Tarchi, Angelo

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Tarchi, Angelo

Tarchi, Angelo, Italian composer; b. Naples, c. 1755; d. Paris, Aug. 19, 1814. He studied at the Cons, dei Turchini in Naples with Fago and Sala. He was music director and composer at the King’s Theatre in London in 1787-88 and again in 1789, and then was active in Italy until settling in Paris in 1797. He wrote about 45 operas in Italian, and 6 in French; of these the following were produced at La Scala in Milan: Ademira (Dec. 27, 1783), Aviarte (Jan. 1786), II Conte di Saldagna (June 10, 1787), Adrasto ré d’Egitto (Feb. 4?, 1792), Le Danaidi (Dec. 26, 1794), and L’impostura poco dura (Oct. 10, 1795). In Paris he produced the French version of II Conte di Saldagna as Bouffons de la foire St. Germain (1790), D’Auberge en auberge (Opéra-Comique, April 26, 1800), etc. He acquired a certain notoriety by his attempt to rewrite the 3rd and 4th acts of Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro (1787); regarding this episode, see A. Einstein, “Mozart e Tarchi,” Rassegna Musicale (July 1935); also C. Sartori, “Lo Zeffiretto di Angelo Tarchi,” Rivista Musicale Italiana (July 1954).

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire