Other Composers
2° Poutpourri sull'opera
Le educande di Sorrento
ADD19, PP.51.1
Emilio Usiglio (1841-1910) was a composer and conductor whose fame rested on a series of opera buffa. Educande is about a girls' school in Sorrento, a city just outside of Naples. The appearance of two collections of melodies from 1871 suggest that someone (likely not Ponchielli) had heard it and wanted more via the weekly band concerts. Usiglio is styled "cavalieri" in the score, signifying that he had received a knighthood for his compositions by !868, the year of Educande's premiere.
The instrumentation reflects Ponchielli's "ideal" band with one of the trumpets now playing a second flugelhorn part. Though not as memorable in its musical content as works by Verdi, Donizetti, et cetera, it does represent the fare appreciated by Italian audiences as they awaited the next masterwork. A measure of Ponchielli's confidence in his band and its principal players (who taught the music to their sections before combined rehearsals with Ponchielli) is reflected on pages 67-77 in the score. The keys between bracketing E-flat are C-flat to E to G where a naked D is easily transformed from the root of the dominant of G to the third of the dominant of E-flat. The A-flat clarinet (with four flats embedded in its clef) is actually playing in F-flat.
The score is one of the more difficult to transcribe as accidentals are often left un-notated, requiring a careful "listening" to find the errors. This score was prepared very rapidly with "sketch-like" notes that suggest haste and reliance on the sure hand of longtime copyist Francesco Belforti and the band's principal players.
The most interesting note might be found in the concert sites listed. "Piazza San Domenico" was soon to ba named "Piazza Roma" instead of the "Piazza Stradivari" that Ponchielli preferred. The performance dates comprise both collections as no difference was noted in the public programs.
Date on Score: None given
Performance Dates:Thursday, June 15, 1871, Piazza Garibaldi; Thursday June 22, 1871, Piazza Cavour; Thursday, July 20, 1871, Piazza San Domenico; Thursday, July 27, Piazza Garibaldi; Monday, August 21, 1871, Unknown; Saturday, November 11, 1871, Piazza Cavour; Sunday, February 18, 1872, Piazza Cavour; Sunday, May 26, 1872, Piazza Garibaldi; Thursday, June 20, 1872, Piazza Roma