Domenico Fischietti (1725–1810) was an Italian composer.
He was born in
Naples and studied at the Conservatory of Sant'Onofrio Porta Capuana under the leadership of
Leonardo Leo and
Francesco Durante.
His first opera, Armindo, premiered in 1742 at the Teatro dei Fiorentini in
Naples, though there are doubts about whether he could have started composing at such a young age - it may have been by his father. In 1755 he was in Venice to present Lo speziale (the apothecary), the first opera with a libretto by
Carlo Goldoni. He followed this success with La ritornata a Londra (The Return to London) in 1756, Il mercato di Malmantile (The Market of Malmantile) in 1758, Il signor dottore (The Doctor) also in 1758, and La fiera di Sinigaglia in 1760. These works, all
drammi giocosi, represent Fiscietti's chief claim to fame.
In 1764, he moved to
Prague where he was associated with the impresario
Giuseppe Bustelli at the
Divadlo v Kotcích (German "Kotzentheater"). Besides a number of operas, it is known that Fischietti's oratorio La morte d'Abel was staged in this theater in 1763. In 1766 he became the master of the chapel court and the director of sacred music in Dresden. Here he worked with
Johann Gottlieb Naumann. In 1772, he left Dresden and first travelled to
Vienna and then to
Salzburg where he became a master of the chapel of the prince-archbishop,
Count Hieronymus von Colloredo despite
Leopold Mozart’s protests. In 1775 he composed a
Serenade to celebrate the visit there of
Archduke Maximilian Francis of Austria; it was for the same occasion that
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart composed his opera
Il re pastore. He got to know the Mozart family quite well, particularly
Maria Anna Mozart who may have given her counterpoint lessons. Fischietti died in
Salzburg in or after 1810.[1]