Act 3: Saverio Mercadante’s biography
Mercadante’s baptism certificate did not include his surname. To make his identity clear, probably during the first half of the 19th century, an anonymous person added these words: “One of the greatest Italian musicians – chapelmaster Mercadante”.1
Such a person would probably be very surprised to realise that Mercadante’s name is rather unknown nowadays, even to most musicians. In fact, the current general opinion on the composer could be summarised with Fétis commentary:
[In the 1820s,] everything seemed to conspire in favour of Mercadante's theatrical success, since a year before Rossini had left Italy to settle in Paris, Morlacchi was in Dresden, and the other Italian composers had either become old or had no credit among the public; but he lacked the essential quality; I mean the genius that creates a style, an individual manner, a quality that is necessary to dominate the theatre and to avoid alternating successes and failures.2
Indeed, as Piovano points out, the success of the innovative opera composers Vincenzo Bellini and Gaetano Donizetti first, and Giuseppe Verdi later, was the main reason that led to Mercadante’s gradual decrease in popularity, especially after he died in 1870.3
While only a few of his operas were staged again in the 20th and 21st centuries, several of his flute works have been performed and recorded in the last fifty years, even if only a few of them seem to have become part of the standard repertoire, especially in Italy.4 The following biographical notes will then briefly present the rise and fall of Saverio Mercadante, with a particular focus on his study years.
Scene 1: From Altamura to the Real Collegio (1795-1820)
The precise date of Mercadante’s birth is unknown. The first available document is the above-mentioned baptism certificate for “Giuseppe Saverio Raffaele, son of unknown parents”,5 written on September 17th, 1795 in Altamura (Apulia). The fact that the baptism was performed sub conditione (i.e., without knowing with certainty whether or not the child had already been baptised), led later biographers to think that he was born some months before that date. Mercadante’s biographer Santo Palermo also remarks that his father Giuseppe Orazio probably did not acknowledge the son due to the social status difference between him and the mother: in fact, he was an aristocratic widower, while she was his housekeeper Rosa Bia.6
A hypothesis about his exact date of birth comes from a later document. Mercadante’s family moved to Naples in 18067 and in 1808 decided to enrol the 13-year-old boy at the Real Collegio.8 However, the enrolment required some official documentation concerning his birth. For this reason, a second baptism certificate attesting to the identity of his parents and the false baptism date of June 26th, 1797 was made in Naples. While the year might suggest the parents’ interest in lowering the official age of the boy to increase his possibilities of being accepted into the conservatory, the date might reveal his actual day of birth, which was certainly easier to remember than the day of baptism.9
Mercadante, then, was admitted to the Real Collegio in 180810 or 1809.11 After learning theory and solfège,12 he started studying the violin. He also had the opportunity to practice cello, bassoon, clarinet, and flute, thanks to the willingness of his fellow students to lend him these instruments.13
In 1814, he was appointed conductor for the small operas staged at the conservatory. In that same year, he also formed a wind band, for which he composed simple pieces. The director of the Real Collegio, Nicolò Zingarelli, heard some of his works, by which he was positively impressed, and suggested he should refine his composition skills with some teachers: Mercadante, then, studied harmony with Giovanni Furno and counterpoint with Giacomo Tritto, and finally – from 1816 – composition in Zingarelli’s class.14
At this time, Mercadante wrote chamber music for different instruments, quartets, concertos, a mass, and several symphonies, two of which were heard and praised by Gioacchino Rossini when he visited the Real Collegio in 1818.15 While the greatest part of such music remained unpublished, as it was exclusively conceived for events organised by the conservatory, there were a few exceptions. These include several of his flute works16 and the very first edition in Giuseppe Girard’s catalogue (the aria Mai se di lei t’accendi from 1818),17 which may reflect a certain appreciation of the young student’s pieces outside of the Real Collegio as well.
Such appreciation culminated in the success of his 1818 cantata for the former King of Spain Charles IV, which led to the opportunity to write his first opera: L’Apoteosi d’Ercole. It premiered at the Teatro San Carlo the following year and had a “splendid and sensational result”.18 From this moment on, Mercadante’s career as an opera composer took off.
Scene 2: The success (1820-1840)
Mercadante officially finished his studies in 1820.19 This allowed him to leave the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies and travel through the Italian peninsula to stage his works in, among others, Rome, Milan (where the extremely successful Elisa e Claudio premiered at the Teatro alla Scala),20 Bologna, Venice, and Turin. From 1823 on, he also presented some works in Vienna and Lisbon, and, in 1826, he became the musical director of the Italian opera in Madrid. Despite the seven-year contract and the commitment to write two operas per year, this position allowed him to keep composing for Italian theatres as well.21
After his contract in Madrid ended, in November 1833 he applied for the position of chapelmaster at the Cathedral in Novara (Piedmont), which was assigned to him only six weeks later thanks to his reputation at the time.22 He worked there for six years, writing sacred music for the church’s services and celebrations.23 At the same time, he continued to compose for northern Italian theatres24 and, thanks to Rossini, even had his debut at the prestigious Théâtre Italien in Paris in 1835.25
Despite his international successes, Mercadante wished to move back to his adoptive hometown. An opportunity seemed to arise in 1837 when Nicolò Zingarelli died26 and the position as director of the Real Collegio became vacant. However, the committee nominated Donizetti as a temporary substitute. Mercadante even wrote a letter to the King of Naples Ferdinand II, begging him to become the new director, without any effect. For this reason, he decided to accept Rossini’s offer to become composition teacher and director of the Liceo Musicale in Bologna–a proposal he then turned down a few weeks before starting: surprisingly, in 1840 the King nominated him director instead of Donizetti as the official successor of Zingarelli.27
Scene 3: Back to Naples (1840-1870)
Although Mercadante still composed a few operas and other vocal and instrumental pieces in the last thirty years of his life,28 he mainly focussed on his duties as director and composition teacher of the conservatory. Nevertheless, his choices in these roles, and particularly on the didactical side, seem to have been quite controversial among his contemporaries, as Florimo attests:
Mercadante had quite a few young pupils, but, as I have already observed, they did more on their own than because of the effectiveness of the [teaching] method and the school, and most of them devoted themselves to teaching harmony and counterpoint. [Mercadante] also did not lack young pupils who could have become composers, because they had been born with the spark of genius and were animated by the sacred fire [...]. But... it pains me to say it... the geniuses had their wings clipped! [...] To assert that Mercadante did not know the art of teaching, nor did he have the skills to direct a school, would be an assertion that does not conform to the truth; the other [assertion], [which is] that he had no desire to teach, or, as most repeat, that he did not teach because he did not want to have rivals even among young talents, would be a wickedness, a monstrosity, which we neither want nor must believe. Nevertheless, it remains a fact: that in a considerable number of young pupils that studied composition for thirty years in this conservatory, there were only a few rare exceptions that bore some fruit. After these facts, any other reflection would be superfluous, and facts have an eloquence that words lack. It seems, however, that Mercadante's greatest care was to ensure that the Real Collegio only stood out for the performing part. To this end, he often offered the audience sensational and splendid recitals, concerts and musical evenings. These recitals, these artistic events almost always consisted of music written by Mercadante himself.29
Perhaps some concerns about Mercadante’s teaching skills lay also in the fact that, after losing sight of one eye due to a severe case of ophthalmia in 1837,30 he completely lost sight from both eyes in 1862. However, this did not stop him from composing: a few months after this event, and even inspired by it, he dictated a symphony to some of his students. Such autobiographical piece was then coherently named Il lamento del bardo (“The bard’s lament”).31 Moreover, this dictation system made him discover a new teaching method: thanks to it, his students could learn how he was creating music,
for as they write down the notes he dictates, they ponder how they are put together, how sparingly they are distributed and structured, how the phrases are conducted, how the thoughts are developed, how they are harmonised, how the effects are calculated, with what elegance of phrasing, in order to achieve the wonderful results that he is able to create in his music.32
Mercadante died on December 17th, 1870.33 According to Florimo, many people were moved by his death and followed his coffin during the solemn funeral that was held for him. On the proposal of the city of Naples, and thanks to the contributions of many citizens, a statue was erected in 1876 to honour his memory.34
[To Act 4]