Leoncavallo: Life and Works (review)

Abstract

Leoncavallo: Life and Works. By Konrad Dryden. Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press, 2007. [xvi, 351 p. ISBN-10 0810858800; ISBN-13 9780810858800. $75.] Illustrations, references, bibliography, appendix, index. No scholar deserves more credit for furthering cause of neglected turn-of-thetwentieth- century Italian composers than Konrad Dryden. Following publication of his biography of Riccardo Zandonai (New York: Lang, 1999), Dryden has now provided a study of Ruggiero Leoncavallo's life and works. With relatively little information about Leoncavallo readily accessible, Dryden had to start almost from scratch, wondering some justification why a composer of one of world's most famous operas has received such little research over past one hundred (p. xiii). Dryden set himself lofty goal of writing the ultimate reference on this important figure in music and opera history (http://www.konrad-dryden.de [accessed 21 November 2007]); while this goal has turned out to be too ambitious, he has realized his goal of providing a foundation for future research (p. xv). Dryden's study consists of two parts, a biography (to p. 186) and a description of major works (to p. 320). An appendix of major compositions (including references to operas' literary sources, original casts, and places and dates of first performances), a bibliography, and an index of names conclude book. Dryden paints a paradoxical but convincing picture of Leoncavallo. On one hand, he sees a generous man of high culture who lived in four countries (Italy, Egypt, France, and Switzerland), had an extensive knowledge of literature (due in part to studies Giosue Carducci), made generous charitable contributions, and composed effective works in addition to Pagliacci (especially La nuit de mai, La boheme, Zaza, and Maia). On other hand, he sees a man who repeatedly sacrificed artistic integrity, accepted every libretto apparently without ever requesting revisions, played one publisher against another, and blamed others for his lack of success: his publisher Sonzogno for insufficient promotion, Ricordi for waging a war against him, and famous performers such as Enrico Caruso, Tita Ruffo, and Arturo Toscanini for not performing his works more often. According to Dryden, Leoncavallo's decline began Der Roland von Berlin (commissioned by Kaiser Wilhelm II and premiered in 1904) and accelerated Sonzogno's increasing financial problems and onset of World War I, during which Leoncavallo's opportunistic but inconsistent stance vis-a-vis Germans and French proved counterproductive for performance of his operas in those countries. Dryden assembles a large number of unpublished documents and succeeds in shedding light on periods of Leoncavallo's life that have been hardly known at all, such as his relationship German publisher Furstner and his years in Paris, when he worked as a pianist in cafe concerts and barely managed to make ends meet. The introduction to book raises expectation that Dryden might also be able to solve some of mysteries of Leoncavallo's life, most of which composer himself promoted (beginning with uncertain year of his birth, time spent in Egypt and Paris, his health, his finances, Pagliacci's origins, and his relationship Puccini and other colleagues [p. xiii]). Dryden does establish date of Leoncavallo's birth (reproducing birth certificate) and covers Leoncavallo's Egyptian period. But composer's health, origins of and his relationship Puccini remain either mysterious or less thoroughly covered than elsewhere. For example, Dryden's discussion of Leoncavallo's health is limited to providing Latin names for illnesses, and his treatment of Pagliacci's origins is less thorough than has been provided by Matteo Sansone (The Verismo of Ruggero Leoncavallo: A Source Study of Pagliacci, Music & Letters 70, no. …