Carlo Coccia (14 April 1782 – 13 April 1873) was an Italian

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 ...

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and Defi ...

. He was known for the genre of

opera semiseria Opera semiseria ('semi-serious opera') is an Italian genre of opera, popular in the early and middle 19th century. Related to the opera buffa, opera semiseria contains elements of comedy but also of pathos, sometimes with a pastoral setting. It can ...

Life and career

Coccia was 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 ...

, and studied in his native city with Pietro Casella,

Fedele Fenaroli Fedele Fenaroli (25 April 1730, in Lanciano – 1 January 1818, in Naples) was an Italian composer and teacher. Fenaroli entered the Conservatorio di Santa Maria di Loreto, one of the Music conservatories of Naples, becoming a pupil of Francesc ...

, and

Giovanni Paisiello Giovanni Paisiello (or Paesiello; 9 May 1740 – 5 June 1816) was an Italian composer of the Classical era, and was the most popular opera composer of the late 1700s. His operatic style influenced Mozart and Rossini. Life Paisiello was born in T ...

, who introduced him to King

Joseph Bonaparte it, Giuseppe-Napoleone Buonaparte es, José Napoleón Bonaparte , house = Bonaparte , father = Carlo Buonaparte , mother = Letizia Ramolino , birth_date = 7 January 1768 , birth_place = Corte, Corsica, Republic of ...

for whom he became the private musician. He wrote his first opera, ''Il matrimonio per lettera di cambio'', in 1807, but it was a failure; however, the following year, with the help of Paisiello, his second opera, ''Il poeta fortunato'', was well received. He then moved to

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 ...

, where he concentrated on opera semiseria, of which ''Clotilde'' from 1815, is perhaps the best example. Accused of imitating other composers, and of producing too many uneven operas in great haste, he was eventually eclipsed by the emerging

Rossini Gioachino Antonio Rossini (29 February 1792 – 13 November 1868) was an Italian composer who gained fame for his 39 operas, although he also wrote many songs, some chamber music and piano pieces, and some sacred music. He set new standards f ...

, and left for

Lisbon Lisbon (; pt, Lisboa ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 544,851 within its administrative limits in an area of 100.05 km2. Grande Lisboa, Lisbon's urban area extends beyond the city's administr ...

, where he remained from 1820 to 1823. He then settled in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

in 1824, where he was conductor at His Majesty's Theatre. In 1827, he wrote ''Maria Stuarda'' for

Giuditta Pasta Giuditta Angiola Maria Costanza Pasta (née Negri; 26 October 1797 – 1 April 1865) was an Italian soprano opera singer. She has been compared to the 20th-century soprano Maria Callas. Career Early career Pasta was born Giuditta Angiola Maria C ...

, which, despite her and the celebrated bass

Luigi Lablache Luigi Lablache (6 December 1794 – 23 January 1858) was an Italian opera singer of French and Irish ancestry. He was most noted for his comic performances, possessing a powerful and agile bass voice, a wide range, and adroit acting skills: Lepo ...

being in the cast, was not successful, achieving only four performances. Back in Italy, he concentrated on

opera seria ''Opera seria'' (; plural: ''opere serie''; usually called ''dramma per musica'' or ''melodramma serio'') is an Italian musical term which refers to the noble and "serious" style of Italian opera that predominated in Europe from the 1710s to abo ...

, and obtained some success with ''Caterina di Guisa'', in 1833, but by then he had to compete with the likes of

Donizetti Domenico Gaetano Maria Donizetti (29 November 1797 – 8 April 1848) was an Italian composer, best known for his almost 70 operas. Along with Gioachino Rossini and Vincenzo Bellini, he was a leading composer of the '' bel canto'' opera style dur ...

and Bellini. Carlo Coccia contributed to a portion of

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 the seventh section of ''II. Sequentia'',

Lacrimosa The ''Lacrimosa'' (Latin for " weeping/tearful"), also a name that derives from ''Our Lady of Sorrows'', a title given to The Virgin Mary, is part of the Dies Irae sequence in the Roman Catholic Requiem Mass. Its text comes from the Latin 18th an ...

Amen Amen ( he, אָמֵן, ; grc, ἀμήν, ; syc, ܐܡܝܢ, ; ar, آمين, ) is an Abrahamic declaration of affirmation which is first found in the Hebrew Bible, and subsequently found in the New Testament. It is used in Jews, Jewish, Christia ...

. He became

Maitre de chapelle (, 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 ...

Novara Novara (, Novarese: ) is the capital city of the province of Novara in the Piedmont region in northwest Italy, to the west of Milan. With 101,916 inhabitants (on 1 January 2021), it is the second most populous city in Piedmont after Turin. It is ...

, in 1837, and director of the Music Conservatory of

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 ...

, where he wrote his last opera in 1841. He died in Novara.

Major works

*''La donna selvaggia'' (1813)Anderson. 2010 *''

Caterina di Guisa ''Caterina di Guisa'' is an opera in two acts by Carlo Coccia to a libretto by Felice Romani based on the 1829 play ''Henry III and His Courts'' by Alexandre Dumas. ''Caterina di Guisa'' premiered on 14 February 1833 at the Teatro alla Scala in Mil ...

'' (1833)

References

Notes Sources *Anderson, K
Liner Notes
to Naxos CD 8.660284-85 for the recording of Rossini's ''

L'Italiana in Algeri ''L'italiana in Algeri'' (; ''The Italian Girl in Algiers'') is an operatic ''dramma giocoso'' in two acts by Gioachino Rossini to an Italian libretto by Angelo Anelli, based on his earlier text set by Luigi Mosca. It premiered at the Teatro San ...

''. *

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 ...

; Libby, Denis; Maguire, Simon (2001), "Coccia, Carlo", ''The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, Second Edition'' London: Macmillan. . *Maguire, Simon (1998), “Coccia, Carlo” 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. One, pp. 891–892. London: Macmillan Publishers, Inc. *Mancini, R. and J.-J. Rouveroux, ''Le guide de l'opéra, les indispensables de la musique''. Fayard, 1986 *

External links

* *
Biografie
{{DEFAULTSORT:Coccia, Carlo 1782 births 1873 deaths 19th-century classical composers 19th-century Italian male musicians Italian classical composers Italian male classical composers Italian opera composers Italian Romantic composers Male opera composers Musicians from Naples