusto Franchetti was written as an anthem for the Dante Alighieri Society. It was first performed on September 28, 1902 in the Piazza del Campo in Siena for the XIII Congress of the Società Dante Alighieri and published the following year by the Florentine firm of Bemporad & Figlio.

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