thumb|200px|Luigi Cherubini'''Luigi Cherubini''' (italià que passà la majoria de la seva vida musical a òperes i la música sacra.

El 1788, feia una breu visita a Londres, on començava a treballar en una escena d'un llibret francès de Marmontel, ''Démophon''. La música de Cherubini començava a mostrar una certa originalitat i atreviment. Més tard es trasllada a París, on obté el seu primer èxit important amb ''Lodoïska'' (1791), una història d'heroisme realista. Era seguit per ''Eliza'' (1794), ambientada als Alps suïssos, i ''Médée'' (1797), que és l'obra més coneguda de Cherubini. ''Les deux journées'' (1800), en la qual Cherubini simplificava una mica el seu estil, fou un èxit popular. Aquests i unes altres òperes eren premièred al Théâtre Feydeau.

Després d'aquesta òpera, la popularitat de Cherubini a París declinava marcadament a favor de compositors més joves com Boieldieu. El seu ballet d'òpera ''Haydn i Granada, era l'intent de Cherubini de competir amb el ''Spontini. Va obtenir l'elogi crític de molts compositors però poques actuacions.

Decebut amb la seva manca d'èxit al teatre, Cherubini escrivia cada vegada més per la música d'església, amb set misses, dos rèquiems i moltes peces curtes. Durant aquest període, també se'l nomenava ''surintendant de la musique du roi'' sota la monarquia restaurada (les seves relacions amb Napoleó havien estat clarament pobres). El 1815, la ''London Philharmonic Society'' el cridava per escriure una simfonia, una obertura, i una composició per a cor i orquestra, i es desplaçava a Londres per dirigir les seves interpretacions, obtenint fama internacional.

El seu ''Rèquiem en do menor'' (1816), per commemorar l'aniversari de l'execució del rei Lluís XVI de França, va ser un èxit enorme. El seu treball era en gran manera admirat per Beethoven, Schumann i Brahms. El 1836, Cherubini escrivia un ''Rèquiem en re menor'' per ser interpretat al seu propi funeral.

El Ingres. Ambdós tenia interessos mutus: Cherubini era un pintor afeccionat entusiàstic i a Ingres li agradava practicar el violí. El 1841, Ingres pintava el retrat més celebrat del vell compositor.

Cherubini moria a París a l'edat 81 anys i va ser enterrat al cementiri Père Lachaise.

thumb|200px|right|Luigi Cherubini, c. 1815-1824, Institut Royal de France, Académie des Beaux Arts (musique).

'''Luigi Cherubini''' (Italian born composer who spent most of his working life in Beethoven regarded Cherubini as the greatest of his contemporaries.<ref>{{cite book | last = Holden | first = Amanda | coauthors = (editor), with Kenyon, Nicholas and Walsh, Stephen | title = The Viking Opera Guide | origyear = 1993 | publisher = Viking | location = London
 | id = ISBN 0-670-81292-7 | pages = p.209 }}</ref>  
==Biography==
thumb|200px|right|Luigi Cherubini wearing a [[Legion d'Honneur medal, lithograph by Marie Alexandre Alophe after a painting (Imp. d'Aubert & Co. Galerie de la Presse de la Litterature et des Beaux Arts, c. 1850).]]
Cherubini was born '''Maria Luigi Carlo Zenobio Salvatore Cherubini''' in Florence. There is uncertainty about his exact date of birth. Although September 14 is sometimes stated, evidence from baptismal records and Cherubini himself suggests the 8th is correct. Perhaps the strongest evidence is his first name, Maria, which is traditional for a child born on September 8th, feast-day of the Nativity of the Virgin.<ref>Sadie, p. 833</ref> His Italian name appears most often in modern journals and on recordings. However, after 1790, he adopted the French version of his name, '''Marie-Louis-Charles-Zénobi-Salvador Cherubini''', which appears in ''all'' extant documents that show his full name after that date.<ref>Sadie, p. 833</ref>    

His instruction in music began at the age of six with his father, Bartolomeo, ''maestro al cembalo'' ("Master of the harpsichord"). Considered a child prodigy, Cherubini studied counterpoint and dramatic style at an early age. By the time he was thirteen, he had composed several religious works. In 1780, he was awarded a scholarship by the Grand Duke of Tuscany to study music in Bologna and Milan.<ref>Sadie, p. 833</ref> 

Cherubini's early Venetian theater in November 1783.

Feeling constrained by Italian traditions and eager to experiment, Cherubini traveled to London in 1785 where he produced two opera serias and an opera buffa for the King's Theater. In the same year, he made an excursion to Paris with his friend Gianbattista Viotti, who presented him to Marie Antoinette and Parisian society. He received an important commission to write ''Démophon'' to a French libretto by Jean-François Marmontel that would be his first tragédie en musique. Except for a brief return trip to London and to Turin for an opera seria commissioned by King of the House of Savoy, Cherubini spent the rest of his life in France.<ref>Sadie, p. 833</ref>

Performances of ''Démophon'' were favorably received at the Grand Opéra in Médée'' (1797), which is Cherubini's best known work. ''Les deux journées'' (1800), in which Cherubini simplified his style, was a popular success.  These and other operas were premièred at the Théâtre Feydeau or the Opéra-Comique. Feeling financially secure, he married Anne Cécile Tourette in 1794 and began a family of three children.

The fallout from the French Revolution had a major affect on Cherubini to the end of his life. Politics forced him to hide his connections with the former aristocracy and seek governmental appointments. Napoléon found him too complex for his tastes, however, Cherubini wrote at least one patriotic work per year for more than a decade.<ref>Sadie, p. 833</ref>  He was appointed Napoléon's director of music in Vienna for part of 1805 and 1806, whereupon he conducted several of his works in that city. 

After ''Les deux journées'', Parisian audiences began to favor younger composers such as Haydn and Beethoven. ''Les Abencérages'' (1813), an heroic drama set in Spain during the last days of the Moorish kingdom of Granada, was Cherubini's attempt to compete with Spontini's ''La Vestale''. It brought the composer critical praise but few performances.

thumb|Cherubini's grave at [[Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris with a bas relief by Augustin Dumont.]]
Disappointed with his lack of acclaim in the theater, Cherubini turned increasingly to church music, writing seven masses, two requiems and many shorter pieces. During this period, he was also appointed ''surintendant de la musique du roi'' under the restored monarchy. (It was a position he held until the fall of the Bourbon Dynasty in the July Revolution of 1830.) The London Philharmonic Society commissioned him to write a symphony, an overture, and a composition for chorus and orchestra in 1815, the performances of which he went especially to London to conduct, increasing his international fame.

Cherubini's ''Requiem in C-minor'' (Schumann and Brahms. In 1836, Cherubini wrote a Requiem in D Minor to be performed at his own funeral. It is for male choir only, as the religious authorities had criticised his use of female voices in the earlier work.

Although chamber music does not make up a large portion of his output, what he did write  was important. Wilhelm Altmann, writing in his ''Handbuch für Streichquartettspielers'' (Handbook for String Quartet Players) about Cherubini's six string quartets,states that they are first rate and regarded Nos. 1 and 3 as masterworks. His String Quintet for two violins, viola and two cellos is also considered a first rate work.
thumb|Title page of the first edition of Cherubini's ''[[Médée'', full score, 1797.]]
In Ingres. The two had mutual interests: Cherubini was a keen amateur painter and Ingres enjoyed practising the violin. In 1841, Ingres produced the most celebrated portrait of the old composer. 

During his life, Cherubini received France's highest and most prestigious honors. These include Chevalier de la Achille Leclère and includes a figure representing "Music" crowning a bust of the composer with a wreath by sculptor Augustin Dumont.

==Selected works==
===Operas===
====Italian period==== 
:<small>Note: All compositions are opera seria, unless indicated otherwise.</small>
{| class="wikitable"
|-----
| '''Completion''' || '''Title''' || '''Length''' || '''Première''' || '''Libretto'''
|-----
| | ''Amore artigiano'' ([[intermezzo) ||  || 22 October 1773, Fiesole, Teatro San Domenico || librettist unknown 
|----
| | ''Il giocatore'' (intermezzo) ||  || [[Florence || librettist unknown and score lost
|----
| | ''Intermezzo'' ||  || 16 February [[1778, Florence, Serviti ||
|----
| | ''Il Quinto Fabio'' || 3 acts || Autumn [[1780, | [[Apostolo Zeno
|----
| | ''Armida abbandonate'' || 3 acts || 25 January [[1782, Florence, La Pergola || B. Vitturi, based on Torquato Tasso ''Gerusalemme liberata''
|----
| | ''Adriano in Siria'' || 3 acts || 16 April [[1782, | [[Pietro Metastasio
|----
| | ''Mesenzio, re d'Etruria'' || 3 acts || 6 September [[1782, Florence, Teatro della Pergola || Ferdinando Casor(r)i
|----
| | ''Il Quinto Fabio'', (second version) || 3 acts || January [[1783, Rome, Teatro Argentina || Apostolo Zeno 
|----
| | ''Lo sposo di tre e marito di nessuno'' ([[opera buffa) || 2 acts || November 1783, Venice, Teatro San Samuele || Filippo Livigni 
|----
| | ''Olimpiade'' ||  || [[1783, Venice? || Metastasio
|----
| | ''L'Allessandro nelle Indie'' || 2 acts || April [[1784, Mantua, Teatro Nuovo Regio Ducale || Pietro Metastasio
|----
| | ''L'Idalide '' || 2 acts || 26 December [[1784, Florence, Teatro della Pergola || Ferdinando Moretti 
|----
|}

====London period====
:<small>Note: All compositions are opera seria, unless indicated otherwise.</small>

{| class="wikitable"
|-----
| '''Completion''' || '''Title''' || '''Length''' || '''Première''' || '''Libretto'''
|-----
| | ''Demetrio'' || four pieces only || [[1785, London, King's Theatre || Metastasio 
|----
| | ''La finta principessa'' (opera buffa) || 2 acts || 2 April [[1785, London, King's Theatre || Filippo Livigni
|----
| | ''Giulio Sabino'' || 2 acts || 30 March [[1786, London, King's Theatre || librettist unknown
|----
| | ''Ifigenia in Aulide'' || 3 acts || 12 January [[1788, Turin, Teatro Regio || Ferdinando Moretti
|----
|}