Composer born in Catania, Platania studied music under Vincenzo Abbatelli, Salvatore Pappalardo and Pietro Raimondi at the Conservatory of Music in Naples. In 1863 he was appointed director of the Royal Conservatory of Music of Palermo where he remained until 1885 when he was appointed director of the Conservatory of Music of Naples. He also directed for four years the famous chapel of the Cathedral of Milan and in its archives remains preserved much of his church music .
Platania addressed all kinds of music, but he was mainly appreciated for his melodic compositions. He wrote a lot of vocal and chamber music and produced highly appreciated operas.
“Only war or revolutions can induce governments to not reserve adequate attention to the arts, that “resume all their force in the normal state, they are part of civic life, and are decorum of a people, and no doubt a sign of its civilization … »
He was considered by Gioacchino Rossini and Giuseppe Verdi, among others, to be the greatest master of counterpoint of his day; the latter invited him to contribute to the Messa per Rossini, for which he wrote the Sanctus. He died in Naples.
Read More:
1. Treccani, http://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/pietro-platania_(Enciclopedia-Italiana)/
2. Wikipedia, https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pietro_Platania
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