| Biography : ALESSANDRO SCARLATTI (1660-1725)
Father of Domenico Scarlatti. At the age of 12, he was sent to Rome, where he may have studied with Carissimi.
He married in 1678 and later that year was appointed maestro di cappella of San Giacomo degli Incurabili. By then he had already composed at least one opera; a second opera, Gli equivoci del sembiante, was a resounding success in 1679.
It confirmed Scarlatti in his chosen career as an opera composer and attracted the attention of Queen Christina of Sweden, who made him her maestro di cappella.
In 1684, Scarlatti was appointed maestro di cappella at the vice-regal court of Naples.
For the next two decades, more than half the new operas performed in Naples were by Scarlatti. In 1702, he left with his family for Florence, where he hoped to find employment for himself and his son Domenico with Prince Ferdinando de' Medici.
When he failed to fulfil these ambitions, Scarlatti accepted the inferior position in Rome of assistant music director at Santa Maria Maggiore.
In 1706, he was elected to the Arcadian Academy, along with Pasquini and Corelli. The following year, he attempted to conquer Venice, the citadel of Italian opera, but again failed and Scarlatti was forced to return to Rome, where he was promoted to the senior post at San Maria Maggiore.
Scarlatti found little satisfaction in the life of a church musician, and towards the end of 1708 he accepted an invitation from the new Austrian viceroy to resume his position at Naples. He remained there for the rest of his life.
It was probably in 1715 that he received a patent of nobility from Pope Clement XI.
Scarlatti's reputation as the founder of the Neapolitan school of 18th-century opera has been exaggerated. He was not influential or even very active as a teacher, nor was he the sole originator of the musical structures. Some of his best music was in chamber cantatas, too few of which are known today.
He died in Naples on 22nd of December 1725.
He produced a great number of works: 67 operas, 34 oratorios, 33 serenades, 13 masses, 113 motets, more than 800 cantatas for instruments and voices with continuo and many instrumental works. |
