Pinsuti, Ciro

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Pinsuti, Ciro

Pinsuti, Ciro, Italian singing teacher and composer; b. Sinalunga, near Florence, May 9, 1829; d. Florence, March 10,1888. His talent developed so rapidly that at 11 he was elected an honorary member of the Accademia Filarmonica of Rome. Taken to England soon after by Henry Drummond, he studied piano under C. Potter and violin under Blagrove; returned to Bologna in 1845, and studied at the Liceo, also privately with Rossini, soon becoming asst. teacher of a piano class. In 1848 he returned to England, where he was appointed a prof, of singing at London’s Royal Academy of Music in 1856. He divided his time between London and Italy. He brought out an opera, II Mercante di Venezia, at Bologna (Nov. 9, 1873), another, Mattia Corvino, at Milan (1877), and a thrid, Margherita, at Venice (1882). In 1871 he represented Italy at the opening of the London Exhibition, for which he composed the hymn O people of this favoured land. As a recipient of the order of the Italian Crown, he was styled “Cavaliere” Pinsuti. Besides his operas, he wrote some 250 songs to Eng. and Italian texts.

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire