Vincenzo Fioravanti

Vincenzo Gioacchino Fioravanti (5 April 1799 – 28 March 1877) was a prolific Italian opera composer active in Naples. He composed 39 operas, of which 34 were performed in his lifetime. Like his father, Valentino Fioravanti, he specialised in the opera buffa genre, but he also composed sacred music including two oratorios during his time as maestro di cappella of Lanciano Cathedral (1839–1843). Life and career Fioravanti was born in Rome to Angiola (née Aromatari) and Valentino Fioravanti. Despite his own success as a composer, Valentino wanted his son to study medicine. Valentino was living in Naples while Vincenzo was supposedly studying medicine in Rome. Unbeknownst to him, the young Vincenzo was secretly studying composition with his father’s old teacher Giuseppe Jannacconi. In 1816 Vincenzo arrived in Naples and confessed to his father that he had been studying music. Valentino relented and gave his son further lessons in composition. He made his debut as composer at the Teatro San Carlino in Naples in 1819 with the premiere of La Pulcinella molinaro, spaventato dalla fata Serafinetta, an opera buffa set to a libretto by Filippo Cammarano. The following year, he returned to Rom