Giovanni Paisiello

Background

Giovanni Paisiello was born on May 9, 1740 in Roccaforzata, Taranto province, Italy.

Education

Paisiello’s father enrolled him in the Jesuit school in Taranto at the age of five. Carlo Resta, a priest and his school teacher of music, induced Giovanni's father to enroll the boy at the Conservatory of San Onofrio in Naples. He was placed in the Conservatory in 1754, and he remained there for nine years.

Career

For the theatre of the Conservatory he wrote some intermezzi, one of which attracted so much notice that he was invited to write two operas: “La Pupilla” (“The Female Pupil”) for Bologna, and “Il Marchese di Tulissano” for Rome. His reputation established, he settled for some years at Naples, where he produced a series of successful operas. Paisiello delighted audiences with a series of operas which were performed in the major cities of Italy and were enthusiastically received.

In 1776, at the invitation of Catherine the Great, empress of Russia, he left Naples for St. Petersburg. During his stay at the Russian court he composed “Il Barbiere di Siviglia” (1782), given at a special performance for the visiting naval hero, John Paul Jones.

When the restoration of the monarchy came about, he lost his appointment. In 1784 Paisiello left Russia and, after a brief sojourn in Vienna, where he composed for Joseph II, entered the service of Ferdinand IV of Naples. During his 15 years as music director there, he composed several of his best operas, including “La Molinara” (1788) and “Nina” (1789). In 1802 he was invited to Paris by Napoleon, who wished him to organize and direct the music in his chapel.

In France Paisiello received the same lavish treatment that he had enjoyed in Russia and incurred the jealousy of the other musicians at the French court. However, his opera “Proserpine” (1803) was recieved without enthusiasm, and the composer was thrown into a fit of despondency. Disappointed at the failure of his only opera with a French libretto, he returned to Naples in 1804. There he was reinstated in his former appointment by Joseph Bonaparte and Joachim Murat, but he was unable to meet the demands for new works, and he left in 1815.

Achievements

• Paisiello’s popularity and influence during his lifetime were considerable. His success with “Il Barbiere di Siviglia” led Mozart to set its sequel “Le nozze di Figaro”, and traces of his style may be found in this and Mozart’s second Da Ponte collaboration, “Don Giovanni” (1787). Moreover, the persistent popularity of “Il Barbiere” was a substantial roadblock for Gioachino Rossini, whose operatic version of the play (early 1816) eventually displaced Paisiello’s.
  
  In all, Paisiello composed more than 100 operas. His church music comprised about 40 masses and many smaller works.

Works

More photos

• book

  • Nel Cor Più Non My Sento

    ( Digital Sheet Music of Nel Cor Più Non My Sento Compos...)

  • Nel cor più non mi sento

    ( Digital Sheet Music of Nel cor più non mi sento Compos...)

  • Il mio ben quando verrà

    ( Digital Sheet Music of Il mio ben quando verrà Compose...)

  • Chi vuol la zingarella

    ( Digital Sheet Music of Chi vuol la zingarella Composed...)

  • Largo in F Major

    ( Digital Sheet Music of Largo in F Major Composed by: G...)

Connections

In 1772 Paisiello married Cecilia Pallini, with whom he lived in continued happiness. Her death in 1815 sapped his spirits severely.

Spouse:

Cecilia Pallini