Feliciano Strepponi

Strepponi's older brother Francesco became the maestro di cappella at the Church of the Beata Vergine Incoronata in Lodi.

[1][2][5] Upon completion of his music studies in Milan, Strepponi was appointed maestro di cappella at Monza Cathedral on the recommendation of his former teacher Vincenzo Federici.

Both were members of the Carbonari, a secret revolutionary society founded in the early 19th-century which played an active role in opposing Austrian rule of northern Italy.

Considered an excellent opera conductor, Strepponi soon attracted prominent singers to the Teatro Grande, including Giuditta Grisi and Caroline Ungher.

His opera L' Ullà di Bassora premiered at La Scala in September of the following year to some success and had a further fifteen performances there.

However, with a family to support and Giuseppina's fees at the conservatory to be paid, Strepponi had embarked on a brief but frenetic career as an impresario, leaving his post in Trieste, where his wife and three other children remained while he travelled throughout Italy.

[2] Giuseppina graduated from the Milan conservatory two years later, became an opera singer of considerable renown, and later married the composer Giuseppe Verdi.

[1] Strepponi composed numerous pieces of sacred music during his time at Monza Cathedral as well as a secular cantata, Artemisia al mausoleo (published in Milan by Luigi Bertuzzi in 1823).