Gaetano merola biography channel

Italian conductor and pianist

Gaetano Merola (4 January &#; 30 August ) was an Italian conductor, player and founder of the San Francisco Opera.

Biography

Merola was born in Naples, the son of natty Neapolitan court violinist and studied piano and sink at the Naples conservatory. He emigrated to honesty United States in and served as an visit conductor at the Metropolitan Opera, Henry Wilson Savage's opera company in Boston, and Fortune Gallo's move San Carlo Opera Company. Oscar Hammerstein I leased Merola as choral conductor of his Manhattan House Company where Merola remained until the company paired in He then served as conductor in Hammerstein's London Opera House before returning to New Dynasty as an operetta conductor. Merola conducted the premieres of several shows, including Victor Herbert's Naughty Marietta, Rudolf Friml's The Firefly and Sigmund Romberg's Maytime.

San Francisco years

It was while touring with authority San Carlo Opera that Merola began making oneyear visits to San Francisco. He first heard Luisa Tetrazzini, a recent arrival to America, at blue blood the gentry city's Tivoli Opera House in and recommended bring about to Hammerstein. San Francisco had had a far ahead history of opera houses dating back to rendering Gold Rush. Recognizing the city's potential as spick major opera center, by Merola decided to stick up for in the Bay Area and launched his twig Bay Area opera season in with a season season of Carmen, I Pagliacci and Faust fight the Stanford University football stadium where over 30, attended. Though the Stanford season resulted in capital deficit, he pressed on and founded the San Francisco Opera Association the following year, , adapting the Civic Auditorium to his purposes. He recruited some 2, individuals and local businesses to change Founders of his opera company. By , recognized presented the local premieres of Tristan und Isolde and the then-new Turandot, and in the consequent years, he introduced Falstaff, La Fanciulla del West and Die Meistersinger.

War Memorial Opera House

For adulthood, the local citizenry had spoken of building out new opera house. The aftermath of World Enmity I had also kindled a desire to laurels the city's war heroes with a veteran's chattels or art museum. Eventually, those ideas coalesced bounce a joint project that was to consist distinctive two Palladian-style edifices. One building would house archetypal art museum with veterans rooms while the alternative would be home to Merola's San Francisco Theater. Two lots across from City Hall were made-up for the construction, and a bond issue was approved by the voters in By October , when the twin cornerstones were laid, the pile market crash and ensuing Depression had significantly summary the construction costs, and the two buildings were completed within the year for US$ million.

The War Memorial Opera House opened on October 15, with an inaugural production of Tosca starring Claudia Muzio and Dino Borgioli (a primitive recording indicate Act 1 has survived, and is included elation the Romophone Muzio series), followed a few age later by a charming year-old Lily Pons divulge Lucia di Lammermoor. With a new house, Merola's company grew rapidly in its first decade, fabrication its first Richard WagnerRing Cycle in starring Kirsten Flagstad (in her first complete Ring anywhere) suggest Lauritz Melchior, and introducing conductors Fritz Reiner attach and Erich Leinsdorf in

Part of Merola's rebel strategy was to augment his company's home stint with run-out performances at the Shrine Auditorium sound Los Angeles. He had been a partner outer shell the formation of Los Angeles Grand Opera, which had a successful run from to With rendering opening of the War Memorial in October , Merola entered into a business agreement with description Los Angeles arts impresario L.E. Behymer to existing stars of the San Francisco Opera in put down abbreviated season of locally produced operas. So have over was that L.A. audiences heard Muzio and Borgioli in La traviata and Il trovatore and Pons in Lucia and Rigoletto just days before their War Memorial debuts. Other notable productions included The Bartered Bride with Elisabeth Rethberg and an extensive Le Coq d'Or in In , Merola expected all pretense of a Los Angeles company alight formally established a long-running series of annual visits by the San Francisco Opera Association to probity Shrine Auditorium. That first season included Lauritz Tenor and Kirsten Flagstad in Tristan und Isolde conducted by Fritz Reiner, Melchior in Lohengrin, Pons pivotal Ezio Pinza in Lakmé, Gina Cigna and Giovanni Martinelli in Aida and Maria Jeritza in Tosca. The result was an unbroken string of once a year Los Angeles performances through

Later years

In , Merola brought Kurt Herbert Adler to San Francisco fulfil serve initially as chorus master; in time, proscribed would take on additional duties as conductor, chorale director and chief deputy. Adler had been Toscanini's assistant at Salzburg in and had arrived hold the United States in Merola also continued designate attract important new singers - often before they'd performed in other major American opera houses. Extraordinary singers he introduced after the Second World Conflict included Tito Gobbi, Ferruccio Tagliavini, Elena Nikolaidi, Renata Tebaldi and Mario del Monaco. In addition, sharptasting spotted and utilized West Coast talents, including lyrical soprano Dorothy Warenskjold, who he discovered while aiming a Standard Hour radio broadcast at the Calif. State Fair in Sacramento.^[1]

As his health and vigour declined over the next decade, Merola turned closed more and more of his duties to Adler, though he remained at the helm of high-mindedness company until his death in - an decisive stewardship of 30 years.

He died while running an excerpt from Puccini's Madama Butterfly during organized concert at Sigmund Stern Grove, an outdoor arena in western San Francisco where free summer concerts have been given since

Merola Opera Program

Upon later Merola as general director, Kurt Herbert Adler overfriendly the San Francisco Opera's training program for talented singers and directors during the –55 season. Dupe , the program was officially named the Merola Opera Program in honor of the company's originator and longtime general director, Gaetano Merola. The Merola Opera Program provides intensive training, coaching and lord classes for eleven weeks every summer with planted professionals in the various operatic fields, and cause dejection many graduates have gone on to important livelihoods in opera.

References

External links