Niccolò Piccinni

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Niccolò Piccinni Life

Piccinni was born in Naples on January 16, 1728.

His father wanted him to be a priest, but instead the boy practiced harpsichord-playing in secret.

Piccinni became enrolled at the Conservatory St. Onofrio in 1742.
He did not like the instruction he received, and composed oratorios, psalms, and arias in secret.

His father placed the boy under the care of Francesco Durante.
Piccinni stayed at the Conservatory for twelve years.

Upon his departure he immediately found employment with the Prince of Ventimiglia, who commissioned Piccinni's first opera.

Composed and performed in Naples in 1755, Le Donne dispettose was a fabulous success.

In 1758, Piccinni went to Rome and was commissioned to write Alessandro nelle Indie.
Then, two years later, he composed a comic opera, one of the most famous in history, La Cecchina.

It was performed in Rome and all the important cities of Italia.

It was so incredibly popular it even reached the theatres of China, where the Emperor had special performances of the work prepared for him.

Piccinni reached a high-point in his fame, and in 1761 he composed six operas which were performed simultaneously in six different leading opera houses.

For several years, Piccinni was on top of the world, unreachable by any other composer.

His position was, however, soon threatened when in 1773 a pupil of his, Anfossi, produced a comic opera Incognita perseguitata, which brought temporary popularity to Anfossi.

Anfossi's fame did not find favour with Piccinni, and even brought some damage to his reputation.

His health was affected, and he became seriously ill for a time.
He vowed to never again compose an opera to be performed in Rome.

He moved to Naples, and prepared operas for the theatres there.

He had lost none of his stature in Naples, and one of his operas, I Viaggiatori, ran for four seasons in a row.

In 1776, after many invitations, Piccinni finally decided to go to Paris.
For a salary of 6000 francs, he composed operas entirely for the French stage.

He had high favour at the Court as well, and twice a week gave singing lessons to the Queen.

His first opera here was Roland, the same opera that had been commisioned for Gluck.

This was the spark of the musical war between Gluck and Piccinni, and Paris split in half.

Half were the Piccinnists, half were the Gluckists.

The director of the Opéra, realizing the immense opportunities for profit in this situation, held a great competition between the two by commissioning them both to compose an opera entitled Iphigénie en Tauride.

Piccinni was told that he would be allowed to have his performed first, but at the last minute that privelege was given to Gluck.

Gluck's opera was a masterpiece, and Piccinni inevitably suffered from this huge initial success.

Gluck won the contest, and Piccinni's reputation suffered for the rest of his life: Gluck would ever after be remembered over Piccinni.

Piccinni produced two more operas in Paris - Atys and Adèle de Ponthieu - which had only moderate success.

When Gluck left Paris in 1780, Piccinni momentarily regained his throne.
But then, after only three more years, a new rival appeared: Sacchini.

Sacchini's popularity damaged Piccinni's career, just as Gluck and Anfossi has previously.
He had another rivalry with Sacchini.

It is interesting, however, to note that Piccinni bore neither of his detractors any ill-will.

In fact, when they died, Piccinni expressed his great admiration and respect, saying that Gluck had the debt of the entire lyrical theatre.

When the French Revolution started, Piccinni went back to Naples, where the King gave him a nice pension and a warm welcome.

Several of Piccinni's new operas were received well.
Once again, he was the centre of attention.

Unfortunately, he brought back with him some influences of the French Revolution, and he often spoke on behalf of the proletarian revolt, and he even allowed his daughter to marry a revolutionary.

To the royalty, he immediately lost favour.
For four years, he was practically a prisoner in his own home.

However, in 1798, Piccinni received commissions for two new operas to be performed in Venice.

Once out of Naples, he returned to France.
There, he had glory one final time.

He became an Inspector at the Conservatory, and received a small pension.

However, Piccinni's health had suffered from his long and frenzied life, and he became paralyzed.

The frequent bleedings by physicians only worsened his condition, and he died in Passy on May 7, 1800.

In history, Piccinni is primarily remembered from the conflict with Gluck, when Deutsch opera triumphed over that from Italia.

The Operas of N. Piccinni