Rossi, Lauro (1810–1885)

Italian composer. He studied at Naples with Zingarelli and others and began to produce operas at the age of 18. He had much success in Italian cities until 1835, when he left for Mexico in disgust after a failure. He later travelled to India, but returned to Europe in 1843 and again produced many operas. In 1870 he succeeded Mercadante as director of the Naples Conservatory.

Works operas La contesse villane (1829), Il casino di campagna, Costanza ed Oringaldo, La casa disabitata (1834), Amelia, Leocadia, Cellini a Parigi (1845), Azema di Granata (1846), Il borgomastro di Schiedam, Il domino nero (1849), Bianca Contarini, La contessa di Mons (1874), La figlia di Figaro (1846), Biorn (after Shakespeare's Macbeth) and 15 others; oratorio Saul; Mass; six fugues for strings; elegies on the deaths of Bellini and Mercadante.