Life
Trained at the height of Romanticism, his long career led him to reach full artistic maturity during the post-unification Realism period.
Born in Florence in 1833, Cianchi studied in his hometown with Ignazio Colson and Ermanno Picchi. At just over twenty, he debuted with the oratorio Giuditta, received with enthusiasm by the Florentine public. He followed this with two operas that confirmed his talent. However, subsequent works did not enjoy the same fortune; notably, Leone Isauro, performed at La Scala in 1862, did not meet with public favor.
After this episode, he decided to abandon theater and dedicate himself to sacred music. In 1873 he composed a requiem mass in memory of Charles Albert, which achieved considerable success. He was also active as secretary of the Royal Music Institute and the Florentine Musical Academy, contributing to the city's cultural life.
He died in his native Florence in 1890, leaving works that testify to his dedication to music and nineteenth-century Tuscan cultural life.
Aneddoto
The failure at La Scala
The performance of Leone Isauro at La Scala in 1862 was coldly received, so much so that it prompted the composer to dedicate himself to sacred music.Works
Among his works are: Giuditta (Florence, 1854), La gioventù di Salvator Rosa (Florence, 1855), Il saltimbanco (Florence, 1856), Alina (Florence, 1860), and Leone Isauro (Milan, 1862). He also composed a Messa da Requiem in memory of Charles Albert (1873) and other sacred pages.
Briciole di storia
There were three hundred, they were young and strong
Inspired by socialist and Mazzinian ideals, the patriot Carlo Pisacane attempted a daring expedition in 1857 to trigger an insurrection in Southern Italy. Departing from Genoa, he hijacked a steamer, freed about 300 political prisoners from the Bourbon prison on Ponza, and landed at Sapri in Campania, shouting "Long live Italy! Long live the Republic!". But his hope of being welcomed as a liberator was shattered by the tragic reality of the local peasants, who, incited by the clergy and Bourbon authorities, mistook him for a brigand. Instead of joining him, they hunted him down along with the royal troops. Wounded and surrounded, Pisacane took his own life rather than be taken prisoner. His sacrifice, though a failure, inspired the famous poem "The Gleaner of Sapri" by Luigi Mercantini, transforming Pisacane into a martyr for the cause of unity.
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