Erik Bruchez
Thu, 12 Dec 2002 10:49:27 -0800
Dear list, In August 1902, Mascagni was involved with composing incidental music for "The Eternal City", a play by then-famous playwright and novelist Hall Caine (1853 - 1931). The first performance of the play and music took place on October 2, 1902 in London. iddb.com also records a series of 92 performances (which seems a lot) of the play at the Victoria Theater in New York, starting November 17, 1902. A concert performance of the music took place on December 7, 1902 in New York, conducted by the composer. Unfortunately it looks like the orchestral score was lost (let's hope that some copy subsists somewhere). Today, almost exactly a century after the premiere, would have been the right time for performing the work again! The only available recording I am aware of is a band arrangement of the Serenade, performed in 1971 and released on MRF: http://www.mascagni.org/works/eternal/recordings I recently found a superb 16-page illustrated manifesto published in 1902 in New York under the following title: Viola Allen In Hall Caine's New Play The Eternal City Musical Setting by Pietro Mascagni Viola Allen was the star of The Eternal City. Born in 1869, she had made her debut in Hall Caine's The Christian in 1898, and from then on only played leading woman's parts throughout her entire career. The document starts with praise for Viola Allen and her "stellar career" and goes on with a detailed 4-page synopsis of the play interleaved by a series of nine wonderful pictures of Viola Allen and scenes from the play. No mention of Mascagni or his music except on the front pages though. A new photo album presents those scenes from The Eternal City: http://www.mascagni.org/pictures/eternal I will follow-up soon with a copy of the complete document. Enjoy, -Erik -- Unsubscribe by sending unsubscribe in the body to [EMAIL PROTECTED]