Federico Ricci (22 October 1809 – 10 December 1877), was an Italian composer, particularly of operas. Born in

Naples Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...

, he was the younger brother of

Luigi Ricci Luigi Ricci may refer to: * Luigi Ricci (composer) (1805–1859), Italian composer * Luigi Ricci (vocal coach) Luigi Ricci (1893–1981) was an Italian assistant conductor, accompanist, vocal coach, and author. Career Ricci began studying music ...

, with whom he collaborated on several works. Federico studied at

as had his brother. His first big success was with ''La prigione di Edimburgo'', one of his best serious works. He stayed with serious subjects for several years, and of these ''Corrado d'Altamura'' was a particular success. However, his last collaboration with his brother, a comedy called ''

Crispino e la comare ''Crispino e la comare o Il medico e la morte'' (''The Cobbler and the Fairy or The Doctor and Death'') is an opera written collaboratively by Luigi Ricci and Federico Ricci with an Italian libretto by Francesco Maria Piave. Performance histor ...

'', was hailed as the masterpiece of both composers, so Federico devoted himself thereafter entirely to comedy. After another success closely followed by a major flop in Vienna, Federico took an official job teaching in

St Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

and for 16 years he wrote no operas. In 1869 he moved to Paris, and there ''Une folie à Rome'' ran for 77 nights; other French comedies of his — mainly revisions of his own and his brother's earlier works — found some success. He also contributed the ''Recordare Jesu'' in the ''Sequentia'' to the ''

Messa per Rossini The Messa per Rossini is a Requiem Mass (music), Mass composed to commemorate the first anniversary of Gioachino Rossini's death. It was a Classical music written in collaboration, collaboration among 13 Italian composers, initiated by Giuseppe Ver ...

''. In 1870 for Cremona he created a

pastiche A pastiche is a work of visual art, literature, theatre, music, or architecture that imitates the style or character of the work of one or more other artists. Unlike parody, pastiche pays homage to the work it imitates, rather than mocking it ...

, ''La vergine di Kermo'', containing music by Pedrotti, Cagnoni,

Ponchielli Amilcare Ponchielli (, ; 31 August 1834 – 16 January 1886) was an Italian opera composer, best known for his opera ''La Gioconda''. He was married to the soprano Teresina Brambilla. Life and work Born in Paderno Fasolaro (now Paderno Ponchiell ...

, Pacini, Rossi, and Mazzucato. Although he did not have his brother's energy, Federico's scores are judged by some to be more skilfully written than Luigi's: for example, it has been said that ''La prigione di Edimburgo'' shows a sensitivity towards its subject (from Sir

Walter Scott Sir Walter Scott, 1st Baronet (15 August 1771 – 21 September 1832), was a Scottish novelist, poet, playwright and historian. Many of his works remain classics of European and Scottish literature, notably the novels ''Ivanhoe'', ''Rob Roy (n ...

's ''

The Heart of Midlothian ''The Heart of Mid-Lothian'' is the seventh of Sir Walter Scott's Waverley Novels. It was originally published in four volumes on 25 July 1818, under the title of '' Tales of My Landlord, 2nd series'', and the author was given as "Jedediah Cle ...

'') that is rare among Italian operas of the period. He died in

Conegliano Conegliano (; Venetian: ''Conejan'') is a town and ''comune'' of the Veneto region, Italy, in the province of Treviso, about north by rail from the town of Treviso. The population of the city is of people. The remains of a 10th-century castle ar ...

. His nephew

Luigi Ricci-Stolz Luigi Ricci-Stolz (185210 February 1906) was an Italian musician and composer. He was born as Giacomo Ricci in Trieste to composer Luigi Ricci and opera singer Francesca Stolz (1826–1900?), the elder sister of the famous Verdian diva Teresa S ...

, also called Luigino (1852–1906), was also a composer.Listing of his works on www.operone.de
Retrieved 1 January 2014

Operas

*1835: ''Il colonello'' (also as ''La donna colonello'') (with his brother

) *1835: ''Monsieur de Chalumeaux'' *1836: ' (with his brother

) *1838: ''La prigione di Edimburgo'' (Trieste, 18 March) *1839: ''Un duello sotto Richelieu'' *1841: ''Luigi Rolla e Michelangelo'' (Florence, 30 March) *1841: ''Corrado d'Altamura'' (La Scala, Milan, 16 November) *1842: ''Vallombra'' *1845: ''Isabella de'Medici'' *1846: ''Estella di Murcia'' *1846: ''L'amante di richiamo'' (with his brother Luigi) *1847: ''Griselda'' *1850: ''

, ossia Il medico e la morte'' (with his brother Luigi) (Venice San Benedetto, 28 February 1850, rev. 1869: as ''Le docteur Crispin'') *1850: ''I due ritratti'' *1852: ''Il marito e l'amante'' (rev. 1872: as ''Une fête à Venise'') *1853: ''Il paniere d 'amore'' *1869: ''Une folie à Rome'' (Paris) *1870: ''La vergine di Kermo'' (Cremona) *1872: ''Le docteur Rose, ou La dogaresse'' *1876: ''Don Quichotte'' (incomplete)

References

Notes Sources *

Budden, Julian Julian Medforth Budden (9 April 1924 in Hoylake, Wirral – 28 February 2007 in Florence, Italy) was a British opera scholar, radio producer and broadcaster. He is particularly known for his three volumes on the operas of Giuseppe Verdi (publish ...

(1998), "Ricci, Federico", in

Stanley Sadie Stanley John Sadie (; 30 October 1930 – 21 March 2005) was an influential and prolific British musicologist, music critic, and editor. He was editor of the sixth edition of the '' Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians'' (1980), which was publ ...

(ed.), ''

The New Grove Dictionary of Opera ''The New Grove Dictionary of Opera'' is an encyclopedia of opera, considered to be one of the best general reference sources on the subject. It is the largest work on opera in English, and in its printed form, amounts to 5,448 pages in four volu ...

'', Vol. Three, pp. 1309–1310. London: Macmillan Publishers, Inc. *Budden, Julian (1998), "Ricci, Luigi", in Stanley Sadie (ed.), ''

'', Vol. Three, pp. 1310–1311. London: Macmillan Publishers, Inc. *Rose, Michael (2001), "Ricci, Federico", in Holden, Amanda (ed.), ''The New Penguin Opera Guide'', New York: Penguin Putnam, p. 744. *Rose, Michael (2001), "Ricci, Luigi", in Amanda Holden (ed.), ''The New Penguin Opera Guide'', New York: Penguin Putnam, p. 745. {{DEFAULTSORT:Ricci, Federico 1809 births 1877 deaths Italian opera composers Male opera composers Musicians from Naples Italian classical composers Italian male classical composers Italian expatriates in Russia 19th-century classical composers 19th-century Italian composers 19th-century Italian male musicians