Biography
Paisiello, an Italian composer, produced numerous comic operas along with serious operas, masses, motets, cantatas, oratorios and keyboard concertos, ranking among the leading operatic figures of his era. Comic opera formed his principal strength; after presenting several such works in northern Italy he returned to his native Naples and rose to prominence there. Between 1776 and 1784 he served Catherine II as chapel master at the St. Petersburg court. During this appointment he composed Il barbiere di Siviglia in keeping with Gluck’s principles of operatic reform. On returning to Naples to serve the king he created Nina as a sentimental comic opera. Thereafter he concentrated on serious opera. He spent a brief period in Paris directing music for Napoleon before returning once more to Naples, now under French control. In total he wrote more than eighty operas whose melodies were graceful and whose style remained straightforward yet animated.