Pasta, Carlo Enrico (1817–1898)

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Pasta, Carlo Enrico (1817–1898)

Carlo Enrico Pasta (b. 17 November 1817; d. 31 August 1898), Italian composer. Born in Milan, Pasta studied there and in Paris. In 1855 he settled in Lima, where he was active in the musical life of the city. A musical pioneer, he composed zarzuelas and operas using texts from Peruvian writers; Pasta was the first composer to take as his subject matter Peruvian folklore and Peru's pre-Columbian history. He was a member of the fraternity of Santa Cecilia. His first opera, I tredici, premiered in Turin's Teatro Sutera (1851). La fronda (1872) and Una tazza di thé (1872) premiered in Lima, and Atahualpa (1875), based on a libretto by Antonio Ghislanzoni, was first performed at Genoa's Teatro Paganini. Atahualpa, based on an Indian theme, received its first performance in America under maestro Francesco Rosa at Lima's Teatro Principal on 1 November 1877. Pasta's zarzuelas include El loco de la guardilla, Rafael Sanzio, El pobre indio, and Placeres y dolores, the last three with libretti by the Peruvian writer Juan Cosio. Pasta's most successful work was the zarzuela La cola del diablo, performed at Lima's Teatro Principal in 1865. He died in Milan.

See alsoMusic: Art Music .

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Gérard Béhague, Music in Latin America (1979); New Grove Dictionary of Opera, vol. 3 (1992).

                                  Susana Salgado