Mazzini & Paganini: the Guitar and the Opera
José Scanu
José Scanu (19th C guitar): Genoa’s living maestro presents Paganini’s virtuoso sonatas and arrangements of contemporaries, Rossini and Verdi
THURSDAY
17TH OCTOBER
19:00
£20
José Scanu, musician, concert performer both as soloist and in chamber music; promoter and advocate of Giuseppe Mazzini's guitar for the Council of Genoa; trained in the Segovian school with his major heirs, he has a fifty-year uninterrupted artistic career behind him; he has performed in major theaters and chamber music seasons in Italy, Japan, Europe, and the United States; ambassador of Genoa in the world.
N. Paganini 4 Ghiribizzi M.S. 43
from Paisiello, Mozart, Sussmayer, Rossini
M. Carcass Pot pourri sur les aires de Giocchino Rossini op.13
L. Legnani 4 Capricci for guitar (from 36 Capricci op.20)
G. Rossini Overture from La Cenerentola
N. Paganini 4 Sonate for guitar M.S.84
G. Verdi Il trovatore
(extract from Opern Revue of J.K.Mertz op.8)
José Scanu will perform with a nineteenth century guitar from Guadagnini’s school (Turin)
Programme Notes
Among the illustrious personalities born in Genoa, the figure of Giuseppe Mazzini, politician, Carboneria militant, persecuted and exiled, jurist, philosopher of music, founder of Giovine Italia and Giovine Europa, musician, certainly stands out.
A fine thinker, much feared for his revolutionary and republican ideas by one of the most powerful men of the time, the Hapsburg Empire's interior minister Klemens von Metternich.
Born and educated in Genoa, Mazzini contributed to the formation of a civil and political conscience in Italy and Europe.
Today in the house dedicated to him in Genoa - Casa Mazzini and the Museum of the Risorgimento - are kept relics, documents, letters, writings and his beloved guitar.
An immensely fascinating personality, his political thought was based on the arising democratic experiences of that period; as a reformer, he strongly felt the ethical need to renew society through absolute moral values. For this reason, politics is education, as is music, which must have a social and European purpose: in this regard the most important italian composers known for the meaningfulness of their music are Rossini (a titan) and Verdi (the modern composer for the european nations).
We therefore must not forget the music academies that M. organised during his exile in London (from 1837 until 1868), where he played the guitar (now preserved and exhibited in the Museo del Risorgimento in Genoa) and invited illustrious concert performers; through said music academies M. collected funds that he would destine to the families of Italians exiled in England for political reasons.
His musical interests, guitar in particular, are reflected both in his extensive correspondence with his mother and friends, especially between 1836 and 1856 (from London), and in his work Philosophy of Music, published in Paris in 1836.
An attentive connoisseur of the repertoire of the 18th and 19th centuries, he also devoted particular attention to folk songs, considered the most genuine expression of the human soul.
Giuseppe Mazzini's guitar was made by Gennaro Fabricatore of Naples in 1821; used by the exile during his stays in London, it was donated to the Genoa Museum in 1933 by Josephine Shaen, daughter of londoner William Shaen, Mazzini's friend and biographer.
The programme MAZZINI, PAGANINI, THE GUITAR, AND THE OPERA presents the major composers known and played by Mazzini in London, namely Rossini, Paganini and Verdi.
Furthermore, the guitarist-composers Giuliani and Legnani, who was considered by Paganini the sole guitar virtuoso with whom Paganini himself would play.
Programme notes by José Scanu
St James Garlickhythe
St James has a rich and diverse history and tradition dating back to before the Norman conquest.
One of the glories of The City of London is its skyline. Now punctuated by soaring office blocks in the east, in the west it is still the steeples of its Wren churches that define the horizon. St James is an honoured part of that rich landscape.
The exterior of the church is deceptively simple. The steeple, however, is one of the City’s most beautiful and ornate. It is probably the work of Nicholas Hawksmoor and dates from around 1714-17.
Inside, the gallery with its handsome double staircase, was added to accommodate the organ, which was installed in 1719 by Johann Knoppel.
The ceiling is the highest of any City church and Wren was so successful at introducing natural light into the church that it became known as Wren's Lantern.
In the early nineteenth century, the great east window was found to be causing a structural weakness and was replaced in 1815 with a painting of the Ascension by Andrew Geddes. This was given to the Church by the Revd Dr Thomas Burnet, then assistant curate, who was to spend his entire ministry in the Parish. The present frame is a gift of the Joiners and Ceilers Company.
St James is unusual among City Wren churches in having a structurally separate sanctuary. The chancel area was enlarged in 1876 to take the pulpit, with its preacher’s hat peg, and the choirstalls, which came from St Michael Queenhithe (now demolished). The backs of these stalls were fashioned from the doorframes of the old church. The finely carved and painted Stuart coat of arms on the south wall is also from St Michael's, while St James' Georgian arms are displayed on the north wall.
The original woodwork includes the altar table carved with doves, the font cover and the churchwardens' pews at the west end. These are all recorded as having been carved by one of Wren’s favourite woodcarvers, Willian Newman, who also carved our reredos, plus the fabulous pulpit and font cover at Stephen Walbrook. The font is of marble with carved cherubs' heads and was carved by Wren’s master stone mason, Christopher Kempster. Vestry records for 22 August 1682 record that he was given a free hand in carving the font so long as his cost did not exceed £20 (equivalent to £3,600 today).
The original ironwork includes the mayoral sword rest with lion and unicorn supporters on the south side. Those on the north side are from St Michael Queenhithe. The wrought iron on the churchwardens’ pews, depicts St James in pilgrims’ garb. This piece of ironwork was reproduced by the Victorians, to create their gas lamp standards on the choir pews.
The hatchments are also from St Michael Queenhithe - and commemorate King George III and Princess Charlotte Augusta, daughter of King George IV.