On the trail of Calabrian composers: a musical journey

Let's start with him, the great Calabrian pianist and composer linked to the "City of Bruzi": Alfonso Rendano, in Cosenza. The inventor of the third piano pedal, known as the "Rendano pedal" or "independent pedal", was born in Carolei (CS) in 1853. A precocious child, like all musical geniuses, at the age of eight he taught himself to play on an old family spinet. One of Calabria's most illustrious composers, Alfonso Rendano graduated in Naples and left for Paris on Rossini's recommendation. A friend of Liszt, he wrote the opera Consuelo (1902). The first stop on the musical itinerary in Calabria can only be a visit to the Alfonso Rendano Municipal Theatre in Cosenza, in the heart of the historic centre, a temple of music and prose tradition; then, to the monumental Villa Rendano (1887), the pianist's privileged residence, in the style of suburban Renaissance villas.

Music lovers should also stop off at the conservatory to learn about another of Calabria's great composers: Stanislao Giacomantonio (1879-1923), to whom the institute is dedicated. Born in Cosenza, Giacomantonio is best known for his operas La Venere di Scauro, Quelle signore and La leggenda del ponte.

Among the most famous Calabrian composers, Francesco Cilea is undoubtedly one of the fathers of Calabrian opera. Born in Palmi, a beautiful town on the Costa Viola in the province of Reggio Calabria, Francesco Cilea declared his love for music at an early age after hearing Bellini's Norma performed by the town band. From then on, the young Francesco Cilea embarked on a musical career, becoming Italy's 'first student-teacher' at the Naples Conservatory. Among his most famous compositions is L'Arlesiana, based on the play of the same name by Alphonse Daudet, with a libretto by Leopoldo Marenco.

The Francesco Cilea Municipal Theatre in Reggio Calabria is dedicated to the great Calabrian composer, which we certainly recommend visiting after taking a tour of Palmi and visiting the House of Culture "Leonida Repaci", which houses his written works and personal library. Francesco Cilea's body rests in Palmi in the mausoleum built in his honour in the 1960s, on which is written: "Please convey to our beloved Palmi all my filial gratitude and all my love. Tell her that she will always remain in my heart with an ever more vivid and tenacious attachment, the more the passing years hasten my departure from life."

Not far away, in Reggio Calabria hinterland close to the Costa Viola, the third and final stop on our musical itinerary introduces us to another Calabrian musician and composer of the nineteenth century, albeit less famous than the previous two. This is Michele Valensise in Polistena (1822-1890). He is the author of the religious opera La Settima Parola, or the "seven words" of Christ's agony, based on a libretto by Metastasio, which is performed every year in the Church of the Holy Trinity during Holy Week, one of the events not to be missed in Polistena!

Michele Valensise, a descendant of the illustrious dynasty that resided in the palace of the same name, left an important musical legacy in the area. His footsteps have been followed by several young Calabrian composers who, right here, carry on a remarkable tradition, also taken up by the Historical Band of the City of Polistena: from harpsichordist Michelangelo Jerace to Nicola Rodinò Toscano, passing through the figures of Michele Raso, clarinettist and band director, and contemporary Calabrian composer Giosuè Greco (born in 1990).