Amintore Galli

Amyntor "Amintore" Flaminio Claudio Galli (12 October 1845 – 8 December 1919) was an Italian music publisher, journalist, historian, musicologist, and composer.

Born in the Marecchia valley, Galli was educated under Alberto Mazzucato at the Milan Conservatory. In 1874, he became artistic director of Edoardo Sonzogno's new Casa Musicale Sonzogno, for which he directed several magazines. Galli distinguished Sonzogno by publishing renowned operas at affordable prices, and under his direction, it became one of Italy's leading musical publishing houses. He translated several librettos and wrote original recitatives. As Director of Il teatro illustrato, Galli oversaw Sonzogno's musical competitions, the second of which notably produced Cavalleria rusticana by his former pupil Pietro Mascagni, to whom Galli was particularly close.

Between 1878 and 1903, Galli was Chair of Counterpoint and Musical Aesthetics at the Milan Conservatory. Galli's students included Ruggero Leoncavallo, Umberto Giordano, Marco Enrico Bossi, Giacomo Puccini, and Francesco Cilea. He wrote multiple influential essays and treatises on musicology and music history, which are still studied in many Italian music schools today.

Despite his illustrious career as a publisher, journalist, and academic, Galli's operatic compositions received cool receptions, and only two were ever performed in his lifetime. Galli is credited with composing the music of Filippo Turati's Workers' Hymn, a popular socialist anthem that was banned by successive governments. Galli died in Rimini in 1919. In May 1947, the city's semi-destroyed Victor Emmanuel II Theatre was renamed in his honour.