Born in Lucca, June 19, 1854
Died in Milan, Aug 7, 1893
- Catalani is best known for his Italian operas, which came right before the ascendance of the verismo style.1 His most famous opera, La Wally, contains the famous soprano aria, “Ebben? Ne andrò lontano”2
- Toscanini was a friend of Catalani and admired his work so much that he named one of his daughters Wally after Catalani’s La Wally.3
Sources
- Michele Girardi, “Catalani, Alfredo,” Grove Music Online (2001), accessed August 15, 2019, https://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo-9781561592630-e-0000005158.
- “La Wally (Catalani, Alfredo), International Music Score Library Project, accessed August 15, 2019, https://imslp.org/wiki/La_Wally_(Catalani,_Alfredo).
- Pietro Spada, liner notes to Puccini, Catalani e Ponchielli per Orchestra, Riccardo Muti, Filharmonica della Scala, Sony 63025, CD, 1998.