FRANCO PAOLANTONIO

Rediscovery of a composer

by Andreina Di Girolamo and Bernadette Tripodi

piano Op. 19; 4th Mazurka for piano Op. 23 n ° 1; 2nd Waltzer for piano Op. 17 n ° 2; Allegro for violin and piano Op. 12 n ° 3; 2nd Mazurka for piano Op. 8 n ° 1; Scherzino for piano Op. 8 n. 2; 3rd Mazurka for piano Op. 16; Allegretto for violin and piano Op. 12.

The compositions of Paolantonio were proposed in concert in the First Modern Execution in Campobasso, for the concerts of the conservatory, in March 2016 and subsequently in Agnone, the composer’s hometown. In September 2021 the scientific publication was presented in concert at the Licinio Refice Conservatory of Music in Frosinone.

Everything happened by chance: at the end of a concert (8th April 2015) of Italian authors of the early twentieth century in the interpretation of Bernadette Tripodi and Michelangelo Mass, I, Andreina Di Girolamo, told Bernardette Tripodi that I had some unpublished manuscripts by a composer from Molise, I had rediscovered. Bernadette said: “Interesting, I’d like to see them.”

And so the manuscripts of Franco Paolantonio, from the private collection of Ada Labanca, began their pilgrimage from one’s home to that of the other to be promptly transcribed. As we proceeded with this meticulous work, with numerous discussions on how to interpret the various signs of expression and while the obvious errors were corrected, the enthusiasm for this young composer grew stronger in us, not only for “human” interest in his short but intense life as an artist, but also from having grasped his original creative vein and his great talent combined with profound sensibility. After a long and tiring effort, the work was completed with great satisfaction.

The research on the composer’s life, who died prematurely at the age of twenty-two, was also long and exciting, through the archives of the municipality of Agnone and the Conservatory of Naples; in the first all the personal documents were found, in the second the documents of his scholastic path.

”This is how the biographical story of Franco Paolantonio who was born in Agnone on February 16th, 1878 from Ernesta and Alessandro Iacapraro, was reconstructed: at the age of eight, on November 9th, 1886, he left for Argentina with his mother Ernestina, two of his brothers, Umberto and Enrico, his paternal grandmother Maria Teresa Pannunzio and his uncle Alfonso, “”musician””. In the Paolantonio family, three other brothers of Alessandro - Francesco Saverio, Antonio and Giovan Felice - were musicians, who had already emigrated to Buenos Aires and were appreciated Band musicians there.

They are the ones who founded the first band of the city. In 1893 Franco returned to Italy to study at the Royal College of Music in” “Naples, which became the San Pietro a Majella Conservatory in 1890. Here he studied Piano” “and Harmony for seven years plus the ritual subjects to expand his school education (History, Italian, Geography, French, History of Music). From his report cards we know that he was a model student, with an irreproachable conduct. In the school year 1895–96 he became a “maestrino”, that is, a direct collaborator of Maestro Simonetti for the initial training of the younger students, and his compositions were performed in school concerts at the end of the school year. Franco Paolantonio graduated in piano, with full marks, on 19th July 1898.

In July 1900 he did not sit for the Composition diploma exams, because he was “”sick””. We were deeply disturbed for what we read in the last school document concerning him; it said: “”he should have taken his diploma (composition) exams in the autumn session of October 1900, but he committed suicide on September 18th, 1900””. He was only 22 years old.

In the obituaries dedicated to him in the newspapers of the time we read: “ ... The young Franco Paolantonio had a soul full of noble enthusiasm, in love with sublime ideals, he had the talent ready to conceive and intuit the highest aspirations of the divine art of sounds; he had” “the fever of glory and the ardent desire for the work that should lead him to glory.”

(Il CITTADINO AGNONESE, 3rd October 1900)

“[…] Meek and good young man, cultured and brilliant musician, to whom glory was already opening its arms and welcome him in her womb, among the beloved ones.

(IL RISVEGLIOSANNITICO, 1st October 1900)”

In our opinion, in his music, Franco Paolantonio reveals a marked facility of invention and great talent. Certainly the young age, the enthusiasm and the joy of doing led him, however, to alternate original and new ideas in the use of fashion formulas. In all his works he demonstrates, however, compositional mastery in the formal approach. In the pieces for piano, in the wake of romantic tradition, the elegance of Chopin’s music is evoked, in particular in the four mazurkas. In the “Melodie per canto”, as the Author defines the vocal pieces, you can breathe the atmosphere of music by Tosti and that musical world of the bourgeois salon, in which the sharing of music between professionals and amateurs was a source of pleasure for the mind and the heart.

To Paolantonio, Andreina Di Girolamo dedicated the novel “Melodia op. 1” (Albatros 2018), presented in Agnone on August 20th, 2018. Thanks to social media, the same evening, a message arrives from Jorge Paolantonio, a highly regarded poet and writer in Argentina. He tells her that he too has written a novel, “La Fiamma”, dedicated to Franco Paolantonio, but, after several messages, they understand that they are talking about another Franco, namely Francisco Paolantonio, an appreciated conductor. Jorge is thrilled by the discovery. He knew of the tragic death of this great-uncle, but he had no news of his life or of his compositions; he reveals that he is the great-nephew of Franco who was his grandfather’s brother, Vittorio born in Argentina.

This long conversation also brought important news that we did not have about Alessandro, Franco and Vittorio’s father. In fact, from the documents in the Municipality of Agnone, nothing had been found regarding Alessandro’s departure for Argentina and his death, as some archive records have been lost. It was thus possible to update the news regarding Alessandro Paolantonio in the second publication, “Franco Paolantonio - Melodie per canto”, dedicated to pieces for voice and piano which will soon be printed. We have in fact continued to devote ourselves to the study of manuscripts for voice and piano with the same enthusiasm and empathy for this unknown boy with a rare talent who deserves to be known.