Renato Virgilio's musical manuscripts in Barletta

The Institute of Concentrationary Musical Literature Foundation (ILMC) ETS of Barletta has acquired numerous musical manuscripts and a large collection of letters from the famous composer from Barletta, Renato Virgilio , from the Grillo-Ruffini family of Tortona .

Michele Ignazio (stage name Renato) Virgilio was born in Barletta on August 27, 1879. He began his musical studies under Vincenzo Gallo, continuing them at the San Pietro a Maiella Conservatory of Music in Naples. He lived during the most crucial period of opera, adhering to the veristic language but with an unprecedented breadth of vocal and orchestral material, borrowed both from his solid training at the Neapolitan school and from the great teachings of Alberto Franchetti.

A restless spirit, Virgilio left an important musical legacy of theatrical works, symphonic poems, chamber music, and above all his two-act opera "Jana" (subtitled Scene Sarde with a libretto by Salvatore Aliaga, pseudonym of Alberto Colantuoni), which made him famous throughout Europe.

First performed at the Teatro Dal Verme in Milan on December 2, 1905, under the direction of Tullio Serafin, the opera "Jana" was featured on numerous early twentieth-century theater bills in Italy, Germany, and Sweden, alongside other celebrated masterpieces of Italian verismo opera, from Mascagni to Leoncavallo, and a favorite of celebrated singers of the era such as Carmen Melis, Emma Carelli, Renzo Minolfi, and Giuseppe Taccani. "Jana" brought Virgilio enormous fame; major gramophone companies of the time recorded anthologies of the opera, and newspapers and magazines in Italy and abroad wrote about him.

However, something happened that prevented him from achieving greater artistic satisfaction: the missed opportunity to perfect his skills in Leipzig with Max Reger despite the protection and recommendation of Duke Karl Theodor von Wittelsbach, a troubled marriage to Philippine Raab, his touchy and difficult character despite a solid career as a conductor and pianist (he accompanied Enrico Caruso, Beniamino Gigli, Toti Dal Monte), the unfortunate choice to remain in Germany during the war, and his efforts to return to the theatre circuit with his last opera, "La morte del Re".

Left without financial support, Virgilio returned to Barletta but without any benefits, so he returned to Germany with the help of the Barlettan maestro Antonio Gallo, who donated a substantial sum of money; he returned to Barletta on the occasion of the political elections of May 25, 1958, and died in a hospital in Wiesbaden on June 27, 1959, on the threshold of his 80th birthday.

Having moved to Milan in the early 1900s, Virgilio moved to Tortona, where in 1901 he conducted the concert dedicated to Giuseppe Verdi (who died that year). He became friends with Maria Rivera, whom he taught singing. In November 1908, Maria married the lawyer Cesare Marenghi Marenco, whose name is linked to Barletta, being a descendant of the knight of fortune Domenico Riccio de' Marenghi da Soragna, who participated in the Challenge of Barletta on 13 February 1503.

In Tortona, at the villa of Maria Attilia Grillo-Ruffini (Marenco's granddaughter, who passed away in 2022), the piano on which Virgilio created "Jana" still exists. The performance was performed with great success at the Teatro Adriano in Rome, at the Petruzzelli in Bari, as well as in Tortona, Novi Ligure, Bologna, and in 1913 in Barletta, conducted by the composer. It was Pietro and Maria Adelaide Ruffini, Maria Attilia's children, who handed over to Francesco Lotoro the copious musical and epistolary material left by Virgilio in Tortona.

Since 1990, Francesco Lotoro and Paolo Candido have been working on a project to recover Renato Virgilio's materials from the historical and registry archives of St. Gallen, Zurich, Basel, Berlin, Wiesbaden, Boston, Leipzig, Bologna, and the E. Loffredo Library in Barletta. A few years ago, in Berlin, Lotoro and Candido recovered the final autograph draft of the opera "Jana," significantly revised by Virgilio compared to the celebrated early twentieth-century version, presumably to adapt it to new musical languages but also to replace the original materials of the opera stored at Bote & Bock in Berlin, which were destroyed during the Allied bombing of the German capital.

"Since its inception ," stated Francesco Lotoro upon his return from Tortona, " our Foundation has dedicated considerable energy to promoting musicians born in Barletta, thanks in particular to Maestro Paolo Candido's dedication to this subject. We are also doing so for Elisabetta Barbato and Ruggiero Orofino, unjustly forgotten Barlettan singers. Thanks to the acquisition of these manuscripts from the Grillo-Ruffini family, we intend to promote Virgil's musical works throughout the area. It is worth noting that the Archive of Barlettan Musicians, a veritable treasure trove of materials on the great musicians who were born in Barletta, will be opened at the Library and Media Library of the future Citadel of Concentrationary Music in Barletta."

In the following photos: some manuscripts, two period photos of Renato Virgilio and Francesco Lotoro with members of the Grillo-Ruffini family