Nicola van Westerhout

• Illustration — Nicola van Westerhout portrayed by Vespasiano Bignami

Of Flemish origin, the family van Westerhout settled in Apulia in the seventeenth century, first in Bari and then in Monopoli. Nicola van Westerhout, grandfather of Niccolò, moved to Mola di Bari, where the composer himself and his father, Onofrio Augustine, were both born. At the age of 13, van Westerhout composed an opera on the subject of Shakespeare's Julius Caesar, showing remarkable musical talent. He was then helped, by the City Council of Mola di Bari, to move to Naples and attend the Conservatory of San Pietro a Majella, where he studied composition with Nicola De Giosa, Nicola D'Arienzo and Lauro Rossi.

Westerhout spent the rest of his life in Naples, where he established himself as a pianist and composer. In 1897, one year before his death, he returned to the Naples Conservatory as harmony teacher. While the majority of Westerhout's compositions are instrumental and vocal chamber music, he is perhaps best known for his operatic works. His operas include: Tilde, which has been lost; Cimbelino, which was first performed at the Teatro Argentina in Rome in 1892; Fortunio, represented in Milan in 1894 (intended, originally, at the Teatro alla Scala in Milan, but then staged at the Teatro Lirico), Doña Flor, at the Teatro Municipale in Mola di Bari in 1896, Colomba, represented in 1925 at the Teatro San Carlo. Musicologist Sergio Martinotti notes that van Westerhout's musical style, which "combine[s] French elegance and a tendency towards classicism," was not in vogue in the Neapolitan musical circles van Westerhout frequented.

Sempre amore Romanza on a text by Mancini

• Cimbelino, lyrical drama in four acts, libretto by Enrico Golisciani, (Rome, Teatro Argentina, 1892) • Fortunio, lyrical drama in three acts, libretto by Giulio Massimo Scalinger, (Milan, Teatro Lirico, 16 May 1895) • Doña Flor, lyrical drama in one act, libretto by Arturo Colautti, (Mola di Bari, 18 April 1896) • Colomba, libretto by Arturo Colautti, (Naples, Teatro San Carlo, 1925) • Tilde (unperformed) • A Night in Venice (unfinished), later integrated in Cimbelino • Imogene (unfinished), later integrated in Cimbelino