Luigi Mancinelli (; 5 February 1848 – 2 February 1921) was an Italian conductor, cellist and composer. His early career was in Italy, where he established a reputation in Perugia and then Bologna. After 1886 he worked mostly in other countries, as principal conductor at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden in London and at the "Old Metropolitan" Opera House in New York, and in other appointments in Madrid, Rio de Janeiro and Buenos Aires. Mancinelli was highly regarded not only in the Italian repertory, in which he first came to prominence, but also in German and French opera. Despite his high reputation as a conductor, his compositions met with limited success, and none of them entered the regular repertoire. Life and career Early years Mancinelli was born in Orvieto in central Italy. He studied organ and cello with his elder brother, Marino (who later became a well-known conductor in Italian opera houses) and then played as a cellist in the Orvieto cappella and the orchestra of the Teatro della Pergola in Florence. In Florence he studied composition with Teodulo Mabellini. In 1874 he moved to the Teatro Morlacchi in Perugia, as principal cellist and assistant maestro concertatore. He made his conducting debut there in Aida when the regular conductor was unable to appear, owing to temporary inebriety. The impresario Vincenzo Jacovacci was present, and engaged Mancinelli for the Teatro Apollo, Rome, where he conducted until 1881. He quickly built a reputation; in 1877 Boito called him the ideal interpreter of Mefistofele, and he was regarded by Giovannina Lucca, the holder of the Italian rights to Wagner operas, as Angelo Mariani's successor as Italy's leading Wagner conductor. Wagner himself rated Mancinelli highly. International career In July 1878 Mancinelli conducted in Paris for the first time. In Italy he worked principally in Bologna, conducting opera at the Teatro Comunale, serving as maestro di cappella at the basilica of San Petronio and teaching at the Liceo Musicale, where his students included Giacomo Orefice. Throughout his career Mancinelli composed in addition to conducting. His first opera, Isora di Provenza (1884) was successful in Bologna but failed in Naples two years later. After that, Mancinelli's career was chiefly out of Italy. In June 1886 he conducted a concert in London, consisting of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony and a selection of his own compositions. Having resigned his posts in Bologna, he accepted an invitation from the