camille-marie stamaty, born in rome, was the son of a naturalized greek father (hence the name) and a french mother. his father was for a time french consul in the italian town of civitavecchia. his mother was french and according to antoine françois marmontel, who probably knew her, a fine singer of italian operatic arias. stamaty's father died in 1818, which forced the family to move back to france, first to dijon, later on to paris.