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LEO, LEONARDO (1694–1744)

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Originally appearing in Volume V16, Page 441 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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LEO, LEONARDO (1694–1744) , more correctly LIONARDO ORONZO SALVATORE DE LEO, See also:Italian musical composer,.,, was See also:born on the 5th of See also:August 1694 at S. Vito dei Normanni, near See also:Brindisi. He became a student at the Conservatorio della pieta dei Turchini at See also:Naples in 1703, and was a See also:pupil first of Provenzale and later of Nicola Fago. It has been supposed that he was a pupil of See also:Pitoni and Alessandro See also:Scarlatti, but he could not possibly have studied with either of these composers, although he was undoubtedly influenced by their compositions. His earliest known See also:work was a sacred See also:drama, L'Infedeltd abbattuta, performed by his See also:fellow-students in 1712. In 1714 he produced, at the See also:court See also:theatre, an See also:opera, Pisistrato, which was much admired. He held various posts at the royal See also:chapel, and continued to write for the See also:stage, besides teaching at the conservatorio. After adding comic scenes to Gasparini's Bajazette in 1722 for performance at Naples, he composed a comic opera, La Mpeca scoperta, in Neapolitan See also:dialect, in 1723. His most famous comic opera was Amor viral sofferenze (1739), better known as La Finta Frascatana, highly praised by See also:Des See also:Brosses. He was equally distinguished as a composer of serious opera, Demofoonte (1735), Farnace (1737) and L'Olimpiade (1737) being his most famous See also:works in this See also:branch, and is still better known as a composer of, sacred See also:music. He died of See also:apoplexy on the 31st of See also:October 1744 while engaged in the See also:composition of new airs for a revival of La Finta Frascatana. Leo was the first of the Neapolitan school to obtain a See also:complete mastery over See also:modern See also:harmonic See also:counterpoint.

His sacred music is masterly and dignified, logical rather than passionate, and See also:

free from the sentimentality which disfigures the work of F. See also:Durante and G. B. See also:Pergolesi. His serious operas suffer from a coldness and severity of See also:style, but in his comic operas he shows a keen sense of See also:humour. His ensemble movements are spirited, but never worked up to a strong See also:climax. A See also:fine and characteristic example of his sacred music is the Dixit See also:Dominus in C, edited by C. V. See also:Stanford and published by See also:Novello. A number of songs from operas are accessible in modern See also:editions. (E. J.

End of Article: LEO, LEONARDO (1694–1744)

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