Ferdinando Paer

Ferdinando Paer (1 July 1771 – 3 May 1839) was an Italian composer known for his operas and oratorios. He was of Austrian descent and used the German spelling Pär in application for printing in Venice, and later in France the spelling Paër.

He was born in Parma into a family of Austrian descent. His grandfather Michael Pär was a regimental band member from Peterwardein (today Petrovaradin, part of Novi Sad). His father Giulio Paer was a trumpeter with the Ducal Bodyguards and also performed at church and court events, his mother was Francesca Cutica. He was named Ferdinando after Duke Ferdinand of Parma by Archduchess Maria Amalia of Austria, Duke Ferdinand's wife. He studied the theory of music under the violinist Ghiretti, a pupil of the Conservatorio della Pietà de' Turchini in Naples. His first Italian opera, Circe, was given in Venice during carnival 1792; others rapidly followed, and his name was soon famous throughout Italy. In 1797, he went to Vienna, where his future wife, the singer Francesca Riccardi, had obtained an engagement. There he became music director of the Kärntnertortheater until 1801, where he produced a series of operas, including his Camilla (1799) and his Achille (1801). In 1802 he was appointed composer to the court theatre at Dresden, the Morettisches Opernhaus (), where his wife was also engaged as a singer, and in 1804 the lifetime appointment of Court Kapellmeister was bestowed upon him by Elector Frederick August.

His opera Leonora (1804) is based on the same story as Beethoven's Fidelio, first produced as Leonora the following year. Beethoven had a high opinion of Paer, once jesting that the funeral march in Achille was so fine he "would have to compose it".

...
Wikipedia