Francesco Morlacchi

Francesco Giuseppe Baldassare Morlacchi^[1] (14 June 1784 – 28 October 1841) was an Italian composer of more than twenty operas. During the many years he spent as the royal Royal Kapellmeister in Dresden, he was instrumental in popularizing the Italian style of opera.

Biography

Born in

Morlacchi was quickly successful as an opera composer. His first operatic works were written in 1807, and were a farce and a comic opera. His first truly effective theatre work was the opera seria Corradino (Parma, 1808), and led to commissions from opera houses in Rome and Milan. In 1810 he was brought to Dresden by contralto Marietta Marcolini, and in 1811 Morlacchi was made Kapellmeister of the Italian Opera in Dresden. While in Dresden, he had to work to establish himself in the eyes of critics. By this time, German opera was well established, and Morlacchi and his compositions were seen to represent the old order both of composers and the aristocracy. In 1815 Morlacchi set Il barbiere di Siviglia with a libretto of Giuseppe Petrosellini and one year later Rossini presented his own with a newer libretto by Cesare Sterbini.

One of Morlacchi's most successful works was