Michele Carafa

Michele Enrico Francesco Vincenzo Aloisio Paolo Carafa di Colobrano[1] (17 November 1787 – 26 July 1872) was an Italian opera composer.

When the Bourbons were restored in Naples, the property of the Carafa family was confiscated and the military career of Michele Enrico was over, so he could finish his musical education.

The Teatro del Fondo staged his Il Vascello d'occidente in 1814 and Gabriella di Vergy, written by Andrea Leone Tottola, in 1816.

Carafa's music is marked by a certain lightness of melody and mediocre orchestration, in a period dominated by Rossini, Bellini, Auber, Halévy, who were all his friends.

Established as an opera composer, he returned to Paris in 1821, where he had success with Jeanne d'Arc à Orléans and Le Valet de Chambre in 1823.

After Il Parìa in Venice, he definitely moved to Paris and struggled before Masaniello (libretto by Moreau de Mommagny and A.-M. Lafortelle) became a great success and was given 136 times at Opéra-Comique.

He obtained French citizenship in 1834 and membership in the Académie des beaux-arts in 1837, and became director of the Academy of Military Music (Gymnase de musique militaire) in 1838.