Pinsuti

Ciro Pinsuti (9 May 1829 – 10 March 1888) was an Anglo-Italian composer. Educated in music for a career as a pianist, he studied composition under Rossini. From 1848 he made his home in England, where he became a teacher of singing, and in 1856 he was made a professor at the Academy of Music in London.

Pinsuti composed numerous songs and part-songs which achieved popularity in the Victorian era. He also composed three operas, which were produced in Italy, but which are rarely performed today. He is most remembered for his popular parlour songs such as "I Fear no Foe" and the "Bedouin love song".

He was born in Sinalunga near Siena, Italy, the son of Maddalena Formichi and G. Battista Pinsuti, who was the music teacher of the local orchestra. After studying music with a friend of his father, he made his first public appearance on 7 March 1840 at the age of ten in the Civic Theatre of Perugia playing the violin in the orchestra. After the season, his father took him to Rome, where he played for several important Roman families, and gaining access to the Accademia di Santa Cecilia.

British MP Henry Drummond saw Ciro performing and proposed to his father that he would pay for Ciro's tuition at the conservatory of Naples, provided that Ciro came to London to perform. Pinsuti remained in London for five years, after which he chose to study with Gioachino Rossini in Bologna. Rossini, who befriended Pinsuti, advised him to return to London after finishing his studies, as Britain represented the best prospects for his future career.

Having returned to London, Pinsuti gave music lessons during the day, while performing his own compositions at evening soirees. The Royal Academy of Music in London appointed him as a singing teacher. He was also given posts in Italy, becoming an honorary member of the Accademia di Santa Cecilia in Rome. In 1876, he was given an official position on the Sinalunga city council, a position he held until his death, even though his commitment was necessarily subject to his many other activities. In 1879 he conducted Verdi's Il Trovatore at the theatre in Sinalunga, and supported the local orchestra, which was led by his brother, Domenico Pinsuti. In 1885 his opera Margherita was staged in Venice and then in Sinalunga.

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