Personalities | Giovanni Paisiello | Classical Era | Classical
(Jo-van’-ne Pi-se-el’-lo) 1740–1816
Italian composer
Paisiello was trained in Naples and had early successes as an opera composer there and in north Italy. He served as court composer to Catherine the Great in St Petersburg, 1776–84; there, in 1782, he wrote Il barbiere di Siviglia, his most admired comic opera. He returned to Italy and spent most of his time in Naples, except for a spell in Paris, directing the music for Napoleon’s chapel. Most of his operas are comic, written in a lively, spirited style, but some are sentimental comedy (Nina, 1789), warmer and more colourful in manner. Later in his life he wrote mainly serious works.
Recommended Recording:
Il barbiere di Siviglia, soloists, Hungarian State Orchestra (dir) Adám Fischer (Hungaroton)
Introduction | Classical Era | Classical
Personalities | François-André Danican Philidor | Classical Era | Classical
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