Franco Leoni (24 October 1864 – 8 February 1949)[1] was an Italian opera composer. After training in Milan, he made most of his career in England, composing for Covent Garden and West End theatres. He is best known for the opera L'oracolo, written for Covent Garden but taken up successfully by the Metropolitan Opera in New York. In addition to his operas, Leoni wrote several cantatas and oratorios and many ballads and other songs. He also worked as a conductor in London, both in the concert hall and in the theatre.
- ^ One source gives his date of death as 11 November 1938, but the later date is cited in Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians, The Oxford Companion to Music, and Baker's Biographical Dictionary of Musicians