ALFANO, FRANCO  BIOGRAPHY

Franco Alfano was born in Naples on 8 March 1875. After studying the piano privately with Alessandro Longo, and harmony and composition with Camillo de Nardis and Paolo Serrao at the Conservatorio di San Pietro a Majella, Naples, he moved in 1895 to Leipzig, where he furthered his studies with Hans Sitt and Salomon Jadassohn. In 1896 he went to Berlin and launched himself as a pianist, though he did not continue this activity systematically for long: in later life he appeared in public only as a song accompanist and chamber music player, mainly in his own works. From 1899 until about 1905 he was based in Paris, where he composed light music for the Folies Bergère. It is interesting to note that, although Alfano is thought of as an Italian composer, he was actually half French on his mother’s side. He then settled in Milan, moving in 1914 to San Remo, which remained at least his summer home for the rest of his life. It was in 1904 that his big international success came following the world première of his opera, Risurrezione, based on the Tolstoy novel. It was then performed at La Scala in 1906. Continued popularity led to a United States tour starring Mary Garden in 1925–27. By 1951 it had reached its 1000th performance and he had become Naples’ most celebrated son. From 1916 he taught composition at the Liceo Musicale, Bologna, which he directed from 1918. While there (1920), he helped to found the society Musica Nova, which in some ways paralleled Casella’s Società Italiana di Musica Moderna. Alfano was appointed director of the Liceo Musicale (later Conservatory) of Turin in 1923, remaining there until 1939. During 1940–42 he was superintendent of the Teatro Massimo, Palermo, subsequently becoming for a few months professor of operatic studies at the Conservatorio di Santa Cecilia, Rome. From 1947 to 1950 he served as acting director of the Liceo Musicale, Pesaro. Generally known outside Italy only as the composer who completed Puccini’s Turandot, Alfano was far from being a mere Puccini disciple, but his originality and gentle personality did not please the arrogant Arturo Toscanini, who conducted Turandot’s world première. After Alfano nearly lost his eyesight poring over Puccini’s sketches, Toscanini brutally cut Alfano’s finished ending from 377 bars to 268. Then, not satisfied, he further cut out Turandot’s aria ‘Del primo pianto’. Finally, on opening night at La Scala in 1926, Toscanini stopped conducting where Puccini’s music ended and Alfano’s began, and left the orchestra pit. This incident had a lot to do with damaging Alfano’s career and ensuring his falling into obscurity after his death. Only in the 1980s was the original Alfano ending discovered and finally performed as he intended.