Shakespeare’s works provided a lifelong creative thread for Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco. His devotion to the Bard first revealed itself in the 1920s with The Passionate Pilgrim: 33 Shakespeare Songs, Op. 24, for voice and piano, and continued for decades in many forms. Between 1930 and 1953, the composer wrote eleven orchestral overtures inspired by Shakespeare’s plays — a notable contribution to the twentieth-century orchestral repertoire. Today, thanks to the recent publication by Casa Ricordi of four previously unavailable overtures, the complete cycle of the eleven Shakespeare Overtures is now available for rental via Zinfonia.
The following four works, which had remained unpublished until now, were composed in California during the 1940s and 1950s:
- Overture to Antony and Cleopatra, op. 134 (1947).
- Overture to The Tragedy of Coriolanus, op. 135 (1947) — dedicated to Alfredo Casella in memory of his passing that same year. First performance: Orchestra della Radio Romana, conducted by Fernando Previtali, Venice, International Music Festival, 1948.
- Overture to Much Ado About Nothing, op. 164 (1953) — commissioned by the Louisville Orchestra (Kentucky, USA) and its conductor Robert Whitney. First performance by this orchestra in Louisville, 1954.
- Overture to As You Like It, op. 166 (1953) — First performance: Hollywood Bowl Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Franz Waxman, Hollywood Bowl, Los Angeles, 1964.
Castelnuovo-Tedesco wrote five overtures during his Italian years and published them at that time with Casa Ricordi:
- Overture to The Taming of the Shrew [Ouverture per La Bisbetica Domata],Op. 61 (1930) — dedicated to his elder son Pietro “Petruchio” Castelnuovo-Tedesco.First performance: Florence, Orchestra Stabile Fiorentina, conducted by Vittorio Gui, 1931.
- Overture to Twelfth Night [Ouverture per Il dodicesima notte], Op. 73 (1933) — dedicated to his younger son Lorenzo. First performance: Rome, Orchestra dell’Augusteo, conducted by Vittorio Gui, 1935.
- Overture to The Merchant of Venice [Ouverture per la mercante di Venezia] Op. 76 (1933) — dedicated to Arturo Toscanini. First performance: Turin, RAI Orchestra, conducted by Massimo Freccia, 1935.
- Overture to Julius Caesar [Ouverture per Giulio Cesare], Op. 78 (1934) — dedicated to Bernardo Molinari. First performance: Rome, Orchestra dell’Augusteo, conducted by Molinari, 1935.
- Overture to The Winter’s Tale [Ouverture per Il racconto d’inverno], Op. 80 (1934) — dedicated to his wife Clara. First performance: Vienna, Vienna Philharmonic, conducted by Toscanini, 1935.
View a complete list of the overtures published by Casa Ricordi here.
Two additional overtures, composed soon after his emigration to the United States, were published by American publishers:
- Overture to A Midsummer Night’s Dream [published as Overture to a Fairy Tale], Op. 108 (1940) — dedicated to his son Pietro. First performance: NBC Symphony, conducted by Toscanini, New York, 1945. Publisher: Belwin Mills.
- Overture to King John, Op. 111 (1941) — dedicated to Sir John Barbirolli and commissioned for the centenary of the New York Philharmonic. First performance: New York Philharmonic, Carnegie Hall, New York, 1942. Publisher: Carl Fischer.
In his autobiography Una vita di musica [A Life of Music], Castelnuovo-Tedesco explained why the overture — a form rarely cultivated in Italy at the time — held such special appeal for him: “The form of the Overture, with its countless possibilities, allowed me to combine what I have called ‘my native talent as a storyteller’ with the more recent need for a solid and rigorously musical architecture.”
Today, with the complete cycle of eleven Shakespeare Overtures available for the first time, listeners and performers alike are invited to rediscover a significant yet still little-explored chapter in Castelnuovo-Tedesco’s orchestral music.