Guglielmo Quarenghi

Guglielmo Quarenghi (Casalmaggiore, 1826 – Milan, 1882) was an Italian cellist and composer whose career unfolded almost entirely in Milan, one of the most active musical centres in nineteenth-century Italy. His name is associated with the orchestral and pedagogical life of the city rather than with a body of work of wide international renown.

He trained with Vincenzo Merighi at the Milan Conservatory between 1839 and 1842. Around 1850 he became principal cellist at La Scala and, the following year, joined the conservatory as a teacher. During 1860 and 1861 he took part, alongside Rossi and Mazzucato, in the founding of the Società di Santa Cecilia in Milan. In 1879 he succeeded Boucheron as maestro di cappella of Milan Cathedral, but ill health forced him to resign in 1881.

Among his works is his only opera, Il dì di San Michele, premiered in Milan in 1863, the same year in which he also published a mass and other sacred music. His Metodo di violoncello (Milan, 1876) is notable for a preface that compares the earliest bowed instruments and their evolution with folk instruments from various countries. He also composed six capriccios for solo cello, original pieces and transcriptions for cello and piano, and chamber music.