Luigi Ferdinando Casamorata (15 May 1807 – 24 September 1881) was an Italian composer and music critic.
Life Before 1849 Born in Würzburg in the Grand Duchy of Würzburg (now Bavaria), Casamorata was the son of the Grand Duke's inspector Luigi Giacomo Casamorata, who stayed with the Grand Duke Ferdinando III in exile in Germany.Claudio Paradiso (ed.): Il cavalier Ferdinando Giorgetti, musicista romantico a Firenze (Roma: Società editrice di musicologia, 2015). Already when he was seven years old, he moved to Florence and studied piano. In 1825, while he was attending law school at the university, he tried a competition for composition at the Accademia di Belle Arti with Ferdinando Giorgetti. At that point, he attempted a career in the theatre. He composed some ballets, but his attempts to write a comic opera were opposed by the producers, who forced him instead to debut with a dramma, Iginia d'Asti, first seen in Pisa in 1838 but was immediately jeered at in Bologna few months later (see also the section Librettos).Claudio Sartori: "Casamorata, Luigi Ferdinando", in Enciclopedia dello spettacolo, eds Silvio d'Amico and Sandro d'Amico, vol. 3: Car-Daf (Roma: Le Maschere, 1954; new edition, Roma: Unedi, 1975), p. 155. There is information regarding two other attempts at dramas, of which there remains no trace. After his theatrical fiasco, he finished his studies in Law (he signed "Avv. Casamorata" for his entire life), but he never abandoned music. However, he became better known as a critic than as a composer. He wrote for Gazzetta musicale di Milano, La Patria, Il Nazionale, and Il Costituzionale, alternating his writing regarding music with political pamphlets.
The delusion of the Risorgimento Casamorata participated in the uprising in 1848, but when the Grand Duke Leopoldo II returned to the throne, after the uprising, in 1849 his beliefs were disillusioned and from that moment on, he abandoned being active in the revolt. In this atmosphere of disillusion, he started to alternate journalism with public administrative duties: he was part of the board of directors of the railroad in Livorno,Sergio Lattes: "Casamorata, Luigi Ferdinando", in The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, second edition, eds Stanley Sadie and John Tyrrell, vol. 5 (London: Macmillan, 2001), p. 227. was gonfalonier in Fiesole, and town counselor/representative in Florence.Clara Gabanizza: "Casamorata, Luigi Ferdinando", in Dizionario biografico degli italiani, vol. 21 (Roma: Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana, 1978), available on-line at Treccani.it (It)
Characteristics as a critic Casamorata was a very traditionalist critic, linked to formalist ideals. He was convinced that the main scope of music was to imitate nature, and many times he would go into a detailed description of technical cerebral aspects. Two of his most famous reviews were those of the debut of Macbeth by Verdi at the Pergola in 1847 (a very long review that was published in the Gazzetta musicale di Milano between 11 April and 2 June 1847), in which he judged the music as pleasant, but defined the libretto as a sequel of "a great deal of rubbish";David Rosen, Andrew Porter (eds): Verdi's 'Macbeth'. A Sourcebook (New York and London: Norton, 1984); Bianca Maria Antolini: "La stampa periodica dell'ottocento come fonte per la ricerca musicologica: il 'Répertoire International de la Presse Musicale'", in Rivista italiana di Musicologia, vol. 26 no. 2 (1991) (Lucca: LIM, 1991), pp. 347–385; Marco Beghelli: La retorica del rituale nel melodramma ottocentesco (Torino: EDT, 2003), p. 100ff.; Eduardo Rescigno: Vivaverdi. Dalla A alla Z: Giuseppe Verdi e la sua opera (Milano, Rizzoli, 2012), at "Casamorata, Ferdinando". and that of the first representation in Italy, at the Pergola in 1843, of Der Freischütz by Carl Maria von Weber, judged as unbalanced between the wind instruments and strings.Review appeared in Gazzetta musicale di Milano on 26 February 1843; see Gloria Staffieri: "Firenze, Teatro della Pergola. Materiali per una storia dell'orchestra (dagli anni venti dell'ottocento all'unità d'Italia)", in Studi verdiani vol. 16 (Parma: Istituto di Studi Verdiani, 2002), pp. 97–136, here: 111.
The debate regarding sacred music He actively participated in the debate regarding the esthetics of sacred music, inaugurated by the Cecilian Movement (with which he actively collaborated in the writing of the Manifest of Sacred Music in 1877).Fabio Bisogni: "Casamorata, Luigi Ferdinando", in Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart, edited by Ludwig Finscher, biographical part, vol. 4 (Kassel: Bärenreiter, 2000), columns 333–335. At the beginning he was a permissive and interested observer of all types of church music, but over time he became harsher, almost to the point of intransigence. In fact, he defined the Stabat Mater by Rossini as "un-religious".
The promotion of instrumental music Another area that he favoured was the promotion of instrumental music, especially German instrumental music, in Italy. He organized concerts for quartets and symphonies in the large concert halls in his villa located in Via delle Pinzochere (near Santa Croce). He also founded an association for wind instruments, the Società artistico-musicale degli strumenti a fiato, in 1864.Claudio Paradiso (ed.): Teodulo Mabellini. Il protagonista dell'Ottocento musicale toscano (Pistoia: Brigata del Leoncino, 2005). In addition, he sought to organize stable orchestras and theatre schools in Florence. In fact, his articles inspired the Philharmonic Association in Florence (from 1859 Teodulo Mabellini was the orchestral director) to perform the works of Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Mendelssohn, Wagner, Gounod and Meyerbeer.Beethoven's symphonies had no performances in Florence before 1859, see Paolo Paolini: "Beethoven a Firenze nell'Ottocento", in Nuova rivista musicale italiana vols 5 (1971) and 6 (1971) (Torino, ERI, 1971, pp. 753–787 and pp. 973–1002). Casamorata and Mabellini took part in Italian diffusion of Robert Schumann and Johannes Brahms, see Mila De Santis: "La ricezione di Brahms e Schumann a Firenze. Prime indagini (1840–1880)", in Schumann, Brahms e l'Italia. Convegno internazionale, Roma, 4–5 novembre 1999 (Roma: Accademia dei Lincei, 2001), pp. 197–223.
Conservatory of Florence and the fame of the 1860s and 70s Casamorata joined the music faculty of the Accademia di Belle Arti di Firenze on 2 September 1841 in the post of maestro di cappella. The music school of that academy became the Florence Conservatory (then known as the Istituto Musicale) on 6 August 1849 by a decree from Leopold II, Grand Duke of Tuscany who split the music and art portions of the school into distinct branches of the same institution and appointed Giovanni Pacini the conservatory's first director. In 1859 Casamorata joined with Abramo Basevi and Girolamo Alessandro Biaggi to organize a plan to separate the school into its own separate institution. By royal decree of Victor Emmanuel II the school was entirely separated from the academy and became its own independent institution on 15 March 1860 with Pacini still as director. When the school's new charter was finalized in 1862 Casamorata was appointed director of the conservatory. He remained in that post until his death in 1881.
Casamorata became an international authority on the history of Italian music: he celebrated for the entire decade of the 1870s concerts that were organized and held in Florence, which attracted artists such as Franz Liszt; talented composers dedicated pieces of music to him (Ferruccio Busoni dedicated hi Op. 21 to him in 1880); publishers called him to revise scores (for example, Giovanni Gualberto Guidi employed him for the publication of the Stabat Mater by Pergolesi in 1877); and his experience was highly sought for the study of Italian operas (in 1874 the Conservatory of Paris turned to him in order to attribute an alleged Cimarosa's opera).Gazzetta d'Italia, 4 July 1874 (Firenze, Tipografia della Gazzetta d'Italia, 1874); see He also wrote for the European Encyclopedia (starting in 1877 he collaborated with Arthur Pougin in order to update the Biographie universelle of François-Joseph Fétis. He handled the biographies of Tuscan artists.
Collectionist and expert of antique music His fame was solidified when he found the Codice Squarcialupi in the Laurentian Library. From that moment on, he was also considered to be an expert of antique music. He wrote papers about people such as Francesco Nigetti (the inventor of the cembalo a cinque tastiere) and Father Mauro dei Servi di Maria (theorist of the sixteen-hundreds). He curated manuscript editions, collected antique instruments, and compiled papers about out-of-date aspects of performance customs. At his death, he left his own library and his instruments to the Conservatory of Florence.Casamorata, Luigi Ferdinando (sub voce), in Dizionario enciclopedico universale della musica e dei musicisti, edited by Alberto Basso, serie II: Le biografie, vol. 2: BUS-FOX, Torino, UTET, 1985, p. 132. Today, the donated instruments are preserved in the Museum of Musical Instruments in the Galleria dell'Accademia in Florence.Some instruments are in Europeana catalogue viola d'amore, salterio, chitarra battente, ribeca
Works and sources In addition to three theatrical operas that were unsuccessful, he composed a couple of cantatas, some ballets, instrumental music (a concerto for flute, one for clarinet, 4 symphonies, 2 overtures), various works for chamber music (including the reworked version of themes by Rossini, Bellini, Donizetti, Meyerbeer and Hummel), many works for theory and study (a manual of harmony which was published in Florence, a course for voice which remains only handwritten, a paper regarding musical notation which has been lost, a paper on the construction of the organ which did not oppose the use of electricity, and a historical overview of theatrical costumes), e molta musica sacra, di cui circa 14 messe, molte però rimaste inedite., as well as a lot of sacred music, of which about 14 masses, which, however, remain unedited.
Autographs His autographs of sacred music are found in the Archive of the Basilica della Santissima Annunziata; however, because specific studies have not been carried out, the exact number of pieces is unknown. Other autographs are found in the following locations: At the Conservatory of Naples: a mass for three voices from 1839 a Magnificat dated 1842 a mass for three voices dated 1844 the second quartet for strings from 1858 a symphony from 1859 an Ave Maria for four voices from 1871 two antiphons for four voices dated 1878 At the Conservatory of Florence (some are also digitalized): a quartet for pianoforte, clarinet, horn and bassoon (printed by Boosey); a Benedicta dated March 5, 1869 At the Accademia Filarmonica of Bologna: an Absolve Domine, maybe owned by Masseangelo Masseangeli, dated September 11, 1877
Manuscript copies Copies in Florence The institution that preserves the greatest number of manuscript copies of Casamorata's works is the Conservatory of Florence: the cantata that won the competition in 1825 a cantata, Beatrice, for the florentine celebration of Dante in 1865 the instrumental variations on the themes of Hummel, Meyerbeer, Bellini, Donizetti and Hummel concerts for flute and clarinet some pieces for oboe, with piano accompaniment or orchestra exercises for organ dated 1874 pieces that survived of his ballets chamber music (at least four quartets and one trio) orchestral pieces (preludes, the ouverture op. 2, symphony n. 3) dramatic studies (recitives and cavatine, dated from 1836 and 1866) collections of pieces by other celebrated composers that Casamorata arranged (or had arranged) for students of the conservatory a patriotic song "alla Patria e al Re" few religious pieces (a mass and some Armonie religiose to the text of Pietro Metastasio).