Ex. 7-9: Ideale

Published in 1882, to a poem by Carmelo Errico (1848–1892). Tosti was born in Ortona, Abruzzo, and studied violin and composition at the Naples Conservatory. He was himself a tenor and worked as a vocal teacher.

Tosti first visited London in 1875, settled there in 1880, and became singing teacher to the British royal family — including Queen Victoria's children. In recognition of his service, he was awarded a knighthood — the title "Sir" — from his friend King Edward VII in 1908. By then he had become a British citizen.

The poem speaks to a vanished ideal — not simply a lost lover, but a guiding light: "I followed you like a rainbow of peace along the paths of the sky. I felt you in the light, in the air, in the fragrance of flowers." The singer begs: "Return, dear ideal, for just a moment — smile at me once more, and a new dawn will shine in your face."

Tosti studied with the opera composer Saverio Mercadante in Naples. He never wrote an opera himself, but he stood at the centre of Italian musical life: a friend of Puccini and Mascagni, who valued his help and contacts in London, and admired by Verdi.

From the album The Love Song of Paolo Tosti by Gillian Zammit and Lucia Micallef (2013)
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