Spontini

Spontini, GASPARO LUIGI PACIFICO (1774-1851), Italian composer, was the son of a peasant, and received his muslcal education at Naples. At the age of seventeen he produced his first opera with great success at Rome. He was a prolific composer, and from that time forward wrote unceasingly. After living in Naples till 1803 he went to Paris, where he brought out other works, and was appointed conductor of the Italian Opera there. In 1820 he went to Berlin, and in the following year his finest work, Olympia, was performed. He was very popular at that tune, but his reputation decreased rapidly and his works were speedily forgotten by the public.