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Luigi Cherubini (September 14, 1760 – March
15, 1842) was an Italian composer. Although his
music is not well known today, Cherubini was
greatly admired by his contemporaries. Ludwig van
Beethoven|Beethoven considered him to be the
greatest dramatic composer of his time.

Cherubini was born Maria Luigi Carlo Zenobio
Salvatore Cherubini in Florence. His instruction
in music began at the age of six with his father,
himself a musician.  By the age of thirteen, he
had composed several religious works.  From 1778
to 1780, he studied music in Bologna and Milan.

In 1788, Cherubini settled in Paris. In the years
following, he met with only partial success as an
opera composer.  His first major success was
Lodoïska (1791) which was admired for its
realistic heroism. 
This was followed by Médée (1797), which is
Cherubini's best known work, and Les deux
journées (1800).  However, his works had to be
performed in the small Theatre de la Foire
Saint-Germain because the grand opera house was
closed to him.  His idealism, his independent
disposition, and above all the austere, lofty
character of his music, prevented him from
becoming popular among his contemporaries. 
However, his fortunes improved slightly in 1795
when he was appointed inspector at the Paris
Conservatoire. 

In 1805, Cherubini received an invitation from
Vienna to write an opera and to direct it in
person. Faniska was produced the following year
and was enthusiastically received, in particular,
by Joseph Haydn|Haydn and Beethoven.

Disappointed with his lack of success in the
theater, Cherubini turned increasingly to church
music, writing seven masses, two requiems and many
shorter pieces. During this period, he was also
appointed surintendant de la musique du roi under
the restored monarchy.  In 1815, the London
Philharmonic Society commissioned him to write a
symphony, an overture, and a composition for
chorus and orchestra, the performance of which he
went especially to London to conduct, and this
increased his international fame.

Cherubini's Requiem in C-minor (1816),
commemorating the anniversary of the execution of
King Louis XVI of France, was a huge success. The
work was greatly admired by Beethoven, Robert
Schumann|Schumann and Johannes Brahms|Brahms.

In 1822, Cherubini became director of the
Conservatoire and completed his textbook, Cours de
contrepoint et de fugue, in 1835.

He died in Paris at age 81 and was buried in Père
Lachaise cemetery.


With arrival in Paris in the 1820s of the
brilliant, effervescent operas of Gioacchino
Rossini|Rossini with their vocal pyrotechnics, the
classically austere operas of Cherubini, like
those of Christoph Willibald Gluck|Gluck and
Gaspare Spontini|Spontini, fell out of fashion. 
However, Médée (or Medea as it is known in
Italy) is occasionally revived when a singer is
available who can handle the role. Perhaps the
most famous 20th century revival of the work was
in Florence in 1953, with Maria Callas in the
title role and conducted by Leonard Bernstein.

Another opera of Cherubini, Les Abencérages, was
revived (in Italian) at the Maggio Musicale in
Florence in 1957 under the baton of Carlo Maria
Giulini.

Cherubini's Requiem in C-minor is also
occasionally performed. Most notably, Arturo
Toscanini conducted and made a recording of it
with the NBC Symphony Orchestra in February 1950.

==External link==
* http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/03648a.htm Entry
for Luigi Cherubini in The Catholic Encyclopedia