Mercadante

Mercadante, SAVERIO, musical composer, was born at Altamura in Southern Italy, 26th June 1797, studied music at Naples, and began his career as a violinist and flutist. In 1818 he produced the first of some sixty operas, of which the more noteworthy are L'Apoteosi d'Ercole (1819), Anacreonte (1820), Elisa e Claudio (1821), Donna Caritea (1826), I Briganti (1836), Il Giuramento (1837), and La Vestale (1842). From 1827 to 1831 he was in Spain; in 1833 he was appointed musical director in the cathedral at Novara, and in 1840 of the conservatory of music at Naples. He died in that city, 17th December 1870—blind since 1861.