Giovanni Battista Pergolesi

Giovanni Battista Pergolesi was born in Marche, Italy in 1710, moving to Naples to further his musical studies at age 15. Although he composed sacred music, he is most known as for his contributions in opera buffe during the form's inception. His work in the genre created a two-year-long controversy in Paris between proponents of the serious French opera and the comic Italian form. Tragically, or possibly ironically, Pergolesi died of tuberculosis at the young age of 26.