Salvatore Agnelli, born in Palermo in 1817, moved to Naples in 1830 to continue his musical education at the Naples Conservatory, where he studied under Niccolò Antonio Zingarelli. During this period, Zingarelli was serving as director of the conservatory, a post he had held since 1813, and Agnelli received part of his formal training under his guidance.
As one of Zingarelli’s students at the conservatory, Agnelli belonged to the later generation of musicians who benefited from the composer’s extensive experience in opera and sacred music. This teacher–student relationship played a role in shaping Agnelli’s early development as an Italian composer.
