Fioravanti, Vincenzo

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Fioravanti, Vincenzo

Fioravanti, Vincenzo, Italian composer, son of Valentino Fioravanti; b. Rome, April 5, 1799; d. Naples, March 28, 1877. His father wanted him to study medicine but he pursued musical raining with Jannacconi without his father’s knowledge. He later studied with his father, and subsequently received advice from Donizetti. As a composer of operas, he gained his greatest success with // ritorno di Pulcinella degli studi di Padova, ossia II pazzo per amove (Naples, Dec. 28, 1837). From 1839 to 1843 he was maestro di cappella at Lanciano Cathedral, but he continued to turn out operas until 1856. From 1867 to 1872 he was director of the music school of the Albergo dei Poveri in Naples. He wrote some 35 operas, several of them in the Neapolitan dialect. He also wrote sacred pieces, including two oratorios.

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire