Niccolò Piccinni (; 16 January 1728 – 7 May 1800) was an Italian
composer of symphonies, sacred music, chamber music, and
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 libr ...
. Although he is somewhat obscure today, Piccinni was one of the most popular composers of opera—particularly the
Neapolitan
Neapolitan means of or pertaining to Naples, a city in Italy; or to:
Geography and history
* Province of Naples, a province in the Campania region of southern Italy that includes the city
* Duchy of Naples, in existence during the Early and Hig ...
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'', ''dram ...
—of the
Classical period.
Life
Piccinni was born in
Bari, in the
Apulia region. From the age of fourteen, he was educated at the
S. Onofrio Conservatory by
Leonardo Leo and
Francesco Durante,
[.] thanks to the intervention of the
Bishop of Bari (his father, although himself a musician, was opposed to his son following the same career).
Piccinni's first opera, ''Le donne dispettose'', was produced in 1755 with the patronage of Prince Vintimille.
In 1760 he composed, at
Rome
, established_title = Founded
, established_date = 753 BC
, founder = King Romulus ( legendary)
, image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg
, map_caption ...
, the ''chef d'œuvre'' of his early life, ''
La Cecchina, ossia la buona Figliuola'', an ''opera buffa'' with a libretto by
Goldoni, which "enjoyed a two-year run in Rome and was played in all the important European capitals. It can probably be called the most popular opera buffa of the 18th century...
ven more than.. Pergolesi's ''
La serva padrona''...
nd.. The first of the new era, culminating in the masterworks of Mozart."
''La buona figliuola'' represents a special moment in the history of eighteenth-century music in which comedy began to take on a new dramatic force. It is the moment at which the self-consciously
sentimental theatrical project of
Carlo Goldoni (the opera's librettist) is married with the developing musical language of
classicism
Classicism, in the arts, refers generally to a high regard for a classical period, classical antiquity in the Western tradition, as setting standards for taste which the classicists seek to emulate. In its purest form, classicism is an aesthet ...
. This can especially be seen in the sensitive writing of Cecchina's Act II aria "Una povera ragazza."
The opera was such a success that fashions of dress, shops, and houses were all named after ''La Cecchina''. It also set off a debate about the merits of the new sentimental style, especially in
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...
, where conservative reactionaries were wary of the supposed feminizing influence of modern Italian music. Antonio Baretti commented in 1768 that individuals “of weight and consideration” should not be blamed for condemning “those puny gentlemen” who, as enthusiasts of Italian opera, were able to “feel its minuet niceties, and to be of course in rapture with the languishing Cecchina’s of Piccini .” This modern music, Baretti decried, “far from having any power of increasing courage or any manly virtues, has on the contrary a tendency towards effeminacy and cowardliness.”
Six years after this, Piccinni was invited by Queen
Marie Antoinette to
Paris
Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. Si ...
. He became the first Italian after
Jean-Baptiste Lully to write operas for the
Academie Royale 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 ...
, as the opera was called. He collaborated with the poet and dramatist
Marmontel on several projects designed to advance the cause of the operatic reform. Marmontel's first librettos took, as their foundation, texts
Philippe Quinault had written for Lully, ''
Roland'' 1778, and ''
Atys'', 1779. Subsequent works, starting with ''
Didon'', used original texts. All his later works were successful; but the directors of the Grand Opera conceived the idea of deliberately opposing him to
Gluck
Christoph Willibald (Ritter von) Gluck (; 2 July 1714 – 15 November 1787) was a composer of Italian and French opera in the early classical period. Born in the Upper Palatinate and raised in Bohemia, both part of the Holy Roman Empire, he ...
, by persuading the two composers to treat the same subject – ''Iphigénie en Tauride'' – simultaneously. The Parisian public was divided into two rival parties, which, under the names of Gluckists and Piccinnists, carried on an unworthy and disgraceful war. Gluck's masterly ''
Iphigénie en Tauride'' was first produced on 18 May 1779. Piccinni's ''Iphigénie'' followed on 23 January 1781. The antagonism of the rival parties continued, even after Gluck left Paris in 1780; and an attempt was afterwards made to inaugurate a new rivalry with
Sacchini. Piccinni remained popular, and on the death of Gluck, in 1787, proposed that a public monument be erected to his memory— a suggestion which the Gluckists refused to support.
In 1784 Piccinni became professor at the Royal School of Music, one of the institutions from which the
Conservatoire was formed in 1794. On the outbreak of the
French Revolution
The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in November 1799. Many of its ideas are conside ...
in 1789, Piccinni returned to Naples, where he was at first well received by
King Ferdinand IV
Ferdinand I (12 January 1751 – 4 January 1825) was the King of the Two Sicilies from 1816, after his restoration following victory in the Napoleonic Wars. Before that he had been, since 1759, Ferdinand IV of the Kingdom of Naples and Ferdinand I ...
; but the marriage of his daughter Claire to a French democrat named Pierre Prades-Prestreau brought him disgrace – he was accused of being a revolutionary
and placed under house arrest for four years. For the next nine years he maintained a precarious existence in
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 ...
, Naples and Rome; but he returned in 1798 to Paris, where the public received him with enthusiasm, but he made no money. He died in
Passy, near Paris. During his life, he worked with the greatest librettists of his age, including
Metastasio. After his death a memorial tablet was set up in the house in which he was born at Bari.
He had married in 1756 his pupil Vincenza Sibilla, a singer, whom he never allowed to appear on the stage after their marriage. A grandson,
Louis Alexandre Piccinni
Louis Alexandre Piccinni (variously Louis Alexandre, Luigi Alessandro or Lodovice Alessandro) (10 September 1779 – 24 April 1850) was a prolific music composer born in Paris of Italian ancestry.
Alexandre Piccinni was born in Paris. The gra ...
, became a successful repetiteur and composer in Paris.
Works
The most complete list of his works was given in the ''
Rivista Musicale Italiana'', viii. 75.
Operas
Piccinni produced over a hundred operas,
but although his later work shows the influence of the French and German stage, he belongs to the conventional Italian school of the 18th century.
Non-operatic works
Piccinni also wrote a number of sacred works, for voices with various accompanying forces, and also two symphonies (in D major and in G major) and a flute concerto.
See also
*
Les Neuf Sœurs
Notes
References
*
*
*
Pierre-Louis Ginguené
Pierre-Louis Ginguené (25 April 1748 – 16 November 1816) was a French author.
Biography
He was born at Rennes, in Brittany, and educated at a Jesuit college there. He came to Paris in 1772, and wrote criticisms for the ''Mercure de France''. ...
, ''Notice sur la vie et les ouvrages de Niccolo Piccinni'' (Paris, 1801).
External links
*
*
Istituto Internazionale per lo studio del '700 musicale napoletano''www.domenicoscarlatti.it''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Piccinni, Niccolo
1728 births
1800 deaths
18th-century Italian male musicians
Italian Classical-period composers
Neapolitan school composers
18th-century Italian composers
Italian male classical composers
Italian opera composers
Italian musicians
Male opera composers
People from Bari