Alessandro Scarlatti

Alessandro Scarlatti (b. 1660–d. 1725) was one of the most celebrated composers of his time, probably the most important opera composer in Europe around 1700. He was called “the Orpheus of our times,” and musicians such as Handel, Hasse, and Quantz traveled especially to meet him. Yet, in the early 21st century, Scarlatti is one of the lesser-performed Baroque composers, and a considerable part of his immense production is still not well known. The renown of the “Palermitano,” as he was always called after his place of birth, started before he was twenty, in Rome with his first operas, thanks to the favor of Queen Christina of Sweden. Later he was to establish relationships with important patrons—such as Ferdinando de’Medici, James III Stuart (the “Old Pretender”), and Queen Casimira of Poland; cardinals such as Pietro Ottoboni; and the Spanish viceroys of Naples—who were all in turn responsible for stages in his international career. The sign of Scarlatti’s reputation among upper society was his acceptance into the Academy of the Arcadia. He was one of only three musicians of his time admitted to this Academy, along with Corelli and Bernardo Pasquini. Whilst his operas were produced in many important theaters in Italy and abroad, he was nevertheless continuously under pressure for money, as he had a large family. He had ten children, five of whom were born in Naples, including his celebrated son Domenico. He wrote no fewer than 60 dramatic works and more than 600 chamber cantatas. The favor granted to the cantatas—a genre much in fashion and in which he was considered the most prolific of Baroque composers—depended again on his need for financial support, assured to him by a large number of music lovers. The rest of his musical compositions, even if fewer in quantity, are not less important, including oratorios, liturgical music, and a few instrumental pieces. Scarlatti could also be credited with the beginnings of the international circulation of a repertoire from Naples. For that reason, local historiography from the end of 19th century claimed Scarlatti to be the creator of the “Neapolitan School,” a concept later contested by musicologists. Although he spent most of his life in Naples, his personality can be never recognized as “pure Neapolitan”; nonetheless, he greatly influenced the generations of Neapolitan composers that followed, including Durante, Leo, Vinci, Jommelli, and others.