Rossi, Luigi (c. 1598–1653)

Italian singer and composer. He composed in an elaborate style, and developed the innovations of Monteverdi. His Orfeo (1647) was lavishly produced at court; the expense provoked anti-monarchist feeling in the Parisian populace.

He was in the service of Cardinal Barberini in Rome 1641–46. In 1646 he was called to Paris at the instigation of Cardinal Mazarin and the following year produced Orfeo, one of the first Italian operas to be performed there. It has been successfully revived in Bloomington, USA, and London (1988, 1990).

Works Opera and choral the operas Il palagio d'Atlante, or Il palazzo incantato, L'Orfeo (1647); oratorio Giuseppe, figlio di Giacobbe, cantatas, and other pieces.