Stabinger, Mathias

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Stabinger, Mathias

Stabinger, Mathias, German flutist, clarinetist, conductor, and composer; b. c. 1750; d. Venice, c. 1815. He was a flutist and clarinetist in Lyons in 1772, and then made his first appearance in Paris that same year. In 1777 he went to Italy, where he brought out the highly successful opera buffa Le astuzie di Bettina (Genoa, 1780), which subsequently was performed throughout Europe. In 1781 he was maestro al cembalo at the Warsaw Opera; in 1782 he was active with the Mattei-Orecia opera troupe in St. Petersburg, and then was associated with the Petrovsky Theater in Moscow. After another Italian sojourn (1783–85), he returned to Moscow as director of the orch. at the Petrovsky Theater, where he produced such successful stage works as Schastlivaya Tonia (Lucky Tonia; Jan. 14, 1786), Baba Yaga (Dec. 2, 1786), Zhenitba neudachnaya (The Unfortunate Marriage; Feb. 19, 1788), and Orphée traversant l’enfer à la recherche d’Eurydice (Feb. 22, 1792). About 1800 he returned once more to Italy, finally settling in Venice in 1814. He also wrote an oratorio, Betulia liberata (Moscow, March 26, 1783), and publ. much chamber music.

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire