(Continued)
THE Operas of Mercadante (1795-1870) were long popular in Italy and Vienna. Besides his stage works (about sixty in all), he wrote masses and other sacred music. He was music director at two cathedrals in turn, and in 1840 was elected Director of the Naples Conservatoire. He gradually went blind, but dictated his operas after 1862 when his sight was completely gone.