Ricci, Luigi (1805-1859)

Italian composer, brother of Federico Ricci. He studied under Zingarelli at the Naples Conservatory, where he and Vincenzo Bellini became sub-professors in 1819. His first opera was produced there 1823. In 1835, after a number of successful productions, he became conductor of the Opera and music director of the cathedral at Trieste. His attempt at a setting of Le nozze di Figaro (Milan, 1838) was a failure, and he moved with his twin-sister mistresses, Francesca and Ludmilla Stolz, to Odessa. He married Ludmilla in 1849 and wrote an opera for the sisters but was confined in an asylum in 1859, having become hopelessly insane.

Works Opera L'impresario in angustie (1823), Il diavolo condannato (1826), Il Colombo, L'orfanella di Ginevra (1829), Chiara di Rosemberg, Il nuovo Figaro (1832), Un avventura di Scaramuccia (1834), Gli esposti (Eran due ed or son tre), Chi dura vince, Chiara di Montalbano (1835), La Serva e l'ussaro, Le nozze di Figaro (after Beaumarchais, 1838), Il birraio di Preston (1847), La festa di Piedigrotta, Il diavolo a quattro (1859); and 14 others, including four in collaboration with Federico Ricci: Il colonello (1835), Il disertore per amore (1836), L'amante di richiamo (1846), and Crispino e la comare (1850).

Other church music, song-books Mes Loisirs and Les Inspirations du thé.