Page 117 - Weiss, Jernej, ur./ed. 2025. Glasbena interpretacija: med umetniškim in znanstvenim┊Music Interpretation: Between the Artistic and the Scientific. Koper/Ljubljana: Založba Univerze na Primorskem in Festival Ljubljana. Studia musicologica Labacensia, 8

vittorio radeglia and his serenade aux etoiles ...
21
the beginning of the nineteenth century, which some European compos-
ers on tours (such as Franz Liszt in 1847), and rulers including Francis Jo-
22
seph during his visit to Constantinople in 1869, were able to experience.
The European education of the Ottoman rulers certainly encouraged this
affection. This can be seen through the establishment of a Europeanized
military orchestra in 1826 (Mızıka-i Hümayun), the hiring of Giuseppe
Donizetti in 1828–1856, the construction of the first theatre in the palace
(Dolmabahçe, 1856), and culminating in the construction of the Opera
House in Cairo and the opening ceremony of the Suez Canal in 1869 dur-
ing the reign of Khedive Ismail, governor of Egypt, who had been educat-
ed in Vienna and Paris. Consequently, a public educational institution was
founded – the Istanbul Conservatory in 1914.
Turkish sources also write about Radeglia:

He [Radeglia] performed in the Mızıka-i Hümayun, Istanbul. In 1914 he
was among the founders of the Dârü‘l-Elhân, later known as the Istan-
bul Municipal Conservatory. He wrote polyphonic adaptations of many
Turkish classical and folk pieces, and composed orchestral works in the
makams of Turkish music. 23
It seems that his health did not serve him well, so he retired from the
conservatory and turned to private teaching and composing. However,
24
even before the founding of the conservatory, Radeglia felt that he had to
work on the internationalization of his compositional work. Given that
several European musicians worked successfully in that city (e.g. French
violinist Benjamin Godard [1849–1895], French female composer Cécile
Chaminade [1857–1944], and Polish pianist Moritz Moskowski [1854–1925]),
he must have been looking for a way to stand out. It is possible that he
was connected with the City Theatre in Constantinople, perhaps as a music
21 Giuseppe Donizetti, the older brother of the more famous composer Gaetano, acted
as the chief teacher of imperial Ottoman music at the court of Sultan Mahmud II,
where he also taught members of the sultan's family.
22 Adam Mestyan, “From Private Entertainment to Public Education? Opera in the
Late Ottoman Empire (1805–1914) – An Introduction,” in Die Oper im Wandel der
Gesellschaft. Kulturtransfers und Netzwerke des Musiktheaters in Europa, ed. Sven
Oliver Müller, Philipp Ther, Jutta Toelle, and Gesa zur Nieden (Wien, Köln, Weimar:
Böhlau, Oldenbourg, 2010), 269.
23 “Vittorio Radeglia (1863–1930?),” Turkish music portal, Turkish Cultural Foundation,
http://www.turkishmusicportal.org/en/composers/detail/vittorio-radeglia.
24 The obituary in the newspaper Il piccolo di Trieste states that he retired in 1924.
Anon., “La scomparsa d'un musicista dalmata,” 4.

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