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SCARLATTI, ALESSANDRO (1659-1725)
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See also:SCARLATTI, ALESSANDRO (1659-1725) , See also:Italian musical composer, was See also:born in See also:Sicily, either at See also:Trapani or See also:Palermo, in 1659. He is generally said to have been a See also:pupil of See also:Carissimi in See also:Rome, and there is See also:reason to suppose that he had some connexion with See also:northern See also:Italy, since his See also:early See also:works show the See also:influence of See also:Stradella and Legrenzi. The See also:production at Rome of his See also:opera Gli Equivoci nell' amore (1679) gained him the See also:protection of See also:Queen See also:Christina of See also:Sweden, and he became her See also:Maestro di Cappella. In See also:February 1684 he became Maestro di Cappella to the See also:viceroy of See also:Naples, through the intrigues of his See also:sister, an opera See also:singer, who was the See also:mistress of an influential See also:noble in that See also:city. Here he produced a See also:long See also:series of operas, remarkable chiefly for their fluency, as well as other See also:music for See also:state occasions. In 1702 he See also:left Naples and did not return until the See also:Spanish domination had been superseded by that of the Austrians. In the See also:interval he enjoyed the patronage of See also: By 1686 he had definitely established the " Italian See also:overture " See also:form (second edition of Dal male it bene), and had abandoned the ground See also:bass and the binary See also:air in two stanzas in favour of the ternary or da See also:capo type of air. His best operas of this See also:period are La Rosaura (169o, printed by the Gesellschaft See also:fur Musikforschung), and See also:Piero e Demetrso (1694), in which occur the songs " Rugiadose, odorose," " See also:Ben ti sta, traditor." From about 1697 onwards (La Caduta dei See also:decemviri), influenced partly perhaps by the See also:style of See also:Bononcini and probably more by the See also:taste of the viceregal See also:court, his opera songs become more conventional and See also:commonplace in See also:rhythm, while his scoring is hasty and crude, yet not without brilliancy (Eraclea, 1700), the oboes and trumpets being frequently used, and the violins often playing in unison. The operas composed for Ferdinand de See also:Medici are lost; they would probably have given us a more favourable See also:idea of his style, his See also:correspondence with the prince showing that they were composed with a very sincere sense of See also:inspiration. Mitridate Eupatore, composed for Venice in 1707, contains music far in advance of anything that Scarlatti had written for Naples, both in technique and in intellectual See also:power. The later Neapolitan operas (L'Amor volubile e tiranno (1709); La Principessa fedele (1712); Tigrane, 1715, &c.) are showy and effective rather than profoundly emotional; the See also:instrumentation marks a See also:great advance on previous work, since the See also:main See also:duty of accompanying the See also:voice is thrown upon the string quartet, the harpsichord being reserved exclusively for the noisy instrumental ritornelli. His last See also:group of operas, composed for Rome, exhibit a deeper poetic feeling, a broad and dignified style of See also:melody, a strong dramatic sense, especially in accompanied recitatives, a See also:device which he himself had been the first to use as early as 1686 (Olimpia vendicata) and a much more See also:modern style of orchestration, the horns appearing for the first time, and being treated with striking effect. Besides the operas, oratorios (Agar et Ismaele esiliats, 1684; See also:Christmas See also:Oratorio, c. 1705; S. Filippo See also:Neri, 1714; and others) and serenatas, which all exhibit a similar style, Scarlatti composed upwards of five See also:hundred chamber-cantatas for a See also:solo voice. These represent the most intellectual type of chamber-music of their period, and it is to be regretted that they have remained almost entirely in MS., since a careful study of them is indispensable to any one who wishes to form an adequate idea of Scarlatti's development. His few remaining masses (the See also:story of his having composed two hundred is hardly credible) and church music in See also:general are comparatively unimportant, except the great St Cecilia Mass (1721), which is one of the first attempts at the style which reached its height in the great masses of See also:Bach and See also:Beethoven. His instrumental music, though not without See also:interest, is curiously antiquated as compared with his vocal works. Scarlatti's greatest claim to remembrance lies in the fact that he practically created the See also:language of classical music. He extended the old forms, and filled them with melody unrivalled for purity and serenity, based on a far-reaching See also:foundation of modern See also:harmony and tonality, combined with a remarkable power of thematic development. That his great qualities have been little recognized is due partly to the wonderful mastery with which he avoided all See also:appearance of difficulty, and partly to the fact that he carried out in his operas and cantatas the structural methods which the See also:present See also:age considers to be suitable to See also:instruments alone, but which were indeed admirably suited to vocal music in an age when the singer was technically and intellectually far in advance of all other musicians.
His eldest son, DOMENICO SCARLATTI (1685-1757), also a composer, was born at Naples on the 26th of October 1685. Presumably he studied first under his See also:father, but he was in all See also:probability also a pupil of Gaetano See also:Greco. In 1704 he remodelled Pollaroli's See also:Irene for performance at Naples. Soon after this his father sent him to Venice, where he studied under Gasparini, and became intimate with See also: He remained in See also:Spain for some twenty-five years, holding various See also:honourable appointments, and devoting himself entirely to the harpsichord, for which he composed over four hundred pieces. He is supposed to have 'died in 1757, either at Naples or in Spain. Like his father, Domenico Scarlatti was a composer of great fertility, intellectual rather than emotional, presenting us with an example of steady development of style up to the end of a long See also:life. His operas and cantatas are of no importance, but his harpsichord pieces are the most See also:original productions of their time. Little known until the beginning of the 19th century, their technical difficulties have caused them to be regarded as See also:mere studies in virtuosity, and modern See also:pianoforte technique owes much to their influence; but considered from a purely musical point of view they display an audacity of harmony and modulation, a freshness and variety of invention, a perfection of workmanship and a vigorous intellectuality in thematic development that places them almost on a level with the sonatas of Beethoven. Modern Printed See also:Editions.—See also:Clementi's See also:Practical Harmony; See also:Czerny's edition; Farrenc, Le Tresor See also:des piRnistes. Of See also:recent editions the most accurate and See also:complete is by Alessandro Longo (Ricordi, See also:Milan; 6 vols., published 1906). (E. J. Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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