Ferdinando Paer

Ferdinando Paer (July 1, 1771 - May 3, 1839) was an Italian composer.

Biography

Paer was born at Parma. He studied the theory of music under the violinist Ghiretti, a pupil of the Conservatorio della Pietà de' Turchini at Naples. His first Italian opera, "Circe", was given in Venice during carnival 1792; others rapidly followed, and his name was soon famous throughout Italy. In 1797 he went to Vienna, where his future wife, the singer Francesca Riccardi, had obtained an engagement and he became music director of the Kärntnertortheater until 1801; here he produced a series of operas, including his "Camilla" (1799) and his "Achille" (1801). In 1802 he was appointed composer to the court theatre at Dresden, where his wife was also engaged as a singer, and in 1804 the life appointment of Hofkapellmeister was bestowed upon him by the elector.

He wrote the opera "Leonora" (1804), based on the same story as Beethoven's "Fidelio". In 1807 Napoleon while in Dresden took a fancy to him, and took him with him to Warsaw and Paris at a salary of 28,000 francs. In 1812 he succeeded Spontini as conductor of the Italian opera in Paris. He retained this post at the Restoration, also receiving the posts of chamber composer to the king and conductor of the private orchestra of the duke of Orleans. In 1823 he retired from the Italian opera in favor of Rossini. It was around this time that he taught composition lessons to the young Franz Liszt. In 1831 Paer was elected a member of the Academy, and in 1832 was appointed conductor of his orchestra by King Louis Philippe.

Paer wrote a total of 55 operas, in the Italian style of Paisiello and Cimarosa. His other works, which include several religious compositions, cantatas, many songs and a short list of orchestral chamber pieces, are worthy of further study and performance. His music is highly imaginative and melodic.

Operas

*"Orphée et Euridice" (opera in prosa, 1791, Parma)
*"Circe" (opera, libretto by Domenico Perelli, 1792, Venice; also given as "Calypso")
*"Le astuzie, o Il tempo fa giustizia a tutti" (dramma giocoso, libretto by Antonio Brambilla, 1792, Parma; also given as "La locanda dei vagabondi")
*"I portenti del magnetismo" (opera buffa, 1793, Venice)
*"Icilio e Virginia" (libretto by Giuseppe Maria Foppa, 1793, Padua)
*"Laodicea" (libretto by Giuseppe Maria Foppa, 1793, Padua; also given as "Tegene e Laodicea", Florence, 1799)
*"I pretendenti burlati" (dramma giocoso, libretto by Gian Carlo Grossardi, 1793, Parma)
*"L'oro fa tutto" (dramma giocoso, libretto by Angelo Anelli, 1793, Milan; also given as "Geld ist die", 1795, Dresden)
*"Il nuovo Figaro" (dramma giocoso, libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte, 1794, Parma; also given as "Il matrimonio by Figaro")
*"Il matrimonio improvviso" (farsa, libretto by Giuseppe Maria Foppa, 1794, Venice; also given as "I due sordi", Parma, 1801)
*"I molinari" (farsa, libretto by Giuseppe Maria Foppa. 1794, Venice)
*"Il fornaro" (farsa, 1794, Venice)
*"L'Idomeneo" (dramma serio, libretto by Gaetano Sertor, 1794, Florence)
*"Ero e Leandro" (dramma, 1794, Naples)
*"L'inganno in trionfo" (intermezzo, 1794, Florence)
*"Una in bene e una in male" (dramma giocoso, libretto by Giuseppe Maria Foppa, 1794, Roma; also given as "Le astuzie di Patacca", 1802, Dresden)
*"La Rossana" (melodramma serio, libretto by Aurelio Aureli, 1795, Milan)
*"Il Cinna" (melodramma serio, libretto by Angelo Anelli, 1795, Padua)
*"Anna" (opera buffa, 1795, Padua)
*"L'intrigo amoroso" (dramma giocoso, libretto by Giovanni Bertati, 1795, Venice; also as "Saed, ossia Gl'intrighi del serraglio", 1795, Venice; and "Il male vien dal buco", 1797, Bologna)
*"L'orfana riconosciuta" (dramma giocoso, 1796, Florence)
*"L'amante servitore" (commedia in musica, libretto by Antonio Simeone Sografi, 1796, Venice)
*"Il principe di Taranto" (dramma giocoso, libretto by Filippo Livigni, 1797, Parma; also as "La contadina fortunata", 1807)
*"Il fanatico in Berlina" (1797, Vienna)
*"Griselda, ossia La virtù al cimento" (dramma semiserio, libretto by Angelo Anelli, 1798, Parma)
*"Camilla, ossia Il sotteraneo" (dramma semiserio, libretto by Giuseppe Carpani, after B.-J. Marsollier des Vivetières 1799, Vienna)
*"Il maestro di ballo" (farsa, libretto by Giuseppe Maria Foppa, 1799, Venice)
*"Il morto vivo" (opera buffa, libretto by Carlo Prospero Defranceschi, 1799, Vienna)
*"La testa riscaldata" (farsa, libretto by Giuseppe Maria Foppa, 1800, Venice)
*"La sonnambula" (farsa, libretto by Giuseppe Maria Foppa, 1800, Venice)
*"Ginevra degli Almieri" (opera tragicomica, libretto by Giuseppe Maria Foppa, 1800, Vienna)
*"Poche ma buone, ossia Le donne cambiate" (opera buffa, libretto by Giuseppe Maria Foppa, 1800, Vienna; also as "Der lustige Schuster", Offenbach, c 1800 and Leipzig, c 1890)
*"Achille" (melodramma eroico, libretto by Giovanni De Gamerra, after Homer, 1801, Vienna)
*"I fuorusciti di Florence" (opera semiseria, libretto by Angelo Anelli, 1802, Dresden)
*"Sargino, ossia L'allievo dell'amore" (dramma eroicomico, libretto by Giuseppe Maria Foppa, 1803, Dresden)
*"Lodoiska" (dramma eroico, libretto by Francesco Gonella, 1804, Bologna)
*"Leonora, ossia L'amore conjugale" (dramma semiserio, libretto by Giovanni Schmidt, after J. N. Bouilly, 1804, Dresden)
*"Sofonisba" (dramma serio, libretto by Giovanni Schmidt, 1805, Bologna)
*"Il maniscalco" (dramma giocoso, 1805, Florence)
*"Numa Pompilio" (dramma serio, libretto by Matteo Noris, 1808, Paris)
*"Cleopatra" (1808, Paris)
*"Diana e Endimione, ossia Il ritardo" (intermezzo, libretto by Stefano Vestris, 1809, Paris)
*"Agnese" (dramma semiserio, libretto by Luigi Buonavoglia, after Filippo Casari, 1809, Parma)
*"La Didone" (melodramma serio, libretto by Pietro Metastasio, 1810, Paris)
*"Un pazzo ne fa cento" (opera buffa, 1812, Florence)
*"I Baccanti" (opera seria, libretto by Gaetano Rossi, 1813, Paris)
*"Poche ma buone, ossia La moglie ravveduta" (farsa comica, libretto by Giovanni De Gamerra, 1813, Rome)
*"L'oriflamme" (opéra, libretto by C.-G. Etienne and L.P.-M.-F. Baour-Lormian, 1814, Paris)
*"Oro non compra amore" (opera buffa, 1814, Pavia)
*"L'eroismo in amore" (melodramma serio, libretto by Luigi Romanelli, 1815, Milan)
*"La primavera felice" (opera giocosa, libretto by Luigi Balocchi, 1816, Paris)
*"Le maître de chapelle, ou Le souper imprévu" (opéra comique, libretto by S. Gay, after A. Duval, 1821, Paris)
*"Blanche de Provence, ou La cour des fées" (opéra, libretto by M. E. G. M. Théaulon e de Rancé, 1821, Paris)
*"La marquise de Brinvilliers" (opéra comique, 1831, Paris)
*"Un caprice de femme" (opéra comique, libretto by J. P. F. Lesguillon, 1834, Paris)

References

*1911