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Lauro Sebastiano Rossi (1810 - 1885) was a leading composer and teacher from 1830 to 1880. In 1817, his family moved to Naples, where he studied music under Giovanni Furno, Nicola Zingarelli, and Pietro Raimondi at the Collegio Reale together with fellow students Errico Petrella and Federico Ricci.

He immediately distinguished himself in the semi-serious genre with Il disertore svizzero and Le fucine di Bergen, but, in particular, he confirmed his talent in the comic genre, congenial to him, with La casa disabitata on a libretto by Jacopo Ferretti, an opera performed with great success at La Scala in Milan on 16 August 1834.

This was followed by about eight years abroad (Mexico, Cuba, New Orleans) as a conductor and impresario, before he finally returned to Italy: the composer was mature and ready to resume his opera career in Italy, which, especially in the comic genre, was very successful: it was the remake of La casa disabitata re-titled Don Eutichio e Sinforosa ovvero I falsi monetari that gave him lasting success (1844), continued with Il domino nero (1849); up to the full-bodied masterpieces of his later years, where the great stylistic and structural lesson of Wagner (La Contessa di Mons, 1874; Cleopatra, 1876) replaced his bel canto style.

After the unification of Italy, Rossi became a crucial figure in national music education in his role as director of the two most important Italian conservatories (where he introduced important didactic innovations still maintained today): the one in Milan (1850-1871) and the one in Naples (1871-1878), succeeding Saverio Mercadante.