Born in Capua, Jan 6, 1856
Died in Naples, June 1, 1909
- Martucci was a prominent composer of concert music at a time when opera dominated Italy’s musical culture.
- Martucci won early fame throughout Europe as a piano virtuoso, garnering praise from Liszt. In 1877, one of his patrons founded an orchestra specifically for Martucci to conduct, the Orchestra Napoletana.
- As an orchestral conductor, Martucci introduced many non-Italian works to Italy, including works by Stanford, Sullivan, Brahms and Franck. He also directed the Italian premiere of Tristan und Isolde, and programmed historical works (unusual for the time) by Bach, Rameau and others.
- Fun fact: Martucci met Brahms in Bologna in 1888. The story goes that neither knew the other’s language, so they communicated by singing to each other.1
Sources
- John C.G. Waterhouse and Folco Perrino, “Martucci, Giuseppe,” Grove Music Online (2001), accessed November 13, 2019, https://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo-9781561592630-e-0000017947.