Angelo Maria Benincori (28 March 1779 – 30 December 1821) was an Italian composer. He wrote string quartets and, in Paris, endeavoured to be a successful composer of operas; his greatest success, the performance of his completion of

Nicolas Isouard Nicolas Isouard (also known as ''Nicolò'', ''Nicolò Isoiar'' or ''Nicolò de Malte''; 18 May 1773 – 23 March 1818) was a Maltese-born French composer. Biography Born in Porto Salvo, Valletta, Malta, Isouard studied in Rabat or Mdina with Fran ...

's opera ''Aladin'', came a few weeks after his death.

Life

Benincori was born in

Brescia Brescia (, locally ; lmo, link=no, label= Lombard, Brèsa ; lat, Brixia; vec, Bressa) is a city and ''comune'' in the region of Lombardy, Northern Italy. It is situated at the foot of the Alps, a few kilometers from the lakes Garda and Iseo. ...

in 1779. Hs father was secretary to the

Duke of Parma The Duke of Parma and Piacenza () was the ruler of the Duchy of Parma and Piacenza, a historical state of Northern Italy, which existed between 1545 and 1802, and again from 1814 to 1859. The Duke of Parma was also Duke of Piacenza, except ...

; at

Parma Parma (; egl, Pärma, ) is a city in the northern Italian region of Emilia-Romagna known for its architecture, Giuseppe Verdi, music, art, prosciutto (ham), Parmigiano-Reggiano, cheese and surrounding countryside. With a population of 198,292 ...

he studied, at an early age, music theory with

Gasparo Ghiretti Gasparo Ghiretti (1747 in Naples 1797 in Parma) was an Italian composer, counterpointist and violinist who served as chamber musician to Ferdinand, Duke of Parma in the last part of the 1700s. In his position he was master teacher to a number of t ...

and violin with

Alessandro Rolla Alessandro Rolla (; 23 April 175714 September 1841) was an Italian viola and violin virtuoso, composer, conductor and teacher. His son, Antonio Rolla, was also a violin virtuoso and composer. His fame now rests mainly as "teacher of the great P ...

; his concert debut, aged eight, was at the ducal court, playing a violin concerto. He later studied with

Domenico Cimarosa Domenico Cimarosa (; 17 December 1749 – 11 January 1801) was an Italian composer of the Neapolitan school and of the Classical period. He wrote more than eighty operas, the best known of which is ''Il matrimonio segreto'' (1792); most of his ...

. Aged 14, he wrote a mass which was performed."Benincori, Angelo Maria"
''

Treccani The ''Enciclopedia Italiana di Scienze, Lettere e Arti'' (Italian for "Italian Encyclopedia of Science, Letters, and Arts"), best known as ''Treccani'' for its developer Giovanni Treccani or ''Enciclopedia Italiana'', is an Italian-language en ...

''. Retrieved 20 July 2022. His opera ''Nitteti'' (1797) was produced in Italy, and well received also in Vienna about 1800. In Vienna he met

Joseph Haydn Franz Joseph Haydn ( , ; 31 March 173231 May 1809) was an Austrian composer of the Classical period (music), Classical period. He was instrumental in the development of chamber music such as the string quartet and piano trio. His contributions ...

, with whose

string quartet The term string quartet can refer to either a type of musical composition or a group of four people who play them. Many composers from the mid-18th century onwards wrote string quartets. The associated musical ensemble consists of two violinists ...

s he was so impressed as to abandon dramatic composition for a time and write only quartets. In 1803 he went to Paris, where his quartets had been published, and wrote two operas, ''Galatée ou le Nouveau Pygmalion'' and ''Hésione'', which were accepted by the

Académie Impériale de Musique The Paris Opera (, ) is the primary opera and ballet company of France. It was founded in 1669 by Louis XIV as the , and shortly thereafter was placed under the leadership of Jean-Baptiste Lully and officially renamed the , but continued to be k ...

but never performed. Meanwhile, he struggled to gain a living by teaching.

Théâtre Feydeau The Théâtre Feydeau (), a former Parisian theatre company, was founded in 1789 with the patronage of Monsieur, Comte de Provence (later to become Louis XVIII), and was therefore initially named the Théâtre de Monsieur. It began performing in t ...

staged three comic operas by Benincori: ''Les Parents d'un jour'' (1815; libretto by

Amédée de Beauplan Amédée de Beauplan (11 July 1790 – 24 December 1853) was a 19th-century French playwright, composer and painter. Fauquet (2003), see Bibliography. Much of his family (including his father), close to queen Marie Antoinette's entourage, was ex ...

); ''La promesse de Mariage ou Le Retour au Hameau'' (1818; libretto by

Michel Dieulafoy Joseph-Marie-Armand-Michel Dieulafoy (1762, Toulouse – 13 December 1823) was a French librettist and playwright. Biography He was received lawyer in Toulouse and he seemed destined to the bar where he had started. In his relatives, owners of ...

and Nicolas Gersin), and ''Les Epoux indiscrets ou Le danger des confidences'' (1819; libretto by Saint-Alme and C. de Saint-Just). They were not successful. He was commissioned to complete an opera by

, who had died leaving his opera ''Aladin ou la lampe merveilleuse'' (libretto by

Charles-Guillaume Étienne Charles-Guillaume Étienne (5 January 177813 March 1845) was a 19th-century French playwright. Biography He was born in Chamouilley, Haute-Marne. He held various municipal offices under the Revolution and came in 1793 to Paris, where he prod ...

) unfinished. Most of the first two acts had been written; Benincourt composed the remaining three acts, parts of the first two acts, and the overture. Benincori died in

Belleville, Paris Belleville () is a neighbourhood of Paris, France, parts of which lie in four different arrondissements. The major portion of Belleville straddles the borderline between the 20th arrondissement and the 19th along its main street, the ''Rue de Be ...

on 30 December 1821, aged 42, six weeks before ''Aladin'' opened on 6 February 1822. It was enthusiastically received; the theatre was lit by gas lighting for the first time, which may have contributed to its success. The opera had a further 137 performances. He left many compositions in manuscript, including a symphony dedicated to Haydn, and a mass. The scores of his operas staged at the Théâtre Feydeau were not published, but some of the arias were printed.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Benincori, Angelo 1779 births 1821 deaths 19th-century Italian composers Musicians from Brescia