richly. Johnson and Lazarevich instance Il matrimonio segreto, in which a large orchestra "provides colour and exhibits independent motivic and rhythmic material that serves as commentary on the action". Cimarosa wrote a number of piano sonatas, which were discovered in manuscript in the 1920s; the quantity has been asserted as over 80 single-movement works, but it is thought that many of these may in fact belong with each other as three movement works. The work sometimes referred to as Cimarosa's "Concerto for oboe" is in fact a 1949 confection by Arthur Benjamin, consisting of arrangements of movements from the sonatas. Reputation Johnson and Lazarevich write that Cimarosa's reputation during his lifetime reached a height unsurpassed until Rossini's heyday, and he continued to be highly regarded into the 19th century. Eugène Delacroix preferred Cimarosa's music to Mozart's. He wrote of Il matrimonio segreto, "It is perfection itself. No other musician has this symmetry, this expressiveness and sense of the appropriate, this gaiety and tenderness, and above all … incomparable elegance". Stendhal wrote that Cimarosa, Mozart and Shakespeare were the only passions of his life. To Stendhal, Cimarosa was "the Molière of composers", and he claimed to have seen Il matrimonio segreto more than 100 times. Hector Berlioz, who hated Italian opera, was not an admirer: "I should throw to the devil the unique and interminable Matrimonio Segreto, which is nearly as tiresome as The Marriage of Figaro without being anything like so musical." Robert Schumann was impressed by Cimarosa's "absolutely masterful" orchestration, but by little else. Eduard Hanslick praised Cimarosa's wonderful facility, masterly compositional strokes and good taste. "Full of sunshine – that is the right expression for Cimarosa's music". Notes, references and sources Notes References Sources External links Musical Manuscripts Collection at the Harry Ransom Center Tuscan Opera Academy "Domenico Cimarosa" John A. Rice, "Amore mio bellissimo: Cimarosa's 'quartetto di nuova invenzione' and the Conti del Nord" 1749 births 1801 deaths 18th-century Italian male musicians 19th-century Italian male musicians 18th-century Italian composers Italian Classical-period composers Italian male classical composers Italian opera composers Italian classical musicians Male opera composers Neapolitan school composers People from Aversa Italian exiles