Saverio Mercadante (full name Giuseppe Saverio Raffaele Mercadante) (born September 17, 1795, Altamura, Italy - died December 17, 1870, Naples) was an Italian musician and composer, particularly known for his operas of the Romantic period Mercandante was the illegitimate child of a widow and a civil servant. He was born in a village near Bari. In 1808 he entered the Naples Conservatory using a false baptismal certificate dated 1797. There he took lessons from "Giovanni Furno", "Giacomo Tritto" and later "Niccolò Zingarelli", who were also the teachers of Bellini. He was the conductor of the conservatory students' orchestra, and some of his own compositions were played in a concert given by this orchestra. The famous Rossini was his assistant in these concerts.