Francesco Giuseppe Baldassare Morlacchi (14 June 1784 – 28 October 1841) was an Italian composer of more than twenty

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. During the many years he spent as the royal Royal

Kapellmeister (, 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 ...

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 ...

, he was instrumental in popularizing the Italian style of opera.

Biography

Born in

Perugia Perugia (, , ; lat, Perusia) is the capital city of Umbria in central Italy, crossed by the River Tiber, and of the province of Perugia. The city is located about north of Rome and southeast of Florence. It covers a high hilltop and part o ...

, Morlacchi was from a family of musicians. He composed from a very young age, first studying with his uncle Giovanni Mazzetti and later with Luigi Caruso in Perugia. He later studied at Loreto with

Zingarelli ''Zingarelli'' is a modern Italian monolingual dictionary. Described as a ''Vocabolario della Lingua Italiana'' di Nicola Zingarelli, it is published annually by the Zanichelli publishing house. The first edition is dated 1917. References

(1803-4). Finally, he ended up in

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 ...

at the school of

Stanislao Mattei Stanislao Mattei, O.F.M. Conv. (10 February 1750, in Bologna – 17 May 1825, in Bologna), was an Italian Conventual Franciscan friar who was a noted composer, musicologist, and music teacher of his era. Life Mattei was born in Bologna, then pa ...

(1805) where he met

Gioacchino 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 ...

. Morlacchi was quickly successful as an opera composer. His first operatic works were written in 1807, and were a ''farce'' and a

comic opera Comic opera, sometimes known as light opera, is a sung dramatic work of a light or comic nature, usually with a happy ending and often including spoken dialogue. Forms of comic opera first developed in late 17th-century Italy. By the 1730s, a ne ...

. His first truly effective theatre work was the ''

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 ...

'' ''Corradino'' (

Parma Parma (; egl, Pärma, ) is a city in the northern Italian region of Emilia-Romagna known for its architecture, Giuseppe Verdi, music, art, prosciutto (ham), Parmigiano-Reggiano, cheese and surrounding countryside. With a population of 198,292 ...

, 1808), and led to commissions from opera houses in

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 ...

and

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 ...

. In 1810 he was brought to

contralto A contralto () is a type of classical female singing voice whose vocal range is the lowest female voice type. The contralto's vocal range is fairly rare; similar to the mezzo-soprano, and almost identical to that of a countertenor, typically b ...

Marietta Marcolini Marietta Marcolini (born c. 1780 – 26 December 1855) was an Italian operatic contralto. Marcolini was born in Florence. The date of her stage debut is unknown, but she was appearing in Venice in 1800. She subsequently sang in Naples, Livorno, ...

, and in 1811 Morlacchi was made

of the Italian Opera in Dresden. While in Dresden, he had to work to establish himself in the eyes of critics. By this time, German opera was well established, and Morlacchi and his compositions were seen to represent the old order both of composers and the aristocracy. In 1815 Morlacchi set ''Il barbiere di Siviglia'' with a libretto of

Giuseppe Petrosellini Giuseppe Petrosellini (29 November 1727 – 1799) was an Italian poet and prolific librettist working primarily in the '' dramma giocoso'' and ''opera buffa'' genres. Petrosellini was born in Corneto, Papal State (now Tarquinia, Lazio) and spent ...

and one year later Rossini presented his own with a newer libretto by

Cesare Sterbini Cesare Sterbini (1784 – 19 January 1831) was an Italian writer and librettist. Possessing a deep knowledge of classical and contemporary culture, philosophy, linguistics, he was fluent in Greek, Latin, Italian, French and German. He is best k ...

. One of Morlacchi's most successful works was '' Tebaldo e Isolina'' (

La Fenice Teatro La Fenice (, "The Phoenix") is an opera house in Venice, Italy. It is one of "the most famous and renowned landmarks in the history of Italian theatre" and in the history of opera as a whole. Especially in the 19th century, La Fenice beca ...

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 ...

, 1822).

Giovanni Battista Velluti Giovanni Battista Velluti, colloquially "Giambattista" (28 January 1780 – 22 January 1861), was an Italian castrato. Considered "the last great castrato", he had a reputation of being something of a diva, with some singers refusing to appear wit ...

premiered the work, and made the role his own. The opera was performed in 40 cities over the next ten years, largely thanks to Velluti's skillful performance. The architect

Gottlob Friedrich Thormeyer Gottlob Friedrich Thormeyer (23 October 1775 - 11 February 1842) was a German representative of neoclassical architecture. Life and artwork Education and early work Thormeyer was born in the Protestant Kreuzkirche parish, Dresden. He started to ...

painted his portrait in 1829. Morlacchi died in

Innsbruck Innsbruck (; bar, Innschbruck, label=Bavarian language, Austro-Bavarian ) is the capital of Tyrol (state), Tyrol and the List of cities and towns in Austria, fifth-largest city in Austria. On the Inn (river), River Inn, at its junction with the ...

Works

* Oratorio - ''

La passione di Gesù Cristo LA most frequently refers to Los Angeles, the second largest city in the United States. La, LA, or L.A. may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * La (musical note), or A, the sixth note * "L.A.", a song by Elliott Smith on ''Figur ...

'' 1812, one of the last settings of

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 ...

's libretto of 1730. Although sometimes credited with it, Francesco Morlacchi did not compose "The Swiss Shepherd", ( "Il pastore svizzero" in Italian ). "The Swiss Shepherd" was instead written by Italian flautist Pietro Morlacchi (1828-1868).

References

Biancamaria Brumana. "Francesco Morlacchi", ''

Grove Music Online ''The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians'' is an encyclopedic dictionary of music and musicians. Along with the German-language ''Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart'', it is one of the largest reference works on the history and theo ...

'', ed. L. Macy (accessed September 5, 2006)
grovemusic.com
(subscription access). {{DEFAULTSORT:Morlacchi, Francesco 1784 births 1841 deaths 19th-century classical composers 19th-century Italian musicians 19th-century Italian male musicians Italian classical composers Italian male classical composers Italian opera composers Male opera composers People from Perugia

Biography

Works

See also

References