Riccardo Pick-Mangiagalli (Composer, Arranger)

Born: July 10, 1882 - Strakonice (Strakonitz), Bohemia
Died: July 8, 1949 - Milan, Italy

The Italian composer, Riccardo Pick-Mangiagalli, was of mixed Italian and Bohemian parentage. He studied at the Conservatory Giuseppe Verdi in Milan with Appiani (piano) and Ferrani (composition). He also studied in Prague and Vienna. Among his teachers was Richard Strauss.

Riccardo Pick-Mangiagalli began his career as a successful concert pianist, but later turned exclusively to composition. In 1936 he succeeded Pizzetti as director of the Conservatory Giuseppe Verdi, and held this post until his death.

Riccardo Pick-Mangiagalli has produced distinctive work, including number of compositions for the piano, chamber music (the Sonata for violin and piano; the String Quartet, the Ballata Sinfonica and the Humoresque for piano and orchestra, etc.) and a lot of stage works (ballets and operas). His first stage work, Salice d'Oro, a musical fable, was produced at Milan's La Scala in 1913, and was followed by Il carillon magico (1918). Other stage works are Sumitra, a monomimic legend (1917), and Basi e Bote (1919-1920), lyric comedy, the libretto by Arrigo Boito.

Works

Operas:
Basi e Bote (1919-20; Rome, March 3, 1927)
Casanova a Venezia (Milan, Jan. 19, 1929; orchestral suite as Scene carnevalesche, Milan, February 6, 1931)
L'Ospite inatteso (Milan-Turin-Genoa Radio, October 25, 1931)
Il notturno romantico (Rome, April 25, 1936)

Dance:
Il salice d'oro, ballet (1911-1912; Milan, 1914)
Sumitra (1917; Frankfurt am Main, 1922)
Mahit, ballet-fable (Milan, March 20, 1923)
La Berceuse (San Remo, Feb. 21, 1933)
Variazioni coreografiche (San Remo, April 13, 1935)

Orchestral:
Notturno e rondo fantastico (1914; Milan, May 6, 1919)
Humoresque for Piano and Orchestra (1916)
Sortilegi, symphonic poem for Piano and Orchestra (Milan, December 13, 1917)
2 preludi (Rome, March 1, 1921)
4 poemi (Milan, April 24, 1925)
Piccola suite (Milan, June 12, 1927)
Preludio e fuga (Rome, March 11, 1928)
Preludio e scherzo sinfonico (Milan, Oct. 22, 1938)
Piano Concerto (1944)

Chamber:
Violin & Piano Sonata (1906)
String Quartet (1909)
piano pieces

Vocal:
Songs

Source: Karadar Website; Grove’s Dictionary of Music and Musicians (1952 Edition; Baker’s Biographical Dictionary of 20^th Century Classical Musicians (1997);
Contributed by Aryeh Oron (June 2007)

Riccardo Pick-Mangiagalli: Short Biography | Piano Transcriptions: Works | Recordings | Other Arrangements/Transcriptions: Works | Recordings of Works for Orchestra

Links to other Sites

Bibliography

F. Abbiati: "Musicisti contemporanei: R. P.-M.," Emporium, LXXIII (Bergamo, 1931).