9 - Francesco Fanciulli: A Family Recollection

Summary

Where the hills meet the blue of the Mediterranean, near Orbetello, here was Fan born, among the charming people of Tuscany.

So begins the story of Francesco Fanciulli (1853–1915) as told by his wife Amanda (1861–1958). The remarkable composer wrote a fantasie for band that P. S. Gilmore purportedly called “the greatest piece of descriptive music ever written.” As a bandmaster and conductor who followed John Philip Sousa as leader of the United States Marine Band in 1892, Francesco Fanciulli inspired a reporter to write, “Never before in the history of the Marine Band has the harmony among the members been so complete and the feeling of contentment so general.” Even so, most historians remember Fanciulli more for an unfortunate incident on Decoration Day in 1897 and its aftermath than for his remarkable achievements. Posterity—virtually from 1897 to the present—has been unforgiving: the Marine Corps belittled him as “the piccolo player” and a Wall Street Journal reporter called him “a Salieri to Mozart's Sousa.” Fanciulli's accomplishments and stature merit a deeper investigation into his life, work, and importance as a bandmaster.

Most of Fanciulli's manuscript scores—as well as the four scrapbooks compiled after his move to the United States—are now in the Fanciulli Collection of the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts at Lincoln Center. Of perhaps greater importance as a resource for exploring Fanciulli's biography are the hundreds of photographs, concert programs, correspondence, business papers, manuscript materials, and personal effects that Fanciulli's family has carefully preserved. Additionally, the extensive handwritten notes compiled by Amanda shortly after his death in 1915 provide a rare, and potentially unique, perspective on the life of a major bandmaster through the eyes of his wife. Fanciulli's own words, those of Amanda, and accounts in the press reflect his stature and influence; they also allow for a more thorough examination of a historical figure whose complex career has been largely dismissed.

Childhood and Early Career

Francesco Fanciulli was born on May 29, 1853, in Porto San Stefano, Italy, about ninety miles northwest of Rome. His father, who previously had been a farmer, moved to this seaport town of five thousand people to work as a tailor.