Sinigaglia, Leone

SINIGAGLIA, LEONE (1868–1944), composer. Born in Turin, Sinigaglia studied in Vienna, and in Prague with Dvořák, who interested him in folk music. His most important works are Danze Piemontese, for orchestra (first conducted by Toscanini, 1905) and the overture to Goldoni's play, Le baruffe chiozzotte (1907). He incorporated many of the tunes of his native Piedmont in his work and also published them in a collection, Vecchie canzoni popolari del Piemonte (6 fasc.), which appeared posthumously in 1957. Sinigaglia and his sister Alina both died of strokes on May 16, 1944, in the Ospedale Mauriziano in Turin, where they had fled from Fascist police who were rounding up Jews for deportation.