Giribaldi, (Vicente) Tomás E. (1847–1930)

(Vicente) Tomás E. Giribaldi (b. 18 October 1847; d. 11 April 1930), Uruguayan composer. Giribaldi was born in Montevideo, where he began his studies with Giuseppe Strigelli and the celebrated Italian bass player Giovanni Bottesini. Later, he studied with the Spaniard Carmelo Calvo and the Italian Giuseppe Giuffra, European composers who had settled in Montevideo. As a member of a family of musicians of Italian origin, Giribaldi became an active participant in the musical life of Montevideo at an early age. His first compositions were piano and vocal pieces; as he matured, he became attracted to the operatic forms. As the first opera written by a Uruguayan composer, La Parisina, which premiered at the Teatro Solís in Montevideo on 14 September 1878, earned for Giribaldi a place of honor in the music history of his country. The Italian libretto by Felice Romani was sung by the artists of the Italian Lyric Company Nazarino under the baton of maestro Leopoldo Montenegro. Giribaldi composed three additional operas: Manfredi di Svevia, Inés de Castro, and Magda, none of which achieved the success of La Parisina. In addition, he composed works for orchestra, band, and piano, as well as chamber music, including the symphonic poem El Athenaeum, and the suite Scènes militaires. He died in Montevideo.

See alsoMusic: Art Music .

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Susana Salgado, Breve historia de la música culta en el Uruguay, 2d ed. (1980); New Grove Dictionary of Opera, vol. 2 (1992).

Susana Salgado, The Teatro Solís of Montevideo (forthcoming).

Additional Bibliography

Salgado, Susana. The Teatro Solís: 150 Years of Opera, Concert, and Ballet in Montevideo. Middletown: Wesleyan University Press, 2003.

                                           Susana Salgado