Giuseppe Lillo

Giuseppe Lillo

Giuseppe Lillo (born February 26, 1814 in Galatina , † February 4, 1863 in Aversa ) was an Italian composer who was particularly successful with his operas.

Live and act

Lillo's father Giosuè, himself a conductor and composer, encouraged his son from an early age. He studied music and piano playing and was accepted for free studies at the Napoletan Conservatory of San Pietro a Majella at the age of twelve because of “exceptional merits” . From childhood Lillo admired the music of the bel canto operas, especially the Sicilian Vincenzo Bellini . At the age of fourteen the young pianist was already successful in the salons of Lecce .

In 1834 his first stage work, La moglie per ventiquattro ore ('The wife for twenty-four hours') was premiered at the Theater des Collegio Reale in Naples. Just three years later he succeeded in placing a work at the Teatro San Carlo in Naples: the success of the opera Odda di Bernaver (' Agnes Bernauer ') helped him achieve national fame. The work Rosmunda in Ravenna was premiered in a prominent place at the Teatro la Fenice in Venice (for the ceremonial reopening after a fire) and was soon re-performed at the leading opera houses in Italy.

In 1849 he went to Paris for a few months, where he met the great opera composers of France, including Auber , Meyerbeer , Halévy , Adam , Thomas and Carafa .

Lillo composed 18 operas, both darkly romantic tragedies, but also some Buffoopern as L'osteria di Andujar . They are in the tradition of the Italian bel canto opera of the mid-19th century and, in terms of their melody, have been compared to works by Gaetano Donizetti . One of his best-known works was Caterina Howard after Dumas père about Catherine Howard , which came out in Naples in 1849 with the participation of the soprano Eugenia Tadolini and the baritone Achille De Bassini  and had no less success than Verdi's Macbeth or Rossini's Mosè in Egitto , which in the same year Naples were played.

Lillo had been suffering from nervous disorders since the 1840s, after 1860 he was admitted to the psychiatric hospital in Aversa , where he lived until his death.

In addition to his operatic work, Lillo also composed numerous sacred vocal works, symphonies, songs and piano music. He was a piano professor at the Naples Conservatory and from 1845 was responsible for inspecting its branch offices. He was honored by membership of the Royal Academy of Naples and the Filarmonica Bellini in Palermo, and a street in the center of his native city is named after him.

Stage works

• La moglie per 24 ore ossia L'ammalato di buona salute ('The wife for 24 hours or the one sick with good health'); Naples, Teatrino del Reale Collegio di Musica di S. Sebastiano, 1834
• Il gioiello ('The Jewel'), Dramma per Musica in two acts; Naples, Teatro Nuovo, 1835
• Odda di Bernaver ('Agnes Bernauer'), melodramma in two acts, libretto: Emmanuele Bidera; Naples, Teatro San Carlo, 1837
• Rosmunda in Ravenna, Tragedia Lirica, libretto: Luisa Amalia Paladini; Venice, Teatro la Fenice, 1837
• Alisa di Rieux; Rome, Teatro Valle , 1838
• Il conte di Chalais, Melodramma Tragico in three acts, libretto: Salvatore Cammarano ; Naples, Teatro San Carlo, 1839
• L'osteria di Andujar, Azione Comica in three acts, libretto: L. Tarantini; Naples, Teatro del Fondo , 1840
• Cristina di Svezia (' Christina of Sweden '), Tragedia Lirica in three parts, libretto: Salvatore Cammarano; Florence, Teatro della Pergola, 1840
• Lara, Tragedia Lirica in two acts, libretto: Leopoldo Tarantini; Naples, Teatro San Carlo, 1842
• Caterina Howard ('Catherine Howard'), melodramma tragico in four acts, libretto: Giorgio Giacchetti; Naples, Teatro San Carlo, 1849
• La delfina, melodramma in three acts, libretto: Marco D'arienzo; Naples, Teatro Nuovo, 1850
• La gioventù di Shakespeare ossia Il sogno d'una notte estiva ('The youth of Shakespeare or A Midsummer Night's Dream'), Commedia Lirica in three acts, libretto: Giuseppe Sesto Giannini; Naples, Teatro Nuovo, 1851
• Ser Babbeo, Commedia in three acts, libretto: Emmanuele Bardare; Naples, Teatro Nuovo, 1853
• Il figlio della schiava ('The slave's son'), Dramma Lirico in three acts, libretto: Giuseppe Sesto Giannini; Naples, Teatro del Fondo, 1853
• Le disgrazie di un bel giovane ossia Il zio e il nipote ('The misfortunes of a beautiful young man or The uncle and his nephew'), further dates unknown

Web links

• Portrait of Lillos on the website of the municipality of Galatina (Italian) ( Memento from October 9, 2008 in the Internet Archive )
• Portrait on primonumero.it (ital.)
• Bibliography of Lillo's operas (ital.)
• Sheet music and audio files by Giuseppe Lillo in the International Music Score Library Project