Alessandro Bonato

“In ashes, but not cremated, let me be clear. I do not want to end up in those furnaces they call crematoria.” These were the instructions left by Giuseppe Garibaldi before his death. He died on June 2, 1882, on the island of Caprera, where he had retired to live as a farmer. Yet his wish to be reduced to ashes on acacia wood was denied. In a work commissioned by the Haydn Orchestra, composer Alessandro Meacci retraces the final days of the man who dismantled the Kingdom of Italy and was celebrated throughout Europe and Latin America for his fight for freedom. The theme of Verdi’s Les vêpres siciliennes, first performed in 1855 at the Paris Opéra, is closely linked to Garibaldi’s Risorgimento campaigns. The plot depicts the outbreak, in 1282, of the great revolt of the Sicilians against Angevin rule. Verdi included the obligatory ballet, a staple of French grand opera, by composing an independent symphonic score. The ballet, titled Les quatre saisons, is set during a masked ball at the governor’s palace in Palermo. Five years later, Garibaldi landed with his army of volunteers at Marsala, driving the Bourbon dynasty from Sicily and Naples. Between these two works comes Rachmaninov’s Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, based on the 24 Caprices for solo violin, his last composition featuring the piano as soloist, bursting with dazzling virtuosity and extraordinary richness and variety of color.