ZINGARELLI, NICCOLO Italian composer, was born at Naples on April 4, 1752, the son of Riccardo Tota Zingarelli, a singing-master and soloist. His first dramatic work, I quattro Pazzi, was produced at the conservatorio in 1768. He then gave violin lessons for a time, but in 1781 produced his first opera, Montesuma, at the San Carlo and afterwards in Vienna, where it was highly commended by Haydn. He finally settled in Milan, with introductions to the viceregal court, and over a period of eleven years produced a series of operas for the Scala, an oratorio of the Passion, and several cantatas. In 1789 he went to Paris to write an opera for the Academie royale de musique. This work, L' Antigone, for which Marmontel provided the libretto, was performed on April 3o, 1790, but Paris was no place for Zingarelli during the Revolution, and he fled into Switzerland and returned to Milan early in 1791.
In 1792 he won the appointment, by open competition, of master of the chapel at the cathedral. He first achieved an inter national reputation by a series of comic operas, beginning with La Secchia rapita in 1793. His finest work was, however, Romeo and Juliet, played at the Scala in 1796. From 1794-1804 Zingarelli was master of the chapel at Loreto, and during this time, although he also wrote operas, he was chiefly inspired to compose sacred music, contributing largely to the enormous collection of manu script works, the property of the church, known as the Annuale di Loreto. In 1804 he went to Rome as master (maestro di
capella) of the Sistine chapel and in 1805 produced one of his most successful works, "The Destruction of Jerusalem," which held the stage for five years. His last opera, Berenice, received a hundred consecutive performances.
At the "King of Rome" celebrations, when Napoleon ordered a Te Deum to be sung in Rome, Zingarelli's principles did not allow him to undertake the performance, and on his refusal he was arrested and brought before the emperor in Paris. But Napoleon at once released him and provided him with a pension. Zingarelli's post in Rome had been taken by Fioravanti, but in 1813 he was appointed director of the Real Collegio di Musica at Naples and in 1816 maestro di cappella at the cathedral. Zinga relli's gift for melody was remarkable. He was a deeply religious man and was rigorous in his exclusion of secular music from church performances. He died in 1837.