Braga, Gaetano

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Braga, Gaetano

Braga, Gaetano, Italian cellist and composer; b. Giulianova, Abruzzi, June 9, 1829; d. Milan, Nov. 21, 1907. He studied at the Naples Cons, with C. Gaetano (1841–52). He made tours as a cellist in Europe and America, and lived mostly in Paris and London. His Leggenda valacca, known in English as Angel’s Serenade, orig. written for voice with cello (or violin) obbligato, attained tremendous popularity and was arranged for various instrumental combinations. Braga wrote several operas: Alina, or La spregiata (1853), Estella di San Germano (Vienna, 1857), II ritratto (Naples, 1858), Margherita la mendicante (Paris, 1859), Mormile (La Scala, Milan, 1862), Ruy Blas (1865), Regimila (Lecco, 1871), and Caligola (Lisbon, 1873).

Bibliography

V. Bindi, G. B.: Da ricordi della sua vita (Naples, 1927).

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire

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