Joseph Mazzinghi

Joseph Mazzinghi (1765–1844) was a British composer.

He was descended from an ancient Corsican family, the eldest son of Tommaso (Thomas) Mazzinghi (d. Old St. Pancras 1775), a wine merchant settled in London. According to Cansick, the composer's father, was violinist at Marylebone Gardens. A Tommaso Mazzinghi composed and published six solos for the violin, London, 1763.

Mazzinghi was born on 25 December 1765. His mother's sister, Cassandra Frederich (afterwards Mrs. Wynne), a pianist, interested herself in his musical training, and he was a pupil of Johann Christian Bach, and later of Bertolini, Antonio Sacchini, and Pasquale Anfossi. At the age of ten, he became organist to the Portuguese Chapel (1775). He is said to have held the post of composer and director of music at the Italian opera from 1785 to 1792.

He may have assisted the advertised directors, Anfossi and Cherubini, at the King's Theatre, Haymarket, but it was not until 9 January 1787, that his connection with the theatre was advertised, when Cimarosa's ‘Giannina e Bernardone’ was announced, ‘under the direction of Signor Mazzinghi,’ for 9 Jan. 1787. Several songs in the pasticcio were by him. On 8 December 1787, Paisiello's ‘Il Re Teodoro in Venezia’ was performed, with Mazzinghi, who had supplied some of the music, at the harpsichord. While holding the office Mazzinghi was not only responsible for alterations of and additions to various Italian operas, but brought out several ballets: ‘L'Amour et Pasiche’ on 6 March 1788, ‘Sapho et Phaon,’ ‘Eliza,’ and others. He remained at his post until the King's Theatre was burnt down on 17 June 1789.

In 1791, he was director of the Pantheon, the managers of which had succeeded in securing the one license granted for Italian opera. The Pantheon was, in its turn, destroyed by fire on 14 Jan. 1792. On 1 March, Mazzinghi conducted at the ‘Little Theatre in the Haymarket,’ called then Theatre Royal, Paisiello's ‘La Locanda.’ He had reconstructed the opera, the score of which had been lost in the fire. The new King's Theatre, Haymarket, opened for Italian opera under other direction in 1793.

In the meantime, Mazzinghi had set music to Merry's comic opera, ‘The Magician no Conjuror,’ produced at Covent Garden on 2 February 1792. Other English operas by Mazzinghi were: ‘A Day in Turkey,’ 1791; ‘The Wife of Two Husbands,’ 1803; ‘The Exile,’ the Covent Garden company acting at the Opera House, 1808; ‘Free Knights,’ with the popular duet, ‘When a little farm we keep,’ 1810; and in collaboration with Reeve, who wrote the lighter airs, ‘Ramah Droog,’ 1798; ‘The Turnpike Gate,’ 1799; ‘Paul and Virginia,’ 1800; ‘The Blind Girl,’ 1801; and ‘Chains of the Heart,’ which gave much pleasure to George III, 1802.

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