CIMAROSA, Domenico
b Aversa, Italy, 17 December 1749
d Venice, 11 January 1801, aged fifty-one

He was born of a poor family and studied in Naples. He came to the fore in 1772 with his first opera, and for the next fifteen years divided his time between Naples and Rome. From 1787 to 1791 he was court composer to Catherine II of Russia in St Petersburg. In 1792 Leopold II offered him the position of Kapellmeister to the Austrian court in Vienna; and when Leopold died later that year Cimarosa returned to Naples to become maestro di cappella to King Ferdinand of Naples and music teacher of the princesses. When the French republican army marched into Naples and overthrew Ferdinand. Cimarosa embraced its cause; and when Ferdinand, helped by Lord Nelson, was reinstated, Cimarosa was thrown into prison. On release he left for St Petersburg, but died near Venice on the first leg of his journey.

1772 (23)

Le stravaganze del conte, opera

1778 (29)

L'ltaliana in Londra, opera

1780 (31)

Giuditta, oratorio

1781 (32)

Il pittore parigino, opera

Il convito, opera

1782 (33)

La ballerina amante, opera

Absalon, oratorio

1784 (35)

L'Olimpiade, opera

Artaserse, opera

1786 (37)

L'impresario

Il Angustie, opera

1789 (40)

Cleopatra, opera

1792 (43)

Il matrimonio segreto, opera (this won wide fame for its combination of dramatic and musical values, in a style near Mozart's)

1793 (44)

I Traci amanti, opera

Concerto for two flutes and orchestra

1794 (45)

Penelope, opera

1796 (47)

Gli Orazi e Curiazi, opera