Alessandro Scarlatti, whose biography will be presented in this article, is a great Italian composer who worked in the Baroque era in the late 17th - early 18th centuries. It is he who is considered the founding father of the Neapolitan Opera School. His brother and sons were also famous composers.
Composer Biography
Alessandro Scarlatti was born in Palermo in 1660. His teacher allegedly was Giacomo Carissimi. A. Scarlatti wrote his first opera at the age of 19. In the same year it was staged in Rome.
In 1684, Alessandro entered the service of the Viceroy of Naples as a bandmaster. Contributed to this appointment, his sister-singer, who had an influential lover. A. Scarlatti wrote most of his works in Naples.
In 1702, the composer left for Florence, then to Rome, where Cardinal Ottoboni arranged him as bandmaster to the church of Santa Maria Maggiore.
In 1708, Alessandro Scarlatti returned to Naples.
The last work of the composer was a serenade dedicated to the wedding of Prince Stigliano. Alessandro did not have time to complete work on her. In 1725, the composer passed away.
The works of the great Italian
Alessandro Scarlatti was the creator of his own musical form. In his operas, the manner of singing was average between classical and the school of early Italian Baroque. He made the forms of building melodies in arias three-part instead of two-part. And also carefully worked out the accompaniment to them. Over time, A. Scarlatti’s operas became more traditional, he began to use the generally accepted rhythm for them, and orchestrations became rude.
His later works were written by brighter and more spectacular Alessandro Scarlatti. Composer's operas:
- "Honesty in love."
- "Innocent mistake."
- "Rosaura."
- "Pompey."
- "Pyrrhus and Demetrius."
- “From evil is good.”
- "Mithridates Eupator."
- "Theodore Augustus."
- "Faithful Princess."
- "Avenged Olympia."
- Tigran
And others.
In addition to operas, Alessandro Scarlatti wrote about forty oratorios, a large number of serenades, more than five hundred chamber cantatas, several masses, eighteen symphonies, fourteen sonatas, toccats, suites and variations.
Son
The sons of Alessandro Scarlatti, like his father, became composers. The most famous of them is Domenico. He was born in 1685 in Naples. Domenico composed music and played the harpsichord. He spent most of his life in Spain. The full name of the composer is Giuseppe Domenico Scarlatti. It is not known for certain who his teachers were, but it is logical to assume that his father was the first teacher.
In 1701, Domenico Scarlatti became an organist and composer at the court of the Viceroy of Naples. He then served in Venice, later in Rome. Domenico was an excellent harpsichord player and once even won the competitions that Cardinal Ottoboni arranged in his Roman palace. Domenico in this competition in the game on the harpsichord surpassed Friedrich Handel himself.
The composer wrote his first operas for the private theater of Queen Casimira while he was serving in Rome.
In the years 1720-1721. D. Scarlatti lived in Lisbon. There he taught music to Princess Mary Magdalen Barbara. In 1725 he returned to Naples.
In 1729, the composer moved to Spain. Since 1733, Domenico has been living in Madrid at the court of Maria Magdalena Barbara, who has become the Spanish Queen. His close friend was the famous sopranist singer Farinelli.
The composer died at the age of 71 in Madrid.
Creativity Domenico
Domenico Scarlatti is less known than his great father. A very small part of the works of this composer was published during his lifetime. The rest of the works were published after his death, and even then it was irregular and very rare.
Nevertheless, the works of Domenico attracted such musicians as Bela Bartok, Frederic Chopin, Vladimir Horowitz, Heinrich Schenker and others.
For his life, D. Scarlatti has written over five hundred sonatas, ten oratorios, fifteen operas (the most famous of which is Thetis on Skyros), a large number of works for orchestras, and church music.
The compositions of this composer are characterized by the use of a syncopated rhythm, frequent modulations, Phrygian fret, dissonant sound, and quotation of folk melodies. Domenico Scarlatti became the ancestor of the style in music, which would later be given the name "Classicism".