Riccardo Drigo first worked as a conductor and composer in his native Padua before moving in 1878 to Russia, where he remained until 1920, conducting first the Italian Opera in St Petersburg and then the Imperial Ballet.
Ballet Music
Drigo’s principal contribution as a composer was to the repertoire of ballet music. His Arlekinada (‘Harlequin’s Millions’) in 1900 won particular success, not least through the popular Serenade, at one time often heard in programmes of lighter music.