At length released, he quitted the Neapolitan territory, only to die at
Venice, in a few months, "in consequence," Stendhal says, in his "Life
of Rossini," "of the barbarous treatment he had met with in the prison
into which he had been thrown by Queen Caroline." He died January 11,
1801.

Cimarosa's genius embraced both the tragic and comic schools of
composition. He may be specially called a genuine master of musical
comedy. He was the finest example of the school perfected by Piccini,
and was indeed the link between the old Italian opera and the new
development of which Rossini is such a brilliant exponent. Schluter, in
his "History of Music," says of him: "Like Mozart, he excels in
those parts of an opera which decide its merits as a work of art, the
_ensembles_ and _finale_. His admirable, and by no means antiquated
opera, 'Il Matrimonio Segreto' (the charming offspring of his 'secret
marriage' with the Mozart opera) is a model of exquisite and graceful
comedy. The overture bears a striking resemblance to that of 'Figaro,'
and the instrumentation of the whole opera is highly characteristic,
though not so prominent as in Mozart. Especially delightful are the
secret love-scenes, written evidently _con amore_, the composer having
practised them many a time in his youth."

This opera is still performed in many parts of Europe to delighted
audiences, and is ranked by competent critics as the third finest
comic opera extant, Mozart and Rossini only surpassing him in their
masterpieces. It was a great favorite with Lablache, and its magnificent
performance by Grisi, Mario, Tamburini, and the king of bassos, is a
gala reminiscence of English and French opera-goers.