Editing Saverio Mercadante (section)

===Early years===
Mercadante was born illegitimate in [[Altamura]], near [[Bari]] in [[Apulia]]; his precise date of birth has not been recorded, but he was baptised on 17 September 1795.<ref name="zucker">{{cite web |last1=Zucker |first1=Stefan |title=Saverio Mercadante: Liszt thought him Italy's best composer |url=http://www.stefanzucker.com/saverio-mercadante |website=stefanzucker.com |access-date=11 May 2019}}</ref> Mercadante studied flute, violin and composition at the conservatory in [[Naples]], and organized concerts among his compatriots.<ref name="RCAFluteConcertos">Michael Rose, "Mercadante: Flute Concertos", booklet accompanying the 2004 RCA CD recording with [[James Galway]] and [[I Solisti Veneti]] under [[Claudio Scimone]].</ref> The opera composer [[Gioachino Rossini]] said to the conservatory Director, [[Niccolò Antonio Zingarelli|Niccolo Zingarelli]], "My compliments, Maestro – your young pupil Mercadante begins where we finish".<ref name="RCAFluteConcertos" /> In 1817 he was made conductor of the college orchestra, composing a number of symphonies, and concertos for various instruments – including six for flute about 1818–1819, and whose autograph scores are in the Naples conservatory, where they were presumably first performed with him as soloist.<ref name="RCAFluteConcertos" />

[[File:Saverio Mercadante - birthplace and house.jpg|thumb|Mercadante's birthplace and house located on the street ''corso Federico II di Svevia'', [[Altamura]] (the plaque dates back to Italy's [[Fascism|fascist period]])]]
The encouragement of Rossini led him to compose for the opera, where he won considerable success with his second such work (''Violenza e Constanza''), in 1820. His next three operas are more or less forgotten, but an abridged recording of ''Maria Stuarda, Regina di Scozia'' was issued by [[Opera Rara]] in 2006. His next opera ''Elisa e Claudio'' was a huge success, and had occasional revivals in the 20th century, most recently by [[Wexford Festival Opera]] in 1988.

[[File:Mercadante-young.jpg|thumb|upright|Mercadante]]
He worked for a time in [[Vienna]], in [[Madrid]], in [[Cádiz]], and in [[Lisbon]], but re-established himself in Italy in 1831. He was invited by Rossini to Paris in 1836, where he composed ''I Briganti'' for four of the best-known singers of the time, [[Giulia Grisi]], [[Giovanni Battista Rubini]], [[Antonio Tamburini]] and [[Luigi Lablache]], all of whom worked closely with [[Vincenzo Bellini|Bellini]]. While there, he had the opportunity to hear operas by [[Giacomo Meyerbeer|Meyerbeer]] and [[Fromental Halévy|Halévy]], which imparted a strong influence on him, especially the latter's ''[[La Juive]]''. This influence took the form of greater stress on the dramatic side.