From: Jeffrey Angles <jeffrey.angl..@..ich.edu>
Date: 2010-02-09 10:37:19
Message ID: <001c01caa928$6cb97580$462c6080$%angles@wmich.edu>
Subject: Classical (?) music & composers
Date: 2010-02-09 10:37:19
Message ID: <001c01caa928$6cb97580$462c6080$%angles@wmich.edu>
Subject: Classical (?) music & composers
Dear Nora,
The author with the hard katakana name is the following gentleman. The little bio is off of the
Naxos Music Library website (a tremendous resource for things like this.)
Best,
Jeffrey
-------------------------
Paisiello, Giovanni (1740-1816)
Among the most important composers of Italian opera in the later 18th century, Paisiello was trained
principally in Naples, where he first established his reputation as a composer. In 1776 he was
invited to move to St Petersburg, where he worked as a composer of opera and director of the court
orchestra, winning the favour of the Empress Catherine II. In 1784 he was able to accept an
invitation to return to Naples, where he enjoyed royal favour, only temporarily withdrawn after his
acquiescence in the republican régime of 1799. He spent two years in Paris, from 1802 to 1804, as
director of music for Napoleon. His employment in Naples continued under Ferdinand IV and then under
the usurper Joseph Buonaparte and his successor Joachim Murat. The final defeat of Napoleon in 1815
and the return of King Ferdinand removed Paisiello from his official positions.
Operas
Paisiello's chief fame was as a composer of operas, of which he wrote some eighty. L'idolo cinese
(The Chinese Idol) was a favourite of Lady Hamilton, later the mistress of Nelson. His Il barbiere
di Siviglia (The Barber of Seville), first performed in St Petersburg in 1782, proved a dangerous
rival to Rossini's later opera on the same subject. He set a number of libretti by the Vienna court
poet Metastasio and turned to Cervantes in his Don Chisciotte della Mancia (Don Quixote de la
Mancha). His style, which seems to have had some influence on Mozart, who heard his Il re Teodoro in
Venezia (King Teodoro in Venice) in Vienna in 1784, is concise and melodious, with the necessary
sparkle in his comedies, although his heroic and tragic operas seem sometimes to be matched with
music that is too light-hearted.
Vocal and Choral Music
Paisiello composed a number of cantatas, designed for entertainment or in formal celebration of some
royal occasion. Sacred works include oratorios on the subject of Susanna and of The Conception of
the Virgin Mary, with a setting of Metastasio's La passione di Gesù Cristo (The Passion of Jesus
Christ). He made a number of settings of the Mass, including, in 1814, a Mass for the chapel of
Louis XVIII, which followed earlier Masses for Napoleon. There are other liturgical compositions,
some again designed for official occasions of celebration.
Instrumental Music
Paisiello's instrumental music includes divertimenti, keyboard concertos, string and flute quartets
and sonatas for harpsichord and violin.
---------------------
Jeffrey Angles ｼﾞｪﾌﾘｰ･ｱﾝｸﾞﾙｽ
Associate Professor, Japanese Literature and Translation Studies
Department of Foreign Languages, Western Michigan University
http://homepages.wmich.edu/~jangles
(Address until August 28, 2010)
International Research Center for Japanese Studies
3-2, Goryo Oeyama-cho, Nishikyo-ku, Kyoto 610-1192 JAPAN
（2010年８月28日まで）
京都市西京区御陵大枝山町3-2
国際日本文化研究センター 〒610-1192
The author with the hard katakana name is the following gentleman. The little bio is off of the
Naxos Music Library website (a tremendous resource for things like this.)
Best,
Jeffrey
-------------------------
Paisiello, Giovanni (1740-1816)
Among the most important composers of Italian opera in the later 18th century, Paisiello was trained
principally in Naples, where he first established his reputation as a composer. In 1776 he was
invited to move to St Petersburg, where he worked as a composer of opera and director of the court
orchestra, winning the favour of the Empress Catherine II. In 1784 he was able to accept an
invitation to return to Naples, where he enjoyed royal favour, only temporarily withdrawn after his
acquiescence in the republican régime of 1799. He spent two years in Paris, from 1802 to 1804, as
director of music for Napoleon. His employment in Naples continued under Ferdinand IV and then under
the usurper Joseph Buonaparte and his successor Joachim Murat. The final defeat of Napoleon in 1815
and the return of King Ferdinand removed Paisiello from his official positions.
Operas
Paisiello's chief fame was as a composer of operas, of which he wrote some eighty. L'idolo cinese
(The Chinese Idol) was a favourite of Lady Hamilton, later the mistress of Nelson. His Il barbiere
di Siviglia (The Barber of Seville), first performed in St Petersburg in 1782, proved a dangerous
rival to Rossini's later opera on the same subject. He set a number of libretti by the Vienna court
poet Metastasio and turned to Cervantes in his Don Chisciotte della Mancia (Don Quixote de la
Mancha). His style, which seems to have had some influence on Mozart, who heard his Il re Teodoro in
Venezia (King Teodoro in Venice) in Vienna in 1784, is concise and melodious, with the necessary
sparkle in his comedies, although his heroic and tragic operas seem sometimes to be matched with
music that is too light-hearted.
Vocal and Choral Music
Paisiello composed a number of cantatas, designed for entertainment or in formal celebration of some
royal occasion. Sacred works include oratorios on the subject of Susanna and of The Conception of
the Virgin Mary, with a setting of Metastasio's La passione di Gesù Cristo (The Passion of Jesus
Christ). He made a number of settings of the Mass, including, in 1814, a Mass for the chapel of
Louis XVIII, which followed earlier Masses for Napoleon. There are other liturgical compositions,
some again designed for official occasions of celebration.
Instrumental Music
Paisiello's instrumental music includes divertimenti, keyboard concertos, string and flute quartets
and sonatas for harpsichord and violin.
---------------------
Jeffrey Angles ｼﾞｪﾌﾘｰ･ｱﾝｸﾞﾙｽ
Associate Professor, Japanese Literature and Translation Studies
Department of Foreign Languages, Western Michigan University
http://homepages.wmich.edu/~jangles
(Address until August 28, 2010)
International Research Center for Japanese Studies
3-2, Goryo Oeyama-cho, Nishikyo-ku, Kyoto 610-1192 JAPAN
（2010年８月28日まで）
京都市西京区御陵大枝山町3-2
国際日本文化研究センター 〒610-1192