Italian opera composer

Niccola Spinelli

Intro
Italian opera composer
Genres
Music
Title page of the opera A Basso Porto, music by Niccola Spinelli, printed in 1895.

Niccola Spinelli (born Turin, Italy 1865 – died Rome 18 October 1909) was an Italian composer of operas. Born in Turin, the son of a jurist, he studied composition at the Naples Conservatory under Paolo Serrao. His opera Labilia won the second-place prize in an 1890 opera competition organized by Milanese music publisher Edoardo Sonzogno, and premiered in Rome on 9 May 1890; the first prize went to Pietro Mascagni for Cavalleria rusticana. His most well-known work is A Basso Porto (At the Lower Harbor), which premiered in Cologne on 18 April 1894 to great popular acclaim.