Italian composer (1730-1786) from Florence, who studied composition at Naples with the famous composer Durante, showing great promise. He spending most of his life doing commissions, moving from town to town, mainly in Italy. He specialised in opera and appeared in Padua and Venice and to great acclaim in Rome, Naples and Florence, etc. After a string of successes in Munich, Stuttgart and London he went to Paris in 1781, although his works had been performed there from 1775. Encouraged by supporters of Piccini, he eventually became more popular than the composer as representative of the Italian style. He wrote many operas which became a staple at the Opéra de Paris until 1830, i.e. 34 years after his death.
