Tenor Kaufmann’s golden age of operas at end-19th century

Italy’s opera community was in a crisis in the early 1880s. Giuseppe Verdi, a national hero, reduced his new releases, and French operas represented by Jules Massenet began to rush into Italy. While Italian operas accounted for around 90 percent in the 19th century, they fell to around 40 percent during that period.

In particular, Casa Ricordi, a publisher of classical music and opera where Verdi used to work, had a sense of crisis. It had to develop a new opera hero as Verdi’s successor. It found Giacomo Puccini who was trained by Amilcare Ponchielli at the Milan Conservatory. The publisher’s owner who watched the premier of Puccini’s first opera “La Villi” in 1884, liked it, and Puccini composed masterpieces like “La Boheme,” “Tosca,” and “Madame Butterfly” under his auspices.

Sonzogno, Casa Ricordi’s competitor, led the import of French operas. The publisher which felt criticism that it does not develop its own culture began to open a one-act opera contest for young opera composers in 1883. The 1889 winner was Mascagni’s Cavalleria Rusticana, which was a big success. Later, Mascagni serves as a key figure for Sonzogno, holding Casa Ricordi in check.

A figure was a victim in the competition. He was Alfredo Catalani, a composer from Lucca, Puccini’s hometown. His publisher was merged by Casa Ricordi but Ricordi was only interested in making Puccini successful. Catalani died at 39 but he left “La Wally,” a masterpiece. Arturo Toscanini, an Italian conductor who knew both Puccini and Catalini well, always regarded Catalini as a better composer than Puccini.

There is a reason why I introduced the history of the Italian opera community at the end of 19th century. Tenor Jonas Kaufmann will sing the pieces of Verdi, Massenet, Puccini, Mascagni and Catalini with Soprano Hong Hei-kyung in his first performance in Korea at the Seoul Arts Center on Saturday. I hope it could be an opportunity to feel the golden age of operas with the two singers’ beautiful songs.