He was the son of Vincenzo, a strumentaio (maker of musical instruments) specialized in wind instruments.Francesco Bussi, Mabellini, Teodulo, in Dizionario enciclopedico universale della musica e dei musicisti, edited by Alberto Basso, serie II: Le biografie, vol. 4: JE-MA, Torino, UTET, 1986, pp. 540–41. He took his very first music lessons from his father and from the flautist, Giovacchino Bimboni, (future music producer of brass instruments).Claudio Paradiso, Mabellini, Teofilo, in Dizionario biografico degli italiani, vol. 66, Roma, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana, 2006, available on-line at Treccani.it (Italian language). The education he received from these first teachers was critical in forming the unique style of his orchestral compositions. He continued to have contact with Bimboni throughout his entire life, and together they developed a knowledge of composition for winds that was uncommon in this time period (see Style). In 1826, he was a member of the children’s choir (voci bianche) of the Pistoia Cathedral. The local newspapers of the time described him as a genial child prodigy.Gabardo Gabardi, Ricordo dei parentali a Teodulo Mabellini in Pistoia, Firenze, Tipografia cooperativa, 1899. He continued his studies privately with Giuseppe Pillotti (the organist of the cathedral) and Giuseppe Gherardeschi. He had already, at the age of 12, composed vocal music, chamber music, military marches and band arrangements.Claudio Paradiso, Teodulo Mabellini: la vita, in ID. (ed.), Teodulo Mabellini, il protagonista dell'Ottocento musicale toscano, Pistoia, Brigata del Leoncino, 2005, pp. 37–195. In 1832, at the age of 15, Mabellini held a concert of his own compositions (of which only l'Estro armonico remains; the autograph can be found in Pistoia, see Sources) in Pistoia and Grosseto. The success of this concert convinced private citizens to donate “private offerings” so he could attend the Musical Institute in Florence, where he studied from 1833-1836.Francesco Bussi, Mabellini, Teodulo, in The New Grove of Music and Musicians. Second Edition, edited by Stanley Sadie, executive editor John Tyrrell, vol. 15: Liturgy to Martinů, London, Macmillan, 2001-2002, pp. 444–45. Immediately after graduating, he was hired as Master of Harpsichord at the Teatro dei Risvegliati in Pistoia and collaborated in productions such as La straniera di Vincenzo Bellini and Anna Bolena by Gaetano Donizetti.Jean Grundy Fanelli, A Chronology of Operas, Oratorios, Operettas, Cantatas and Miscellaneous Stage Works with Music performed in Pistoia (1606-1943), Bologna, Pendragon, 1998. The operatic world inspired him to compose his first opera, Matilde e Toledo, which he wrote in only one month when he was just nineteen years old. He was able to have the opera performed at Teatro Alfieri in Florence on August 27, 1836. Its great success astounded the Grand Duke Leopold II of Lorraine, who in return presented Mabellini with a rather large monthly scholarship.Sebastian Werr, Mabellini, Teodulo, in Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart. Allegemeine Enzyklopädie der Musik begründet von Friedrich Blume, edited by musicologist Ludwig Finscher, serie I: Personenteil, vol. 11: Les-Men, Kassel-Basel-London-New York-Praha, Bärenreiter/Stuttgart-Weimar, Metzler, 2004, colonne 682–83.
