Alfredo Catalani (19 June 1854 – 7 August 1893), was an Italian operatic composer. He is best remembered for his operas Loreley (1890) and La Wally (1892), which was written to a libretto by Luigi Illica and features Catalani's most famous aria "Ebben? Ne andrò lontana". His other operas were less successful, partly hampered by inferior libretti. Catalani was born in Lucca and trained at the Conservatory of Milan under Antonio Bazzini (1818–1897), who became the Conservatory's director and instructor to Puccini. Despite the growing influence of the verismo style of opera during the 1880s Catalani chose to compose in a more traditional manner, and as a result his operas have largely lost their place in the modern repertoire, even compared to those of Massenet and Puccini, whose style his works most closely resemble. The influence of Amilcare Ponchielli can also be recognised, and like Ponchielli,

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