The Italian operatic bass of French origin, Luigi Lablache was greatly admired for his musicianship and acting. Lablache was famous as a bass and his specialty was comic opera. Lablache studied at Naples and at the age of 18 appeared at the opera there as a basso buffo (i.e., in comedy roles), later singing at Palermo, Milan, and Vienna. Lablache had great success in London and Paris as Geronimo in Domenico Cimarosa's Il matrimonio segreto (The Secret Marriage).