Pasquale Anfossi

Italian composer and violinist Pasquale Anfossi was born in Taggia on 5 April 1727. His initial aim was to become a performer, and he studied violin at the Conservatorio di Santa Maria di Loreto in Naples, then played in an opera orchestra for ten years.

Turning to composition, he studied with Niccolò Piccinni and Antonio Sacchini.

The first performance of his own music was an opera buffa presented at the 1763 Rome Carnival - La Serva Spiritosa. Ten years later, again in Rome, a dramma giocoso by Anfossi - L'incognita perseguitata - was very successful.

Most of his operas had been performed in Rome and Venice until his first London performance, in 1782, of Il trionfo della costanza. By this time he had written about thirty operas, and he was employed in London for four years as a musical director, presenting music by other composers - Gluck, J C Bach and Handel, for example - and five of his own operas.

Returning to Italy, he later concentrated on writing church music, particularly oratorios, and he died in Rome in February 1797.

 

A selection of articles about Pasquale Anfossi

CD Spotlight. Impassioned Advocacy - Music by Pasquale Anfossi, highly recommended by Gerald Fenech. '... animated performances full of verve and spirit.'