Falco, Michele

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Falco, Michele

Falco, Michele, Italian composer; b. Naples, c. 1688; d. after 1732. He was trained at the Cons, di S. Onofrio in Naples, where he became a member of the Reale Congregazione e Monte dei Musici in 1712. He served as maestro di cappella and organist at the church of S. Geronimo in Naples, and also as maestro di cappella in Pollena, near Naples. Falco was one of the most important exponents of opera buffa, composing the following scores for Naples: Lo Lollo pisciaportelle (1700), Lo Masiello (1712; Acts 1 and 3 by N. Fago), Lo Imbruoglio d’ammore (Dec. 27, 1717), Armida abbandonata (Oct. 1, 1719), Lo castiello saccheiato (Oct. 1720), and Le pazzie d’ammore (April 1723). He also wrote oratorios and cantatas.

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire