Duni, Egide-Romuald

Duni, Egide-Romuald (9 February 1709, Matera; 11 June 1775, Paris), composer, was the tenth child of a choirmaster whose precocious talents won him admission at age nine to the conservatory of the Poveri di Gesü Gristo at Naples. He was an excellent student and was sent to Rome, where he wrote Nerone (1735), and to Vienna, where he was charged with executing a secret mission for the Court of Rome. He returned to Italy after presenting his music to Austrian audiences, and he then composed…