Michael Rophino Lacy

Background

Michael Rophino Lacy was born on the 19th of July, 1795 in Bilbao, Spain. The son of an Irish merchant.

Education

In 1802 Michael Rophino Lacy was sent to Bordeaux and a year later to Paris to study with Rodolphe Kreutzer.

Career

As Le Petit Espagnol Michael Rophino Lacy performed before Napoleon towards the end of 1804 and by October 1805 in London as "The Young Spaniard", his real name not being disclosed before 1807. He performed in Dublin in 1807 alongside Angelica Catalani in Michael Kelly"s opera company, and returned there in 1813.

He enjoyed a short career as an actor in comedy roles, performing in Dublin, Edinburgh and Glasgow, but in 1818 resumed the musical profession, and by 1820 became leader of the ballet at the Kings theatre, London.

Michael Rophino Lacy composed or adapted from other composers a number of operas and an oratorio, The Israelites in Egypt (1833), in which he combined the plots of Handel"s Israel in Egypt and Rossini's Mosè in Egitto. Lacy's contemporary fame rested mainly on his rather free English adaptations of French and Italian operas by Auber, Mozart, Rossini and others, which he produced between 1827 and 1833.

Achievements

• In 1820 Michael Rophino Lacy became leader of the ballet at the King's theatre, London.