Gennaro Astarita (also spelled Astaritta) (c.1745–49 – 18 December 1805) was an

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

composer, mainly of

opera Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a librett ...

s. The place of his birth is unknown, although he was active 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 ...

for many years. He began his operatic career in 1765, collaborating with

Niccolò Piccinni Niccolò Piccinni (; 16 January 1728 – 7 May 1800) was an Italian composer of symphonies, sacred music, chamber music, and opera. Although he is somewhat obscure today, Piccinni was one of the most popular composers of opera—particularly the ...

in the writing of the opera ''L'orfana insidiata''. He became the

maestro di cappella (, also , ) from German ''Kapelle'' (chapel) and ''Meister'' (master)'','' literally "master of the chapel choir" designates the leader of an ensemble of musicians. Originally used to refer to somebody in charge of music in a chapel, the term ha ...

in Naples in 1770. Astaritta is also considered to have played an important role in the development of opera in

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

. He first visited the country in 1781 and by 1784 he had become the director of

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

's Petrovsky Theatre (the predecessor of the

Bolshoi Theatre The Bolshoi Theatre ( rus, Большо́й теа́тр, r=Bol'shoy teatr, literally "Big Theater", p=bɐlʲˈʂoj tʲɪˈatər) is a historic theatre in Moscow, Russia, originally designed by architect Joseph Bové, which holds ballet and ope ...

). In 1794, Prince Nicolai Yusupov, who at the time was the director of the Imperial Theatres 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 ...

, asked him to bring an Italian opera troupe to the city, which he did in 1796. Astarita ran the troupe until 1799. Amongst the singers he recruited was Teresa Saporiti, who had created the role of Donna Anna in

Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 17565 December 1791), baptised as Joannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart, was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period (music), Classical period. Despite his short life, his ra ...

's ''

Don Giovanni ''Don Giovanni'' (; K. 527; Vienna (1788) title: , literally ''The Rake Punished, or Don Giovanni'') is an opera in two acts with music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to an Italian libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte. Its subject is a centuries-old Spanis ...

''.Randel (1996) p. 785 He wrote over 35 operas, most of them in the

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 ...

genre. Although forgotten now, in their day they were well regarded and performed all over Italy, as well as in Germany, Austria, Spain, Portugal, and Russia. He also wrote

ballet Ballet () is a type of performance dance that originated during the Italian Renaissance in the fifteenth century and later developed into a concert dance form in France and Russia. It has since become a widespread and highly technical form of ...

and

sacred Sacred describes something that is dedicated or set apart for the service or worship of a deity; is considered worthy of spiritual respect or devotion; or inspires awe or reverence among believers. The property is often ascribed to objects (a ...

music. He died at

Rovereto Rovereto (; "wood of sessile oaks"; locally: ''Roveredo'') is a city and ''comune'' in Trentino in northern Italy, located in the Vallagarina valley of the Adige River. History Rovereto was an ancient fortress town standing at the frontier b ...

Operas

*''Il corsaro algerino'' (opera buffa,

libretto A libretto (Italian for "booklet") is the text used in, or intended for, an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata or Musical theatre, musical. The term ''libretto'' is also sometimes used to refer to the t ...

by Giuseppe Palomba, 1765,

) *''L'astuta cameriera'' (dramma giocoso, 1770,

Turin Turin ( , Piedmontese language, Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in Northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital ...

) *''Gli amanti perseguitati'' (opera semi-seria, 1770, Turin) *''Il re alla caccia'' (1770, Torino) *''La critica teatrale'' (opera buffa, libretto by

Ranieri de' Calzabigi Ranieri de' Calzabigi (; 23 December 1714 – July 1795) was an Italian poet and librettist, most famous for his collaboration with the composer Christoph Willibald Gluck on his "reform" operas. Born in Livorno, Calzabigi spent the 1750s in Paris ...

, 1771, Turin) *''La contessa di Bimbimpoli (Il divertimento in campagna)'' (dramma giocoso, libretto by

Giovanni Bertati Giovanni Bertati (10 July 1735 – 1 March 1815) was an Italian librettist. Bertati was born in Martellago, Italy. In 1763, he wrote his first libretto, ''La morte di Dimone'' ("The Death of Dimone"), set to music by Antonio Tozzi. Two years later ...

, 1772,

Venice Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 ...

(reprised as ''Il divertimento in campagna'' in

Dresden Dresden (, ; Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; wen, label=Upper Sorbian, Drježdźany) is the capital city of the German state of Saxony and its second most populous city, after Leipzig. It is the 12th most populous city of Germany, the fourth larg ...

, 1783) *''L'avaro in campagna'' (dramma giocoso, libretto by

, 1772, Turin) *''La tomba di Merlino'' (opera buffa, libretto by Giovanni Bertati, 1772, Turin) *''La contessina'' (dramma giocoso, libretto by

Marco Coltellini Marco Coltellini (24 May 1724, in Montepulciano – November 1777, in Saint Petersburg) was an Italian opera tenor, libretto, librettist and Printer (publisher), printer. Biography Coltellini embarked on a career in the Church, but had to leav ...

, after

Carlo Goldoni Carlo is a given name. It is an Italian form of Charles. It can refer to: *Carlo (name) *Monte Carlo *Carlingford, New South Wales, a suburb in north-west Sydney, New South Wales, Australia *A satirical song written by Dafydd Iwan about Prince Char ...

, 1772,

Livorno Livorno () is a port city on the Ligurian Sea on the western coast of Tuscany, Italy. It is the capital of the Province of Livorno, having a population of 158,493 residents in December 2017. It is traditionally known in English as Leghorn (pronou ...

) *''L'isola disabitata'' and ''Le cinesi'' (drammi per musica, libretto by

Pietro Metastasio Pietro Antonio Domenico Trapassi (3 January 1698 – 12 April 1782), better known by his pseudonym of Pietro Metastasio (), was an Italian poet and librettist, considered the most important writer of '' opera seria'' libretti. Early life Me ...

, 1773,

Florence Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico an ...

) *''Le finezze d'amore, o sia La farsa non si fa, ma si prova'' (farsa, libretto by

, 1773, Venice) *''Li astrologi immaginari'' (dramma giocoso, 1774,

Lugo Lugo (, ; la, Lucus Augusti) is a city in northwestern Spain in the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Galicia (Spain), Galicia. It is the capital of the Lugo (province), province of Lugo. The municipality had a population ...

) *''Il marito che non ha moglie'' (dramma giocoso, libretto by

, 1774, Venice) *''Il principe ipocondriaco'' (dramma giocoso, libretto by

, 1774, Venice) *''La villanella incostante'' (dramma giocoso,

Cortona Cortona (, ) is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Arezzo, in Tuscany, Italy. It is the main cultural and artistic centre of the Val di Chiana after Arezzo. Toponymy Cortona is derived from Latin Cortōna, and from Etruscan 𐌂𐌖𐌓� ...

, 1774) *''Il mondo della luna'' (dramma giocoso, libretto by

, 1775, Venice) *''Li sapienti ridicoli, ovvero Un pazzo ne fa cento'' (dramma giocoso, libretto di

, 1775,

Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate ...

) *''L'avaro'' (dramma giocoso, libretto by

, 1776,

Ferrara Ferrara (, ; egl, Fràra ) is a city and ''comune'' in Emilia-Romagna, northern Italy, capital of the Province of Ferrara. it had 132,009 inhabitants. It is situated northeast of Bologna, on the Po di Volano, a branch channel of the main stream ...

) *''Armida'' (opera seria, libretto by

Giovanni Ambrogio Migliavacca Giovanni Ambrogio Migliavacca ( 1718 – c. 1795) was an Italian poet and librettist. A student and protégé of Metastasio, he was primarily active in the court theaters of Dresden and Vienna. His most successful work was the libretto for the ope ...

and Giacomo Durazzo, 1777, Venice) *''La dama immaginaria'' (dramma giocoso, libretto by Pier Antonio Bagliacca, 1777, Venice) *''L'isola del Bengodi'' (dramma giocoso, libretto by

, 1777, Venice) *''Il marito indolente'' (dramma giocoso, 1778,

Bologna Bologna (, , ; egl, label= Emilian, Bulåggna ; lat, Bononia) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in Northern Italy. It is the seventh most populous city in Italy with about 400,000 inhabitants and 150 different nat ...

) *''Le discordie teatrali'' (dramma giocoso, 1779, Florence) *''Il francese bizzarro'' (dramma giocoso, 1779,

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...

) *''Nicoletto bellavita'' (opera buffa, 1779,

Treviso Treviso ( , ; vec, Trevixo) is a city and ''comune'' in the Veneto region of northern Italy. It is the capital of the province of Treviso and the municipality has 84,669 inhabitants (as of September 2017). Some 3,000 live within the Veneti ...

) *''La Didone abbandonata'' (opera seria, libretto by

, 1780,

Bratislava Bratislava (, also ; ; german: Preßburg/Pressburg ; hu, Pozsony) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Slovakia. Officially, the population of the city is about 475,000; however, it is estimated to be more than 660,000 — approxim ...

) *''Il diavolo a quattro'' (farsa, 1785, Naples) *''I capricci in amore'' (dramma giocoso, 1787,

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 ...

) *''Il curioso accidente'' (dramma giocoso, libretto by

, 1789, Venice) *''Ipermestra'' (opera seria, libretto by

, 1789, Venice) *''L'inganno del ritratto'' (dramma giocoso, 1791, Florence) *''La nobiltà immaginaria'' (intermezzo, 1791, Florence) *''Il medico parigino o sia L'ammalato per amore'' (dramma giocoso, libretto by Giuseppe Palomba, 1792, Venice) *''Le fallaci apparenze'' (dramma giocoso, libretto by Giovanni Battista Lorenzi, 1793, Venice) *''Rinaldo d'Asti'' (opera buffa, libretto by

Giuseppe Carpani Giuseppe Carpani (28 December 1751 – 22 January 1825) was an Italian man of letters. He is remembered in large part for his role in the history of classical music: he knew Haydn, Mozart, Salieri, Beethoven, and Rossini, and served them in vari ...

, 1796, St. Petersburg) *''Gl'intrighi per amore'' (opera buffa, 1796, St. Petersburg)

References

Sources

* *Randel, Don Michael (ed.), ''The Harvard Biographical Dictionary of Music'', Harvard University Press, 1996 p. 785. *Warrack, John and West, Ewan (eds.
"Astarita, Gennaro"
''The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Opera'', Oxford University Press, 1996. Accessed via subscription 27 May 2009.

Operas

References

Sources

External links

See also