Introduction

Biography

Beginning at age se­ven, Zin­ga­rel­li stu­died at the San­ta Ma­ria di Lo­re­to Con­ser­va­tory un­der Fe­na­ro­li and Sp­eran­za.

In 1789–90, he went to Pa­ris to com­pose An­ti­go­ne. He left France hur­ried­ly at the time of the re­vo­lu­tion, and ev­en­tu­al­ly re­turned to It­aly.

He was ap­point­ed maes­tro di cap­pel­la at Mi­lan Ca­thed­ral in 1793, stay­ing there un­til 1794, when he be­came maes­tro di cap­pel­la at the San­ta Ca­sa, Lo­re­to.

In 1804, Zin­ga­rel­li be­came choir mas­ter of the Sis­tine Cha­pel in Va­ti­can Ci­ty. In 1811 he re­fused, as an Ita­li­an pa­tri­ot, to con­duct a Te De­um for Na­po­le­on’s new­born son, known as King of Rome, in St. Pe­ter’s, Rome and he was tak­en as a pri­son­er to Pa­ris.

However, Na­po­le­on père was a fan of Zin­ga­rel­li’s mu­sic and so quick­ly re­leased him. In ad­di­tion, Zin­ga­rel­li was award­ed a state pen­sion.

In 1813, Zin­ga­rel­li moved to Na­ples, where he be­came Di­rect­or of the Con­ser­va­tory. In 1816, he re­placed Gio­van­ni Pai­si­el­lo as choir mas­ter of Na­ples Ca­thed­ral, a po­si­tion he held un­til his death.