Guglielmo Quarenghi (October 22, 1826, Casalmaggiore, Italy – February 3, 1882) was an Italian composer and cellist. From 1839 to 1842 he studied with Vincenzo Merighi at the

Milan Conservatory The Milan Conservatory (''Conservatorio di Milano'') is a college of music in Milan, Italy. History The conservatory was established by a royal decree of 1807 in Milan, capital of the Napoleonic Kingdom of Italy. It opened the following year ...

. In 1850, he became principal cellist at La Scala, and in 1851 a professor at the conservatory. Along with Luigi Felice Rossi and Alberto Mazzucato, Quarenghi formed the ''Società di S Cecilia'' in 1860. In 1879, he succeeded Raimondo Boucheron as maestro di cappella of Milan Cathedral. He resigned two years later due to ill-health and died in 1882. Quarenghi composed mostly music for the

cello The cello ( ; plural ''celli'' or ''cellos'') or violoncello ( ; ) is a bowed (sometimes plucked and occasionally hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually tuned in perfect fifths: from low to high, C2, G ...

including six caprices for solo cello, several original pieces and transcriptions for cello and

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keybo ...

, and some chamber music. He did write one

opera Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a libr ...

, ''Il dì di San Michele'', which was produced in Milan in 1863. That same year he published a

mass Mass is an intrinsic property of a body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the quantity of matter in a physical body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physics. It was found that different atoms and different eleme ...

and other

church music Church music is Christian music written for performance in church, or any musical setting of ecclesiastical liturgy, or music set to words expressing propositions of a sacred nature, such as a hymn. History Early Christian music The on ...

. His ''Metodo di violoncello'' (Milan, 1876) has an interesting preface, comparing the earliest

bowed instruments Bowed string instruments are a subcategory of string instruments that are played by a bow rubbing the strings. The bow rubbing the string causes vibration which the instrument emits as sound. Despite the numerous specialist studies devoted to t ...

, and their evolution, with

folk instruments A folk instrument is a musical instrument that developed among common people and usually does not have a known inventor. It can be made from wood, metal or other material. Such an instrument is played in performances of folk music. Overview The ...

from many countries. He taught his teacher's son, Cristoforo Merighi at an unknown time period.English 1915 Bio: Italian 1905 Bio:

Sources

*Lynda MacGregor. The '' New Grove Dictionary of Opera'', edited by Stanley Sadie (1992), and Italian classical composers Italian male classical composers Italian opera composers Male opera composers Italian classical cellists 1826 births 1882 deaths Milan Conservatory alumni Academic staff of Milan Conservatory 19th-century classical composers 19th-century Italian composers 19th-century Italian male musicians {{Italy-composer-stub