Musicians - Errico Petrella

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	Musicians - Errico Petrella

Errico Petrella (Born Palermo, 10 December, 1813 – died Genoa, 7 April, 1877) was an Italian opera composer.

A conservative of the Neapolitan school, he was the most successful Italian composer, second only to Verdi, during the 1850s and 1860s. He also earned the latter's scorn. He was a popular composer in his day, both of opera buffa and more serious work.

None of his early works, premiered between December 1829 and 1839 were particularly successful. It was not until Il carnevale di Venezia (Naples, Nuovo, May 20, 1851) that he really became noticed. Elena di Tolosa (Naples, Fondo, Aug. 12, 1852) followed. Finally, in 1854, he took the Italian operatic world by storm with Marco Visconti (Naples, San Carlo, 1854). L'assedio di Leida (La Scala, 1856) was his fourth straight triumph, while Jone (La Scala, 1858) was a major event and remained in the repertory well into the 20th century. With two exceptions (La Contessa d'Amalfi and I Promessi Sposi) his operas during the 1860s generally failed. However, perhaps due to Verdi's dissaproval, it has been close to 50 years since any of his works were revived complete in Italy. The one revival available on CD, that of Jone, took place in Caracas in 1981. It was celebrated, not in honor of the composer, but because it had opened the Teatro Municipal in that city 100 years earlier.

Major works

Il carnevale di Venezia ossia Le precauzioni (1851)

Elena di Tolosa (1852)
Marco Visconti (1854)

L'assedio di Leida o Elnava(1856)
Jone o L'ultimo giorno di Pompei (1858)

La contessa d'Amalfi (1864)
I promessi sposi (1869)

Bibliography

Sebastian Werr: Die Opern von Errico Petrella; Edition Praesens, Vienna, 1999

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