1846–1916 · United Kingdom · 20th century
Francesco Paolo Tosti (1846–1916) was an Italian composer, singer and teacher born in Ortona. He spent many years in England, taught singing at court and wrote more than 150 songs and romances. For players, his music means romances and canzones for voice and piano: the site has "Sogno" and "Ideale".
Francesco Paolo Tosti was born on 9 April 1846 in Ortona, a small seaside town in Abruzzo. His family were merchants, and he was the fifth child in the household.
Tosti's early schooling was in Naples, at the Royal College at San Pietro a Majella, which he entered at eleven. He studied violin and composition under Saverio Mercadante. Mercadante was impressed by his pupil and made him a student teacher, paying him sixty francs a month.
Then serious illness forced him to break off his studies and go back to his family home, where for several months he hardly left his bed. During that time he wrote several songs: two went to the Florentine Art Society and two more to the publisher Ricordi. All four were turned down.
After he got well, Tosti went to Ancona. Money was desperately short there: for weeks on end he lived on oranges and stale bread alone. Later he reached Rome, and there his fortunes improved.
In Rome Tosti was introduced to Giovanni Sgambati, a pianist, conductor and composer, who took him under his wing as a patron. Sgambati set up a concert for him at the Sala Dante. In the audience sat Princess Margherita of Savoy, later Queen of Italy; she took that title in 1878.
The future queen was delighted with his performance and named him her professor of singing; a little later he became curator of the Italian state music archive at court. He gave concerts of his own works in London, in Rome and in other cities across Europe.
Tosti arrived in London in 1875. Well-connected friends brought him into high society, he became a regular in fashionable salons, and from 1880 he taught at the English court as singing teacher to the royal family.
Tosti's fame as a song composer grew quickly. One song, For Ever and For Ever, was first sung by Violet Cameron at the Globe Theatre and became a favourite overnight. His works were in enormous demand, and by 1885 his songs were among the most fashionable and best-selling in England. His publishers paid him a regular fee covering twelve songs a year.
Tosti became a professor at a London academy of music, where he taught students. In 1906 he took British citizenship, and two years later his friend King Edward VII knighted him (KCVO).
Tosti's London home stood at 12 Mandeville Place in Marylebone. A memorial plaque was unveiled on it on 12 June 1996.
In his last years Tosti returned to Italy, having decided to spend the rest of his life in his homeland. He died suddenly in Rome on 2 December 1916.
Tosti is counted among the notable figures of the Italian chamber vocal school of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. He wrote more than 150 songs and romances, mostly to words by Italian authors. His fame around the world came from his canzones, romances, vocal duets and Neapolitan songs.
His music is light and expressive, built on natural, singable melodies. His style grew very popular in the Belle Époque, and it is often called salon music. Beyond songs, Tosti also arranged Italian folk songs, published as Canti popolari Abruzzesi. He understood the voice: his songs leave a singer free to interpret and ornament them, so many singers of the classical Italian repertoire have sung and recorded them, although Tosti never composed an opera.
Among his best-known works are "'A vucchella", "Serenata", "Good-bye!" and the Neapolitan song "Marechiare"; "Malia", "Ancora" and "Non t'amo piu" remain popular concert pieces. Albums made up only of Tosti's songs were recorded by Carlo Bergonzi, José Carreras and Luigi Alva.
The site has two romances for voice and piano to begin with, "Sogno" and "Ideale", both at the "Middle+" level.