The Palace and Park by Phillips, Forbes, Latham, Owen, Scharf, and Shenton

[Born at Aversa, near Naples, 1755. Died at Venice, 1801. Aged 47.] A cobbler’s son and a baker’s apprentice. It was the duty of the lad to fetch daily a batch of dough from the house of Aprili, the great singing master of his time: and the musical sounds always ringing through the house touched his spirit and elicited his genius. Aprili caught him listening at the keyholes, and considerately sent him to a free musical school in Naples. At the age of 19, Cimarosa quitted the Conservatorio, and immediately afterwards wrote his first work--the music to a farce called “Baroness Stramba.” From this time forward his compositions for the theatre were incessant, and invariably successful. In 1787, Catharine of Russia invited him to St. Petersburgh, whither he went; but his health failing, he betook him, in 1792, to Vienna, and there entered the service of the Emperor Leopold. In his 38th year, after he had written 70 operas and dramatic works, he composed his masterpiece, “Il Matrimonio Segreto.” The Emperor of Austria was so delighted with the performance, that after supping the composer and the singers, he took the whole of them back to the theatre, and made them sing the opera through again. The operas of Mozart, then dying a few miles off, had fallen at the same theatre upon cold and unfeeling ears. Few compositions of Cimarosa are known at the present day, though his innumerable productions were highly popular whilst he lived. His music exhibits some originality and a prodigal flow and variety of ideas. His scoring is peculiarly brilliant, and his comic powers were great. [By Canova.]