- torios, a Requiem for the King of Saxony (1827), etc. His extraordinary
reputation was temporary, marking the end of Italian supremacy upon the German stage.
The following two composers stand apart, in that they were more purely Italian in method and worked far on into the next period. But they are here important because brought into immediate relations with Rossini.
Giovanni Pacini (d. 1867) was a Sicilian, educated at Bologna and Venice by Marchesi, Mattei and Furlanetto. He began writing for the stage at 17 (1813) and during his first period of 20 years produced over 40 operas, such as La sacerdotessa d'Irminsul (1817, Trieste), L'ultimo giorno di Pompeia (1825, Naples), Niobe (1826, Naples), and Gli Arabi nelle Gallie (1828, Turin). His second period, when his competition with Rossini became more marked, began in 1840 (see sec. 203).
Saverio Mercadante (d. 1870), a pupil of Zingarelli, after serving as first violin at Naples, made his operatic début in 1819, and won renown with Elisa e Claudio (1821, Milan), Didone (1823, Turin), Gli amici di Siracusa (1824, Rome), Doralice (1824, Vienna) and La rappresaglia (1829, Cadiz). Later examples from his list of about 60 operas were I briganti (1836, Paris), Il giuramento (1837, Milan), and Le due illustri rivali (1839, Venice). In 1827-30 he worked mostly at Madrid and Lisbon, from 1833 succeeded Generali as choir-*master at Novara, and from 1840 followed Zingarelli as head of the Naples conservatory. About this time he lost the sight of one eye, and finally became totally blind. He also wrote much for the church, as well as many orchestral works, including funeral-pieces for Bellini, Donizetti, Pacini and Rossini. He was gifted, but hasty and over-fond of noisy rhythm.
176. Rossini, Donizetti and Bellini.—The stimulating conditions of the new century were now strikingly illustrated by the rise of a group of Italian opera-writers of such varied gifts as to give them a dominance that lasted until the middle of the century and affected the whole progress of musical art. Of this group Rossini was the first to appear and the most spectacular. But he was soon reinforced by Donizetti and Bellini, who shared in the movement he created, although they differed from him in many points of genius.
Although the lives of Rossini and Donizetti extended much beyond the
first third of the century and their power still longer, the movement was
fully outlined before 1830 and its characteristics plainly belong to that general
period. They may therefore be summarily considered at this point.
The whole operatic world was stirred about 1815 by the advent
of Rossini, the most forceful Italian genius since Scarlatti. His
rapid ascent to fame was astonishing and the influence he exerted,
either directly or through the imitators he inspired, was
immense. His power lay in his sheer vitality, the witty vivacity
