Page:A Dictionary of Music and Musicians vol 4.djvu/525

ZINGARELLI. Musique. He arrived in the thick of the fight between the Piccinnists and Gluckists. Martnontel wrote for him the book of 'L'Antigone,' which was represented on April 30, 1790. This opera was performed in Paris only three times consecutively, the Revolution having more attractions than music for the Parisian public. Zingarelli, as both a conservative and a religious man, soon fled from Paris, and returned to Milan through Switzerland at the beginning of 1791. There he produced at La Scala, 'La Morte di Cesare,' and in the following year 'L'Oracolo sannita' and 'Pirro.'

In 1792 there was an open competition in Milan for the place of Maestro di cappella of the Duomo, the subject being a canon for eight voices, and Zingarelli was appointed. The independence and leisure of his new position did not prevent him from working as hard as ever, and he continued giving lessons and writing for the theatre. Among his many pupils of this time we may mention F. Pollini, to whom he dedicated his 'Partimenti' and his 'Solfeggi,' which soon became recognised text-books.

With 'La Secchia rapita,' in 1793, Zingarelli began a series of comic operas, which, although not to be compared for real worth with his serious operas, made his name popular, not only in Italy, but throughout Germany, where they were widely performed. 'Il Mercato di Monfregoso' soon followed, and is reputed his best opera buffa. In 1794 he composed 'Artaserse' for Milan, the 'Orazi e Curiazi' for the Teatro Reale of Turin, and 'Apelle e Campaspe' for the theatre La Fenice of Venice, in which opera Crescentini made his debut. The 'Conte di Saldagna' was unsuccessfully produced in 1795 at the same theatre in Venice; but this failure was grandly retrieved the following year by the performance of his greatest work, 'Romeo e Giulietta' at La Scala. Its beauty and popularity are shown by the fact that it has been played all over the continent for the greater part of a century.

Zingarelli was appointed in 1794 Maestro di Cappella at Loreto, which place he held for ten years. Here he wrote many operas, of which we may mention 'Clitennestra,' written expressly for Catalani, and 'Inez de Castro,' for Silva. His principal work, however, during these ten years was sacred music, to which he was inclined by his nature and by the duties of his office. In the archives of the Santa Casa of Loreto is accumulated an immense quantity of manuscript music, known by the name of 'Annuale di Loreto.' To this great collection Zingarelli contributed the astounding number of 541 works, inclusive of 28 Masses, which are still sung in that church. As it is forbidden to copy the music of the 'Annuale,' the outside world must remain ignorant of its merits. Zingarelli's masses, to those who heard them, have a spontaneity of expression, an easy facility of style, a simplicity, and, above all, a most entrancing melody. In the style called di cappella, in the music a pieno, no one has ever surpassed him. The writer of this notice has obtained a complete list of them, the only one ever made, which, duly certified and attested by the present Maestro di cappella of Loreto, is now deposited in the Library of the Royal College of Music.

When Napoleon was at Loreto, in 1796, he admired Zingarelli's music and befriended him, a fact which subsequently became very useful to the musician.

In 1804 Zingarelli succeeded Guglielmi as Maestro di cappella of the Sixtine Chapel in Rome. Here he set to music passages from the great Italian poets. Tancredi's Lamento, from the twelfth Canto of Tasso's 'Gerusalemme Liberata,' was performed in Naples in 1805, in the palace of the Prince di Pantelleria, where Zingarelli met Mme. de Stael, whom he had previously known in Paris as Mlle. Necker. The same year he gave in Rome 'La Distruzione di Gerusalemme' at the Theatre Valle, where it kept the boards for five consecutive years. He produced, seven years after, in Florence, 'La Riedificazione di Gerusalemme,' one of his very few failures. His opera 'Baldovino' was given in 1810 at the Theatre Argentina, and the following year 'Berenice' at the Theatre Valle, both in Rome. 'Berenice' was Zingarelli's last opera, and had a run of over a hundred consecutive representations; a thing unheard of in the thinly populated towns of Italy. But it was not his last work, as he continued writingto the last day of his life. 'Berenice' was composed after leaving Rome for Civita Vecchia on his forced journey to Paris; and one of its finest numbers, the finale of the first act, 'Già sparir vedo la sponda' was written on board ship.

We have now arrived at a memorable epoch of Zingarelli's life, when his already well-known name became illustrious among those of Italian patriots. When Napoleon, in the zenith of his imperial power, gave his son the pompous title of 'King of Rome,' he ordered rejoicings throughout all his dominions. A Te Deum was therefore arranged to be sung at St. Peter's in Rome; but when the authorities, both French and Italian, were assembled for the performance of this servile work, it was found to their consternation that the Maestro di cappella refused to have anything to do with it, and that nothing could induce him to acknowledge the rule of the Corsican usurper. He was arrested and, by Napoleon's orders, taken to Paris, where he was immediately set free and granted a pension. This he owed to the fact that Napoleon was fond, above all other, of Zingarelli's music, which he had heard in Italy in 1796, in Vienna in 1805, and in Paris in 1809. On the last occasion, when Crescentini sang the part of Romeo, Napoleon, much affected, sent him from his own breast the star of the order of the Iron Crown. He also ordered Zingarelli to compose for his Imperial Chapel a Mass that should not last more than twenty minutes, had it rehearsed in his presence, and was so pleased with it as to give the composer 6000 francs. During his stay in Paris, Zingarelli was replaced at Rome by