Life
His training took place during the post-unification Realism period, while his long career led him to reach full maturity in an era of avant-gardes, where the aestheticism of Decadentism, the suggestions of Symbolism, and the radical rupture of Futurism coexisted.
Raffaele Calace, mandolinist, composer, and luthier, was born in Naples in 1863 into a family with a deep musical and luthiery tradition. His grandfather, Antonio, was a member of the Carboneria forced into confinement on Procida, where he passed on his passion for luthiery to his son. The father, also named Antonio, later settled in Naples and was a respected instrument maker. Initially, Raffaele studied to become a general musician, but he soon discovered the mandolin, becoming an internationally recognized virtuoso.
With his brother Nicola, also a musician, Raffaele modernized the Neapolitan mandolin, enlarging the sound box and extending the fingerboard to increase its range. In 1898, after his brother emigrated to the United States, Raffaele continued the luthiery and composition business with the help of his children, Maria and Giuseppe. His commitment to ennobling the mandolin and elevating it to classical music led him to tour Europe and Japan, giving concerts with the Neapolitan mandolin and the liuto cantabile, an instrument he perfected.
His influence was also notable in the field of musical pedagogy. He wrote fundamental pedagogical works, such as the manual Schule für Mandoline, published in 1910, which reworked the teachings of the great 18th-century Italian mandolinists, such as Giovanni Battista Gervasio and Gabriele Leone, becoming an essential reference point for the modern study of the instrument. His phonographic recordings, despite their age, represent precious testimonies of his virtuosity. The family luthiery atelier is still managed by his grandson, Raffaele Calace Jr.
Aneddoto
The liuto cantabile and travels
Raffaele Calace did not limit himself to playing the mandolin; he also perfected the liuto cantabile, a bass variant of the instrument. With these two instruments, he traveled throughout Europe and Japan to hold concerts, aiming to introduce the mandolin into the world of classical music.Works
Raffaele Calace's musical production is very extensive, comprising about 200 pieces. Most of these compositions are dedicated to the mandolin, but he also wrote for other ensembles. His works range from concertos for solo mandolin to duets with piano, trios with mandola and guitar, and quartets with two mandolins, mandola, and guitar. Among his most significant works, the didactic method Schule für Mandoline, published in 1910, remains a reference work for all mandolinists.
Briciole di storia
The birth of Breda, factory of locomotives
In 1886, the Venetian engineer Ernesto Breda, a pioneer of the mechanical industry, founded the Società Italiana Ernesto Breda per Costruzioni Meccaniche in Milan. The company quickly became Italy's most important railway industry, a true "factory of locomotives" that was a protagonist in the development of the country's transport network. From Breda's workshops came not only trains, but also agricultural machinery, weapons, and later, airplanes. Its birth represented a fundamental moment for Italian industrialization, a symbol of the technical and entrepreneurial capacity of that Lombard middle class that was transforming Italy from an agricultural country into a modern nation.
Pubblico dominio (Commons)
