Pietro Coppola

Pietro Antonio Coppola was an Italian composer born on 11 December 1793 in Castrojovanni, now known as Enna, in the Kingdom of Sicily. He came from a musical family: his father, Giuseppe Coppola, was a composer and kapellmeister, and his mother Felicia Castro da Leonforte was his father’s second wife. Despite his father’s initial reluctance to see him pursue a musical career, Coppola’s talent appeared early. In 1795 the family moved to Catania, where his older brother Francesco was his first music teacher for seven years. By the age of twelve he had already composed several vocal and instrumental works, prompting his father to take charge of his musical education for the following five years.

Coppola gained early recognition as a performer among the local aristocracy, and tradition holds that he was one of the first students of the young Vincenzo Bellini. In 1810 he succeeded his father as concertmaster and director of the municipal theatre in Catania, a position he held until 1832. Around 1815 he moved to Naples to study at the Santa Maria della Pietà dei Turchini Conservatory under Fedele Fenaroli and Niccolò Zingarelli. His first opera buffa, Il figlio bandito, premiered in Naples in 1816, followed by Artale d'Aragona in Catania the same year. During this period he also wrote numerous sacred works, many of which have not survived.

Among his early sacred compositions were five hymns in honor of Saint Agatha, created between 1821 and 1830 for the patron saint of Catania. His first opera seria, Il destino, was performed in 1825 in Catania on the occasion of the birthday of King Francis I of the Two Sicilies, though it failed to achieve public acclaim. That same year he wrote Achille in Sciro. His career advanced significantly in 1832 when he became conductor of the orchestra at the Teatro San Carlo in Naples. In 1833 he premiered Il gondoliere di Venezia ossia Gli sdegni amorosi, based on a libretto by Carlo Goldoni. Two years later he composed Nina pazza per amore for Rome, which became one of his greatest successes, with performances across Europe and the Americas between 1835 and 1837.

The French translation of Nina pazza per amore, titled Eva, was performed at the Opéra-Comique in Paris in 1839. In the same period Coppola enjoyed further success with Gli Illinesi, written in 1835. He was commissioned by impresario Bartolomeo Merelli to compose Festa della rosa ossia Enrichetta di Baienfeld for the Kärntnertortheater in Vienna, premiering in 1836. He also wrote La bella Celeste degli Spadari for the Teatro Canobbiana in Milan in 1837. In 1838 he collaborated with Gaetano Donizetti, Giovanni Pacini, Saverio Mercadante, and Nicola Vaccai on the Cantata in morte di Maria Malibran, performed at La Scala with leading singers of the era, including Teresa Brambilla, Marietta Brambilla, Orazio Cartagenova, and Sofia Schoberlechner. That same year La Scala premiered his opera Il postiglione di Longjumeau.

In 1839 Coppola presented his opera seria Giovanna I, regina di Napoli in Lisbon, where its success earned him membership in the Royal Conservatory of Lisbon. He became the lifelong conductor of the orchestra at the Teatro São Carlos, for which he composed Ines de Castro. His later operas included Il folletto (1843), L'orfana guelfa (1846), and Fingal (1847). By this time he had gained recognition across Europe and was named an honorary composer of the Accademia di Santa Cecilia.

Coppola continued composing for Portuguese theatres, often writing works in the Portuguese language. His final opera, O anel de Salamao (The Ring of Solomon), premiered on 23 June 1853. In 1866 he composed the oratorio Matatia vincitore as a gift to the city of Catania. In 1865 he returned to Catania, where his portrait had already been displayed at the local university since 1858, and a commemorative gold coin had been minted in his honor. He was elected an honorary member of an academic society, and a species of mollusk, Cerithiopsis Coppolae, was named after him. During this period he also married a widow, with whom he had two children.

He later returned to Lisbon to continue his work as conductor. In 1871, longing for his homeland, Coppola left Portugal and settled in Novara, where he spent three years as kapellmeister at the cathedral chapel, composing several sacred works. In 1873 he moved back to Catania, devoting himself exclusively to sacred music. He received honorary directorships in several local musical institutions, and a bust of him by sculptor Salvatore Grimaldi was placed in the Vincenzo Bellini garden.

In his final years Coppola composed a Messa for the Feast of Saint Agatha in 1874 and a Messa di requiem in 1876 to honor the reburial of Vincenzo Bellini in his homeland. On 24 September 1876 he became a corresponding member of the Royal Academic Institute of Music in Florence. His last composition was the cantata Il voto sciolto. Pietro Antonio Coppola died in Catania on 13 November 1876, leaving a legacy of sixteen operas, an oratorio, two cantatas, and numerous sacred and vocal works.

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