Francesco Paolo Tosti – Complete Critical Edition of the Romances

Francesco Paolo Tosti: Complete Critical Edition of the Romances for voice and piano
Published by Casa Ricordi with the collaboration of the Istituto Nazionale Tostiano di Ortona
General Editors:
Riccardo Allorto, Francesco Sanvitale, Giampiero Tintori

Paperbound volumes with critical commentary included
(Historical Introduction and critical commentary in Italian and English)
23x30,5 cm

Tosti set the work of more than one hundred European poets, many of them quite famous and well respected, so that his vocal chamber music is distinguished by a finer quality of literary text than any other such repertoire produced in nineteenth-century Italy. This attention to the “word” has been a significant factor in the enduring success of Tosti’s work. Many of his songs have been translated into one or more languages, a testament to the international respect they have achieved. If there is a single, unifying element in all the music of Francesco Paolo Tosti, it is the careful choice and use of the poetry in his songs. These texts fall naturally into groups according to Tosti’s contact with a particular cultural environment or an area where he resided for some short or long period of time, and in their sum they form a significant corpus of cosmopolitan European tastes: Abruzzo (his native region), Naples, Italy as a whole, England, and France were all cultural and geographical contexts with which Tosti actively interacted in both his private and his artistic life.

It is thus appropriate that the organization of Tosti’s complete works for voice and piano be based upon the nature of their texts. The first volume of songs, with texts by Gabriele D’Annunzio, is the only one dedicated to the work of one poet alone: D’Annunzio was Tosti’s most frequent choice for his songs (35), and his most beloved poet for personal and artistic reasons. The second and third volumes contain compositions inspired by Abruzzo or generated by Neapolitan culture, identifiable by the nature of their verse (whether in standard or vernacular language), by their subject matter, or by the origins of their authors.

The five volumes on Italian texts are a representative anthology of Italian “poetry for music” in Tosti’s time. Alongside such names as Giosuè Carducci and other poets of various affiliations and styles, there are writers who were particularly popular with composers of opera and vocal music. The songs with English texts are divided into two volumes according to their original publisher: the first contains those published by Ricordi, the second those by Chappell and Enoch. The two volumes on French texts, on the other hand, are distinguished by author: one for songs set to the verses of the important French poets, the other with texts by lesser known writers. Finally, there is a volume of “period collections”, compositions on texts by various authors originally published together in albums; and a “miscellany” reserved for those songs that fit into none of the above categories or that were previously unpublished.

1. Romanze su testi di G. D’Annunzio
One-volume set, pp. 201
NR 134844
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2. Romanze di ispirazione abruzzese
One-volume set, pp. 126
NR 135603
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3. Romanze di ambiente napoletano
One-volume set, pp. 218
NR 138590
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4. Romanze su testi italiani – I (1873-1882)
One-volume set, pp. 194
NR 136338
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5. Romanze su testi italiani – II (1883-1890)
One-volume set, pp. 171
NR 136596
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6. Romanze su testi italiani – III (1891-1904)
One-volume set, pp. 168
NR 137331
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7. Romanze su testi italiani – IV (1905-1912)
One-volume set, pp. 155
NR 138061
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8. Romanze su testi italiani – V (1866-1916)
One-volume set, pp. 98
NR 138978
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9. Raccolte d’epoca
One-volume set, pp. 223
NR 138738
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10. Songs on English texts – I
One-volume set, pp. 272
NR 135905
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11. Songs on English texts – II
One-volume set, pp. 285
NR 136135
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12. Mélodies su testi francesi – I (1876-1893)
One-volume set, pp. 227
NR 137765
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13. Mélodies su testi francesi – II (1897-1911)
One-volume set, pp. 190
NR 138319
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14. Miscellanea – I
One-volume set, pp. 167
NR 138954
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15. Miscellanea – II