Previous posts for January 16th are here: Lin-Manuel Miranda; Marilyn Horne; Brian Ferneyhough (2020), Marilyn Horne (2021), Roger Wagner (2022), Ethel Merman; Willoughby Bertie, 4th Earl of Abingdon (2023), and Marilyn Horne (2025)
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Niccolò Piccinni (16 January 1728 – 7 May 1800) was an Italian composer of symphonies, sacred music, chamber music, and opera.
Piccinni: A Cautionary Tale
The Parisian public was divided into two rival parties, which, under the names of Gluckists and Piccinnists, carried on an unworthy and disgraceful war. The antagonism of the rival parties continued, even after Gluck left Paris in 1780; and an attempt was afterwards made to inaugurate a new rivalry with Sacchini. – adapted from Wikipedia
Although Piccinni admired Gluck’s operas and steadfastly refused to encourage his own partisans, the warring factions nevertheless created a rivalry. Each composer’s work was compared unfavourably with that of the other. — britannica.com
In every opera history book
We read about his clash with Gluck.
And how the Paris public took
To reading partisan polemics
By critics, statesmen, academics,
And others who expressed their views
On which aesthetic course to choose.
The whole affair upset Piccinni,
Who urged his side to call it “fini,”
But discord is an evil genie,
And when the Paris public warms
To any new artistic storms,
They form themselves in zealous swarms
Which find attraction in the action
Of slandering the rival faction.
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