FRANCESCO PAOLO TOSTI (Ortona, 9.4.1846 – Rome, 2.12.1916)

Francesco Paolo Tosti was born in Ortona on 9th April 1846. In Ortona he learnt the first rudiments of music but later, prom pted by the music teacher Gaetano Paolini, Giuseppe Tosti (Francesco Paolo's father) applied to the Royal Bourbon Gover nment so the young student might be admitted to take the en trance exam of the Conservatoire of "San Pietro a Majella" in Naples and be awarded a scholarship. Tosti began studying vio lin with Maestro Pinto, counterpoint and harmony with Carlo Costa and composition with Conti and Mercadante at Naples Conservatoire. After his initial years of study, he was appointed "maestrino"; that is to say the student tutor of the younger students. His years at the conservatoire were of great impor tance not only because of his studies which he pursued in a conscientious but not pedantic way but above all for the lively musical circles which he managed to fre quent in that city. In 1866 he gained a diploma in playing the violin, then he reluc tantly returned to Ortona. After his Neapolitan adventure, the restless, ambitious twenty-year-old musician could not help but feel trapped in Ortona.
Towards the end of 1870, Tosti left Abruzzo to seek his fortune in Rome, which had just become the capital of Italy. Rome was heavily influenced by Liszt (whom Tosti would meet) and by the Italian pianist and composer Giovanni Sgambati. The latter would open many important doors for Tosti, allowing him to enter the most aristocratic Roman salons, where he become well-known as a singing tea cher. In this role Tosti served in the court of the Princess of Savoy, who, although not yet Queen, was doing her utmost to prepare herself for her future, by training her ear and correcting her grammar. After more than five years of a profitable stay in Rome, Tosti longed to try his luck elsewhere and England seemed to be the most attractive alternative.
He, therefore, reached England at the end of 1876, the year before London would become the capital of the British Empire, under the auspices of Queen Vic toria, who had been reigning since 1837 and the Prime Minister, Benjamin Disraeli. In these four years F. P. Tosti worked continuously to earn a stable position in En gland. He was still travelling between Rome and London. In 1877 Verdi recom mended him as one of the few noteworthy Italian singing teachers to the German conductor, Hiller. Tosti, however, had set his heart on staying in London. After a couple of uncertain seasons, Tosti reached the success: in a short time many doors were opened, including the most important, that of Buckingham Palace, where Tosti was to enter arm in arm with Edward, the eternal Prince of Wales who he had met in the London salons and who had given him not only his admiration but also immediately his friendship. Tosti became singing teacher to all of Queen Victoria's children, the Duke and Duchess of Connaught, and Victoria's son and daughter-in-law invited him to be their singing teacher and organise their "ducal" musical soi rees. In 1880 Tosti began his artistic collaboration with Gabriele d'Annunzio. Visione!... was the first fruit of this working partnership. Tosti's reputation in En gland was by now assured. The London publisher Chappell offered a prestigious contract to him, whereby he should write at least four romanze a year. Tosti deci ded to take up residence in London and bought a house in Mortimer Street. Soon he had made his name as a teacher, composer and musical organiser in London's musical circles. He lectured at the most important educational institutions in Lon don: the Royal Academy and the Royal College of Music. His romanze and songs all enjoyed enormous success. He organized concerts and musical evenings for the English Court.
Even though England was by now his new home, Tosti never forgot Italy and above all Rome, Naples and the Abruzzo. He kept on a house in Rome in via dei Prefetti, where he spent long periods during which the famous salons of the Giustiniani, the Barberini, the Del Drago, the Massimo, the Borghese and the Chigi fa milies all vied for his presence. However, he did not only return for the fair Roman ladies, but also his friends in Rome, the "Abruzzese clan", the painter Michetti, the sculptor Barbella and the journalist, Scarfoglio. In 1883 the group was joined by the turbulent twenty-year-old d'Annunzio, who would immortalize these musi cal soirees at Tosti's house in many of his articles. The group left Rome in the sum mer and moved to Francavilla, where, in the old convent of Saint Antonio, Michetti had found a comfortable summer retreat. Tosti also visited Naples frequently. In 1886 he composed Marecfiiare, one of his most celebrated songs to a text by Salvatore Di Giacomo. At the end of March he was in Francavilla to spend Easter in the Convent of Michetti. There he set to music a poem in Abruzzese dialect by Tommaso Bruni, Si na scingiate te putesse da (If I could give you a passionate embrace), whose title was soon amended to the more polite La Viuletta. The song was part of a pro ject aimed at creating a contemporary Abruzzese culture, which those associated with the Convent of Michetti were working on.
In 1889 he married Berthe Victoria Jeanne Marie de Verrue (whose anglicized sur name was Pierson), the daughter of a Belgian engineer of French origin. She was a competent singer, well known in London musical circles, where she performed light weight musical productions under the stage name of Mademoiselle Baldi. She was a discreet and affectionate companion and was a pillar of strength in the compose r's happy life. She outlived her husband by many years, dying at almost ninety in 1943 in Paris, where she is buried at the Pere Lachaise Cemetery. In 1890, in Ricordi's villa in Cernobbio, Puccini read the first libretto of Manon Lescaut to Tosti and Giulio Ricordi. This was one of the first meetings between Tosti and Puccini, who were to become close friends. However, at the beginning of the 1890s, it is to be noted that Tosti's visits to Italy became less frequent. During the last decade of the nineteenth century, although he still came annually to Italy, he stayed in England for longer pe riods at a time. There were fewer and fewer romanze signed in Francavilla during the weeks he spent there between the end of summer and the beginning of autumn. Al though the "Gazzetta Musicale di Milano" was always prompt to review his new com positions and publish some as a supplement, it dwelt less on his travels in Italy. Between 1890 and 1891 most of his new romanze were dated either in London or Heme Bay in Kent, in September and October, months previously spent between Milan and Francavilla. Later on, many compositions were finished during that period of the year in Folkestone. That showed to what extent Tosti had settled into English society even if, as mentioned before, he frequently complained about the inclement weather, feeling homesick for Italy.
The reasons for this temporary if not permanent distancing from Italy, which would be interrupted in the first few years of the following century, might be traced back to the increasingly prominent position which he held in English high society and its musical life. From 1885 to 1890 he began working with the English publi shers Chappell and Enoch. The copyrights date back to those years and are about 40 in number. Moreover, many of the romanze edited by Chappell were co-edited by Ricordi. This collaboration with the English publishers helped to establish Tosti's po sition which, as musical organizer and singing teacher to the court of Queen Victo ria, gave him great prestige. He was a figure of prime importance not only for all the Italian composers visiting London, as we shall see when we speak about Puccini, Mascagni and Leoncavallo, but also for many English composers.
In June 1892 Tosti took part in a concert organized at the Royal Albert Hall by the foreign correspondents in London with the support of the greatest embassies in aid of foreign artists without means, who were resident in London. Singers of great renown were present, such as the Canadian soprano Albani, the Polish bass Eduard De Reszke and the French baritone Victor Maurel. The latter sang two ro manze by Tosti accompanied by the composer himself. The same duo, some days later, played at Windsor Castle for a concert in the presence of the Queen. With Maurel sang the soprano Margaret Maclntyre. In the same year Tosti met and began to work with the great Australian soprano Nellie Melba, with whom he would hold several concerts and to whom he dedicated many of his romanze writ ten in English. They met at the house of Lady Randolph Churchill, the mother of the great statesman Winston, and soon the soprano started taking lessons from Tosti in preparation for her English debut with Aida at Covent Garden. Melba wrote a great deal about Tosti in her autobiography ("Melodies and Memories" publi shed in 1925). It was a mixture of anecdotes and important artistic information
describing for instance a concert on a gondola in Venice on the Canal Grande and repeated in London on a boat on the Thames and a memorable joke played by Tosti on the soprano and Enrico Caruso during a performance of Bofieme at Covent Garden. In 1893 Tosti welcomed Mascagni and his wife to London and introduced them at Court, helping them to make important contacts in the English capital.
In 1894 Tosti, who was already a teacher at the Royal College of Music, became a singing teacher at the Royal Academy of Music, playing a more and more impor tant role in the institution as years went by.
On 22 January 1901 Queen Victoria died after reigning for 64 years. As her son Edward VII succeeded her, nothing altered from an "institutional" point of view. Yet there seemed to be another sign of the changing times. Without Victoria, the evenings at court were no longer the same, since the Queen had been an excellent connoisseur of music and a competent amateur. Edward has been King and Em peror for five years and, in 1906, F. P. Tosti accepted British citizenship (which he had politely refused several times before) in order to thank him for his kindness. When the news reached Italy it aroused a storm of controversy and a chorus of complaints in Ortona. In newspaper interviews Tosti replied affirming his "Italianess", yet not hiding a certain note of bitterness. On 11 December 1908 he was made a baronet by Edward VII.
Nevertheless the year 1907 saw the birth of some of his most important com positions: above all Quattro canzoni d'Amaranta to verses by Gabriele d’Annunzio. The 650th anniversary of the translation of the bones of St Thomas the Apostle from the island of Chios to Ortona, took place in 1908. There was much pomp and ceremony and some of Tosti's friends took advantage of his being in Francavilla to organize a concert of his music. It was a tremendous success and in this way peace was made with the people of Ortona. On 9 September the concert was con ducted by Camillo De Nardis, the Abruzzese musician of great note, in Naples (where he held the chair in composition at the "San Pietro a Majella" Conserva toire). In 1909, a celebration was held in Rome at the Circolo Artistico in honour of Tosti by admirers and colleagues. Puccini, Mascagni and Sgambati were pre sent among others.
During the first few weeks of 1911 Tosti was in Rome where he still kept on his apartment in via Veneto, 84. At 66 Tosti decided to leave London and return to Italy with his wife. So Tosti spent the last few years of his life in Rome and Fran cavilla. He sometimes went to Ortona. He still composed but not as much as be fore. In his last romanze it is clear that he is aware of the changes taking place in European musical culture.
On 2 December 1916 Tosti died in an apartment in Hotel Excelsior, Rome. Im mediately Berthe received messages of sympathy from d’Annunzio, from Their Royal Highnesses King George and Queen Mary of England, HRH Alexandra, the Queen Mother, and the philosopher, Filippo Masci, commissioner of the "San Pie tro a Majella" Conservatoire of Naples. Telegrams were sent by Matilde Serao, by the singers Enrico Caruso, Ferdinando De Lucia, Alessandro Bonci, the compo sers Giacomo Puccini, Pietro Mascagni, Ruggero Leoncavallo, Umberto Giordano, Francesco Cilea and Arrigo Boito.
A few days later, in spite of the war being at its height, a majestic funeral took place, attended by dignitaries from the world of politics, music, art, science and the Roman aristocracy: from Gugliemo Marconi to Nathan, from the bass Nazareno De Angelis to the baritone Antonio Cotogni, the actresses Dina Galli and Adelaide Ristori (the Marquise Capranica del Grillo), the poets Trilussa and Pascarella, and then represen tatives from England, from the Academy of Santa Cecilia, the wife of d’Annunzio, Maria Hardouin of Gallese, the Members of Parliament, Masciantonio, Tedesco and Mezzanotte, the of ficial representatives of the City of Rome, of Ortona and the Provincial Council of Chieti. His mortal remains were deposi ted at the cemetery of Verano in Rome. This was said to be a temporary measure because of the war, as they were then to be transferred to Ortona. This was not to happen, however, until 44 years later, in September 1960.