Piccinni was a central figure in French and Italian opera during the eighteenth century. He composed over one hundred operas in Italian alone. Studying with Leo and Durante in Naples led to the production of his first successful opera "Le Cecchina" which was acclaimed throughout Europe. Piccinni also taught singing and was the second choir master at Naples Cathedral and second organist from 1771. French operas, which were both comic and tragic included "Tragedies lyriques Roland," "Iphigenie en Tauride" and "Didon." Supporters of Gluck challenged many of the works of Piccinni despite their merits. His Italian operas were strong characteristically in their sense of expression, harmonic progressions and textured instrumentation. The French operas synthesized what were considered a number of disparate elements from both the French and the Italian traditions. Other composition types scored by Piccinni included oratorios, sacred works, cantatas and instrumental compositions. He had a definitive sensitivity for the scoring of ensembles and brief lyric numbers. These qualities were appreciated, unfortunately, after the fact. ~ Keith Johnson