Phenaroli, Fedele

Fedele Fenaroli was born in Lanciano on April 25, 1730. He received his initial musical education from his father, who served as bandmaster at the Lanciano Basilica. He continued his musical education in Naples, where he entered the Conservatory of Santa Maria di Loreto, becoming a student of Francesco Durante and Pietro Antonio Gallo .

In 1762, he received the position of deputy bandmaster in the chapel of the conservatory, in 1777 he was appointed titular bandmaster. In 1768 he wrote a cantata for the birthday of Ferdinand IV, King of Naples.

During his work, the director of the conservatory reorganized the institute. After the closure of the Conservatory of Poveri di Gesu Cristo in 1744, only three conservatories remained in Naples - Sant Onofrio a Porta Capuana , Santa Maria della Pieta dei Turkini and Santa Maria di Loreto .

In 1797, Fedele Fenaroli participated in the unification of the Conservatories of Santa Maria di Loreto and Sant Onofrio a Porta Capuana. In 1807 they were joined by the Conservatory of Santa Maria della Pieta dei Turkini, with the result that the Royal College of Music, now the Conservatory of San Pietro a Mayella, appeared . This reorganization was carried out by decree of Joseph Bonaparte, the new king of Naples. Fedele Fenaroli led the new institution, along with Giovanni Paisiello and Giacomo Tritto . With the latter, he reorganized the curricula. The composer taught counterpoint .

In 1813, Nicolo Zingarelli , a student of Fedele Fenaroli, became one of the leaders of the conservatory.

He was later admitted to the Royal Bourbon Society with the rank of conductor of the Association of Chevaliers.

Among his students there were many famous composers: Domenico Cimarosa , Nicola Antonio Dzingarelli , Giuseppe Giordani , Silvestro Palma , Francesco Ruggi , Salvatore Figuera , Luigi Mosca , Vincenzo Lavigna , Carlo Koccea , Michele Carafa , Giacomo Cordella , Giuseppe Nicolino Pietro Nikola Coppola , Traugott Maximilian Eberwein , Saverio Mercadante , Carlo Conti , Vincenzo Fiocchi .

Together with teaching, the composer continued to compose music. Although he wrote several operas, his main works were works of sacred music. In the liturgical composition, Fedele Fenaroli showed deep compositional knowledge, especially in the use of counterpoint.

He wrote several textbooks on music, his collection of partments published in Naples in 1775 was especially popular. In 1814, the next (expanded) edition of Fenaroli's partments came out in Paris, but soon this outdated system of teaching harmony was replaced by more modern techniques and Fenaroli went out of fashion.

Fedele Fenaroli died on January 1, 1818 in Naples.

The composer's creative heritage includes 2 operas , numerous spiritual and vocal compositions, and music theory textbooks.

Opera

• The Two Cedaries (1759)
• The Defeat of the Amalekites (1780)

Other

• Avigeya (1760
• The Joy of Heaven (1763)
• “Pure Heart” (1767)
• The Defeat of the Assyrians (1789)

Literature

• The Textbook on Counterpoint (1800)

• Aerts H. Fenaroli // Lexikon Schriften über Musik. Bd. 1: Musiktheorie von der Antike bis zur Gegenwart, hrsg. v. U. Scheideler und F. Wörner. Kassel: Bärenreiter, 2017, S. 137-139.

• Antonella Cerami. Fenaròli, Fedele (Neopr.) . Treccani.it. - Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani - Volume 46 (1996). (ital.)
• Fenaròli, Fedele (Neopr.) . Treccani.it. - Enciclopedie on line. (ital.)