List of Italian composers
Encyclopedia
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- Domenico AlbertiDomenico AlbertiDomenico Alberti was an Italian singer, harpsichordist, and composer whose works bridge the Baroque and Classical periods....
(c.1710–1740) - Ignazio AlbertiniIgnazio AlbertiniIgnazio Albertini was an Italian Baroque violinist and composer.Very little is known about Albertini's life. He may have been born in Milan, but first surfaces in Vienna, in a letter exchange between the famous violinist Johann Heinrich Schmelzer of the Viennese court and Karl II von...
(1644–1685) - Tomaso AlbinoniTomaso AlbinoniTomaso Giovanni Albinoni was an Italian Baroque composer. While famous in his day as an opera composer, he is mainly remembered today for his instrumental music, such as the concertos, some of which are regularly recorded.-Biography:Born in Venice, Republic of Venice, to Antonio Albinoni, a...
(1671–1751), Venetian composer of opera and instrumental music, the "Adagio in G minorAdagio in G minorThe Adagio in G minor for violin, strings and organ continuo, is a neo-Baroque composition popularly attributed to the 18th-century Venetian master Tomaso Albinoni, but composed by the 20th-century musicologist and Albinoni biographer Remo Giazotto and based on the disputed discovery of a...
" is based on his works - Franco AlfanoFranco AlfanoFranco Alfano was an Italian composer and pianist. Best known today for his opera Risurrezione and above all for having completed Puccini's opera Turandot in 1926. He had considerable success with several of his own works during his lifetime.- Biography :He was born in Posillipo, Naples...
(1875–1954) - Giuseppe Allapana (1822–1889)!
- Gregorio AllegriGregorio AllegriGregorio Allegri was an Italian composer of the Roman School and brother of Domenico Allegri; he was also a priest and a singer. He lived mainly in Rome, where he would later die.-Life:...
(1582–1652), composer of the famous MiserereMiserere (Allegri)Miserere, full name "Miserere mei, Deus" by Italian composer Gregorio Allegri, is a setting of Psalm 51 composed during the reign of Pope Urban VIII, probably during the 1630s, for use in the Sistine Chapel during matins, as part of the exclusive Tenebrae service on Wednesday and Friday of Holy...
, copied from memory on two hearings by the 14-year-old Mozart - Marco AmbrosiniMarco AmbrosiniMarco Ambrosini is an Italian musician, composer and arranger living in Germany. - Studies :From 1971 to 1981, Ambrosini studied violin and viola and composition with Mario Perrucci at the "Instituto Musicale G.B.Pergolesi" in Ancona and at the conservatory "G.Rossini" in Pesaro.- Musician...
(born 1964) - Pasquale AnfossiPasquale AnfossiBonifacio Domenico Pasquale Anfossi was an Italian opera composer. Born in Taggia, Liguria, he studied with Niccolò Piccinni and Antonio Sacchini, and worked mainly in London, Venice and Rome....
(1727–1797)
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- Antonio Bakini (1818–1897)
- Luke Barbarino (born 1952)
- Tiziano Bedetti (born 1976)
- Vincenzo BelliniVincenzo BelliniVincenzo Salvatore Carmelo Francesco Bellini was an Italian opera composer. His greatest works are I Capuleti ed i Montecchi , La sonnambula , Norma , Beatrice di Tenda , and I puritani...
(1801–1835), opera composer, famous for his opera NormaNorma (opera)Norma is a tragedia lirica or opera in two acts by Vincenzo Bellini with libretto by Felice Romani after Norma, ossia L'infanticidio by Alexandre Soumet. First produced at La Scala on December 26, 1831, it is generally regarded as an example of the supreme height of the bel canto tradition... - Luciano BerioLuciano BerioLuciano Berio, Cavaliere di Gran Croce OMRI was an Italian composer. He is noted for his experimental work and also for his pioneering work in electronic music.-Biography:Berio was born at Oneglia Luciano Berio, Cavaliere di Gran Croce OMRI (October 24, 1925 – May 27, 2003) was an Italian...
(1925–2003), wrote SinfoniaSinfoniaSinfonia is the Italian word for symphony. In English it most commonly refers to a 17th- or 18th-century orchestral piece used as an introduction, interlude, or postlude to an opera, oratorio, cantata, or suite...
, Un re in ascoltoUn re in ascoltoUn re in ascolto is an opera by Luciano Berio, who also wrote the libretto. The libretto is based on an idea by Italo Calvino, incorporating excerpts from Friedrich Einsiedel and Friedrich Wilhelm Gotter's eighteenth century libretto on Shakespeare's The Tempest as well as W. H. Auden's The Sea...
, and PassaggioPassaggioPassaggio is a term used in classical singing to describe the pitch ranges in which vocal registration events occur. Beneath passaggio is the chest voice where any singer can produce a powerful sound, and above it lies the head voice, where a powerful and resonant sound is accessible, but usually... - Antonio BertaliAntonio BertaliAntonio Bertali was an Italian composer and violinist of the Baroque era.He was born in Verona and received early music education there from Stefano Bernardi. Probably from 1624, he was employed as court musician in Vienna by Emperor Ferdinand II. In 1649 Bertali succeeded Giovanni Valentini as...
(1605–1669) - Marco BettaMarco BettaMarco Betta is an Italian music composer.-Biography:Marco Betta, author of opera, film score, orchestral and chamber music, has studied composition at the Conservatorio di Palermo with Eliodoro Sollima...
(born 1964) - Luigi BoccheriniLuigi BoccheriniLuigi Rodolfo Boccherini was an Italian classical era composer and cellist whose music retained a courtly and galante style while he matured somewhat apart from the major European musical centers. Boccherini is most widely known for one particular minuet from his String Quintet in E, Op. 11, No...
(1743–1805), Classical era composer - Arrigo BoitoArrigo BoitoArrigo Boito , aka Enrico Giuseppe Giovanni Boito, pseudonym Tobia Gorrio, was an Italian poet, journalist, novelist and composer, best known today for his libretti, especially those for Giuseppe Verdi's operas Otello and Falstaff, and his own opera Mefistofele...
(1842–1918) - Anna BonAnna BonAnna Bon was an Italian composer and performer. Her parents were both involved in music and traveled internationally; her father was the Bolognese artist Girolamo Bon, a librettist and scenographer, and her mother was the singer Rosa Ruvinetti Bon. Anna was born in Russia...
(1740–?) - Giovanni Battista BononciniGiovanni Battista BononciniGiovanni Battista Bononcini was an Italian Baroque composer and cellist, one of a family of string players and composers. His father, Giovanni Maria Bononcini , was a violinist and a composer.-Biography:...
(1670–1747) - Gaetano BrunettiGaetano BrunettiGaetano Brunetti was a prolific Italian composer active in Spain under kings Charles III and IV...
(1744–1798) - Ferruccio BusoniFerruccio BusoniFerruccio Busoni was an Italian composer, pianist, editor, writer, piano and composition teacher, and conductor.-Biography:...
(1866–1924)
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- Pasquale CafaroPasquale CafaroPasquale Cafaro was an Italian composer who was particularly known for his operas and the significant amount of sacred music he produced, including oratorios, motets, and masses....
(1715-1787) - Antonio CaldaraAntonio CaldaraAntonio Caldara was an Italian Baroque composer.Caldara was born in Venice , the son of a violinist. He became a chorister at St Mark's in Venice, where he learned several instruments, probably under the instruction of Giovanni Legrenzi...
(1670–1736) - Bartolomeo CampagnoliBartolomeo CampagnoliBartolomeo Campagnoli was an Italian violinist and composer. Campagnoli was born at Cento and died at Neustrelitz....
(1751–1827) - Giacomo CarissimiGiacomo CarissimiGiacomo Carissimi was an Italian composer, one of the most celebrated masters of the early Baroque, or, more accurately, the Roman School of music.-Biography:...
(1605–1674) - Alfredo CasellaAlfredo CasellaAlfredo Casella was an Italian composer, pianist and conductor.- Life and career :Casella was born in Turin; his family included many musicians; his grandfather, a friend of Paganini's, was first cello in the San Carlo Theatre in Lisbon and eventually was soloist in the Royal Chapel in Turin...
(1883–1947) - Mario Castelnuovo-TedescoMario Castelnuovo-TedescoMario Castelnuovo-Tedesco was an Italian composer. He was known as one of the foremost guitar composers in the twentieth century with almost one hundred compositions for that instrument. In 1939 he migrated to the United States and became a film composer for some 200 Hollywood movies for the next...
(1895–1968) - Alfredo CatalaniAlfredo CatalaniAlfredo Catalani was an Italian operatic composer. He is best remembered for his operas Loreley and La Wally...
(1854–1893) - Emilio de' CavalieriEmilio de' CavalieriEmilio de' Cavalieri was an Italian composer, producer, organist, diplomat, choreographer and dancer at the end of the Renaissance era. His work, along with that of other composers active in Rome, Florence and Venice, was critical in defining the beginning of the musical Baroque era...
(1550–1602) - Francesco CavalliFrancesco CavalliFrancesco Cavalli was an Italian composer of the early Baroque period. His real name was Pietro Francesco Caletti-Bruni, but he is better known by that of Cavalli, the name of his patron Federico Cavalli, a Venetian nobleman.-Life:Cavalli was born at Crema, Lombardy...
(1602–1676) - Antonio CestiAntonio CestiAntonio Cesti , known today primarily as an Italian composer of the Baroque era, he was also a singer , and organist. He was "the most celebrated Italian musician of his generation".- Biography :...
(1623–1669) - Luigi CherubiniLuigi CherubiniLuigi Cherubini was an Italian composer who spent most of his working life in France. His most significant compositions are operas and sacred music. Beethoven regarded Cherubini as the greatest of his contemporaries....
(1760–1842) - Francesco CileaFrancesco CileaFrancesco Cilea was an Italian composer. Today he is particularly known for his operas L'arlesiana and Adriana Lecouvreur.-Biography:...
(1866–1950) - Domenico CimarosaDomenico CimarosaDomenico Cimarosa was an Italian opera composer of the Neapolitan school...
(1749–1801) - Aldo ClementiAldo Clementi-Life:Aldo Clementi was born in Catania, Italy. He studied the piano, graduating in 1946. His studies in composition began in 1941, and his teachers included Alfredo Sangiorgi and Goffredo Petrassi. After receiving his diploma in 1954, he attended the Darmstadt summer courses from 1955 to 1962...
(1925–2011) - Muzio ClementiMuzio ClementiMuzio Clementi was a celebrated composer, pianist, pedagogue, conductor, music publisher, editor, and piano manufacturer. Born in Italy, he spent most of his life in England. He is best known for his piano sonatas, and his collection of piano studies, Gradus ad Parnassum...
(1752–1832) - Arcangelo CorelliArcangelo CorelliArcangelo Corelli was an Italian violinist and composer of Baroque music.-Biography:Corelli was born at Fusignano, in the current-day province of Ravenna, although at the time it was in the province of Ferrara. Little is known about his early life...
(1653–1713), Baroque violinist and composer
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- Luigi DallapiccolaLuigi DallapiccolaLuigi Dallapiccola was an Italian composer known for his lyrical twelve-tone compositions.-Biography:Dallapiccola was born at Pisino d'Istria , to Italian parents....
(1904–1975), composer of Il prigionieroIl prigionieroIl prigioniero is an opera in a prologue and one act, with music and libretto by Luigi Dallapiccola. The opera was first broadcast by the Italian radio station RAI on 1 December 1949... - Luigi DenzaLuigi DenzaLuigi Denza , was an Italian composer.Denza was born at Castellammare di Stabia, near Naples. He studied music under Saverio Mercadante and Paolo Serrao at the Naples Conservatory. Later, he moved to London and became a professor of singing at the Royal Academy of Music in 1898...
(1846–1922), Neapolitan song composer of Funiculì, FuniculàFuniculì, Funiculà"Funiculì, Funiculà" is a famous Neapolitan song written by Italian journalist Peppino Turco and set to music by Italian composer Luigi Denza in 1880. It was composed to commemorate the opening of the first funicular cable car on Mount Vesuvius. The 1880 cable car was later destroyed by the... - Salvatore Di VittorioSalvatore Di VittorioSalvatore Di Vittorio is an Italian composer and conductor. He is Music Director and Conductor of the Chamber Orchestra of New York "Ottorino Respighi".-Biography:...
(born 1967) - Stefano DonaudyStefano DonaudyStephano Donaudy , son of a French father and an Italian mother, was a minor Italian composer active in the 1890s and early 20th century, at a time when Palermo, his native city, was enjoying a period of relative splendour under the influx of rich Anglo-Sicilian families such as the Florios and the...
(1879–1925) - Gaetano DonizettiGaetano DonizettiDomenico Gaetano Maria Donizetti was an Italian composer from Bergamo, Lombardy. His best-known works are the operas L'elisir d'amore , Lucia di Lammermoor , and Don Pasquale , all in Italian, and the French operas La favorite and La fille du régiment...
(1797–1848), opera composer, known for Lucia di LammermoorLucia di LammermoorLucia di Lammermoor is a dramma tragico in three acts by Gaetano Donizetti. Salvadore Cammarano wrote the Italian language libretto loosely based upon Sir Walter Scott's historical novel The Bride of Lammermoor....
and L'elisir d'amoreL'elisir d'amoreL'elisir d'amore is an opera by the Italian composer Gaetano Donizetti. It is a melodramma giocoso in two acts...
among others
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- Lorenzo FerreroLorenzo FerreroLorenzo Ferrero is a contemporary Italian composer with a predilection for opera, a librettist, author, and book editor. He started composing at an early age and wrote over a hundred compositions thus far, including twelve operas, three ballets, and numerous orchestral, chamber music, solo...
(born 1951) - Aldo FinziAldo Finzi (composer)Aldo Finzi was an Italian classical music composer.-External links:* Aldo Finzi's official website.*...
(1897–1945) - Pietro FloridiaPietro FloridiaPietro Floridia was an Italian composer of classical music.According to David Johnson , Floridia was born in Modica, Sicily, and studied in Naples, where he created his first opera, Carlotta Clepier...
(1860–1932) - Alberto FranchettiAlberto FranchettiAlberto Franchetti was an Italian opera composer.-Biography:Alberto Franchetti was born in Turin, a Jewish nobleman of independent means. He studied first in Venice, then in Dresden under Felix Draeseke, and finally at the Munich Conservatory under Josef Rheinberger. His first major success...
(1860–1942) - Luca Francesconi (born 1956)
- Girolamo FrescobaldiGirolamo FrescobaldiGirolamo Frescobaldi was a musician from Ferrara, one of the most important composers of keyboard music in the late Renaissance and early Baroque periods. A child prodigy, Frescobaldi studied under Luzzasco Luzzaschi in Ferrara, but was influenced by a large number of composers, including Ascanio...
(1583–1643)
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- Andrea GabrieliAndrea GabrieliAndrea Gabrieli was an Italian composer and organist of the late Renaissance. The uncle of the somewhat more famous Giovanni Gabrieli, he was the first internationally renowned member of the Venetian School of composers, and was extremely influential in spreading the Venetian style in Italy as...
(c.1510–1595), uncle of Giovanni - Giovanni GabrieliGiovanni GabrieliGiovanni Gabrieli was an Italian composer and organist. He was one of the most influential musicians of his time, and represents the culmination of the style of the Venetian School, at the time of the shift from Renaissance to Baroque idioms.-Biography:Gabrieli was born in Venice...
(1557–1612), composer and organist - Domenico GabrielliDomenico GabrielliDomenico Gabrielli was an Italian Baroque composer and virtuoso cello player. He was apparently not related to the Venetian Gabrielis....
(1651–1690) - Baldassare Galuppi (1706–1785)
- Giuseppe GariboldiGiuseppe GariboldiGiuseppe Gariboldi was an Italian flautist and composer....
(1833–1905) - Luigi GattiLuigi GattiLuigi Gatti was a classical composer. He was born in Lazise in 1740, the son of an organist, Francesco della Gatta. He was ordained a priest in Mantua...
(1740–1817) - Carlo GesualdoCarlo GesualdoCarlo Gesualdo, known as Gesualdo di Venosa or Gesualdo da Venosa , Prince of Venosa and Count of Conza, was an Italian nobleman, lutenist, composer, and murderer....
(1566–1613) Chromatic madrigalMadrigal (music)A madrigal is a secular vocal music composition, usually a partsong, of the Renaissance and early Baroque eras. Traditionally, polyphonic madrigals are unaccompanied; the number of voices varies from two to eight, and most frequently from three to six....
ist, nobleman, murderer - Giorgio Ghedini (1892-1965)
- Umberto GiordanoUmberto GiordanoUmberto Menotti Maria Giordano was an Italian composer, mainly of operas.He was born in Foggia in Puglia, southern Italy, and studied under Paolo Serrao at the Conservatoire of Naples...
(1867–1948) - Mauro GiulianiMauro GiulianiMauro Giuseppe Sergio Pantaleo Giuliani was an Italian guitarist, cellist and composer, and is considered by many to be one of the leading guitar virtuosi of the early 19th century.- Biography :...
(1781–1829), virtuoso guitarist and composer - Charlie GracieCharlie GracieCharlie Gracie is an American rock pioneer and singer. He was born the same day as another rock and roll singer, Bobby Darin.His father encouraged him to play the guitar...
(born 1936)
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- Giovanni Girolamo KapspergerJohannes Hieronymus KapsbergerJohann Hieronymus Kapsberger , was a German-Italian virtuoso performer and composer of the early Baroque period...
(c. 1580–1651) - Ernesto KöhlerErnesto KöhlerErnesto Köhler was a flautist and composer. He was taught the flute by his father, Venceslau Joseph Köhler, who was the first flute of the Duke of Modena's orchestra....
(1849–1907)
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- Stefano LandiStefano LandiStefano Landi was an Italian composer and teacher of the early Baroque Roman School. He was an influential early composer of opera, and wrote the earliest opera on a historical subject: Sant'Alessio .-Biography:Landi was born in Rome, the capital of the Papal States.In 1595 he joined the Collegio...
(c. 1586–1639) - Francesco LandiniFrancesco LandiniFrancesco degli Organi, Francesco il Cieco, or Francesco da Firenze, called by later generations Francesco Landini or Landino was an Italian composer, organist, singer, poet and instrument maker...
(c. 1325–1397), prominent composer of the TrecentoMusic of the trecentoThe Trecento was a period of vigorous activity in Italy in the arts, including painting, architecture, literature, and music. The music of the Trecento paralleled the achievements in the other arts in many ways, for example, in pioneering new forms of expression, especially in secular song in the...
or Italian Ars NovaArs novaArs nova refers to a musical style which flourished in France and the Burgundian Low Countries in the Late Middle Ages: more particularly, in the period between the preparation of the Roman de Fauvel and the death of the composer Guillaume de Machaut in 1377... - Giovanni LegrenziGiovanni LegrenziGiovanni Legrenzi was an Italian composer of opera, vocal and instrumental music, and organist, of the Baroque era...
(1626–1690) - Ruggero LeoncavalloRuggero LeoncavalloRuggero Leoncavallo was an Italian opera composer. His two-act work Pagliacci remains one of the most popular works in the repertory, appearing as number 20 on the Operabase list of the most-performed operas worldwide.-Biography:...
(1858–1919), composer of the tragic opera, PagliacciPagliacciPagliacci , sometimes incorrectly rendered with a definite article as I Pagliacci, is an opera consisting of a prologue and two acts written and composed by Ruggero Leoncavallo. It recounts the tragedy of a jealous husband in a commedia dell'arte troupe... - Franciscus LiliusFranciszek LiliusFranciszek Lilius was a Polish composer, a descendant of the Italian Giglis family. He significantly contributed to the musical culture of Warsaw in the 17th century...
(c. 1600–1657) - Vincentius Lilius (1570–1636)
- Pietro LocatelliPietro LocatelliPietro Antonio Locatelli was an Italian composer and violinist.-Biography:Locatelli was born in Bergamo, Italy. A child prodigy on the violin, he was sent to study in Rome under the direction of Arcangelo Corelli...
(1695–1764) - Andrea LuchesiAndrea LuchesiAndrea Luca Luchesi was an Italian composer.- Biography :Andrea Luchesi was born at Motta di Livenza, near Treviso the eleventh child of Pietro Luchese and Caterina Gottardi. The rather wealthy family descended from groups of noble families who had moved from Lucca to Venice in the 14th century...
(1741–1801) - Luzzasco LuzzaschiLuzzasco LuzzaschiLuzzasco Luzzaschi was an Italian composer, organist, and teacher of the late Renaissance. He was born and died in Ferrara, and despite evidence of travels to Rome it is assumed that Luzzaschi spent the majority of his life in his native city.As a pupil of Cipriano de Rore, Luzzaschi developed...
(c. 1545-1607)
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- Bruno MadernaBruno MadernaBruno Maderna was an Italian conductor and composer. For the last ten years of his life he lived in Germany and eventually became a citizen of that country.-Biography:...
(1920–1973), composer of SatyriconSatyriconSatyricon is a Latin work of fiction in a mixture of prose and poetry. It is believed to have been written by Gaius Petronius, though the manuscript tradition identifies the author as a certain Titus Petronius...
, Venetian Journal - Giorgio MainerioGiorgio MainerioGiorgio Mainerio was an Italian musician and composer.-Biography:Mainerio was born in Parma, Italy between 1530 and 1540. His father is thought to have been Scottish given that Giorgio signed Mayner as his family name. During his education he studied music, but he did not immediately begin a...
(c.1530/40–1582) - Gian Francesco MalipieroGian Francesco MalipieroGian Francesco Malipiero was an Italian composer, musicologist, music teacher and editor.-Early years:Born in Venice into an aristocratic family, the grandson of the opera composer Francesco Malipiero, Gian Francesco Malipiero was prevented by family troubles from pursuing his musical education in...
(1882–1973) - Riccardo MalipieroRiccardo MalipieroRiccardo Malipiero was an Italian composer, pianist, and music educator. He was awarded the gold medal by the city of Milan in 1977 and by the city of Varese in 1984....
(1914–2003) - Franco ManninoFranco ManninoFranco Mannino was an Italian film composer, pianist, opera director, playwright and novelist, born in Palermo.He made his debut as pianist at the age of 16...
(1924–2005) - Alessandro MarcelloAlessandro MarcelloAlessandro Marcello was an Italian nobleman, poet, philosopher, mathematician and musician.-Biography:...
(1669–1747), composer of the famous Oboe Concerto in D minor - Luca MarenzioLuca MarenzioLuca Marenzio was an Italian composer and singer of the late Renaissance. He was one of the most renowned composers of madrigals, and wrote some of the most famous examples of the form in its late stage of development, prior to its early Baroque transformation by Monteverdi...
(c. 1553–1599) - Biagio MariniBiagio MariniBiagio Marini was an Italian virtuoso violinist and composer of the first half of the seventeenth century.Marini was born in Brescia. His works were printed and influential throughout the European musical world...
(1594–1663) - Giuseppe MartucciGiuseppe MartucciGiuseppe Martucci was an Italian composer, conductor, pianist and teacher. As a composer and teacher he was influential in reviving Italian interest in non-operatic music. As a conductor he helped to introduce Richard Wagner's operas to Italy and also gave important early concerts of English music...
(1856–1909) - Pietro MascagniPietro MascagniPietro Antonio Stefano Mascagni was an Italian composer most noted for his operas. His 1890 masterpiece Cavalleria rusticana caused one of the greatest sensations in opera history and single-handedly ushered in the Verismo movement in Italian dramatic music...
(1863–1945), opera composer, known for Cavalleria rusticanaCavalleria rusticanaCavalleria rusticana is an opera in one act by Pietro Mascagni to an Italian libretto by Giovanni Targioni-Tozzetti and Guido Menasci, adapted from a play written by Giovanni Verga based on his short story. Considered one of the classic verismo operas, it premiered on May 17, 1890 at the Teatro... - Florentio Maschera (1540–1584)
- Domenico MazzocchiDomenico MazzocchiDomenico Mazzocchi was an Italian baroque composer of the generation after Claudio Monteverdi. He was a composer of only vocal music, motets, oratorios and madrigals which have continuo, similar to the late Monteverdi's ones....
(1592–1665) - Virgilio MazzocchiVirgilio MazzocchiVirgilio Mazzocchi was an Italian baroque composer.He was born in Civita Castellana, the younger brother of Domenico Mazzocchi. Like his brother, who shared some features of his career, he was largely a composer of sacred vocal music.Mazzocchi is associated with providing music for the papal chapels...
(1597–1646) - Marco Mazzazzoli (c.1605–1662)
- Gian Carlo MenottiGian Carlo MenottiGian Carlo Menotti was an Italian-American composer and librettist. Although he often referred to himself as an American composer, he kept his Italian citizenship. He wrote the classic Christmas opera, Amahl and the Night Visitors, among about two dozen other operas intended to appeal to popular...
(1911-2007) - Saverio MercadanteSaverio MercadanteGiuseppe Saverio Raffaele Mercadante was an Italian composer, particularly of operas. While Mercadante may not have retained the international celebrity of Gaetano Donizetti or Gioachino Rossini beyond his own lifetime, he composed as impressive a number of works as either; and his development of...
(1795–1870) - Claudio MonteverdiClaudio MonteverdiClaudio Giovanni Antonio Monteverdi – 29 November 1643) was an Italian composer, gambist, and singer.Monteverdi's work, often regarded as revolutionary, marked the transition from the Renaissance style of music to that of the Baroque period. He developed two individual styles of composition – the...
(1567–1643), member of the Florentine CamerataFlorentine CamerataThe Florentine Camerata was a group of humanists, musicians, poets and intellectuals in late Renaissance Florence who gathered under the patronage of Count Giovanni de' Bardi to discuss and guide trends in the arts, especially music and drama...
, who are generally credited with inventing the modern operaOperaOpera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...
, best known for his OrfeoOrfeoL'Orfeo , sometimes called L'Orfeo, favola in musica, is an early Baroque opera by Claudio Monteverdi, with a libretto by Alessandro Striggio. It is based on the Greek legend of Orpheus, and tells the story of his descent to Hades and his fruitless attempt to bring his dead bride Eurydice back to...
, also wrote several books of madrigalsMadrigal (music)A madrigal is a secular vocal music composition, usually a partsong, of the Renaissance and early Baroque eras. Traditionally, polyphonic madrigals are unaccompanied; the number of voices varies from two to eight, and most frequently from three to six.... - Vittorio MontiVittorio MontiVittorio Monti was an Italian composer, violinist, and conductor.Monti was born in Naples, where he studied violin and composition at the Conservatorio di San Pietro a Majella...
(1868–1922) - Luigi MorleoLuigi MorleoLuigi Morleo is an Italian percussionist and composer of contemporary music, who lives in Bari and teaches in Bari Conservatory of Music - Niccolò Piccinni....
(born 1970) - Ennio MorriconeEnnio MorriconeEnnio Morricone, Grand Officer OMRI, , is an Italian composer and conductor, who wrote music to more than 500 motion pictures and television series, in a career lasting over 50 years. His scores have been included in over 20 award-winning films as well as several symphonic and choral pieces...
(born 1928)
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- Pietro NardiniPietro NardiniPietro Nardini was an Italian composer and violinist.-Life:He was born in Fibiana and studied music at Livorno, later becoming a pupil of Giuseppe Tartini. Having been a student of Giuseppe Tartini, he moved to Germany where he joined the court chapel in Stuttgart where he became conductor in 1762...
(1722–1793) - Luigi NonoLuigi NonoLuigi Nono was an Italian avant-garde composer of classical music and remains one of the most prominent composers of the 20th century.- Early years :Born in Venice, he was a member of a wealthy artistic family, and his grandfather was a notable painter...
(1924–1990), composer of PrometeoPrometeoPrometeo is a 150-minute opera by Luigi Nono, written between 1981 and 1984 and revised in 1985. Here the word "opera" carries the generic Italian meaning of "work," as in work of art, and not its usual worldly meaning. Indeed, Nono scornfully labels "Prometeo" a "tragedia dell'ascolto," a tragedy...
, Canto Sospeso
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- Giovanni PaciniGiovanni PaciniGiovanni Pacini was an Italian composer, best known for his operas. Pacini was born in Catania, Sicily, the son of the buffo Luigi Pacini, who was to appear in the premieres of many of Giovanni's operas...
(1796–1867) - Niccolò PaganiniNiccolò PaganiniNiccolò Paganini was an Italian violinist, violist, guitarist, and composer. He was one of the most celebrated violin virtuosi of his time, and left his mark as one of the pillars of modern violin technique...
(1782–1840), virtuoso violinist and composer, wrote the 24 Caprices24th CapriceCaprice No. 24 in A minor is the final caprice of Niccolò Paganini's 24 Caprices, and a famous work for solo violin. The work, in the key of A minor, consists of a theme, 11 variations, and a finale...
for violinViolinThe violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello.... - Giovanni PaisielloGiovanni PaisielloGiovanni Paisiello was an Italian composer of the Classical era.-Life:Paisiello was born at Taranto and educated by the Jesuits there. He became known for his beautiful singing voice and in 1754 was sent to the Conservatorio di S. Onofrio at Naples, where he studied under Francesco Durante, and...
(1740–1816) - Goffredo PetrassiGoffredo PetrassiGoffredo Petrassi was an Italian composer of modern classical music, conductor, and teacher. He is considered one of the most influential Italian composers of the twentieth century.-Life:...
(1904–2003) - Giovanni Pierluigi da PalestrinaGiovanni Pierluigi da PalestrinaGiovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina was an Italian Renaissance composer of sacred music and the best-known 16th-century representative of the Roman School of musical composition...
(c.1525–1594) - Bernardo PasquiniBernardo Pasquiniright|thumb|Bernardo PasquiniBernardo Pasquini was an Italian composer of opera and church music.He was born at Massa in Val di Nievole . He was a pupil of Antonio Cesti and Loreto Vittori...
(1637–1710) - Giovanni Battista PergolesiGiovanni Battista PergolesiGiovanni Battista Pergolesi was an Italian composer, violinist and organist.-Biography:Born at Iesi, Pergolesi studied music there under a local musician, Francesco Santini, before going to Naples in 1725, where he studied under Gaetano Greco and Francesco Feo among others...
(1710–1736) - Niccolò PiccinniNiccolò PiccinniNiccolò Piccinni was an Italian composer of symphonies, sacred music, chamber music, and opera. Although he is somewhat obscure, even to music lovers today, Piccinni was one of the most popular composers of opera—particularly the Neapolitan opera buffa—of his day...
(1728–1800) - Ildebrando PizzettiIldebrando PizzettiIldebrando Pizzetti was an Italian composer of classical music.- Biography :Pizzetti was born in Parma in 1880. He was part of the "Generation of 1880" along with Ottorino Respighi and Gian Francesco Malipiero. They were among the first Italian composers in some time whose primary contributions...
(1880–1968), Italian opera composer best known for Fedra, Assassinio nella cattedraleAssassinio nella cattedraleAssassinio nella cattedrale is an opera in two acts and an intermezzo by the Italian composer Ildebrando Pizzetti. The libretto is an adaptation by the composer of an Italian translation of T.S. Eliot's play Murder in the Cathedral. The opera was first performed at La Scala, Milan on 1 March 1958...
' and Cagliostro - Amilcare PonchielliAmilcare PonchielliAmilcare Ponchielli was an Italian composer, largely of operas.-Biography:Born in Paderno Fasolaro, now Paderno Ponchielli, near Cremona, Ponchielli won a scholarship at the age of nine to study music at the Milan Conservatory, writing his first symphony by the time he was ten years old.Two years...
(1834–1886), Romantic opera composer known for La GiocondaLa Gioconda (opera)La Gioconda is an opera in four acts by Amilcare Ponchielli set to an Italian libretto by Arrigo Boito, based on Angelo, tyran de Padoue, a play in prose by Victor Hugo, dating from 1835... - Giacomo PucciniGiacomo PucciniGiacomo Antonio Domenico Michele Secondo Maria Puccini was an Italian composer whose operas, including La bohème, Tosca, Madama Butterfly, and Turandot, are among the most frequently performed in the standard repertoire...
(1858–1924), late Romantic opera composer (La bohèmeLa bohèmeLa bohème is an opera in four acts,Puccini called the divisions quadro, a tableau or "image", rather than atto . by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa, based on Scènes de la vie de bohème by Henri Murger...
, ToscaToscaTosca is an opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa. It premiered at the Teatro Costanzi in Rome on 14 January 1900...
, TurandotTurandotTurandot is an opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini, set to a libretto in Italian by Giuseppe Adami and Renato Simoni.Though Puccini's first interest in the subject was based on his reading of Friedrich Schiller's adaptation of the play, his work is most nearly based on the earlier text Turandot...
, Madama ButterflyMadama ButterflyMadama Butterfly is an opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini, with an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa. Puccini based his opera in part on the short story "Madame Butterfly" by John Luther Long, which was dramatized by David Belasco...
) - Gaetano PugnaniGaetano PugnaniGaetano Pugnani was born in Turin. He trained on the violin under Giovanni Battista Somis and Giuseppe Tartini. In 1752, Pugnani became the first violinist of the Royal Chapel in Turin. Then he went on a large tour that granted him great fame for his extraordinary skill on the violin...
(1731–1798)
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- Matteo RampolliniMatteo RampolliniMatteo Rampollini was an Italian composer of the middle Renaissance. He is mainly known as a contributing composer to the Intermedio of 1539. He published several books of Madrigals. He was Maestro di Cappella at Florence Cathedral. and chaplain at the Medici chapel of San Lorenzo.-External links:*...
(1497–1553) - Tommaso Redi (c.1675–1738)
- Ottorino RespighiOttorino RespighiOttorino Respighi was an Italian composer, musicologist and conductor. He is best known for his orchestral "Roman trilogy": Fountains of Rome ; Pines of Rome ; and Roman Festivals...
(1879–1936), known for his symphonic poemSymphonic poemA symphonic poem or tone poem is a piece of orchestral music in a single continuous section in which the content of a poem, a story or novel, a painting, a landscape or another source is illustrated or evoked. The term was first applied by Hungarian composer Franz Liszt to his 13 works in this vein...
s The Fountains of RomeFontane di RomaFontane di Roma is a 1916 work by the Italian composer Ottorino Respighi, now considered part of the Roman Trilogy of symphonic poems along with Feste Romane and Pini di Roma. Each of the four sections is meant to depict one of Rome’s fountains during different periods of the day and night...
and The Pines of RomePini di RomaPines of Rome is a symphonic poem written in 1924 by the Italian composer Ottorino Respighi and, together with Fontane di Roma and Feste Romane, forms what is sometimes loosely referred to as his "Roman trilogy"... - Vittorio RietiVittorio RietiVittorio Rieti was an Jewish-Italian composer. Born in Alexandria, Egypt, Rieti moved to Milan to study economics. He subsequently studied in Rome under Respighi and Casella, and lived there until 1940....
(1898–1994), Italian composer of Barabau - Nino RotaNino RotaNino Rota was an Italian composer and academic who is best known for his film scores, notably for the films of Federico Fellini and Luchino Visconti...
(1911–1979) - Luigi Rossi (c.1597–1653)
- Salamone RossiSalamone RossiSalamone Rossi or Salomone Rossi was an Italian Jewish violinist and composer. He was a transitional figure between the late Italian Renaissance period and early Baroque.-Life:...
(c.1570–1630) composer of the early Baroque - Gioachino Rossini (1792–1868), best known for The Barber of SevilleThe Barber of SevilleThe Barber of Seville, or The Futile Precaution is an opera buffa in two acts by Gioachino Rossini with a libretto by Cesare Sterbini. The libretto was based on Pierre Beaumarchais's comedy Le Barbier de Séville , which was originally an opéra comique, or a mixture of spoken play with music...
and overtures to various other operas such as William TellWilliam TellWilliam Tell is a folk hero of Switzerland. His legend is recorded in a late 15th century Swiss chronicle....
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- Antonio SacchiniAntonio SacchiniAntonio Maria Gasparo Sacchini was an Italian opera composer.Sacchini was born in Florence, but was raised in Naples, where he received his musical education at the San Onofrio conservatory. He wrote his first operas in Naples, thereafter moving to Venice, then London and eventually Paris, where...
(1730–1786) - Antonio SalieriAntonio SalieriAntonio Salieri was a Venetian classical composer, conductor and teacher born in Legnago, south of Verona, in the Republic of Venice, but who spent his adult life and career as a faithful subject of the Habsburg monarchy....
(1750–1825) - Giovanni Battista SammartiniGiovanni Battista SammartiniGiovanni Battista Sammartini was an Italian composer, organist, choirmaster and teacher. He counted Gluck among his students, and was highly regarded by younger composers including Johann Christian Bach...
(c.1700–1775) - Giuseppe SammartiniGiuseppe SammartiniGiuseppe Baldassare Sammartini was an Italian composer and an oboist.A native of Milan, he moved to London together with his brother Giovanni Battista Sammartini. He had started playing the oboe in Milan and in London took up the post of oboist in the Opera orchestra in 1727...
(1695–1750) - Alessandro ScarlattiAlessandro ScarlattiAlessandro Scarlatti was an Italian Baroque composer especially famous for his operas and chamber cantatas. He is considered the founder of the Neapolitan school of opera. He was the father of two other composers, Domenico Scarlatti and Pietro Filippo Scarlatti.-Life:Scarlatti was born in...
(1660–1725) - Domenico ScarlattiDomenico ScarlattiGiuseppe Domenico Scarlatti was an Italian composer who spent much of his life in the service of the Portuguese and Spanish royal families. He is classified as a Baroque composer chronologically, although his music was influential in the development of the Classical style...
(1685–1757), influential in the development of the Classical style - Joe Schittino (born 1977)
- Giacinto ScelsiGiacinto ScelsiGiacinto Scelsi , Count of Ayala Valva was an Italian composer who also wrote surrealist poetry in French....
(1905–1988) - Giovanni SgambatiGiovanni SgambatiGiovanni Sgambati was an Italian composer.Born to an Italian father and an English mother, Sgambati, who lost his father early, received his early education at Trevi, in Umbria, where he wrote some church music and obtained experience as a singer and conductor...
(1843–1914) - Achille SimonettiAchille SimonettiAchille Simonetti was an Italian and English violinist and composer.-Early life and education:Born in Turin on the 12th of June 1857, Simonetti left his family in Bologna and completed his studies under Francesco Bianchi, Eugenio Cavallini, Giuseppe Gamba, Charles...
(1857-1928), violinist and composer - Giovanni Battista SomisGiovanni Battista SomisGiovanni Battista Somis was an Italian violinist and composer of the Baroque music era.He studied under Arcangelo Corelli between 1703 and 1706 or 1707...
(1686–1763), violinist and composer, one of a family (http://www.areditions.com/rr/rrb/b093.html) - Gaspare SpontiniGaspare SpontiniGaspare Luigi Pacifico Spontini was an Italian opera composer and conductor, extremely celebrated in his time, though largely forgotten after his death.-Biography:...
(1774–1851) - Annibale StabileAnnibale StabileAnnibale Stabile was an Italian composer of the Renaissance. He was a member of the Roman School of composition, and probably was a pupil of Palestrina. He was active mainly at Rome but moved briefly to Kraków, Poland at the end of his life.-Life:Records of his early life are inexact, but he was...
(c.1535–1595), Roman SchoolRoman SchoolIn music history, the Roman School was a group of composers of predominantly church music, in Rome, during the 16th and 17th centuries, therefore spanning the late Renaissance and early Baroque eras. The term also refers to the music they produced...
composer, pupil of PalestrinaGiovanni Pierluigi da PalestrinaGiovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina was an Italian Renaissance composer of sacred music and the best-known 16th-century representative of the Roman School of musical composition... - Agostino SteffaniAgostino SteffaniAgostino Steffani was an Italian ecclesiastic, diplomat and composer.-Biography:Steffani was born at Castelfranco Veneto. At a very early age he was admitted as a chorister at San Marco, Venice...
(1653–1728) - Alessandro StradellaAlessandro StradellaAlessandro Stradella was an Italian composer of the middle baroque. He enjoyed a dazzling career as a freelance composer, writing on commission, collaborating with distinguished poets, producing over three hundred works in a variety of genres.-Life:Not much is known about his early life, but he...
(1639–1682) - Barbara StrozziBarbara StrozziBarbara Strozzi was an Italian Baroque singer and composer.-Life:...
(1619–1677)
T
- Giuseppe TartiniGiuseppe TartiniGiuseppe Tartini was an Italian baroque composer and violinist.-Biography:Tartini was born in Piran, a town on the peninsula of Istria, in the Republic of Venice to Gianantonio – native of Florence – and Caterina Zangrando, a descendant of one of the oldest aristocratic Piranian families.It...
(1692–1770), famous for the Devil's Trill SonataDevil's Trill SonataThe Violin Sonata in G minor, more famously known as the Devil's Trill Sonata is a famous work for solo violin by Giuseppe Tartini , famous for being extremely technically demanding, even today.... - Giuseppe TorelliGiuseppe TorelliGiuseppe Torelli was an Italian violist, violinist, teacher, and composer.Torelli is most remembered for his contributions to the development of the instrumental concerto Giuseppe Torelli (April 22, 1658 – February 8, 1709) was an Italian violist, violinist, teacher, and composer.Torelli is most...
(1658–1709) - Antonio TozziAntonio TozziAntonio Tozzi was an Italian opera composer.He was born at Bologna, Italy. He studied with Padre Martini and became a member of the Accademia Filarmonica di Bologna in 1761. His first opera Tigrane, was performed in Venice in 1762. His La morte di Dimone of 1763 was an early opera semiseria. In...
(1736–1812) - Tommaso TraettaTommaso TraettaTommaso Michele Francesco Saverio Traetta was an Italian composer.-Biography:Traetta was born in Bitonto, a town near Bari, near the top of the heel of the boot of Italy. He eventually became a pupil of the composer, singer and teacher Nicola Porpora in Naples, and scored a first success with his...
(1727–1779)
V
- Giuseppe ValentiniGiuseppe ValentiniGiuseppe Valentini , nicknamed Straccioncino , was an Italian violinist, painter, poet, and composer, though he is known chiefly as a composer of inventive instrumental music. He studied under Giovanni Battista Bononcini in Rome between 1692 and 1697...
(1681–1753) - Francesco Maria VeraciniFrancesco Maria Veracinithumb|150px|Francesco Maria Veracini.Francesco Maria Veracini was an Italian composer and violinist, perhaps best known for his sets of violin sonatas.-Life:Francesco Maria Veracini led a turbulent life...
(1690–1768) - Giuseppe VerdiGiuseppe VerdiGiuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi was an Italian Romantic composer, mainly of opera. He was one of the most influential composers of the 19th century...
(1813–1901), opera composer best known for RigolettoRigolettoRigoletto is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi. The Italian libretto was written by Francesco Maria Piave based on the play Le roi s'amuse by Victor Hugo. It was first performed at La Fenice in Venice on March 11, 1851...
, NabuccoNabuccoNabucco is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Temistocle Solera, based on the Biblical story and the 1836 play by Auguste Anicet-Bourgeois and Francis Cornue...
, AidaAidaAida sometimes spelled Aïda, is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Antonio Ghislanzoni, based on a scenario written by French Egyptologist Auguste Mariette...
and La traviataLa traviataLa traviata is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi set to an Italian libretto by Francesco Maria Piave. It is based on La dame aux Camélias , a play adapted from the novel by Alexandre Dumas, fils. The title La traviata means literally The Fallen Woman, or perhaps more figuratively, The Woman... - Giovanni Verrando (born 1965)
- Giovanni Viotti (1755–1824), Classical era violin teacher whose music was later praised by Brahms
- Salvatore Di VittorioSalvatore Di VittorioSalvatore Di Vittorio is an Italian composer and conductor. He is Music Director and Conductor of the Chamber Orchestra of New York "Ottorino Respighi".-Biography:...
(born 1967) - Antonio VivaldiAntonio VivaldiAntonio Lucio Vivaldi , nicknamed because of his red hair, was an Italian Baroque composer, priest, and virtuoso violinist, born in Venice. Vivaldi is recognized as one of the greatest Baroque composers, and his influence during his lifetime was widespread over Europe...
(1678–1741), wrote over 600 concerti, known for The Four SeasonsThe Four Seasons (Vivaldi)The Four Seasons is a set of four violin concertos by Antonio Vivaldi. Composed in 1723, The Four Seasons is Vivaldi's best-known work, and is among the most popular pieces of Baroque music. The texture of each concerto is varied, each resembling its respective season... - Roman VladRoman VladRoman Vlad is an Italian composer, pianist, and musicologist of Romanian birth. He studied with Titus Tarnawski and Liviu Russu in Romania earning a piano diploma. He moved to Rome in 1938 to study at the University of Rome and later the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia...
(born 1919), Italian composer, pianist, and musicologist of Romanian birth
See also
- Chronological list of Italian classical composersChronological list of Italian classical composersThe following is a chronological list of classical music composers who live in, work in, or are citizens of Italy.-Medieval:*Maestro Piero *Gherardello da Firenze The following is a chronological list of classical music composers who live(d) in, work(ed) in, or are citizens of...