Quick Facts
Biography
Giacomo Orefice (27 August 1865 – 22 December 1922) was an Italian composer.
He was born in Vicenza. He studied under Alessandro Busi and Luigi Mancinelli at the Liceo Musicale di Bologna, and later became professor of composition at the Milan Conservatory. He died in Milan in 1922.
His works include:
Operas
L'oasi (1885)
Mariska (1889)
Consuelo (1895, after George Sand's novel; the title role was created by Cesira Ferrani, who the following year created Mimí in Puccini's La bohème)
Il gladiatore (1898)
Chopin (1901); Orefice's most successful work in which he incorporated music by Frédéric Chopin, arranged as arias and duets; it depicts a rather fanciful interpretation of some events in Chopin's life and the operatic arrangements are not highly regarded (Scott "Record of Singing" Duckworth Press, 1978). Excerpts recorded by the tenors Amadeo Bassi, Enzo Leliva and others c1903 to 1905. At the time also performed in Polish.
Cecilia (1902)
Mosè (1905)
Pane altrui (1907)
Radda (1912, after Maxim Gorky's short story Makar Chudra)
Il castello del sogno (not produced)
Ballet
La Soubrette (1907)
Orchestral
Symphony in D minor
Sinfonia del bosco
Anacreontiche (4 movements: Ad Artemide, A Faune, Ad Eros, A Dionisio)
Concertos
Cello Concerto
Chamber
Riflessioni ed ombre (quintet)
Piano Trio
2 violin sonatas
cello sonata
Piano
Preludi del mare
Quadri di Böcklin
Crespuscoli
Miraggi
Songs
various songs.