Giuseppe Martucci (Capua, 6 January 1856 – Naples, 1 June 1909) was an Italian composer, conductor, pianist and teacher. As a composer and teacher he was influential in reviving Italian interest in non-operatic music. As a conductor he helped to introduce Wagner's operas to Italy and also gave important early concerts of English music there. La Canzone dei Ricordi, Op. 68b (The Song of Memories) (1886-87) 1. No... svaniti non sono i sogni 2, Cantava'l ruscello la gaia canzone 3. Fior di ginestra 4. Su'l mar la navicella 5. Un vago mormorio mi giunge 6. A'l folto bosco 7. No, svaniti non sono i sogni Rachel Yakar, soprano and the Philharmonia Orchestra conducted by Francesco d'Avalos Description by James Leonard Giuseppe Martucci was the only major Italian composer of his generation to eschew the writing of opera. He instead concentrated on the abstract forms of the symphony and piano concerto. The closest he ever got to writing an opera was in his song cycle La Canzone dei ricordi (The Song of Memory). Originally conceived as a work for voice and piano, the work found its final form and highest expression in this arrangement for soprano and orchestra. A lushly Wagnerian setting of seven poems by Rocco Pagliera, Martucci's La Canzone dei ricordi is held together more by its mood of intense yearning than by melodic and harmonic leitmotifs. Although historically significant as the first Italian orchestral song cycle, La Canzone dei ricordi's intensely lyrical musical expression indicates that Martucci might have been a great opera composer had he turned his mind to it.