Felix Vinatieri
Felix Villiet Vinatieri was born 1834 in Turin, Italy. In 1853, at age nineteen, he graduated from the University of Naples. Upon completion of his studies, Vinatieri taught at the University of Naples for one year before serving for six years as a bandleader in the Queens Guard and becoming well known as a cornetist.
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Vinatieri immigrated to the United States in 1859. In 1861 Vinatieri enlisted in the Union Army where he served for one year as a “Band Leader.” Vinatieri’s second enlistment occurred in December, 1867 as Infantry Musician with the 22nd Infantry at Fort Columbus, New York. He was transferred to Fort Sully, Dakota Territory. Upon completion of his service, Vinatieri boarded a boat south. His intended destination is not known, but he traveled as far as Yankton, the capital of the Dakota Territory. He settled there, purchased property, and built a home where he composed, gave music lessons, and led the town band.
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In just under one year Vinatieri had gained the trust of the community and helped to establish a vibrant and well-respected band in Yankton. A local review of the band’s performance states it
“was a fine affair, and very well attended…Prof. Vinatieri, the leader of the band, is certainly a
and educated musician, and possesses in a marked degree the qualities which fit him to be and instructor and leaders.
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The Seventh Cavalry, under the command of General George Armstrong Custer, arrived in Yankton in April, 1873. While the Seventh Cavalry camped was there, the citizens of Yankton hosted a party to honor the General, his officers, and their wives. Vinatieri led the group of musicians that provided the evening’s entertainment, and General Custer was impressed with the quality of the band. Custer subsequently asked him to consider joining the Seventh Calvary and accompanying them to Fort Abraham Lincoln, near present-day Bismark, North Dakota.
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After arriving at Fort Abraham Lincoln, Vinatieri soon ventured to St. Paul, Minnesota, where he re-enlisted on May 23, 1873, as Chief Musician of the Seventh Cavalry. Vinatieri was kept busy with his duties; the band played for dress reviews, concerts, and weekly dances.
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As the Seventh Cavalry departed toward the Black Hills, in 1874, the band led them from Fort Lincoln. The journey took them through supposedly hostile territory in the very heart of the Black Hills, a location sacred to Native American tribes. Regarding this expedition, the writer for the New York Tribune described the following event:
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As we ascended the valley, our band which favors us every morning with a variety of selections played “How so fair” and “The Mocking Bird.” We forgot the mocking bird in listening to the mocking hills which played an echo fuge [sic] with the band. The effect was beautiful indeed. Never before had the echoes sung to Hoffman and Flotow, but they never missed a note in their response.
In 1876, as tensions with the Native Americans mounted, Custer and the Seventh Cavalry readied themselves for their campaign into the Montana Territory. Needing fresh mounts, the band was instructed to remain stationed on the supply boat, The Far West. After the Battle of the Little Big Horn, Vinatieri’s men cared for the wounded from General Terry’s command as they were transported back to the fort. Vinatieri was discharged December 16, 1876, at Fort Lincoln, Dakota Territory, as Chief Musician.
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Upon his discharge from the army, Vinatieri relocated back to Yankton. He resumed his professional civilian career, taught lessons, composed, and traveled extensively to support his large family. During this time Vinatieri was contracted by the Military Band at the North, Central, and South American Exposition in New Orleans. While in 1888, Vinatieri traveled as far south as Galveston and Corpus Christi, Texas.
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Although Vinatieri is best remembered as a director, conductor, and composer of band music, his obituary revealed that it had long been his desire to compose opera. During this period in Yankton, Vinatieri composed three comic operas. Dating from 1877 to 1891, these compositions are not the earliest surviving operas composed in the United States; however, they are, no doubt, among the earliest operas composed west of the Mississippi.