Luigi Caruso

Luigi Caruso was an Italian composer and kapellmeister born on 25 September 1754 in Naples. He was the brother of the tenor Emanuele Caruso and studied first under his father, then at the Conservatorio della Pietà dei Turchini in Naples under Nicola Sala. He made his operatic debut in the Carnival season of 1773 with Il barone di Trocchia, and the following year saw his Artaserse produced in London.

In 1788 he was formally appointed maestro di cappella of the Cathedral of San Lorenzo in Perugia, a position he retained for most of his life. Between 1790 and 1810 he also held posts in the cathedrals of Cingoli, Fabriano, Perugia and Urbino, though his tenure in Urbino was troubled by disagreements with the chapter that led to his resignation. Afterward he spent a period working for the diocese in Palermo before returning to Perugia.

Caruso was credited with founding a conservatory in Perugia, further establishing his influence on the city’s musical life. Throughout his career he continued to travel across Italy, Portugal, France and Germany to stage his operas, maintaining a large output of more than sixty works. His catalogue includes both opera seria and opera buffa, the latter sometimes reworkings of his earlier compositions, as well as oratorios, cantatas, sacred music and chamber pieces.

Although active well into the nineteenth century, he rejected the emerging innovations of Romanticism and remained devoted to the older Neapolitan operatic tradition. He died in Perugia on 15 November 1823.

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