Stanislao Gastaldon
Martino Stanislao Luigi Gastaldon (8 April 1861 – 6 March 1939) was an Italian composer, primarily of salon songs for solo voice and piano.
Part of his childhood was spent in San Vito Chietino in the Abruzzo region, where a street is now named for him and where his younger brother Guglielmo was born in 1864.
[3] Although it is not known for sure why Gastaldon chose "Flick-Flock", Italian musicologist Maria Scaccetti suggests that it probably derived from the popular ballet, Flick und Flock by Peter Ludwig Hertel, which had been performed at La Scala in 1861.
[4] Gastaldon was only 20 when the Florentine firm Venturini published his song "Musica proibita", which made his name as a composer and achieved an enduring popularity.
However, in 1888, when the music publisher Sonzogno announced a competition for one-act operas, Gastaldon decided to enter with Mala Pasqua!, a setting of Giovanni Verga's popular short story (and later play), Cavalleria rusticana.
Gastaldon withdrew his work early in the competition when he received an offer from Sonzogno's rival, Ricordi, to publish it and arrange a premiere at the Teatro Costanzi in Rome.
[9] Finding it difficult to make a living solely from his music, in the final years of his life he also worked as an art dealer, buying and selling paintings by his friends in the Gambrinus Halle.
[10] During his lifetime, the vast majority of Gastaldon's works were published by two firms, Genasio Venturini in Florence (absorbed by Carisch & Jänichen in 1905) and Ricordi in Milan.
Although several biographical entries, including that in Enciclopedia della musica published by Rizzoli-Ricordi, say that he composed more than 300 songs, Scaccetti suggests that while Gastaldon was prolific, the actual number may be considerably less than this.
The young man's song begins: Vorrei baciare i tuoi capelli neri, Le labbra tue e gli occhi tuoi severi...(I want to kiss your raven hair, Your lips and your solemn eyes...)A common misconception about the song's origin is that it is an aria from Gastaldon's opera, Mala Pasqua!, and the only surviving piece from the work.
Dedicated to the Italian baritone Felice Giachetti, "Musica proibita" was Gastaldon's second published work, and the first of six songs for which he also wrote the lyrics using the pseudonym "Flick-Flock".
Ten years later, a journalist writing in the Gazzetta musicale di Milano recalled how the song soon became a way for timid young lovers all over Italy to express their affection in words that were both uninhibited and emotionally moving.
[13]Shortly after its publication in Italy, "Musica proibita" was published in English as "Unspoken Words" (with a text by D'Arcy Jaxone) and in French as "La chanson défendue".
[21] In 1882, Gastaldon wrote "Ti vorrei rapire" (I want to carry you away), a sequel to "Musica proibita" which is meant to be sung by the young man referred to in the original song.
Two of Gastaldon's other early songs, "Amor non è peccato" (Love is not a sin) and "Fiori di sposa" (Bridal flowers) were set to texts by a poet identified only as "Faustina".
[25] In a departure from his usual genre of songs for solo voice and piano, Gastaldon also wrote two choral pieces, "Viva il Re" and "Inno della Dante Alighieri".
It was first performed on 28 September 1902 in the Piazza del Campo in Siena for the XIII Congress of the Società Dante Alighieri and published the following year by the Florentine firm of Bemporad & Figlio.
