Tommasini, Vincenzo

Tommasini, Vincenzo, Italian composer; b. Rome, Sept. 17, 1878; d. there, Dec. 23, 1950. He studied violin with Pinelli, and later theory with Falchi at the Liceo di Santa Cecilia in Rome; then went to Berlin, where he took lessons with Bruch; after sojourns in Paris, London, and N.Y., he returned to Rome. He wrote music in the poetic tradition of Italian Romanticism; his operas, symphonic works, and chamber music obtained immediate performances and favorable receptions; however, his most successful piece, Le Donne di buon umore, was not an original work but a comedy-ballet written on music from sonatas by Domenico Scarlatti, arranged in a series of tableaux and brilliantly orchestrated; this was a commission for the Ballets Russes of Diaghilev, who staged it at Rome in April 1917, and kept it in the repertoire during his tours all over the world. He publ. La luce invisible (1929) and Saggio d’estetica sperimentale (1942).

Works

dramatic: Opera: Medea (1902-04; Trieste, April 8, 1906); Amore di terra lontana (1907-08); Uguale fortuna (1911; Rome, 1913); Dielja (c. 1935); II tenore sconfitto, ovvero La presunzione punita (Rome, 1950). B a 1 1 e t : Le donne di buon umore (1916; Rome, April 1917; suite, 1920; based on sonatas by D. Scarlatti); Le diable s’amuse (1936; N.Y., 1937); Tiepolesco (Naples, 1945). ORCH.: La vita e un sogno (1901); Poema erotico (1908-09); Inno alla beltà (1911); Ciari di luna (1914-15; Rome, 1916); II beato regno (1919-20; Rome, 1922); Paesaggi toscani (1922; Rome, 1923); II carnevale di Venezia (1928; N.Y., Oct. 10, 1929); Napule (1929-30; Freiburg im Breisgau, Dec. 7, 1931); Concerto for Violin and Small Orch. (1932); 4 pezzi (1931-34); Concerto for String Quartet and Orch. (1939); La tempesta (1941); Concerto for Orch. and Cello Obbligato (1943); Duo concertante for Piano and Orch. (1948). CHAMBER: 4 string quartets (1898; 1908-09; 1926; 1943); Violin Sonata (1916-17); 2 piano trios (1929, 1946); Harp Sonata (1938); piano pieces. VOCAL: Messa da requiem for Chorus and Organ (1944); choruses; songs.

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire