Pietro Alessandro Guglielmi

Pietro Alessandro Guglielmi (9 December 1728 – 19 November 1804) was an Italian opera composer of the classical period. Biography Guglielmi was born into the Guglielmi family of musicians in Massa. He went to London, according to Charles Burney, in 1768, but according to Francesco Florimo in 1772, returned to Naples in 1777. He continued to produce operas at an astounding rate, but was unable to compete successfully with the younger masters of the day. In 1793 he became maestro di cappella at St Peter’s, Rome, where he died in 1804. He was a very prolific composer of Italian dramma giocoso and commedia per musica operas, and there is in most of his scores a vein of humour and natural gaiety not surpassed by Domenico Cimarosa himself. In opera seria he was less successful. But here also he shows at least the qualities of a competent musician. Considering the enormous number of his works, his unequal workmanship and the frequent instances of mechanical and slipshod writing in his music need not surprise us. He also wrote oratorios and miscellaneous pieces of orchestral and chamber music. Of his eight sons two at least acquired fame as musicians: Pietro Carlo Guglielmi (1763-1827), a