Pedrotti, Carlo
Pedrotti, Carlo
Pedrotti, Carlo , eminent Italian conductor and composer; b. Verona, Nov. 12, 1817; d. there (suicide), Oct. 16, 1893. He studied with Domenico Foroni in Verona, where he first gained success as a composer with his opera Lina (May 2, 1840). After serving as conductor of the Italian Opera in Amsterdam (1841–45), he returned to Verona, where he was active as a teacher, opera coach, and conductor at the Teatro Filarmonico and at the Teatro Nuovo, where he brought out his finest opera, Tutti in maschera (Nov. 4, 1856). In 1868 he was called to Turin as director of the Liceo Musicale and as director and conductor of the Teatro Regio, where he reorganized the musical life of the city; he also founded and conducted the weekly series of Concerti Popolari, in which he presented the Italian premieres of many historical and contemporary works. In 1882 he went to Pesaro as the first director of the newly founded Liceo Musicale, a position he held until ill health compelled him to resign in 1893; that same year he took his own life by drowning himself in the Adige River. Although Pedrotti excelled as a composer of opera buffa, his importance today rests upon his work as a conductor.
Bibliography
T. Mantovani, C. P. (Pesaro, 1894).
—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire