Attilio Parelli

Who was Attilio Parelli?

Attilio Enrico Paparella, known professionally as Attilio Parelli was an Italian conductor and composer.

His most important opera is I dispettosi amanti, which debuted in March 1912 at the Metropolitan Opera House in Philadelphia.

Parelli was born in Monteleone d'Orvieto in 1874. He studied from 1891 to 1899 with Cesare de Sanctis at the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome. He started his work as a conductor in Italy and Paris, then moved to the United States.

He married his student Isolina Rapalli. They had no children.

From 1906 he collaborated with Cleofonte Campanini at the Manhattan Opera House and the Chicago Grand Opera Company.

In 1925 he returned to Italy and became artistic director of the newly formed Unione Radiofonica Italiana in Milan.

Parelli died in Monteleone d'Orvieto on 26 December 1944 and rests in the monumental cemetery of his birthplace.