Lauro Rossi (born in

Macerata Macerata () is a city and ''comune'' in central Italy, the county seat of the province of Macerata in the Marche region. It has a population of about 41,564. History The historical city centre is on a hill between the Chienti and Potenza ri ...

, 19 February 1810;Some sources say 1812. died in

Cremona Cremona (, also ; ; lmo, label= Cremunés, Cremùna; egl, Carmona) is a city and ''comune'' in northern Italy, situated in Lombardy, on the left bank of the Po river in the middle of the ''Pianura Padana'' ( Po Valley). It is the capital of th ...

, 5 May 1885), was an Italian composer, particularly of operas. There is no known connection with

Luigi Rossi Luigi Rossi (c. 1597 – 20 February 1653) was an Italian Baroque composer. Born in Torremaggiore, a small town near Foggia, in the ancient kingdom of Naples, at an early age he went to Naples where he studied music with the Franco-Flemish comp ...

(1597–1653).

Life and career

Rossi studied 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 ...

and produced his first opera there. His greatest success was with the comic opera originally entitled ''La casa disabitata'', which was performed for many years in its revised form under the title ''I falsi monetari''. However, Rossi suffered a fiasco in 1835, after which he left Naples for Mexico, then Cuba. There he set up his own opera company, and married its prima donna, Isabella Obermayer. He returned to Italy in 1843 and continued composing, but, thereafter, he was mainly known as an academic figure as director of the Conservatory, first at Milan (1850–1870) and then at Naples (1870–1878). He was commissioned by

Giuseppe 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 ...

to compose a portion of 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 ...

''; specifically, Number V. Agnus Dei, for solo Alto. Two of his late operas were also highly successful: ''La Contessa di Mons'' and ''Cleopatra''.

Operas

* ''Le contesse villane'' (1829, revised as ''La villana contessa'' and also as ''Le principesse villane'', 1830) * ''Costanza e Oringaldo'' (1830, in collaboration with P. Raimondi) * ''La sposa al lotto'' (1831) * ''La casa in vendita, ovvero II casino di campagna'' (1831) * ''La scommessa di matrimonio'' (1831) * ''Baldovino, tiranno di Spoleto'' (1832) * ''II maestro di scuola'' (1832) * ''II disertore svizzero, ovvero La nostalgia'' (1832) * ''Le fucine di Bergen'' (1833) * ''La casa disabitata, ovvero Don Eustachio di campagna'' (1834, revised as ''I falsi monetari'', 1844 and possibly also as ''Don Eutichio e Sinforosa'') * ''Amelia, ovvero Otto anni di costanza'' (1834) * ''Leocadia'' (1835) * ''Giovanna Shore'' (1836) * ''II borgomastro di Schiedam'' (1844) * ''Dottor Bobolo, ovvero La fiera'' (1845) * ''Cellini a Parigi'' (1845) * ''Azema di Granata, ovvero Gli Abencerragi ed i Zegrini'' (1846) (libretto by

Jacopo Ferretti Jacopo Ferretti (16 July 1784 – 7 March 1852) was an Italian writer, poet and opera librettist. His name is sometimes written as Giacomo Ferretti. He is most famous for having supplied the libretti for two operas composed by Rossini and for fiv ...

) * ''La figlia di Figaro'' (1846) * ''Blanca Contarini'' (1847) * ''Il domino nero'' (1849) revived in Italy, and available on CD * ''Le Sabine'' (1852) * ''L'alchimista'' (1853) * ''La sirena'' (1855) * ''Lo zingaro rivale'' (1867) * ''Il maestro e la cantante'' (1867) * ''Gli artisti alla fiera'' (1868) * ''La contessa di Mons'' (1874) * ''Cleopatra'' (1876) revived in 2008 * ''Biorn'' (1877)

Bibliography

* Holden, Amanda (with Nicholas Kenyon and Stephen Walsh),''The Viking Opera Guide'', New York: Viking, 1993

References

External links

* * 1810 births 1885 deaths Italian classical composers Italian male classical composers Italian Romantic composers Italian opera composers Male opera composers People from Macerata Academic staff of Milan Conservatory 19th-century classical composers 19th-century Italian male musicians {{Italy-composer-stub