Francesco Antonio Baldassare Uttini

Francesco Antonio Baldassare Uttini was born in Bologna in 1723 and died in Stockholm in October 1795. An Italian-born composer and conductor, he spent much of his career in Sweden, where he became a central figure in the musical life of the court and the national opera.

His training is attributed to Padre Martini and, according to Fétis, also to Perti and Sandoni, although this last detail derives from an old source and should be treated with caution.

In 1743 he was admitted to the Accademia Filarmonica and premiered his first opera, Alessandro nelle Indie, in Genoa. Over the following decade he gained some notoriety in Italy with operas, mostly of the opera seria type, and with oratorios. In 1752 he joined the Mingotti company as resident composer, and it was there that he met his first wife, the singer Rosa Scarlatti. That same year he toured northern Europe, which led to the premiere of Siroe in Hamburg. He then conducted L'olimpiade and Zenobia in Copenhagen and staged numerous pasticcios in Rostock and other cities, of which only Armide survives.

In 1755 Queen Lovisa Ulrika invited the members of the company to Stockholm to perform before the court. Uttini composed Il re pastore for the new theatre at Drottningholm and, after the company was disbanded, remained in the capital as the queen's private kapellmeister. From 1762 he turned towards French opéra comique, and in 1767 he was appointed Hovkapellmästare, succeeding Per Brandt. Around 1772 Gustav III commissioned him to write the music for Thetis och Pelée, the first major Swedish opera, which was performed successfully the following year. In the decade that followed he wrote more ambitious works, such as Birger Jarl och Mechtilde and Aline, drottning uti Golconda, and added choruses to Swedish versions of Racine's Athalie and Iphigénie.

Around 1778 the effective direction of the chapel passed largely to other musicians, and Uttini gradually withdrew from concert life. He retired in 1788, the year he married the singer Sophia Liljegren. His legacy is that of a bridge between Italian opera seria and the Swedish stage: his operas after 1766 show a more prominent orchestra and, at times, folk-like melodies, while his symphonies reflect the influence of Mannheim.