Luigi de Rossi

Luigi de Rossi, a 17th century Italian musical composer, said to have been born at Naples towards the close of the 16th century.

Of his life practically nothing is known. An opera of his, Il Palazzo Incantato, was given at Rome in 1642; in 1646 he was invited by Cardinal Mazarin to Paris, where he gave his opera Le Manage d'Orphée et d'Euridice (1647), the first Italian opera performed in Paris.

A collection of cantatas published in 1646 describes him as musician to Cardinal Antonio Berberini, and GA Perti in 1688 speaks of him along with Carissimi and Cesti as "the three greatest lights of our profession."

Rossi is noteworthy principally for his chamber-cantatas, which are among the finest that the 17th century produced. A large quantity are in manuscripts in the British Library and in Christ Church library, Oxford. La Gelosia, printed by FA. Gevaert in Les Gloires d'Italie, is an admirable specimen.

This entry was originally from the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica. Luigi De Rossi was also the brother of a well-to-do italian plumber named Mario.