Riccardo Drigo

Riccardo Drigo

Italian composer, conductor and pianist
Date of Birth: 30.06.1846
Country: Italy

Content:
  1. Biography of Riccardo Drigo
  2. Early Career and Education
  3. Emerging as a Conductor
  4. Blossoming Career as a Conductor
  5. Later Years and Legacy

Biography of Riccardo Drigo

Riccardo Drigo was an Italian composer, conductor, and pianist. He was born on June 30, 1846, in Padua, Italy. Drigo's father was a lawyer, and his mother, an Italian aristocrat, had a passion for politics. Although there were no musicians in his family, Drigo began taking piano lessons at the age of five from a family friend, Hungarian musician Antonio Jorich.

Riccardo Drigo

Early Career and Education

Drigo's musical education progressed rapidly, and by his teenage years, he had become a local celebrity in Padua. His father allowed him to attend the prestigious Venice Conservatory, where he became a student of Antonio Buzzolla, who had been a student of Gaetano Donizetti. While at the conservatory, Drigo began composing music, primarily romances and waltzes.

Emerging as a Conductor

In 1862, at the age of 16, Drigo was allowed to perform some of his compositions with a local amateur orchestra in Padua. It was during this time that he developed an interest in conducting. After completing his studies at the conservatory in 1864, Drigo secured a position as a rehearsal pianist at a local theater.

Soon, he was invited to conduct performances for amateur opera troupes in Vicenza, Rovigo, Udine, and Venice. At the age of 22, Drigo premiered his first opera, "Don Pedro di Portogallo," at the Garibaldi Theatre in Padua. While the premiere was successful, subsequent performances were canceled due to a cholera epidemic that struck Padua and its surroundings.

Blossoming Career as a Conductor

Over the next ten years, Drigo gained experience as a conductor, leading orchestras in provincial theaters throughout Italy and other European countries. Eventually, he began receiving invitations to conduct in major theaters, including La Scala. In 1878, Drigo's life changed dramatically.

During the opera season in Padua, Karl Karlovich Kister, the director of the Imperial Theaters, attended a performance of "L'elisir d'amore" and was impressed by Drigo's conducting. Kister offered Drigo a six-month contract at the Italian Opera in St. Petersburg, Russia, which he accepted. In St. Petersburg, Drigo became responsible for the entire Italian opera repertoire at the Mariinsky Theatre.

His ability to conduct from memory during performances of grand works such as Verdi's "Aida" and "Un ballo in maschera" astounded his colleagues and the theater management. Drigo's talent earned him great success in Russia.

Later Years and Legacy

By 1879, Drigo was offered a contract extension for the next seven years, with permission to spend three months each year outside of Russia. He finally returned to his hometown of Padua in 1919, after the October Revolution, when the country that had become his second home was engulfed in war. In Padua, he accepted the position of musical director at the Garibaldi Theatre, where he had begun his career. It was there that he composed and premiered his final operas.

Riccardo Drigo passed away on October 1, 1930, at the age of 84. In honor of his contributions to music, a street in his hometown was named after him. Drigo is remembered as an accomplished Italian composer, conductor, and pianist, known for both his original ballet compositions and adaptations of existing works, which have become classics in the world of ballet.

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