Guglielmo Zuelli 1859 - 1941

[giles.enders]

Guglielmo Zuelli  Born 22.10.1859  Reggio Emilia  Died  8.10.1941 Milan

After losing his parents at a young age, he went to live with his grandmother who was  extremely poor and they were both arrested for begging and imprisoned for three days.  He was then brought up in an orphanage and was fortunate to be able to study music there with Giuseppe Grisanti. After leaving the orphanage he continued his music studies at the Liceo Musicale di Bologna under Alessandro Busi and Luigi Mancinelli. He went on to hold several conducting and educational posts and was director of the Parma Conservatory in the years 1911-1929

Orchestral

Symphony in F major  1896
'Un Saluto al mare'  - symphonic poem  1908 (La festa dell Sirene movement is often performed as a separate piece)
'La danza delle Ondine' – symphonic poem  1882
'The Song of the Romagna boar' – symphonic poem 1913
'Bertoldo' – symphonic fable in four movements  1918
Gavotta for strings  1910

Chamber

'Sweet Rest' berceuse for cello and piano
Piece for strings, harp and harmonium
'The Day went away' for piano, strings and harp

Piano

Barcarolle

Song

'Do I fear you' words by Luigi Conforti
'My Song'  words by Tagore

Sacred

Four part escape on the theme 'Faith to Bach'  1885
Missa in Lonorem Sanctae Agentis  for voice, harmonium and organ
'Christmas is passing' for voice, violin and organ

Choral

Inno alla note  for soloists, chorus and orchestra
'Tra La la' for 4 part chorus for male voices
'Nell 'or a mesta' for 4 part chorus.

Opera

'La fata del nord' pub. by Ricordi  1883
'Mocana o Il profeta del Korosan'

[Mark Thomas]

Interesting as ever, Giles. Thanks. "The Song of the Romagna boar" might be a bit of a grunt-fest though!

[eschiss1]

I don't know, the title sounds intriguing, even festive. Or maybe that's just because I haven't had breakfast.
(No, I do not ordinarily have roast boar for breakfast.
Or ever, but y'know, all in the name of extending the charge. I think they use Discovery.)

[eschiss1]

More seriously, according to SBN (which is my usual go-to library catalog for Italian composers), the "piece" for strings, harp and harmonium is catalogued as a "Largo" published by Fantuzzi in the 1870s, and the date of the symphony should maybe be revised upward toward "nel 1889" also according to an entry there ("Prima sinfonia : (in fa, composta nel 1889) / di Guglielmo Zuelli" - also published by Fantuzzi, date estimated as during the 1870s, again.)

SBN also lists: a Fantuzzi-published (ca.1900??) "Scherzo : Festa delle Sirene per Grande Orchestra" by Zuelli; a "Fuga per organo : sul tema Fede a Bach" published by Carrara in 2005 but originally published in a collection ca.1890 (oh ok, I see you have that listed as 4-part escape. That's "fugue", over-translated!!)

Also "Campane suonate! : coro per voci bianche con acc.to di pianoforte" (mss, 1925-40), Dal libro di Titania : quattri piccoli canti : (canto e pianoforte) (pub. Ricordi, 1911), Al duce : Inno per voci nel mondo italico : per pianoforte e canto (yes, probably dedicated to that guy...) (pub. 1928), and some other works.

[alberto]

"The song of the Romagna BOAR" appears a mis-translation. It should be "The song of the Romagna cowherd".
Zuelli should have been a musician of merit. He won the contest in which Puccini "Le Villi" (or "Willis") got no award.
As conductor, he deputized for Martucci for some of the first performances of Tristan und Isolde.
I have never had notice of an actual performance of one Zuelli work.

[alberto]

Sorry.I meant the first Italian performances of Tristan und Isolde.

[semloh]

When I did a search for Zuelli on YT, up came a symphonic poem by Giuseppe Mulè, with no mention of Zuelli. Strange, I thought!

After a bit of sleuthing it transpired that both were Directors of the Parma Music Conservatory.  The dates get a bit confused, however, because the Wiki page for Mulè says that he became Director in 1922, but the Conservatory's own website says that Zuelli continued in the post until 1929, as already noted, and thereafter it was Luigi Ferrari. Maybe there are two such Conservatories.
http://www.conservatorio.pr.it/en/storia/

Having confused myself, I was nonetheless pleased to have stumbled across Mulè's symphonic poem!