A Dictionary of Music and Musicians/Morlacchi, Francesco
MORLACCHI, Francesco, composer; born at Perugia, June 14, 1784. He learnt the violin at seven years old from his father. At twelve was placed under Caruso, Maestro of the cathedral of Perugia, who taught him singing, the clavier, and thorough-bass, while he learned the organ from Mazetti, his maternal great-uncle. At thirteen he had already composed much, and during his years of boyhood wrote several pieces for the church, among which a short oratorio, 'Gli angeli al sepolcro,' attracted the attention of many amateurs, and among them, of his godfather, Count Pietro Baglioni, who sent him to study counterpoint with Zingarelli, at j Loreto. But the severe conventional teaching of Zingarelli clashed with the aspirations of his young, impatient mind, and after a year and a half he returned to Perugia. Conscious, however, that he had still a great deal to learn, he went to Bologna, to complete his studies under Padre Mattei. [See Mattei.] Here he devoted much attention to ecclesiastical music, besides making a special study of the orchestra, and acquiring a practical knowledge of all the chief instruments. During this time of studentship he was commissioned to write a cantata for the coronation of Napoleon as King of Italy, at Milan, in 1805. In February, 1807, a musical farce called 'Il Poeta in Campagna,' was performed at the Pergola theatre in Florence, and, later in this year, a Miserere for 16 voices having won golden opinions, the composer was invited to visit Verona, where he produced his first buffo opera, 'Il Ritratto.' He achieved his first popular success with the melodrama, 'Il Corradino,' at Parma, in 1808. This was followed by 'Enone e Paride,' 'Oreste,' 'Rinaldo d'Asti,' 'La Principessa per ripiego,' 'Il Simoncino,' and 'Le Avventure d'una Giornata,' besides a grand Mass. But all these were surpassed by 'Le Danaide,' written for the Argentino theatre at Rome, in 1810. This work was immensely successful, and once for all established its composer's fame. Through the influence of Count Marcolini, Minister to the Court of Saxony, Morlacchi was now appointed chapel-master of the Italian opera at Dresden, at first for a year, subsequently for life, with a large salary, besides a considerable honorarium for every new opera he might compose, and leave of absence for some months of each year, with liberty to write what he pleased, where he pleased. This appointment he held till his death. The Italian style had long reigned supreme in the Dresden fashionable world, and Morlacchi at once became 'the rage.' His music partook of the styles of Paer and Mayer; it was melodious and pleasing, but very slight in character. He now acquainted himself to some extent with the works of the great German masters, a study which had a happy effect on him, as it led him insensibly to add a little more solidity to his somewhat threadbare harmonies. His earliest compositions at Dresden were, a Grand Mass for the royal chapel, the operas 'Raoul de Créqui,' [App. p.719 "1811"] and 'La Cappriciosa pentita,' [App. p.719 "1813"] and an Oratorio of the 'Passion' (book by Metastasio), [App. p.719 "1812"] extravagantly admired by contemporary enthusiasts.
In 1813, Dresden became the military centre of operations of the allied armies, and the King, Friedrich August, Napoleon's faithful ally, was a prisoner. During this time, Morlacchi kept at a wise distance from public affairs, and bewailed the fate of his patron in retirement. He was, however, roughly aroused by a sudden order from Baron Rozen, Russian Minister of Police, to write a cantata for the Emperor of Russia's birthday. The task was, of course, uncongenial to the composer, and as only two days were available for it, he declined to comply, alleging in excuse that the time allowed was insufficient. By way of answer it was notified to him that his choice lay between obeying and being sent to Siberia. Thus pressed he set to work, and in forty-eight hours the cantata was ready. Not long after this the Russian government having decreed the abolition of the Dresden chapel, Morlacchi obtained an audience of the Czar, at Frankfort, when, in consequence of his representations and entreaties, the decree was reversed.
To celebrate the return of the Saxon king to his capital in 1814, Morlacchi wrote another Grand Mass and a sparkling buffo opera, 'Il Barbiere di Siviglia.' His political principles must have been conveniently elastic, for the year 1814 also saw the production of a Triumphal Cantata for the taking of Paris by the allied armies, and a mass for voices alone, according to the Greek ritual, in Slavonic, for the private chapel of Prince Repuin, who had been the Russian Governor of Dresden.
In June 1816, he was elected member of the Academy of Fine Arts at Florence, and shortly after paid a visit of some months to his native country, where he was received with every kind of honour, gala performances of 'Le Danaide,' and the oratorio of the 'Passion,' being given at Perugia. For the dedication of this last work, Pope Pius VII rewarded him with the decoration of the 'Golden Spur,' and the title of Count Palatine. An oratorio, 'Il sacrifizio d'Abramo, o l'Isaaco,' [App. p.719 "1817"] although a feeble work, was remarkable for the employment in it of a novel kind of rhythmical declamation, in place of the ordinary recitative.
In 1817, C.M. von Weber was appointed Capellmeister of the German opera at Dresden. Morlacchi behaved to him with a studied show of obsequious politeness, while doing his utmost in an underhand way to cripple his activity and bar his progress. Yet he did not disdain to beg for Weber's good word as a critic in the matter of his own compositions, and indeed was too much of an artist not to recognise the genius of his young colleague, to whom, although already overworked, he would frequently delegate the whole of his own duties, while on the plea of ill-health, he absented himself in Italy for months together. Between 1817 and 1841 he produced a number of operas and dramatic pieces, among which the principal were 'Gianni di Parigi' (1818), 'Tebaldo ed Isolina' (1822), 'La Gioventudi Enrico V (1823), 'Ilda d'Avenello' (1824), 'I Saraceni in Sicilia' (1827), 'Il Colombo' (1828), 'Il Disperato per eccesso di buon cuore' (1829), and 'Il Rinegato' (1832), this last opera being a second setting of the book of 'I Saraceni,' 'in a style calculated to suit German taste.' [App. p.720 "Add 'Laodicea' (Naples, 1817), 'La Morte d'Abel' (Dresden), and 'Donna Aurora' (Milan), both in 1821."] He wrote ten Grand Masses for the Dresden chapel, besides a great number of other pieces for the church. The best of these was the Requiem, composed on the occasion of the King of Saxony's death, in 1827. He said of himself that, during the composition of the 'Tuba Mirum' in this mass, he had thought unceasingly of the 'Last Judgment' in the Sistine chapel, and his recent biographer, Count Rossi-Scotti, does not hesitate to affirm, that by his harmony he emulates Buonarotti in the depiction of the tremendous moment. We must refer those of our readers who may wish for a detailed account of Morlacchi to this memoir, 'Della vita e delle opere del Cav. Francesco Morlacchi di Perugia,' or to the notice in Fétis's 'Biographie des Musiciens' (ed. of 1870), which also contains a list of his compositions. A 'scena' or 'episode' for baritone voice with pianoforte accompaniment (the narration of Ugolino, from Canto xxxiii of the 'Inferno '), written in his last years, deserves special mention here, as it became very famous.
In 1841 he once more set off for Italy, but was forced by illness to stop at Innspruck, where he died, October 28. He left an unfinished opera, 'Francesca da Rimini,' for the possession of which Florence, Dresden, and Vienna had disputed with each other. Profuse honours were paid to his memory in Dresden and in Perugia.
Morlacchi's music, forty years after his death, is an absolutely dead letter to the world. Yet during his lifetime he was reckoned by numbers of contemporaries one of the foremost composers of the golden age of music. Weber's good-natured criticism (in one of his letters) on his 'Barbiere di Siviglia,' aptly describes much of his dramatic work. 'There is much that is pretty and praiseworthy in this music; the fellow has little musical knowledge, but he has talent, a flow of ideas, and especially a fund of good comic stuff in him.' For an exact verification of this description we refer the English student to the MS. score of 'La Gioventù di Enrico V,' in the library of the National Training School for Music, at South Kensington. He was a clever executant in composition of this ephemeral kind, which supplied a passing need, but could not survive it. The best monument he left to his memory was a benevolent institution at Dresden for the widows and orphans of the musicians of the Royal Chapel, which he was instrumental in founding.
The names of such published compositions of Morlacchi as are still to be had, may be found in Hofmeister's 'Handbuch der musikalischen Literatur.'