Giovanni Pacini

Pacini wrote more than seventy operas and later criticised his early orchestration in his memoirs. Born in Catania to the comic bass Luigi Pacini, he studied in Bologna and Venice and was supplying theatres while still young. Alessandro nelle Indie and L'ultimo giorno di Pompei were early successes. Then he withdrew, rebuilt his technique, and returned with Furio Camillo and then, in 1840, Saffo, the opera that made his second reputation; La fidanzata corsa, Medea and Maria, regina d'Inghilterra followed. He founded schools of music and was the first director of the institute in Florence that grew into the city's conservatory. Adelaide e Comingio was among the early successes, and the school he founded was at Viareggio, with a musical appointment at Lucca beside it. His last years were spent at Pescia, where he died in 1867.