Pietro Generali

Pietro Generali ( born October 23, 1783 in Masserano; † November 3, 1832 in Novara, originally Pietro Mercandetti ) was an Italian composer and music educator.

Life and work

Of his birth, there are different data, Grove noted this October 23 in 1773. His father changed his family name when he moved with his family to Rome after a bankruptcy. Here Pietro studied music with Giovanni Masi and wrote for a graduate of the Congregation of Santa Cecilia in Rome first church music before 1800 published his first opera.

His first major success in this field was the farsa Pamela nubile at the Teatro San Benedetto in 1804, a collaboration with the famous librettist Gaetano Rossi, followed by Le lagrime d' una vedova end of December 1808 at the Teatro San Moise small. Up to Rossini's ascension he was one of the most famous composers in Venice. So had his farsa Adelina, an opera semi- seria or farsa, which was also produced along with Rossi, at the Teatro San Moise with 20 performances, most performances, surpassing Rossini's La Cambiale the matrimonio to 8 performances. In 1812 he wrote the opera seria Attila and also achieved some successes, in 1817 I Bacchanali di Roma. Meanwhile hindered the overwhelming popularity of Rossini other Italian opera composer at building their own career. Generali therefore moved to Barcelona as director of the opera company at the Teatro Santa Cruz. Here he remained two seasons, visited Italy in 1818 and was in Paris in 1819, where some early works were revived by him at the Théâtre-Italien in that year.

From 1821 to 1823 he lived in Naples, where he wrote a few operas and taught, inter alia, Luigi Ricci was one of his students. After this time, was his work as a composer of opera to a close. He was music director of the Opera Palermo and was in that capacity replaced in 1825 by Donizetti. When, in May 1826, police discovered that he was a member of a Masonic lodge, he had to leave the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies. He returned to his native northern Italy, and in 1827 maestro di cappella at the Cathedral of Novara. This office he held until his death, devoting itself mainly in his last years to the composition of sacred music and teaching. There are narrated from him about 54 operas, and numerous cantatas, masses, requiems and other sacred works.

Reception

Among his contemporaries there were conflicting assessments of his work. 1828 wrote the critic Tommaso Locatelli in the Gazzetta di Venezia on his opera Francesca di Rimini: "There is here a certain carelessness, a certain triviality of style, as if the Maestro had written almost by otium ( in leisure time ). " In the indeed, Generali was known for a somewhat superficial way of composing, which it often resulted to write his operas only completed during the rehearsals.

Pietro Generali is now scarcely known even in Italy. The festival Rossini in Wildbad undertook in 2010 a successful attempt to bring closer a present-day audience Generali. The modern premiere of Adelina was July 16, 2010 held at the Royal Kurtheater Bad Wildbad, sang the title role Dusica Bijelic. Germany Kultur transferred Adelina on 24 June 2010, a publication on CD is in preparation.