Paer, Ferdinando

PAER, Ferdinando, Italian opera composer and maestro di capella, born June 1, 1771, at Parma, where he studied under a violinist named Ghizetti. At 20 he became maestro di capella at Venice, and there composed industriously, though leading a gay and dissolute life. His operas were not all equally successful, but they made his name known beyond Italy, and in 1797 he received an invitation to Vienna, whither he went with his wife, a singer named Riccardi, who was engaged at...