He was descended from an ancient Corsican family, the eldest son of Tommaso (Thomas) Mazzinghi (d. Old St. Pancras 1775), a wine merchant settled in London.
His mother's sister, Cassandra Frederich (afterwards Mrs. Wynne), a pianist, interested herself in his musical training, and he was a pupil of Johann Christian Bach, and later of Bertolini, Antonio Sacchini, and Pasquale Anfossi.
While holding the office Mazzinghi was not only responsible for alterations of and additions to various Italian operas, but brought out several ballets: ‘L'Amour et Pasiche’ on 6 March 1788, ‘Sapho et Phaon,’ ‘Eliza,’ and others.
[1] In the meantime, Mazzinghi had set music to Merry's comic opera, ‘The Magician no Conjuror,’ produced at Covent Garden on 2 February 1792.
Other English operas by Mazzinghi were: ‘A Day in Turkey,’ 1791; ‘The Wife of Two Husbands,’ 1803; ‘The Exile,’ the Covent Garden company acting at the Opera House, 1808; ‘Free Knights,’ with the popular duet, ‘When a little farm we keep,’ 1810; and in collaboration with Reeve, who wrote the lighter airs, ‘Ramah Droog,’ 1798; ‘The Turnpike Gate,’ 1799; ‘Paul and Virginia,’ 1800; ‘The Blind Girl,’ 1801; and ‘Chains of the Heart,’ which gave much pleasure to George III, 1802.
[1] Mazzinghi's concertanti were played at the Professional Concerts (Pohl, Haydn in London), and his miscellaneous compositions were popular, especially those for the pianoforte.
Much of this mass of work, produced with apparent ease, was musicianly; but the flowing melodies were seldom strikingly original.