Tchaikovsky — Mendelssohn: Teatro Romano di Ostia Antica

About the Event

In this highly‐anticipated concert, hear the mellifluous sounds of classical music by Tchaikovsky and Mendelssohn Bartholdy at Rome's treasured and world‐renowned Teatro di Ostia.

Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky

The works of the best‐known Russian composer, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, are among the most frequently performed throughout the world. He was born in 1840 into the family of a lieutenant colonel and engineer, Ilya Petrovich. Both his parents loved music and could play some instruments. So since the age of five, young Pyotr was given piano lessons. However, his parents decided that it would be better for their son to study jurisprudence to secure him a future career. Back then there were few opportunities for musicians in Russia: the country did not boast any prominent composers and music teachers were considered to occupy a lower rank of society. In 1859 Tchaikovsky graduated from the Imperial School of Jurisprudence and began working as an assistant at the Ministry of Justice. However, he also craved music and simultaneously attended classes at the Russian Music Society, wich was later transformed into the conservatory.

At the age of 21 he decided to quit civil service and work only with music. His father, although disappointed with this decision, supported Pyotr’s initiative. Later on, Tchaikovsky worked as a music teacher in the Moscow Conservatory as well as a journal critic and travelled extensively across Europe. After moving to Moscow, he became well‐known and influential in Russian musical circle and later on in the 1880’s he achieved wordwide recognition. During that period Tchaikovsky composed his best works such as ballets The Swan Lake, The Sleeping Beauty, the opera Eugene Onegin and Piano Concerto N.1. He was very popular in the USA as well and in 1891 he conducted the orchestra at the opening of the Carnegie Hall.

Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy

Georges Bizet devoted his relatively short life of 36 years to the musical theatre. The opera Carmen, pearl of his oeuvre, is still one of the most frequently performed operas in the world. He was born in 1838 into a musically educated family – his father was a singing teacher and his mother a professional piano player. At the age of 4, young George could already read notes and play the piano, and six years later he became enrolled at the Paris Conservatory. After finishing his studies, Bizet won the prestigious Prix de Rome for his cantata Clovis et Clotilde, that allowed him to work solely on his own compositions for five years. He spent four rather carefree years in Italy from 1857 to 1860 where he travelled, composed and developed his talent. After coming back to Paris, he faced struggles and found it very difficult to achieve recognition for his music. In order to make a living, he gave private lessons, composed light entertaining music and made arrangements of piano works by other composers. In fact, he could have easily become a successful pianist as he was a virtuoso piano player and once impressed Franz Liszt himself with the performance of one of Liszt’s piano compositions. But Georges Bizet did not look for a way to make easy money and was adamant about his intention to only compose music.

In 1872 he wrote two operas, Djamileh and L’Arlesienne, which were received very coldly but now are considered to be a representation of Bizet’s artistic maturity. Soon before his death in 1875, Carmen premiered in the Opera Comique, but the audience’s verdict was rather negative. Never having witnessed public acclaim during his life, George Bizet now is one of the most famous opera composers in history.

Practical Information

The theater is about 20 km from the center of Rome, reachable in the following ways:
* from Porta San Paolo station (Piramide) — Rome‐Lido train line, 'Ostia Antica' stop continue on foot for about 5 minutes.
* from Termini station — line B to Porta San Paolo (Piramide) — Rome‐Lido train line, 'Ostia Antica' stop continue on foot for about 5 minutes.