Winona: Publication of Conference Papers, Intersections 2017. Edited by Aloma Bardi.
Winona, 'All-Indian Opera' by Florentine-American Composer Alberto Bimboni (1882-1960) and the Italian Contribution to the Indianist Movement in American Music and Culture. Publication of Conference Papers, "Intersections/Intersezioni" 2017. Edited by Aloma Bardi.
Read and download the complete illustrated volume (PDF):
ICAMus publishes (PDF) the papers presented at the International Conference "Intersections/Intersezioni," Florence, Kent State University, June 1st, 2017: Winona, 'All-Indian Opera' by Florentine-American Composer Alberto Bimboni (1882-1960) and the Italian Contribution to the Indianist Movement in American Music and Culture.
The essays are illustrated with archival images from the ICAMus Collections.
Winona, 'All-Indian Opera' by Florentine-American Composer Alberto Bimboni (1882-1960) and the Italian Contribution to the Indianist Movement in American Music and Culture. Publication of Conference Papers, "Intersections/Intersezioni" 2017. Edited by Aloma Bardi.
INDIVIDUAL CHAPTERS:
Cover Page
Table of Contents
Preface and Acknowledgments
Davide Ceriani and Alexandra Monchick
Oreste and Alberto Bimboni, Florentine Musicians in America: Their International Career and How They Influenced the American Musical Scene.
Barbara Boganini
Giacomo Puccini, Amedeo Bassi, Alberto Bimboni: Tuscan Connections in American Music.
Aloma Bardi
«How an Italian Composer Came to Create the First All-Indian Opera»:The Approach to Native American Motifs and Musical Sources in Winona.
Gretchen Peters
The Significance of “Real Indians” in the Minneapolis Performance of Winona.
In the Press
La Repubblica June 1st 2017
At the intersection of Italian Opera and Native-American motifs and music, Winona is an unpublished opera (c. 1915-1918) by Florentine-American composer and conductor Alberto Bimboni (Florence 1882 - New York 1960). It was performed in the US in 1926 and 1928 to great success and critical acclaim. Since the 1700s, the prominent Bimboni musical family had played an important role both in Italy and in the US, as inventors, composers, conductors, and teachers. The manuscript score of Winona and the unique Winona-related Scrap Book were donated to the ICAMus Archive in 2014 by a friend of the Bimboni family, Ms. Julia Jacobs.
Winona tells the story, from a Sioux legend, of a Dakota Indian princess and her relationship to the laws of her people. The locations of Lake Pepin (Minnesota and Wisconsin) and Maiden Rock still resonate with the Winona legend. In this opera, Native American traditional chants, Chippewa and Sioux songs, Moccasin, war and hunting songs are woven into the story and the score. Committed to “authenticity,” and in order to respect the Indian musical traditions, Bimboni composed the choral scenes in unison, avoiding part-singing. All the opera characters are American Indians, and so were some performers of the two US stage productions in the 1920s.
This ICAMus publication explores the significant Italian contribution to the controversial Indianist movement that flourished in American music and culture from the last decades of the 19th century until the early 1900s.
The essays of this collection were first presented at the “Intersections/Intersezioni” Conference, Profs. Fulvio Santo Orsitto and Simona Wright, Directors, Kent State University, Florence Program, June 1st, 2017. ICAMus and the Authors wish to express their gratitude to "Intersections" and its directors.
In the illustration: Florentine-American composer and conductor Alberto Bimboni (Florence 1882 - New York 1960), who wrote the unpublished opera, Winona in the years 1915-1918. Alberto Bimboni's Scrap Book, The ICAMus Archive.
The most special thanks to Julia Jacobs, for donating the unique Bimboni Collection to the ICAMus Archive. This publication is dedicated to her memory. Julia is here portrayed at her home in Monticello, NY, August 27, 2014, on the day she donated the Bimboni Collection to the ICAMus Archive.
In remembrance of Julia Jacobs (1922-2014),
unwavering champion of Winona’s “song and story.”
ICAMus is thankful to the conference presenters and to Dr. Alexandra Monchick for sharing their research and discoveries.
We acknowledge the valuable help, expertise, and collaboration of Estelle Gilson; Roberta Prada and the late Jack Lee; Judith Lungen and Richard Lener; Anna Maria Gasparri Rossotto; the Amedeo Bassi Archive - Biblioteca Comunale “Balducci” and the Museo Amedeo Bassi in Montespertoli (Firenze), and the Archive of the Teatro Regio of Turin.
It is our hope that the ICAMus research will inspire more scholars and performers to study the beautiful, distinctive score of Winona.
FIND OUT MORE ON ALBERTO BIMBONI'S UNPUBLISHED OPERA, WINONA, IN THE ICAMus WEBSITE, HERE and HERE.
