Carlo Soliva

Carlo Soliva (1791–1853) was a composer and teacher. Soliva studied at the Milan Conservatorium. His first opera, La testa di bronzo [The Head of Bronze] (1816), was successfully staged at the Teatro alla Scala (subsequent operas were less successful). In 1821, he moved to Warsaw, where he took up the position of director and singing teacher at the Institute of Music and Declamation. After the Institution was divided into two separate establishments, he was made Director of the Conservatorium (Józef Elsner was made Dean of the other part of the Institute, viz. the Main School of Music). Soliva was the conductor at Chopin’s farewell concert at the National Theatre on 11 October 1830. Chopin premiered his Piano Concerto No. 1 in E minor, Op. 11.