Angelo Tarchi

Angelo Tarchi (c. 1760 Naples-19 August 1814 Paris) was an Italian composer. In 1771 he entered the Pietà dei Turchini conservatory in Naples where he studied with Lorenzo Fago and Nicola Sala. In 1778 his first opera, "L'archetiello", was performed so successfully at the conservatory that the king commanded a performance at the palace in Caserta. Tarchi followed this with three more comic operas which premiered successfully in Naples from 1778–80. In 1781 he moved to Rome where he composed several operas for the next four years. In 1785 he moved to Florence, centring his activities there until he moved to Milan in 1787. He produced his first opera seria, "Ademira", at Milan in 1783, and from Carnival 1785 most of his work was in that genre. A prolific composer, even for the time, he usually produced from four to six operas each year; perhaps his most successful work of this period was "Ariarate" (1786, Milan), also performed at Naples and elsewhere.

In December 1787 Tarchi was appointed music director and composer at the King's Theatre in the Haymarket, London, a postiion he held until June 1789. He had previously composed music for "Virginia", a pasticcio, performed at the King’s Theatre by Giovanni Maria Rubinelli, a castrato, upon hia début there on 4 May 1786. However, it is not clear whether he went to London at that time or not. Two of his operas premiered at the King's Theatre in 1989: "Il disertore francese" and "La generosità di Alessandro". In 1790 his earlier opera "Il conte de Saldagna" (1787) was performed in Paris, and two new comic works were given there in 1790–91.

Tarchi returned to Italy in 1791 and remained there working for the next several years. His output of operas slowed down at this point in his career to "only" two or three a year. In 1793 he became ill on a visit to Naples, making a slow recovery and not producing a new opera until Carnival 1794–5. His output of operas slowed down even more at this point. His last Italian works were performed early in 1797. He then went to Paris and attempted to establish himself as an opéra comique composer, having seven works performed between late 1798 and early 1802. But he never found the formula for success in that genre. Although some Italian influence was not distasteful to opéra comique audiences at this time, Tarchi’s music seems to have remained too italianate to please completely. Several of his attempts were failures, and he finally abandoned the stage, remaining in Paris as a fashionable singing teacher. His opera "D’auberge en auberge" (1800} is perhaps his best work from the latter part of his career.

Operas

*"L'archetiello" (1778)
*"I viluppi amorosi" (1778)
*"Il barbiere di Arpino" (1779)
*"Il rè alla caccia" (1780)
*"Le disgrazie fortunate" (1781)
*"Don Fallopio" (1782)
*"Il guerriero immaginario" (1783)
*"Ademira" (1783)
*"I fratelli Pappamosca" (1784)
*"Bacco ed Arianna" (1784)
*"Le cose d'oggi giorno divise in trenta tomi, tomo primo, parte prima" (1784)
*"Il matrimonio per contrattempo" (1785)
*"Mitridate rè di Ponto" (1785)
*"L'Arminio" (1785)
*"Ifigenia in Aulide" (1785)
*"La Virginia" (1785)
*"Ifigenia in Tauride" (1785)
*"Ariarate" (1786)
*"Publio" (1786)
*"Demofoonte" (1786)
*"Il trionfo di Clelia" (1786)
*"Demetrio" (1787)
*"Melite riconosciuta" (1787)
*"Il conte di Saldagna" (1787)
*"Le nozze di Figaro" (1787)
*"Antioco" (1787)
*"Le due rivali" (1787/1788)
*"Alessandro nelle Indie" (1788)
*"Artaserse" (1788)
*"Ezio" (1789)
*"Il disertore francese" (1789)
*"La generosità di Alessandro" (1789)
*"La finta baronessa" (1790)
*"Giulio Sabino" (1790)
*"Il cavaliere errante" (1790)
*"Lo spazzacamino principe" (1790)
*"L'apoteosi d'Ercole" (1790)
*"Don Chisciotte" (1791 )
*"Tito Manlio" (1791)
*"La morte di Nerone" (1792)
*"L'Olimpiade" (1792)
*"Adrasto rè d'Egitto" (1792)
*"Ezio" (1792)
*"Dorval e Virginia" (1793)
*"Lo stravagante" (1793)
*"Le Danaide" (1794)
*"L'impostura poco dura" (1795)
*"Ciro riconosciuto" (1796)
*"La congiura pisoniana" (1797)
*"Ester" (1797)
*"Alessandro nelle Indie" (1798)
*"Le Cabriolet jaune, ou Le Phénix d'Angoulême" (1798)
*"Aurore de Gusman" (1799)
*"Le Général suédois" (1799)
*"Le Trente et quarante" (1799)
*"D'Auberge en auberge, ou Les Préventions" (1800)
*"Une Aventure de M. de Sainte-Foix, ou Le coup d'épée" (1802)
*"Astolphe et Alba, ou A Quoi la fortune" (1802)
*"Il Pimmaglione" (?)

ources

*Dennis Libby, Marita P. McClymonds. The "New Grove Dictionary of Opera", edited by Stanley Sadie (1992). ISBN 0-333-73432-7 and ISBN 1-56159-228-5