Francesco Cilea

Francesco Cilea (; 23 July 1866 – 20 November 1950) was an Italian composer. Today he is particularly known for his operas L’arlesiana and Adriana Lecouvreur. Biography Born in Palmi near Reggio di Calabria, Cilea was the son of Giuseppe Cilea and Felicita Gallo. Giuseppe was a prominent lawyer and Cilea originally intended to follow his father into a law career. He gave an early indication of an aptitude for music when at the age of four he heard a performance of Vincenzo Bellini’s Norma and was greatly affected by it. He was sent to study music at the Conservatorio di San Pietro a Majella in Naples under the guidance of Beniamino Cesi, he distinguished himself through diligence and precocious talent, earning a gold medal from the Ministry of Public Education and being appointed ‘first student instructor’. In 1889, for his final examination at the end of his course of study, he submitted his opera Gina, with a libretto by Enrico Golisciani which was adapted from the old French play Catherine, ou La Croix d’or by Baron Anne-Honoré-Joseph Duveyrier de Mélésville (1787–1865). This “melodramma idilico” was performed in the college theatre, and it attracted the attention of the publish