Niccolò Piccinni

Niccolò Piccinni (; 16 January 1728 – 7 May 1800) was an Italian composer of symphonies, sacred music, chamber music, and opera. Although somewhat obscure today, Piccinni was at one time one of the most popular opera composers — particularly of the Neapolitan opera buffa — of the Classical period of music of the mid- to late-18th century. Life Piccinni was born in Bari, in the Apulia region of Italy. From the age of fourteen, he was educated at the Conservatory of San Onofrio by Leonardo Leo and Francesco Durante, due to the intervention of the Bishop of Bari. His father, although himself a musician, was opposed to his son following the same career. Piccinni’s first opera, Le donne dispettose, was produced in 1755 with the patronage of Prince Vintimille. La buona figliuola represented a special moment in the history of eighteenth-century music, in which comedy began to take on a new dramatic force. It was the moment at which the self-consciously sentimental theatrical project of Carlo Goldoni (the opera’s librettist) was married with the developing musical language of classicism. This can especially be seen in the sensitive writing of Cecchina’s act 2 aria “Una povera ragazza”. The