Born in 1801 in Catania, Sicily, to a family already steeped in music; his father and grandfather were both career musicians, Bellini began composing before receiving any formal music education. He entered the Royal College of Music of San Sebastiano,...
Born in Bergamo in 1797, Donizetti studied under Mayr and had his first success in 1822 at the Teatro Argentina in Rome with Zoraida di Granata (original version available on Opera Rara ORC17). That success led to a contract in Naples and a number...
Born in 1763, Mayr was German by nationality but Italian by adoption. Raised in Bavaria, he later moved to Venice to pursue his musical career, where he was urged by the composer Niccolò Piccini to try his hand at opera. The result was Saffo...
Born in 1795, Mercadante studied in Naples, attracting the attention of Rossini. His first opera, L’apoteosi d’Ercole, was well received in 1819 at the Teatro San Carlo. Others quickly followed. His first notable hit was Elisa e Claudio...
Meyerbeer came from a family of wealthy Jewish bankers. Born in 1791 in Berlin, he studied under Abbe Vogler (Weber was a fellow student), developing into an accomplished pianist. Meyerbeer’s first attempts at writing opera met with failure...
Born in Cologne in 1819, Offenbach was the seventh of ten children. His family moved to Paris in 1833 where he studied cello at the Conservatoire. He joined the orchestra of the Opéra-Comique in 1837, surviving as a virtuoso performer throughout...
