A Dictionary of Music and Musicians/Benincori, Angelo

BENINCORI, Angelo Maria, born at Brescia 1779 [App. p.543 "Mar. 28"], died at Paris Dec. 30, 1821; pupil of Ghiretti, Holla, and Cimarosa. His opera of 'Nitteti' was produced in Italy, and well received also in Vienna about 1800. At Vienna he formed the acquaintance of Haydn, with whose quartets he was so delighted as to abandon dramatic composition for the time and write nothing but quartets. In 1803 he went to Paris and wrote two operas, which were accepted but never performed, and it was with difficulty that this excellent musician obtained sufficient pupils to secure him a subsistence. In 1815, 1818, and 1819, he brought out three operas without success. The end of his life was brightened by a hope he did not live to see realised. Isouard had died leaving his opera 'Aladin' unfinished, and this Benincori was commissioned to complete. A march for the first act, and the three last acts completed the work, which was enthusiastically received on Feb. 6, 1822, just six weeks after Benincori's death. Perhaps however the fact that the theatre was on this occasion for the first time lighted with gas may have had some share in the success of the opera. He left much music in MS., but his best compositions are probably his quartets.

[ M. C. C. ]