Ernest Bucalossi

Who was Ernest Bucalossi?

Procida Bucalossi and his son Ernest Bucalossi were British-Italian light music composers and orchestral arrangers. It is difficult to differentiate their compositions and arrangements, which are often simply credited as Bucalossi.

Procida Bucalossi is primarily known for his dance arrangements of Savoy Operas, particularly those of Gilbert & Sullivan. As a composer, Procida had success with a comic operetta Les Manteaux Noirs which ran at the Avenue Theatre between June and December 1882. Other compositions attributed to Procida include "Ciribiribin", the "P&O Polka" and songs titled "The Midnight Hour" and "Love, I Will Love You Forever".

Ernest Bucalossi went to work for the D'Oyly Carte company in the early 1880s and succeeded his father as conductor at the Prince of Wales's Theatre in 1881. Until 1928, he was musical director at a variety of London theatres. Ernest is today best known for his "Grasshopper's Dance", and the rest of his compositions have slipped into obscurity.