Paisiello, Giovanni

Paisiello, Giovanni (jōvän`nē päēzyĕl`lō), 1740–1816, Italian composer. Paisiello served in St. Petersburg at the court of Catherine II from 1776 to 1784. He was also briefly Napoleon's maître de chapelle. Paisiello composed some 100 operas, church music, keyboard concertos, string quartets, and other works. His opera The Barber of Seville (1782) was so popular that for a time it hindered the success of Rossini's work of the same name. Paisiello's music is characterized by considerable melodic charm.

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Paisiello, Giovanni

(born May 9, 1740, Taranto, Kingdom of Naples—died June 5, 1816, Naples) Italian composer. Trained in Naples, he served the Russian empress Catherine II as chapel master in St. Petersburg (1776–84), where he wrote many short operas. He had his first operatic success in Vienna in 1784 then returned to Naples to become dramatic composer to Ferdinand IV. In 1802 Paisiello was invited by Napoleon to work in Paris, but after two years he returned to Naples, where, despite changes in regime, he retained his court post until 1815. He composed more than 80 operas, including a very popular Barber of Seville (1782).