Spontini, Gasparo Luigi Pacifico

Born Nov. 14,1774, in Maiolati, Ancona Province; died there Jan. 24, 1851. Italian composer. Member of the Prussian Academy of Arts (1833) and the Paris Academy of Arts (1839).

Spontini’s first opera was presented in Rome in 1796, after which the composer wrote many operas bouffes and opere serie for Rome, Naples, Florence, and Venice. From 1803 to 1820, Spontini worked in Paris, and from 1820 to 1841 he was general music director at Berlin. He spent his last years in Italy. Spontini’s masterpiece is considered to be La Vestale (1805), which anticipated the French grand opera.