Giuseppe Balducci (composer)

Balducci studied music under the castrato singer Giovanni Ripa in Iesi and the composer Pietro Morandi [it] in nearby Senigallia.

On his arrival in Naples, he found employment as the music master to the three young daughters of Raimondo Capece Minutolo (1769–1827), a retired field marshal and member of an ancient Neapolitan noble family.

[3][4] Once he was settled in Naples, Balducci resumed his own music studies, this time with the composer Niccolò Zingarelli at the Collegio San Sebastiano.

The critic for the Giornale del Regno delle Due Sicilie excoriated the hackneyed libretto based on a play which had been circulating throughout Italy, but reserved praise for Balducci's music.

[8] In 1882, Clotilde Capece Minutolo, the last surviving sister, donated her family's extensive music collection to the San Pietro a Majella conservatory in Naples.

[10][4][11] Although he was primarily known for his operas in his own lifetime, Balducci composed several pieces of religious vocal music including two masses and a Salve regina.

He also composed various songs and duets; an oratorio, Adamo; a cantata for two voices, Andromaca; and additional music for Stephen Storace's opera The Pirates when it was revived under the title Isidore de Merida in 1827.

However Scherzo, performed to celebrate the name day of Matilde Capece Minutolo, also has a finale which employs a small orchestra and male chorus.