GIORDANO, Umberto
b Foggia, 27 August 1867
d Milan, 12 November 1948, aged eighty-one

The son of a chemist, he was destined for the same profession, but his father allowed him to study music. In 1881 he went to the Naples Conservatory. He wrote his first opera in competition with Mascagni's Cavalleria Rusticana - and lost the competition! Nevertheless, he befriended Mascagni, and also Illica, the librettist, who he once threatened to shoot (with a toy pistol). When La Scala refused to stage Andrea Chénier, Giordano hurried to Mascagni for advice at the moment when Mascagni should have been riding on a tram with other dignitaries to celebrate the opening of Milan's new transport system. The tram crashed, killing and injuring several people; Mascagni maintained that Giordano had saved his life, and helped his career from then on. Giordano was a simple/ retiring man with a warm sense of humour.

1889 (22)

Marina, opera

1892 (25)

Mala Vita, opera

1894 (27)

Regina Diaz, opera

1896 (29)

Andrea Chenier, opera

1898 (31)

Fedora, opera

1904 (37)

Siberia, opera

1907 (40)

Marcella, opera

1910 (43)

Mese Mariano, opera

1915 (48)

Madame Sans-Gene, opera

1921 (54)

Giove a Pompeii, opera

1924 (57)

La Cena delle Beffe, opera

1929 (62)

Il re, opera