Biography
Vicente Martín y Soler was born on 2 May 1754 in Valencia and, after moving to Madrid around 1775, studied in Bologna with Giovanni Battista Martini. Following early successes in Madrid and at the Teatro di San Carlo in Naples, he composed three comic operas in Vienna between 1785 and 1788 with librettist Lorenzo Da Ponte, including 'Una cosa rara' (1786), whose 78 performances briefly outshone Mozart's 'Le nozze di Figaro'. In 1788 he took up a post as court composer in Saint Petersburg, becoming maestro at the Smolny Institute in 1796, interrupted by a season at London's King's Theatre in 1795. He died on 30 January (some sources say 10 February) 1806 in Saint Petersburg.
On Stagelog
Loading stats...