Biography
Egidio Duni was born in 1708 in Matera and trained at the Santa Maria di Loreto conservatory in Naples. After early successes with Italian opere serie such as 'Adriano in Siria' (Rome, 1735) and a brief period in London, he served from 1748 as court maestro di cappella and music teacher to the Infanta Isabella at the court of Parma. In 1757 he settled permanently in Paris, where as music director of the Théâtre-Italien he helped shape the comédie mêlée d'ariettes with works such as 'La fée Urgèle' (1765), blending Italian melodic style with French operatic form. From the late 1760s his style was superseded by younger composers such as Monsigny, Philidor and Grétry; Duni largely withdrew from composing after 1770 and died in Paris in 1775.
On Stagelog
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