on the source narratives which had inspired the play. In 1865 Marcello's Italian translation of Meyerbeer's L'Africaine was heard throughout Italy and in London's Royal Opera House. In the early 1840s Marcello had become seriously ill and was told that he had hypertrophy of the heart from which he would not recover. A friend then introduced him to the Swiss physician Jacques Etienne Chevalley de Rivaz who had practices in Naples and the island of Ischia where he owned a spa at Casamicciola. Chevalley de Rivaz urged him to leave behind his ambitions and frenetic life in Naples and enter into his care at the spa. Marcello spent three months there and against all expectations recovered sufficiently to resume his career. After his recovery he wrote a poetic paean to Ischia entitled Ischia. Canti tre. Twenty years later he revised and published the poem with a lengthy dedication letter to Chevalley de Rivaz whom he credited with saving his life and being his "second father". The letter was dated 5 July 1863. Chevalley de Rivaz died in Ischia later that year. Marcello died in Milan in 1865 at the age of 47 after what his obituary described as a brief illness. References {{reflist|refs= <ref name = "MMM2">Marcello, Marco Marcelliano (1863). Ischia. Canti tre, pp. v–vii, 56–60. Redaelli (in Italian).</ref> }} Further reading Facci, Roberto (2003). Ponton Paquaro, Marcelliano Marcello, Paesaggi sonori e storia nella comunità lupatotina''. Comitato Radici San Giovanni Lupatoto/Arti Grafiche Studio 83. (in Italian) External links Associazione culturale musicale, Coro lirico "Marcelliano Marcello" (in Italian) Works by Marcello on the Internet Archive Works by Marcello on the International Music Score Library Project 1818 births 1865 deaths Italian opera librettists 19th-century Italian writers 19th-century male writers 19th-century Italian composers People from the Province of Verona