Leone Sinigaglia was born in Turin, Italy, on August 14, 1868. His
preliminary music study took place at the Liceo Musicale of his native
city and was completed with Mandyczewski in Vienna and Dvořák in Prague.
The latter encouraged him to write music in a national Italian idiom. It
was in this style that he created his earliest significant compositions,
the first being _Danze piemontesi_, introduced in Turin in 1905,
Toscanini conducting. Later works included _Rapsodia piemontese_ for
violin and orchestra; _Piemonte_, for orchestra; a violin concerto; and
various works for chamber music groups, solo instruments and orchestra.
He died in Turin on May 16, 1944.
His best known and most frequently played composition is a gay,
infectious little concert overture, _Le Baruffe chiozzotte_ (_The
Quarrels of the People of Chiozzo)_, op. 32 (1907). It was inspired by
the Goldoni comedy of the same name which offers an amusing picture of
life in the little town of Chiozzo. There Lucietto and Tita are in love,
quarrel, and become reconciled through the ministrations of the
magistrate. A loud theme for full orchestra provides the overture with a
boisterous beginning. A passing tender thought then comes as contrast.
After some elaboration of these ideas, a delightful folk song is heard
first in the oboe, and then in violins. The tempo now quickens, the mood
becomes restless, and the music grows sprightly. An amusing little
episode now appears in woodwind and violins after which the folk song
and the loud opening theme are recalled.
_Piemonte_, a suite for orchestra, op. 36 is a charming four-movement
composition in which the folk melodies and dances of Piedmont are
prominently used. The first movement, “Over Woods and Fields,” opens
with a folk tune, which the composer repeats in the finale. Two other
delightful ideas follow: the first in the horn, repeated by the cellos;
the second in muted first violins. In the second movement, “A Rustic
Dance,” the principal Piedmont dance tune is heard in solo violin and
oboe; a second subject occurs after the development of the first in
lower strings and woodwind. The heart of the third movement, “In the
Sacred Mountain,” is a folk song first offered by the horns, accompanied
by cellos and double basses. The suite ends with a picture of a
festival, “Piedmontese Carnival,” its two vigorous ideas heard
respectively in full orchestra, and in trumpet and first violins.