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Giovanni Paisiello (or Paesieixo) (May 9, 1741
– June 5, 1816), was an Italy|Italian
composer of the classical music era|Classical era.


Paisiello was born at Taranto, where he attended
the Society of Jesus|Jesuit college.  The beauty
of his singing voice attracted so much attention
that in 1754 he was sent to the Conservatorio di
S. Onofrio at Naples, where he studied under
Francesco Durante, and in due course became
assistant master. For the theatre of the
Conservatorio, which he left in 1763, he wrote
some intermezzi, one of which attracted so much
notice that he was invited to write two operas, La
Pupilla and Il Mondo al Rovescio, for Bologna, and
a third, Il Marchese di Tidipano, for Rome.

His reputation being now firmly established, he
settled for some years at Naples, where, despite
the popularity of Niccola Piccinni, Domenico
Cimarosa and Pietro Guglielmi, of whose triumphs
he was bitterly jealous, he produced a series of
highly successful operas, one of which, L'ldolo
cinese, made a deep impression upon the Neapolitan
public.

In 1772 Paisiello began to write church music, and
composed a requiem for Gennara Borbone. In the
same year he married Cecilia Pallini, and the
marriage was a happy one. In 1776 Paisiello was
invited by the empress Catherine II of Russia to
St Petersburg, where he remained for eight years,
producing, among other charming works, his
masterpiece, Il Barbiere di Siviglia, which soon
attained a European reputation. The fate of this
opera marks an epoch in the history of Italian
art; for with it the gentle suavity cultivated by
the masters of the 18th century died out to make
room for the dazzling brilliance of a later
period.

When, in 1816, Gioacchino Rossini set the same
libretto to music, under the title of Almaviva, it
was hissed from the stage; yet, under its changed
title, Il Barbiere, it is now acknowledged as
Rossini's greatest work, while Paisiello's opera
is consigned to oblivion -- a strange instance of
poetical vengeance, since Paisiello himself had
many years previously endeavoured to eclipse the
fame of Giovanni Battista Pergolesi|Pergolesi by
resetting the libretto of his famous intermezzo,
La Serva padrona.

Paisiello left Russia in 1784, and, after
producing Il Re Teodoro at Vienna, entered the
service of Ferdinand IV at Naples, where he
composed many of his best operas, including Nina
and La Molinara. After many vicissitudes,
resulting from political and dynastic changes, he
was invited to Paris (1802) by Napoleon, whose
favor he had won five years previously by a march
composed for the funeral of Louis Lazare
Hoche|General Hoche. Napoleon treated him
munificently, while cruelly neglecting two far
greater composers, Luigi Cherubini and Etienne
Méhul, to whom the new favorite transferred the
hatred he had formerly borne to Cimarosa,
Guglielmi and Piccinni.

Paisiello conducted the music of the court in the
Tuileries with a stipend of 10,000 francs and 4800
for lodging, but he entirely failed to conciliate
the Parisian public, who received his opera
Proserpine so coldly that, in 1803, he requested
and with some difficulty obtained permission to
return to Italy, upon the plea of his wife's ill
health. On his arrival at Naples Paisiello was
reinstated in his former appointments by Joseph
Bonaparte and Joachim Murat, but he had taxed his
genius beyond its strength, and was unable to meet
the demands now made upon it for new ideas. His
prospects, too, were precarious. The power of the
Bonaparte family was tottering to its fall; and
Paisiello's fortunes fell with it. The death of
his wife in 1815 tried him severely. His health
failed rapidly, and constitutional jealousy of the
popularity of others was a source of worry and
vexation.

Paisiello's operas (of which he is known to have
composed 94) abound with melodies, the graceful
beauty of which is still warmly appreciated.
Perhaps the best known of these airs is the famous
"Nel cor piu" from La Molinara, immortalized by
Ludwig van Beethoven|Beethoven's variations. His
church music was very voluminous, comprising eight
masses, besides many smaller works; he also
produced fifty-one instrumental compositions and
many detached pieces. Manuscript scores of many of
his operas were presented to the library of the
British Museum by Domenico Dragonetti.

The library of the Gerolamini at Naples possesses
an interesting manuscript compilation recording
Paisiello's opinions on contemporary composers,
and exhibiting him as a somewhat severe critic,
especially of the work of Pergolesi. 

==Works==
*Il ciarlone (12.5.1764 Bologna) 
*I francesi brillanti (24.6.1764 Bologna) 
*Madama l'umorista, o Gli stravaganti (26.1.1765
Modena) 
*L'amore in ballo (carn.1765 Venezia SM) 
*I bagni d'Abano (spr.1765 Parma) 
*Demetrio (Lent.1765 Modena) 
*Il negligente (1765 Parma) 
*Le virtuose ridicole (1765 Parma) 
*Le nozze disturbate (carn.1776 Venezia SM) 
*Le finte contesse (2.1766 Roma V) Il Marchese di
Tulissano? 
*La vedova di bel genio (spr.1766 Napoli N) 
*L'idolo cinese (spr.1767 Napoli N) 
*Lucio Papirio dittatore (sum.1767 Napoli SC) 
*Il furbo malaccorto (win.1767 Napoli N) 
*Le 'mbroglie de la Bajasse (1767 Napoli F) 
*Alceste in Ebuda, ovvero Olimpia (20.1.1768
Napoli SC) 
*Festa teatrale in musica (31.5.1768 Napoli PR) Le
nozze di Peleo e Tetide 
*La luna abitata (sum.1768 Napoli N) 
*La finta maga per vendetta (aut?.1768 Napoli F) 
*L'osteria di Marechiaro (win.1768 Napoli F) 
*La serva fatta padrona (sum.1769 Napoli F) rev.
Le 'mbroglie de la Bajasse 
*Don Chisciotte della Mancia (sum.1769 Napoli F) 
*L'arabo cortese (win.1769 Napoli N) 
*La Zelmira, o sia La marina del Granatello
(sum.1770 Napoli N) 
*Le trame per amore (7.10.1770 Napoli N) 
*Annibale in Torino (16.1.1771 Torino TR) 
*La somiglianza de' nomi (spr.1771 Napoli N) 
*I scherzi d'amore e di fortuna (sum.1771 Napoli
N) 
*Artaserse (26.12.1771 Modena) 
*Semiramide in villa (carn.1772 Roma Ca) 
*Motezuma (1.1772 Roma D) 
*La Dardanè (spr.1772 Napoli N) 
*Gli amante comici (aut.1772 Napoli N) 
*Don Anchise Campanone (1773 Venezia) rev. Gli
amante comici 
*L'innocente fortunata (carn.1773 Venezia SM) 
*Sismano nel Mogol (carn.1773 Milano RD) 
*Il tamburo (spr.1773 Napoli N) Il tamburo
notturno 
*Alessandro nell'Indie (26.12.1773 Modena) 
*Andromeda (carn.1774 Milano RD) 
*Il duello (spr.1774 Napoli N) 
*Il credulo deluso (aut.1774 Napoli N) 
*La frascatana (aut.1774 Venezia SS) L'infante de
Zamora 
*Il divertimento dei numi (4.12.1774 Napoli PR) 
*Demofoonte (carn.1775 Venezia SB) 
*La discordia fortunata (carn.1775 Venezia SS)
L'avaro deluso 
*L'amor ingegnoso, o sia La giovane scaltra
(carn.1775 Padova) 
*Le astuzie amorose (spr.1775 Napoli N) 
*Socrate immaginario (aut.1775 Napoli N) 
*Il gran Cid (3.11.1775 Firenze P) 
*Le due contesse (3.1.1776 Roma V) 
*La disfatta di Dario (carn.1776 Roma A) 
*Dal finto il vero (spr.1776 Napoli N) 
*Nitteti (28.1.1777 St. Peterburg) 
*Lucinda e Armidoro (aut.1777 St. Peterburg) 
*Achille in Sciro (6.2.1778 St. Peterburg) 
*Lo sposo burlato (24.7.1778 St. Peterburg) 
*Gli astrologi immaginari (14.2.1779 St. Peterburg
E) Le philosophe imaginaire 
*Il matrimonio inaspettato (1779 Kammenïy Ostrov)
La contadina di spirito 
*La finta amante (5.6.1780 Mogilev) Camiletta 
*Alcide al bivio (6.12.1780 St. Peterburg E) 
*La serva padrona (10?.9.1781 Tsarskoye Selo) 
*Il duello comico (1782 Tsarskoye Selo) rev. Il
duello 
*Il barbiere di Siviglia, ovvero La precauzione
inutile (26.9.1782 St. Peterburg) 
*Il mondo della luna (1782 Kammenïy Ostrov) 
*Il re Teodoro in Venezia (23.8.1784 Wien B) 
*Antigono (12.10.1785 Napoli SC) 
*La grotta di Trofonio (12.1785 Napoli F) 
*Olimpiade (20.1.1786 Napoli SC) 
*Le gare generose (spr.1786 Napoli F) Gli schiavi
per amore; Le bon maître, ou L'esclave par amour 
*Pirro (12.1.1787 Napoli SC) 
*Il barbiere di Siviglia, ovvero La precauzione
inutile rev (1787 Napoli F) 
*La modista raggiratrice (aut.1787 Napoli F) La
scuffiara amante, o sia Il maestro di scuola
napolitano; La scuffiara raggiratrice 
*Giunone e Lucina (8.9.1787 Napoli SC) 
*Fedra (1.1.1788 Napoli SC) 
*L'amor contrastato (carn.1789 Napoli F) L'amor
contrastato o sia La molinarella 
*Catone in Utica (5.2.1789 Napoli SC) 
*Nina, o sia La pazza per amore (25.6.1789
Caserta) 
*I zingari in fiera (21.11.1789 Napoli Fo) 
*Le vane gelosie (spr.1790 Napoli F) 
*Zenobia in Palmira (30.5.1790 Napoli SC) 
*La molinara (1790 Wien) rev. L'amor contrastato 
*Nina, o sia La pazza per amore rev (1790 Napoli
F) 
*Ipermestra (6.1791 Padova) 
*La locanda (16.6.1791 London Pantheon) La locanda
di falcone; Lo stambo in Berlina 
*I giuochi d'Agrigento (16.5.1792 Venezia F) 
*Il fanatico in Berlina (1792 Napoli F) rev. La
locanda 
*Il ritorno d'Idomeneo (aut.1792 Perugia) 
*Elfrida (4.11.1792 Napoli SC) Adevolto 
*Elvira (12.1.1794 Napoli SC) 
*Didone abbandonata (4.11.1794 Napoli SC) 
*Nina, o sia La pazza per amore rev 2 (1795 Napoli
F) 
*Chi la dura la vince (9.6.1797 Milano S) 
*La Daunia felice (26.6.1797 Foggia) 
*Andromaca (4.11.1797 Napoli SC) 
*L'inganno felice (1798 Napoli Fo) 
*Proserpine (28.3.1803 Paris O) 
*Elisa (19.3.1807 Napoli SC) + Mayr 
*I pittagorici (19.3.1808 Napoli SC)

==Reference==
1911