Sinigaglia, Leone

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Sinigaglia, Leone

Sinigaglia, Leone, Italian composer; b. Turin, Aug. 14, 1868; d. there, May 16, 1944. He was a pupil at the Turin Cons., studying with Giovanni Bolzoni, and later studied in Vienna (1894–1900) with Mandyczewski, and in Prague with Vysoka and Dvořák (1900–01). His first successful work was a violin concerto (1900) dedicated to Arrigo Serata, who played it with considerable success in the principal cities of Germany. His early works were much influenced by Brahms and DvoMk; then he turned for inspiration to the music of his native Piedmont, and in this field achieved a lasting reputation. Toscanini conducted in Turin the premiere of Sinigaglia’s suite Danze piemontesi, on popular themes (May 14, 1905). Later Sinigaglia publ, a collection of songs (6 albums), Vecchie canzoni populari del Piemonte; another work in the folk-song manner is the symphonic suite Piemonte (1909; Utrecht, Feb. 16, 1910). He further wrote Le Baruffe Chiozzotte, an overture to Goldoni’s comedy (Utrecht, Dec. 21, 1907), Rapsodia piemontese for Violin and Orch. (1900), Romanze for Violin and Orch. (1899), Variations on a Theme of Brahms for String Quartet (1901), Serenade for String Trio (1906), and Cello Sonata (1923),

Bibliography

C. Mosso and E. Bassi, eds., L. S., Torino, 1868–1944: Primo centenario della nascita (Turin, 1968).

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire