Pietro Alessandro Guglielmi

Pietro Alessandro Guglielmi (December 9, 1728 - November 19, 1804) was an Italian composer.

Guglielmi was born in Massa. He received his first musical education from his father, and afterwards studied under Francesco Durante at the Conservatorio di Santa Maria di Loreto at Naples. His first operatic work, produced at Turin in 1755, established his reputation, and soon his fame spread beyond the limits of his own country, so that in 1762 he was called to Dresden to conduct the opera there. He remained for some years in Germany, where his works met with much success, but the greatest triumphs were reserved for him in England.

He went to London, according to Charles Burney, in 1768, but according to 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 (1763-1827), a successful imitator of his father's operatic style, and Giacomo, an excellent singer.

Operas

Naples 1757-1761

*"Lo solachianello 'mbroglione" (dramma giocoso, libretto by D. Pignatero, 1757, Naples)
*"Il filosofo burlato" (commedia per musica, 1758, Naples)
*"La ricca locandiera" (intermezzo, libretto by Antonio Palomba, 1759)
*"I capricci di una vedova" (dramma giocoso, 1759, Naples)
*"La moglie imperiosa" (commedia per musica, libretto by A. Villani, 1759, Naples)
*"I due soldati" (dramma giocoso, libretto by Antonio Palomba, 1760, Naples)
*"L'Ottavio" (commedia per musica, libretto by Gennaro Antonio Federico, 1760, Naples)
*"Il finto cieco" (dramma giocoso, libretto by Pietro Trinchera, 1761, Naples)

Italy 1762-1767

*"I cacciatori" (farsetta, based on "Li uccellatori" by Carlo Goldoni, 1762, Rome)
*"La donna di tutti i caratteri" (commedia per musica, libretto by Antonio Palomba, 1762, Naples)
*"Don Ambrogio" (intermezzo, 1762, Naples)
*"Tito Manlio" (opera seria, libretto by Gaetano Roccaforte, 1763, Rome)
*"La francese brillante" (commedia per musica, libretto by Pasquale Mililotti, 1763, Naples)
*"Lo sposo di tre e marito di nessuna" (commedia per musica, libretto by Antonio Palomba, 1763, Naples)
*"L'Olimpiade" (opera seria, libretto by Pietro Metastasio, 1763, Naples)
*"Le contadine bizzarre" (farsetta, 1763, Rome)
*"Siroe re di Persia" (opera seria, libretto by Pietro Metastasio, 1764, Florence)
*"Li rivali placati" (dramma giocoso, libretto by Gaetano Martinelli, 1764, Venice)
*"Farnace" (opera seria, libretto by Antonio Maria Lucchini, 1765, Rome)
*"Tamerlano" (opera seria, libretto by Agostino Piovene, 1765, Venice)
*"L'impresario d'opera" (dramma giocoso, libretto by Bartolomeo Cavalieri, 1765, Milan)
*"Il ratto della sposa" (dramma giocoso, libretto by Gaetano Martinelli, 1765, Venice)
*"Adriano in Siria" (opera seria, libretto by Pietro Metastasio, 1765, Venice)
*"Lo spirito di contradizione" (dramma giocoso, libretto by Gaetano Martinelli, 1766, Venice)
*"Sesostri" (opera seria, libretto by Pietro Pariati, 1766, Venice)
*"Demofoonte" (opera seria, libretto by Pietro Metastasio, 1766, Treviso)
*"La sposa fedele" (dramma giocoso, libretto by Pietro Chiari, 1767, Venice)
*"Antigono" (opera seria, libretto by Pietro Metastasio, 1767, Milan)
*"Il re pastore" (opera seria, libretto by Pietro Metastasio, 1767, Venice)

London and Italy 1768-1772

*"Ifigenia in Aulide" (opera seria, libretto by Giovan Gualberto Bottarelli, 1768, London)
*"I viaggiatori ridicoli tornati in Italia" (dramma giocoso, libretto by Giovan Gualberto Bottarelli, after Goldoni, 1768, London)
*"Alceste" (opera seria, libretto by Ranieri de' Calzabigi, revised by Giuseppe Parini, 1768, Milan)
*"Ruggiero" (opera seria, libretto by Caterino Mazzolà, after Ludovico Ariosto, 1769, Venice)
*"Ezio" (opera seria, libretto by Pietro Metastasio, 1770, London)
*"Il disertore" (dramma giocoso, libretto by Carlo Francesco Badini, after Michel-Jean Sedaine, 1770, London)
*"L'amante che spende" (dramma giocoso, libretto by Niccolò Tassi, 1770, Venice)
*"Le pazzie di Orlando" (dramma giocoso, libretto by Carlo Francesco Badini, after Ludovico Ariosto, 1771, London)
*"Il carnevale di Venice, o sia La virtuosa" (dramma giocoso, libretto by Carlo Francesco Badini, 1772, London)
*"L'assemblea" (dramma giocoso, libretto by Giovanni Gualberto Bottarelli, based on "La conversazione" by Carlo Goldoni, 1772, London)
*"Demetrio" (opera seria, libretto by Giovanni Gualberto Bottarelli, after Pietro Metastasio, 1772, London)

Italy 1773-1777

*"Mirandolina" (dramma giocoso, libretto by Giovanni Bertati, 1773, Venice)
*"La contadina superba, ovver Il giocatore burlato" (intermezzo, 1774, Rome)
*"Tamas Kouli-Kan nell'Indie" (opera seria, libretto by Vittorio Amedeo Cigna-Santi, 1774, Florence)
*"Gl'intrighi di Don Facilone" (intermezzo, 1775, Rome)
*"Merope" (opera seria, libretto by Apostolo Zeno, 1775, Turin)
*"Vologeso" (opera seria, libretto by Apostolo Zeno, 1775, Milan)
*"La Semiramide riconosciuta" (opera seria, libretto by Pietro Metastasio, 1776, Naples)
*"Il matrimonio in contrasto" (commedia per musica, libretto by Giuseppe Palomba, 1776, Naples)
*"Artaserse" (opera seria, libretto by Pietro Metastasio, 1777, Rome)

Naples 1777-1783

*"Ricimero" (opera seria, based on "La fede tradita e vendicata" di Francesco Silvani, 1777, Naples)
*"I fuorusciti" (commedia per musica, libretto by Giuseppe Palomba, 1777, Naples)
*"Il raggiratore di poca fortuna" (dramma giocoso, libretto by Giuseppe Palomba 1779, Naples)
*"La villanella ingentilita" (commedia per musica, libretto by Francesco Saverio Zini, 1779, Naples)
*"Narcisso" (intermezzo, libretto by Giuseppe Palomba, 1779, Naples)
*"La dama avventuriera" (commedia per musica, libretto by Giuseppe Palomba, 1780, Naples)
*"La serva padrona" (dramma giocoso, libretto by Gennaro Antonio Federico, 1780, Naples)
*"Le nozze in commedia" (dramma giocoso, libretto by Giuseppe Palomba, 1781, Naples)
*"Diana amante" (serenata, libretto L. Serio, basato su "Endimione" di Pietro Metastasio, 1781, Naples)
*"I Mietitori" (commedia per musica, libretto by Francesco Saverio Zini, 1781, Naples)
*"La semplice ad arte" (commedia per musica, libretto by Giuseppe Palomba, 1782, Naples)
*"La Quakera spiritosa" (commedia per musica, libretto by Giuseppe Palomba, 1783, Naples)
*"La donna amante di tutti, e fedele a nessuno" (commedia per musica, libretto by Giuseppe Palomba, 1783, Naples)

Rome and Naples 1784-1788

*"Le vicende d'amore" (intermezzo, libretto by Giovanni Battista Neri, 1784, Rome)
*"I finti amori" (commedia per musica, 1784, Naples)
*"La finta zingara" (farsa, libretto by Giovanni Battista Lorenzi, 1785, Naples)
*"Le sventure fortunate" (farsa, libretto by Giovanni Battista Lorenzi, 1785, Naples)
*"La virtuosa in Mergellina" (dramma giocoso, libretto by Francesco Saverio Zini, 1785, Naples)
*"Enea e Lavinia" (opera seria, libretto by Giuseppe Sertor, 1785, Naples)
*"L'inganno amoroso" (commedia per musica, libretto by Giuseppe Palomba, 1786, Naples)
*"Le astuzie villane" (commedia per musica, libretto by Giuseppe Palomba, 1786, Naples)
*"Lo scoprimento inaspettato" (dramma giocoso, libretto by V. de Stefano, 1787, Naples)
*"Laconte" (opera seria, libretto by Giuseppe Pagliuca, 1787, Naples)
*"La pastorella nobile" (commedia per musica, libretto by Francesco Saverio Zini, 1788, Naples)

Venice and Naples 1788-1793

*"Arsace" (opera seria, based on "Il Medonte re d'Epiro" by Giovanni De Gamerra, 1788, Venice)
*"Rinaldo" (opera seria, libretto by Giuseppe Maria Foppa, after Torquato Tasso, 1789, Venice)
*"Ademira" (opera seria, libretto by Ferdinando Moretti, 1789, Naples)
*"Gl'inganni delusi" (commedia per musica, libretto by Giuseppe Palomba, 1789, Naples)
*"Alessandro nell'Indie" (opera seria, libretto by Pietro Metastasio, 1789, Naples)
*"La serva innamorata" (dramma giocoso, libretto by Giuseppe Palomba, 1790, Naples)
*"L'azzardo" (commedia per musica, 1790, Naples)
*"Le false apparenze" (commedia per musica, libretto by Giuseppe Palomba, 1791, Naples)
*"La sposa contrastata" (commedia per musica, libretto by Francesco Saverio Zini, 1791, Naples)
*"Il poeta di campagna" (commedia per musica, libretto by Francesco Saverio Zini, 1792, Naples)
*"Amor tra le vendemmie" (commedia per musica, libretto by Giuseppe Palomba, 1792, Naples)
*"La lanterna di Diogene" (dramma giocoso, libretto by Angelo Anelli, after Giuseppe Palomba, 1793, Venice)

References

*1911