Floridia, Pietro

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Floridia, Pietro

Floridia, Pietro, Italian composer; b. Modica, Sicily, May 5, 1860; d. N.Y., Aug. 16, 1932. He studied in Naples with Cesi (piano) and Lauro Rossi (composition), and while at the Naples Cons. publ. several piano pieces which became quite popular. On May 7, 1882, he brought out in Naples a comic opera, Carlotta Clepier. From 1888 to 1892 he taught at the Palermo Cons., and then lived in Milan. In 1904 he emigrated to the U.S. He taught at the Cincinnati Coll. of Music (1906–08), and in 1908 settled in N.Y. where in 1913 he organized and conducted an Italian Sym. Orch. there. His music (mostly for the stage) is written in a competent manner, in the style of the Italian verismo. Floridia ed. a valuable collection in 2 vols., Early Italian Songs and Airs (Philadelphia, 1923). His other operas included Maruzza (Venice, Aug. 23, 1894), La colonia libera (Rome, May 7, 1899), and Paoletta (Cincinnati, Aug. 29, 1910), as well as The Scarlet Letter (1902; not produced) and Malia (completed in 1932; not produced).

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire

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