Attilio Enrico Paparella, known professionally as Attilio Parelli (31 May 1874 – 26 December 1944) was an Italian conductor and composer. Born in the village of

Monteleone d'Orvieto Monteleone d'Orvieto is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Terni in the Italian region Umbria, located about 35 km southwest of Perugia and about 60 km northwest of Terni. It is one of I Borghi più belli d'Italia ("The most ...

, about 35 km southwest of

Perugia Perugia ( , ; ; ) is the capital city of Umbria in central Italy, crossed by the River Tiber. The city is located about north of Rome and southeast of Florence. It covers a high hilltop and part of the valleys around the area. It has 162,467 ...

, he studied with Cesare de Sanctis at the

Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia The Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia () is one of the oldest musical institutions in the world, founded by the papal bull ''Ratione congruit'', issued by Sixtus V in 1585, which invoked two saints prominent in Western musical history: Gre ...

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

between 1891 and 1899. He started work as a conductor in Italy and Paris, before moving to the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. From 1906 he collaborated with

Cleofonte Campanini Cleofonte Campanini (1 September 1860 – 19 December 1919) was an Italian conductor and violinist. As a teenager he had a brief but successful career as a concert violinist in Italy and in theaters in Berlin and London. He abandoned the violin ...

at the

Manhattan Opera House The Manhattan Center is a building in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. Built in 1906 and located at 311 West 34th Street, it houses Manhattan Center Studios, the location of two recording studios; its Grand Ballroom; and the Hammerstein Ballroo ...

and the

Chicago Grand Opera Company Two grand opera companies in Chicago, Illinois, have gone by the name Chicago Grand Opera Company during the first half of the 20th century. Like many opera ventures in Chicago, both succumbed to financial difficulties within a few years, and ...

. His most important opera, ''I dispettosi amanti'' (The Lovers' Quarrel), received its premiere at the Metropolitan Opera House,

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

, in March 1912. In 1925 Parelli returned to Italy and became artistic director of the newly formed Unione Radiofonica Italiana (Italian Radio Union; now

RAI (), commercially styled as since 2000 and known until 1954 as (RAI), is the national public broadcasting company of Italy, owned by the Ministry of Economy and Finance. RAI operates many terrestrial and subscription television channels a ...

) in

Milan Milan ( , , ; ) is a city in northern Italy, regional capital of Lombardy, the largest city in Italy by urban area and the List of cities in Italy, second-most-populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of nea ...

. In 1926, ''I dispettosi amanti'' became the first opera to be broadcast in its entirety on Italian radio. Parelli married his student Isolina Rapalli. They had no children. He died in Monteleone d'Orvieto on 26 December 1944 and lies buried in the cemetery of his native village.

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