Piero Coppola

Piero Coppola (born October 11 1888 in Milan, died March 17 1971 in Lausanne, Switzerland) was an Italian conductor, pianist and composer.

Life and career

Coppola's parents were both singers.cite web
first=Blair
last=Johnston
title=Piero Coppola
url=http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=41:18732~T1
accessdate=2007-07-05
work=All Music Guide] He studied at the Milan Conservatory, graduating in piano and composition in 1910. By 1911 he was already conducting opera at La Scala opera house in Milan. That year he heard Debussy conduct his own compositions "Ibéria" and "Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune" in Turin, an experience that "had a decisive influence on his career".citation
editor-first=Simon
editor-last=Tresize
title=The Cambridge Companion to Debussy
publisher=Cambridge University Press
publication-date=2003
isbn=0521654785
first=Charles
last=Timbrell
contribution=Debussy in performance
pages=270
url=http://books.google.com/books?id=dxfALsh5wgUC&pg=PA270&vq=coppola&dq=%22piero+coppola%22&as_brr=3&sig=ho73AARsEzO7nGy3l5EqV17Cn4E] He then worked in Brussels before spending the duration of World War I in Scandinavia.

In 1921 Coppola resided in London and he later later moved to France. Between 1923 and 1934 he was the artistic director of "La Voix de son Maître", the French branch of The Gramophone Company. In 1924 he was asked by Sylvia Beach to make a recording of James Joyce reading from "Ulysses": Coppola replied that the recording would have to be made at Beach's expense, would not have the HMV label on it and would not be listed in the catalog. [cite book
first=Sylvia
last=Beach
title=Shakespeare and Company
publisher=University of Nebraska Press
location=Lincoln, NE
date=1991
isbn=0803260970
pages=170
url=http://books.google.com/books?id=fEmg2ZGajiYC&pg=PA170&vq=%22piero+coppola%22&dq=%22piero+coppola%22&as_brr=3&sig=mrmSAO-Ni6solSJ4LmRV75VwGHg] In the late 1920s and 1930s Coppola conducted recordings of many works of Debussy and Ravel, including the first recordings of Debussy's "La mer" and Ravel's "Boléro". Coppola's conducting enjoyed the admiration of Debussy, although the composer never actually heard Coppola perform any of his works. His work in French repertoire has been widely praised. His recordings of Debussy have been described as "without rival for the period", with his 1938 recording of "Nocturnes" eulogized as a "masterpiece"cite book
first=Dallas Kern
last=Holoman
title=The Societe des Concerts Du Conservatoire, 1828-1967
publisher=University of California Press
location=Berkeley, CA
date=2004
isbn=0520236645
pages=433
url=http://books.google.com/books?id=qCvVwtB38XcC&pg=PA433&vq=coppola&dq=%22piero+coppola%22&as_brr=3&sig=bqb4W4gJNfcRqYH6SZyVeh9mMuE] and among the early recordings "closest to Debussy's thought". [cite book
first=James R.
last=Briscoe
title=Debussy in Performance
publisher=Yale University Press
location=New Haven, CT
date=1999
isbn=0300076266
pages=78
url=http://books.google.com/books?id=YKhACGNpNSoC&pg=PA78&vq=coppola&dq=%22piero+coppola%22&as_brr=3&sig=-kcYq-Ws_BJ3ve9nRYKeOl1XKQ4] His recording of Ravel's "Le Tombeau de Couperin" won the "Grand Prix du Disque" in 1932. Coppola also conducted the first recording of Prokofiev's "Third Piano Concerto", with Prokofiev himself as soloist.

From 1939 onwards Coppola worked in Lausanne.

Compositions

Coppola composed two operas, a symphony, and some shorter works. According to a 1921 article in the "Musical Times", his music "is all nerves,and always has a decisive rhythmic character". The article went on to describe Coppola as " [a] very strong musician, [who] loves to translate musicallycertain grotesque and gruesome poses which hesucceeds in making very impressive."cite journal
journal=The Musical Times
year=1921
month=December
volume=62
issue=946
pages=p. 835
title=Some Italian Composers of To-Day
first=Guido M.
last=Gatti
url=http://books.google.com/books?id=ufMEAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA835&dq=%22piero+coppola%22&as_brr=1#PPA835,M1]

Family

Despite many unsubstantiated claims, there is no known family relationship between Piero Coppola and Carmine Coppola or Carmine's son Francis Ford Coppola. [cite book
first=Peter
last=Cowie
title=Coppola: A Biography
publisher=Da Capo Press
location=New York
date=1994
isbn=0306805987
pages=13
quote=Both of Francis's grandfathers sailed from southern Italy about the turn of the century
url=http://books.google.com/books?id=5uvF_NBQfEIC&pg=PA13&vq=carmine&dq=%22carmine+coppola%22&as_brr=3&sig=MeuaWgKUdDModRIWY_cBiGV21qk]

Recording premieres

* Debussy, "La mer", orchestra, 1928 [citation
editor-first=Paul
editor-last=Wingfield
title=Janácek Studies
publisher=Cambridge University Press
date=1999
isbn=0521573572
first=Paul
last=Wingfield
contribution=Janácek, musical analysis, and "Jeux de Vagues"
pages=188
url=http://books.google.com/books?id=GHanbI1YeDMC&pg=PA188&vq=coppola&dq=%22piero+coppola%22+%22la+mer%22+1928&sig=vVgO3o2UoI_WOQSQ1QSXn-wNAFk]
* Ravel, "Shéhérazade", Marcelle Gerar (soprano), orchestra, The Gramophone Company, November 1928, Paris
* Ravel, "Boléro", orchestra, The Gramophone Company, January 8 1930, Pariscitation
first=Ronald
last=Woodley
contribution=Syle and practice in the early recordings
editor-first=Deborah
editor-last=Mawer
title=The Cambridge Companion to Ravel
publisher=Cambridge University Press
publication-date=2000
isbn=0521648564
pages=236-237
url=http://books.google.com/books?id=rLDc8oHUBi0C&pg=PA236&vq=coppola&dq=coppola+bolero&sig=dRzUzyao_DyP57xuFZPGAfy_2lU]
* Prokofiev, "Third Piano Concerto", Sergei Prokofiev (piano), London Symphony Orchestra, HMV, June 27-28 1932, London
* Ravel, "Daphnis et Chloé" suite number 1, Orchestre de la Société des Concerts du Conservatoire, The Gramophone Company, 1934, Paris

Writings

* cite book
first=Piero
last=Coppola
title=Dix-sept ans de musique à Paris, 1922-1939
publisher=Slatkine
location=Geneva
language=French
date=1982
origdate=1944
isbn=2050002084

References