Giovanni Pacini was an Italian composer, best known for his operas. Pacini was born in Catania, Sicily, the son of the buffo Luigi Pacini, who was to appear in the premieres of many of Giovanni's operas. The family was of Tuscan origin, living in Catania when the composer was born.
Giuseppe Felice Romani was an Italian poet and scholar of literature and mythology who wrote many librettos for the opera composers Donizetti and Bellini. Romani was considered the finest Italian librettist between Metastasio and Boito.
I Capuleti e i Montecchi is an Italian opera in two acts by Vincenzo Bellini. The libretto by Felice Romani was a reworking of the story of Romeo and Juliet for an opera by Nicola Vaccai called Giulietta e Romeo and based on the play of the same name by Luigi Scevola written in 1818, thus an Italian source rather than taken directly from William Shakespeare.
Nicola Vaccai was an Italian composer, particularly of operas, and a singing teacher.
Les diamants de la couronne is an opéra comique by the French composer Daniel Auber, first performed by the Opéra-Comique at the second Salle Favart in Paris on 6 March 1841. The libretto is by Auber's regular collaborator, Eugène Scribe with the help of Jules-Henri Vernoy de Saint-Georges.
Giulio Marco Bordogni, usually called just Marco Bordogni, was an Italian operatic tenor and singing teacher of great popularity and success, whose mature career was based in Paris.
Giulietta e Romeo is a dramma per musica by composer Niccolò Antonio Zingarelli with an Italian libretto by Giuseppe Maria Foppa after the 1530 novella of the same name by Luigi da Porto. The opera premiered at the Teatro alla Scala in Milan on 30 January 1796.
Domenico Reina was a Swiss bel canto tenor, notable for creating roles in the operas of Vincenzo Bellini, Gaetano Donizetti, Saverio Mercadante, and other Italian composers.
Antonietta Marini-Rainieri was an Italian operatic soprano active during the first half of the 19th century. She was married to lauded operatic bass Ignazio Marini and often appeared on stage with him. In 1835 she portrayed Giulietta opposite Amalia Schütz Oldosi as Romeo in the Teatro Regio di Parma's first staging of Vincenzo Bellini's I Capuleti e i Montecchi. At La Scala she portrayed roles in the world premieres of Giuseppe Verdi's first two operas: Leonora in Oberto (1839) and the Marchesa del Poggio in Un giorno di regno (1840). She also appeared at that house as the Princess of Navarra in the premiere of Gaetano Donizetti's Gianni di Parigi (1839). In 1843 she sang the title role in the premiere of Giovanni Pacini's Maria, regina d'Inghilterra at the Teatro Carolino in Palermo. She reprised that role in December 1843 at La Scala and at the Teatro Carlo Felice in February 1844.
Marietta Sacchi was an Italian operatic soprano who had an active career during the 1820s and 1830s.
Raffaele Scalese (1800–1884) was an Italian operatic bass who specialized in the opera buffa repertoire. He was active in Italy's major opera houses from the mid-1820s up into the 1860s. He also appeared internationally in opera houses in Austria, Portugal, and France. The last years of his career were spent performing in Paris in the late 1860s where he remained after his retirement from the stage.
Teresa Ruggeri was an Italian operatic soprano who had an active career from the 1820s through the 1840s. In 1827 she portrayed the role of Zarele in the world premiere of Giovanni Pacini's Gli arabi nelle Gallie at La Scala in Milan. She performed in several more world premieres at that house, including Francisca in Gaetano Donizetti's Maria Padilla (1841), Anna in Giuseppe Verdi's Nabucco (1842), and Viclinda in Verdi's I Lombardi alla prima crociata (1843). Other roles she performed at La Scala included Baroness Aspasia in Gioachino Rossini's La pietra del paragone (1829), Giannetta in Donizetti's L'elisir d'amore (1835), Alisa in Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor (1839), The Marquise of Birkenfeld in La fille du régiment (1840), and Giovanna in Verdi's Ernani (1844) among others.
Marianna Barbieri-Nini was an Italian operatic soprano who had an active career in Italy's major opera houses from 1840 through 1856. She also made appearances at the Liceu in Barcelona, the Teatro Real in Madrid, Her Majesty's Theatre in London, and at theatres in Paris. She possessed a powerful voice with coloratura facility and was known for her highly dramatic singing and acting. She was especially admired in the title roles of Gaetano Donizetti's Anna Bolena and Gioachino Rossini's Semiramide. She was also successful in the operas of Giuseppe Verdi, notably creating roles in the world premieres of three of his works.
Antonio Poggi was an Italian operatic tenor who had an active international career from 1827–1848. He is best remembered for creating roles in the world premieres of operas by Gaetano Donizetti and Giuseppe Verdi. He was married to soprano Erminia Frezzolini from 1841–1846.
Vincenzo Negrini was an Italian bass-baritone opera singer. Born in Cesena, he sang leading bass and baritone roles in Italy's major opera houses and created several roles in early 19th-century operas, most notably Oroveso in Bellini's Norma and Folco in Donizetti's Ugo, conte di Parigi. Severe heart disease caused him to retire from the stage in June 1840. He died in Milan two months later at the age of 35.
L'ultimo giorno di Pompei is an opera in two acts composed by Giovanni Pacini to an Italian libretto by Andrea Leone Tottola. It premiered to great success at the Teatro San Carlo in Naples on 19 November 1825 followed by productions in the major opera houses of Italy, Austria, France, and Portugal. When Pacini's popularity declined in the mid-19th century, the opera was all but forgotten until 1996 when it received its first performance in modern times at the Festival della Valle d'Itria in Martina Franca. L'ultimo giorno di Pompei influenced either directly or indirectly several other 19th-century works, most notably Karl Bryullov's 1833 painting, The Last Day of Pompeii.
Paolo (Pablo) Rosich was a Spanish-born opera singer and librettist widely known by the Italianized version of his first name. A skilled comic actor, he performed leading basso buffo roles in many Italian opera houses as well as in Lisbon, London, Madrid and New York. Rosich created the roles of Taddeo in Gioachino Rossini's L'italiana in Algeri and Buralicchio in Rossini's L'equivoco stravagante and also wrote the librettos for two operas by Manuel García: L'amante astuto and La figlia dell' aria.
Mario Tiberini was an Italian tenor who sang leading roles in the opera houses of Europe and the Americas in a career spanning 25 years. Known for his advanced singing technique and dramatic ability, he sang the role of Alvaro in the premiere of the revised version of Verdi's La forza del destino and created several roles in operas by lesser-known composers, including the title role in Faccio's Amleto.
Nitocri is an opera in two acts composed by Saverio Mercadante to libretto by Apostolo Zeno adapted by Lodovico Piossasco Feys. The libretto is a fictionalised account of the Egyptian queen Nitocris. The opera premiered at the Teatro Regio in Turin on 26 December 1824.
Fanny Eckerlin (1802–1842) was an Italian mezzo-soprano who also sang contralto roles. During her career she was highly regarded, drawing favorable comparisons to Benedetta Rosmunda Pisaroni, but today she is remembered, if at all, for her association with the early career of Gaetano Donizetti, including creating the title role in his first publicly-performed opera, Enrico di Borgogna.
