Uttini, Francesco Antonio Baldassare
Uttini, Francesco Antonio Baldassare
Uttini, Francesco Antonio Baldassare, Italian composer and conductor; b. Bologna, 1723; d. Stockholm, Oct. 25, 1795. He studied with Padre Martini, Perti, and Sandoni. In 1743 he became a member of the Accademia dei Filarmonici in Bologna. He first appeared as a singer and conductor with Mingotti’s operatic touring group (c. 1752); in 1755, went to Stockholm as conductor of an Italian opera company; was named Master of the King’s Music in 1767, and also was principal conductor at the Royal Opera until his retirement in 1788. Historically he is important as the composer of the earliest operas on Swedish texts; the first, Thetis och Pelée,was written for the inauguration of the new Royal Opera in Stockholm (Jan. 18, 1773); another opera to a Swedish libretto, tr. from the French, was Aline, Drotning uti Golconda (Aline, Queen of Golconda), produced at the Royal Opera on Jan. 11,1776. Of Uttini’s Italian operas, the best is ll Re pastore (Stockholm, July 24, 1755). A great admirer of Gluck, he brought out many of that composer’s works in Stockholm. He also wrote three sinfonie, the oratorios La Giuditta (Bologna, 1742) and La passione di Gesù (Stockholm, 1776), several cantatas, six sonatas for Harpsichord (Stockholm, 1756), and six Sonatas for two Violins and Bass (London, 1768).
—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire