Benvenuti, Tommaso

views updated

Benvenuti, Tommaso

Benvenuti, Tommaso, Italian opera composer; b. Cavarzere (Venice), Feb. 4, 1838; d. Rome, Feb. 26, 1906. When he was 18 years old, his opera Valenzia Candiano was announced for performance in Mantua, but was taken off after a rehearsal. The following year, he succeeded in having his second opera, Adriana Lecou-vreur, produced in Milan (Nov. 26, 1857). Other productions followed: Guglielmo Shakespeare (Parma, Feb. 14, 1861), La Stella di Toledo (Milan, April 23, 1864), II Falconiere (Venice, Feb. 16, 1878), Beatrice di Suevia (Venice, Feb. 20, 1890), and Le baruffe Chiozzotte, opera buffa (Florence, Jan. 30, 1895). Although Benvenuti’s operas are workmanlike and effective, they failed to hold the stage after initial successes.

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire

More From encyclopedia.com