What is Niccolò Piccinni?
[[File:Piccinni, Niccolò 1.JPG|thumb|right|upright|Niccolò Piccinni]] {{distinguish|Puccini}} '''Niccolò Piccinni''' (born [[Bari]], [[Italy]], 16 January 1728; died near [[Paris]], 7 May 1800) was an [[Italy|Italian]] [[composer]]. He wrote over 80 [[opera]]s. During his life, he worked with the greatest librettists of his age, including [[Metastasio]]. Piccinni’s music is hardly ever played today, but in his day many of his operas were extremely popular. He is mainly remembered today because he was invited to [[Paris]] where people wanted him to be a [[rival]] of [[Gluck]]. There were lots of arguments between the people who supported Piccinni and those who supported Gluck. == Life == Piccinni was born in [[Bari]]. His father, who was a [[musician]], did not want his son to study music, but the [[bishop]] persuaded him to change his mind. Niccolò went to the music [[conservatoire]] in [[Naples]]. He started to write comic operas ([[opera buffa]]). His opera ''La Cecchina, ossia la buona Figliuola'' with a [[libretto]] by [[Goldoni]] played for two years in [[Rome]] and was produced in all the important European capital cities. It was probably the most popular opera buffa of the [[18th century]]. Piccinni wrote music with a sentimental feeling that was very popular in the mid-18th century. It was typical of a lot of music in the early [[Classical music period]]. A few years later Piccinni was invited by Queen [[Marie Antoinette]] to go and live in [[Paris]]. He had married his pupil Vincenza Sibilla in 1756. She was a singer, but he never allowed his wife to sing on stage again after they married. The people who had invited Piccinni to Paris were people who did not like Gluck’s music. They wanted Piccinni to be a [[rival]] to [[Gluck]]. They enjoyed arguments, and they wanted to try to make the two composers enemies. There were a lot of arguments between the people who supported Piccinni and those who supported Gluck. The whole affair is often called: the war between the Piccinnists and the Gluckists. It w