Matteo Fischetti (28 February 1830 – December 1887) was an Italian pianist and composer active in

Naples Naples ( ; ; ) is the Regions of Italy, regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 908,082 within the city's administrative limits as of 2025, while its Metropolitan City of N ...

Life and career

Born in

Martina Franca Martina Franca, or just Martina (Bari dialect, Martinese: ), is a town and ''comune, municipality'' in the province of Taranto, Apulia, Italy. It is the second most populated town of the province after Taranto, and has a population (2016) of ...

, Fischetti studied piano from the age of six in his native city. He was then sent to Naples to study piano under Michele Cerimele and composition under a number of teachers including Giovanni Moretti and

Giuseppe Lillo Giuseppe Lillo (26 February 1814 - 4 February 1863) was an Italian composer. He is best known for his operas which followed in the same vein of Gioachino Rossini. He also produced works for solo piano, a small amount of sacred music, and some ch ...

. He composed over 200 pieces of instrumental and vocal music as well as three operas, all of which premiered in Naples. When the composer Vincenzo Fioravanti fell on hard times, a group of his friends produced the ''Album Fioravanti'' in 1864 at their own cost to be sold for his benefit. Compiled by Fischetti, it contained a biography of Fioravanti and facsimile reproductions of the autograph scores for three of his unpublished arias as well as pieces donated by Fischetti and his fellow composer Nicola De Giosa. Fischetti's most popular opera was ''Aida di Scafati'' (Aida of

Scafati Scafati () is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the province of Salerno, in the Italy, Italian region of Campania. Geography Scafati is situated on the river Sarno. Under the bridge over the river into the village, the Sarno divides into a primary ...

), a parody of Verdi's ''

Aida ''Aida'' (or ''Aïda'', ) is a tragic opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Antonio Ghislanzoni. Set in the Old Kingdom of Egypt, it was commissioned by Cairo's Khedivial Opera House and had its première there on 24 De ...

''. It was performed over 100 times in Naples and revived in other Italian cities for many years. It was given its first performance in modern times in October 2014 in a production organized by the

Conservatory of San Pietro a Majella This is a list of music conservatories in Naples, Italy. Conservatorio di San Pietro a Majella The Naples Conservatory of Music is a music school located in Naples, Italy. It is situated in the complex of San Pietro a Majella. It was originally ...

. In his later years Fischetti also taught piano and composition. He died in Naples at the age of 57.Champlin, John Denison and Apthorp, William Foster (eds.) (1889)
"Fischetti, Matteo Luigi"
''Cyclopedia of Music and Musicians'', Vol. II, pp. 72–73. C. Scribner's Sons''Il Giornale della Musica'' (9 October 2014)
"Aida è Napoletana"
Retrieved 26 June 2017 .

Operas

*''Aida di Scafati'' (comic opera in a prologue and three acts); libretto by Enrico Campanelli; premiered Teatro Fenice, Naples, 11 June 1873Caputo, M. C. (1875)
''Annuario generale della musica''
p. 89. Salvatore de Angelis *''La sorrentina'' (comic opera in three acts); libretto by Ernesto La Pegna; premiered Teatro Fenice, Naples, 6 September 1873 *''Un'altra figlia di Madama Angot'' (comic opera in three acts); libretto by Enrico Campanelli; premiered Teatro Mercadante, Naples, 17 May 1874

References

External links

Scores by Fischetti
at the

International Music Score Library Project The International Music Score Library Project (IMSLP), also known as the Petrucci Music Library after publisher Ottaviano Petrucci, is a subscription-based digital library of public-domain music scores. The project uses MediaWiki software, and ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fischetti, Matteo 1830 births 1887 deaths Italian opera composers Italian male opera composers People from Martina Franca 19th-century Italian male musicians