Errico Petrella by Émile Perrin (before 1885) - Archivio Storico Ricordi ICON010598 B

Errico Petrella (10 December 18137 April 1877) was an Italian opera composer.

Life and career

Petrella was born at Palermo, capital of the Kingdom of Sicily. A conservative of the Neapolitan school, he was the most successful Italian composer, second only to

Verdi Giuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi (; 9 or 10 October 1813 – 27 January 1901) was an Italian composer best known for his operas. He was born near Busseto to a provincial family of moderate means, receiving a musical education with the h ...

, during the 1850s and 1860s. He also earned the latter's scorn for his compositional and dramatic crudities, which nonetheless played well on the stage. Petrella was a popular composer in his day, both of

opera buffa ''Opera buffa'' (; "comic opera", plural: ''opere buffe'') is a genre of opera. It was first used as an informal description of Italian comic operas variously classified by their authors as ''commedia in musica'', ''commedia per musica'', ''dramm ...

and more serious work. His best opera, '' Jone'', has considerable melodramatic force and vitality, and Petrella's melodic style, though old-fashioned in comparison with Verdi's operas of the 1850s, is still appealing. None of his early works, premiered between December 1829 and 1839, were particularly successful. It was not until '' Il carnevale di Venezia'' (Naples, Nuovo, 20 May 1851) that he really became noticed. ''Elena di Tolosa'' (Naples, Fondo, 12 August 1852) followed. Finally, in 1854, he took the Italian operatic world by storm with ''Marco Visconti'' (Naples, San Carlo, 1854) based on the novel of the same title by Tommaso Grossi. ''L'assedio di Leida'' ( La Scala, 1856) was his fourth straight triumph, while '' Jone'' ( La Scala, 1858) was a major event and remained in the repertory well into the 20th century. With two exceptions (''La Contessa d'Amalfi'' and ''

I Promessi Sposi ''The Betrothed'' ( it, I promessi sposi ) is an Italian historical novel by Alessandro Manzoni, first published in 1827, in three volumes, and significantly revised and rewritten until the definitive version published between 1840 and 1842. It ...

'') his operas during the 1860s generally failed. In 1872 his opera ''Manfredo'', based on

Lord Byron George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron (22 January 1788 – 19 April 1824), known simply as Lord Byron, was an English romantic poet and peer. He was one of the leading figures of the Romantic movement, and has been regarded as among the ...

's poem, was produced in Naples, starring

Gabrielle Krauss Marie-Gabrielle Krauss (24 March 18426 January 1906) was an important 19th century Austrian-born French operatic soprano. She created major roles in operas by Anton Rubinstein, Charles Gounod, Camille Saint-Saëns, Auguste Mermet, Clémence de ...

in her first appearance in Italy. On this occasion the production was a great success and the composer was presented with a silver crown.''Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians'', 5th ed (1954), Vol. VI, p. 690: Petrella, Enrico Krauss also created a character in Petrella's ''Bianca Orsini'' on 4 April 1874. He died at

Genoa Genoa ( ; it, Genova ; lij, Zêna ). is the capital of the Italian region of Liguria and the sixth-largest city in Italy. In 2015, 594,733 people lived within the city's administrative limits. As of the 2011 Italian census, the Province of ...

three years later, aged 64.

Major works

*'' Il carnevale di Venezia ossia Le precauzioni'' (1851) *''Elena di Tolosa'' (1852) *''Marco Visconti'' (1854) *''L'assedio di Leida o Elnava'' (1856) *'' Jone o L'ultimo giorno di Pompei'' (1858) *'' La contessa d'Amalfi'' (1864) *''

I promessi sposi ''The Betrothed'' ( it, I promessi sposi ) is an Italian historical novel by Alessandro Manzoni, first published in 1827, in three volumes, and significantly revised and rewritten until the definitive version published between 1840 and 1842. It ...

'' (1869)

Bibliography

*'' Sebastian Werr: Die Opern von Errico Petrella; Edition Praesens, Vienna, 1999''

References

External links

* 1813 births 1877 deaths Italian classical composers Italian male classical composers Italian opera composers Male opera composers Composers from Sicily Musicians from Palermo 19th-century classical composers Burials at San Domenico, Palermo 19th-century Italian composers 19th-century Italian male musicians {{Italy-composer-stub