CHARLES NOLCINI:
THE LIFE AND MUSIC OF AN
ITALIAN AMERICAN
IN THE AGE OF JACKSON
This book, by
Vincent
A. Lapomarda of the Department of History at the College of the Holy
Cross, was published on 22 February 1997. Consisting of a little more than
a hundred pages, the work is almost evenly divided between the life
and the music
of (Peter) Charles Nolcini (1802-1844). A clipping in the family
archives reports that Charles' father was one of Napoleon’s officers at
the Battle of Waterloo. Whether this is fact or fiction, it has not
been possible to veify. An Italian immigrant, Nolcini contributed to the
musical life of the United States as a composer, an organist, and a teacher
in New England.
Nolcini first
made his name as an organist for the Beethoven Musical Society in Portland,
Maine, from 1824 to 1826. This was the first
musical society in the United States named for the great German composer.
Later Nolcini served as the organist for the Mozart Musical Society during
its initial concerts in that same city for the 1832-33 musical season.
Nolcini's involvement
in church music is evident from his positions in Maine and Massachusetts
as organist for the Second Parish Church in Portland (1824-28), for King's
Chapel in Boston (1828-32), for the Hammond Street Church in Bangor (1832-34),
and for the Unitarian Church in Newburyport (1834-37).
At the same time, during
these years, Nolcini composed music for both organ and piano. This book
brings together for the first time in one volume all of Nolcini's religious
music for the organ and all of his secular music for the piano. These
works reflect a genius that has long been overlooked in the study of American
civilization during the Age of Jackson and whose descendants exist today
in the United States.
Nolcini was also known
as a teacher of music, mostly the piano, and of languages, mainly Italian.
Having taught in Portland in the 1820s, one of his students was Henry Wadsworth
Longfellow who expressed deep admiration for Nolcini's musical talent and
teaching ability. As the former was the city's famous poet,
so the latter was its first composer.
The book was privately
printed and is available in the Bookstore at College of the Holy Cross,
Worcester, MA 01610.
