Ettore Perosio

Ettore Perosio (May 10, 1868 - February 14, 1919) was an Italian composer and conductor.

Portrait of Perosio in 1913

Perosio was a native of Genoa, the son of art critic and amateur musician Giuseppe Perosio, who had been a friend of Giuseppe Verdi. The younger Perosio studied at the Niccolò Paganini Institute in Genoa before embarking on a conducting career that took him around Italy, as well as to Spain, Portugal, and the United States.[1] His career also took him to Buenos Aires and Montevideo, where he worked alongside soprano Eugenia Burzio.[2] Perosio married soprano Giuseppina Falconis della Perla (née Battaglia) in 1900. He died in the city of his birth.[1] A plaque in his memory has been erected on the house in which he was born.[3]

Perosio composed five operas during his career. The first of these, premiered at Genoa's Teatro Paganini on January 13, 1889, was Adriana Lecouvreur, to a libretto by his father;[1][4] based on the same play that later inspired Francesco Cilea,[5] this saw performance in other theaters as well.[2] It was followed on May 27, 1893[1] by Per l'amore, to a libretto by Iginio Rasi, which bowed at the Teatro Politeama in Genoa.[6] Three other stage works - Furio, to a libretto by Luigi Orsini; Scacco al re, to a libretto by E. Ducati; and Morosina - appear never to have received a performance.[1] Besides operas, Perosio also wrote chamber music, songs, and sacred works. He also produced Apoteosi di Colombo for the inauguration of the Columbian exposition in Genoa in 1892; this was premiered at the Teatro Carlo Felice.[2]