Biography
Johann Simon Mayr was born on 14 June 1763 in Mendorf near Ingolstadt and studied music, philosophy, theology and law in Ingolstadt, among others under Adam Weishaupt. In the late 1780s he moved to Venice, where Niccolò Piccinni encouraged him to write opera; his successful debut, Saffo, followed in 1794 at the Teatro La Fenice. In 1802 he took charge of the music chapel at Santa Maria Maggiore in Bergamo and remained there until his death, turning down offers from Paris, St Petersburg and Milan. In 1805 he founded the Lezioni caritatevoli di musica, a school for underprivileged boys, whose most famous pupil became Gaetano Donizetti. Mayr composed more than sixty operas and is regarded as an important link between the classicism of Mozart and the bel canto of Rossini; blind since 1826, he died in Bergamo on 2 December 1845.
On Stagelog
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