One area of opera I was missing in my database was early Italian opera. The earliest opera I found that used the saxophone was Giaccomo Puccini’s Turandot. Is this really the first Italian opera that used the saxophone? I knew I was missing some works. I was getting ready to dig into Italian opera featuring the saxophone and I came across www.ilsaxofonoitaliano.it. Turns out I didn’t even need to do research, it’s all been done. This website is great tool for researching, exploring saxophone music, and discovering new works in all genres. I listened and learned so much about Italian saxophone music. Before I dig into opera, lets look at some early Italian saxophone music.
Suite Siciliana (1908)-by Giovanni Battista Marinuzzi
This suite is composed of 4 movement and features a quartet of saxophones. The video is from movement 3, “Valzer campreste,” this arrangement features the soprano saxophone. Suite Siciliana is originally written for orchestra, the video above is a band transcription. To hear the rest of the suite in the original orchestra version, check it out here. The following year Marinuzzi completed another suite dedicated the Sicily, this time as a symphonic poem. Check out the 1909 Sicania poema sinfonico which features a tenor saxophone solo at the link above.
Sinfonia No. 1 “Classica” (1912)- Franco Alfano
Franco Alfano’s most well known work isn’t his own. If you are familiar with his name, it is because he was tasked to finish Turandot after Puccini’s death. He was not Puccini’s first choice, that fell to Zandonai, but Puccini’s family was concerned Zandonai’s popularity would overshadow Puccini. To ensure this opera would be credited to Puccini, they hired Alfano to complete Turandot. In the Sinfonia no. 1 above and in his operas, you hear hints of Orientalism, Impressionism, and late romantic harmonies. There are no obvious saxophone solos, the timbre seems mixed with the other woodwinds.
Alfano’s catalogue of works do not get performed regularly anymore. In the 1920s and 30s, Alfano was an active member of the Fascist party in Italy, receiving Officier de la Légion d’Honneur in 1936.[1] After WWII, many orchestras and opera companies ignored composers who aligned themselves with the Axis powers, including Alfano. He died in 1954 relatively unknown.
Domenico Savino: Sax-O-Trix and In the Orient (1926). Two solos by Wiedoeft were written by the Italian composer Domenico Savino. Now I will admit I was surprised to find works performed by Rudy Wiedoeft on this website. The links above will take you Wiedoeft’s recordings of the works.
Quadri di Segantini (1931)- Riccardo Zandonai
Quadri di Segantini is possibly my favorite work I have found on this website. It is unique for its time. It’s a Symphonic Tone Poem written in 1931. It is based off of the Italian painter Giovanni Segantini’s paintings of rural life, each movement of the work represents one of Segantini’s paintings shown in the video above. Zandonai displays a great understanding of late romantic melodies and development over the four movements. There are several exposed alto saxophone solos, you can hear it at 6:00 minute mark, and the 9:28 minute mark in the video above. Looking at a list of tone poems, the saxophone is rarely included in that genre, this is one of the few exceptions. The tone poem also displays Zandonai’s strong ties to the romantic style, he was not influenced by the musical trends happening in the rest of Europe.
Partita (1932)-Luigi Dallapiccola
Luigi Dallapiccola is best known for his use of the 12 tone system and serialism, but before his exposure to Schoenberg, he tried his hand at neo-classicism and impressionism. This Partita is the best example of his early writings, the video above is the 2nd movement. I chose this movement because the driving tenor saxophone melody. To hear the rest, and the gorgeous impressionist vocal solo in the 3rd movement, click here to hear all movements.
Nocturno e Passacaglia (2011)-Ennio Morricone
Now I admit, this isn’t early Italian saxophone music, but how could I leave out one of the best Italian composers of the 20th century? Honestly I was excited to see that Morricone wrote for the saxophone, as the saxophone is absent in many of his film scores. He got around to writing for the saxophone late in his career, but we should be happy he finally got there. This recording features the Italian saxophonist Mimmo Malandra.
Hope you enjoy the sounds of the Italian saxophone, next I will go into the history of the Italian opera and how the saxophone found it’s way on the stage.
[1] Harrison, Luvada A. Lirich Vocale da Salotto di Franco Alfano (Lyric Vocal Songs for the Salon of Franco Alfano), Florida State University, 2007, pg. 18. Retrieved: https://diginole.lib.fsu.edu/islandora/object/fsu:182397/datastream/PDF/download
the Operatic Saxophone 