The most successful opera by the Italian composer of the late Romantic period Italo Montemezzi is “L’Amore dei tre re”, or “The Love of the Three Kings”, which caused a storm of enthusiasm at its premiere at the Teatro alla Scala in Milan. Despite this worldwide success, the composer Italo Montemezzi is largely forgotten today.
The Italian musician and composer Italo Montemezzi was born on 4 August 1875 in Vigasio near Verona and studied composition with Vincenzo Ferroni until 1900, graduating with distinction. As his final piece, he set a text from the Song of Songs to music as a cantata for soprano, mezzo-soprano, choir and orchestra, which was premiered by Arturo Toscanini. He later taught harmony at the Milan Conservatory and mainly composed operas, most of which were premiered at La Scala in Milan. Montemezzi lived in the USA between 1939 and 1949.1 In addition to operas, he also created symphonic works such as the poem “Paolo e Virginia”, which he composed in 1929. Montemezzi died on 15 May 1952 in Vigasio. His opera compositions include “Giovanni Gallurese”, “L’Hellera”, “L’Incantesimo” and “L’Amore dei tre re”
The three-act, two-hour opera “L’amore dei tre re” – Montemezzi described it as a “poema tragico” – is based on a libretto by Sem Benelli after his drama “La cena delle beffe”, which was later also set to music by Umberto Giordano. Montemezzi did not give Benelli any instructions for the libretto, so that only the number of characters in the play had to be reduced and Montemezzi was able to set it to music almost word for word. The composition was written between 1910 and 1913.
