Editing Alessandro Scarlatti

{{Short description|Italian Baroque composer}}
{{Other people|Scarlatti}}
{{Expand Italian|topic=bio|Alessandro Scarlatti|date=November 2023}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2020}}
{{Infobox person
| name = 
| image = Alessandro_Scarlatti.jpg
| image_size = 250px
| alt = 
| caption = 
| birth_name = Pietro Alessandro Gaspare Scarlatti<ref name="britannica">{{cite web|url=http://academic.eb.com/levels/collegiate/article/Alessandro-Scarlatti/66048|title=Britannica Academic|website=academic.eb.com|access-date=5 February 2018}}</ref>
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1660|05|02|df=y}}
| birth_place = Palermo or Trapani, Sicily<ref name="britannica"/>
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1725|10|22|1660|05|02|df=y}}
| death_place = [[Naples]]<ref name="britannica"/>
| other_names = 
| occupation = Composer
| works = [[List of operas by Alessandro Scarlatti|List of operas]]
| style = [[Baroque music|Baroque]]
}}

'''Pietro Alessandro Gaspare Scarlatti''' (2 May 1660 – 22 October 1725) was an Italian [[Baroque music|Baroque]] [[composer]], known especially for his [[opera]]s and chamber [[cantata]]s. He is considered the most important representative of the [[Neapolitan school]] of opera.

Nicknamed by his contemporaries "the Italian Orpheus", he divided his career between [[Naples]] and [[Rome]]; a significant part of his works was composed for the papal city. He is often considered the founder of the [[Neapolitan school]], although he has only been its most illustrious representative: his contribution, his originality and his influence were essential, as well as lasting, both in Italy and in Europe.

Particularly known for his operas, he brought the Italian dramatic tradition to its maximum development, begun by [[Claudio Monteverdi|Monteverdi]] at the beginning of [[17th century]] and continued by [[Antonio Cesti|Cesti]], [[Francesco Cavalli|Cavalli]], [[Giacomo Carissimi|Carissimi]], [[Giovanni Legrenzi|Legrenzi]] and [[Alessandro Stradella|Stradella]], designing the final form of the ''[[Da capo aria]]'', imitated throughout Europe. He was also the inventor of the [[Italian overture]] in three movements (which was of the highest importance in the development of the [[symphony]]), of the four-part sonata (progenitor of the modern [[string quartet]]),<ref>[[Dirk Kruse]]: [https://www.br-klassik.de/aktuell/br-klassik-empfiehlt/cd/cd-tipp-alessandro-scarlatti-100.html '' Alessandro Scarlatti: Größter Erneuerer der Musik ''] auf: [[BR-Klassik]] vom 19. Februar 2017.</ref> and of the technique of motivic development.<ref name = "treccani">[https://www.treccani.it / encyclopedia / alessandro-scarlatti_% 28Biographical-dictionary% 29 / SCARLATTI, Alessandro in "Biographical Dictionary"]</ref> He was a model for the musical theater of his time, as evoked by [[Händel]]'s Italian works, deeply influenced by his theatrical music.<ref name = "treccani" /> Eclectic, Scarlatti also worked on all the other common genres of his time, from the [[sonata]] to the [[concerto grosso]], from the [[motet]] to the [[Mass (music)|mass]], from the [[oratorio]] to the [[cantata]], the latter being a genre in which he was an undisputed master.

He was the father of two other composers, [[Domenico Scarlatti]] and [[Pietro Filippo Scarlatti]].<ref name="britannica"/>

==Life==
Scarlatti was born in [[Palermo]] (or in [[Trapani]]<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/13515a.htm|title=CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Alessandro Scarlatti|website=www.newadvent.org|access-date=5 February 2018}}</ref><ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=Hr7nxaZ5cCEC&dq=alessandro+scarlatti+trapani+1659&pg=PP11 Alfred Music, ''Anthology of Italian Songs'' (17th & 18th Century), Volume I: Vocal Collection]
</ref>), then part of the [[Kingdom of Sicily (Medieval and Early Modern)|Kingdom of Sicily]]. He received his first musical education in his family in Palermo.
[[File:Alessandro Scarlatti.png|thumb|left|upright|Portrait of Scarlatti, adolescent]]
He is generally said to have been a pupil of [[Giacomo Carissimi]] in [[Rome]],<ref>{{Cite book |last=Shrock |first=Dennis |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BpScEAAAQBAJ |title=Choral Repertoire |date=2022 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-762240-7 |pages=236 |language=en |quote=Alessandro Scarlatti 1660-1725...Nothing is known about his youth except that he moved to Rome with his family when he was twelve and likely studied with Giacomo Carissimi.}}</ref> and some theorize that he had some connection with northern Italy because his early works seem to show the influence of [[Alessandro Stradella|Stradella]] and [[Giovanni Legrenzi|Legrenzi]]. The production at Rome of his opera ''Gli equivoci nel sembiante'' (1679) gained him the support of Queen [[Christina of Sweden]] (who at the time was living in Rome), and he became her ''maestro di cappella''. In February 1684 he became ''maestro di cappella'' to the [[viceroy]] of [[Naples]], perhaps through the influence of his sister, an opera singer, who might have been the mistress of an influential Neapolitan noble. Here he produced a long series of operas, remarkable chiefly for their fluency and expressiveness, as well as other music for state occasions.

In 1702 Scarlatti left Naples and did not return until the Spanish domination had been superseded by that of the Austrians. In the interval he enjoyed the patronage of [[Ferdinando (III) de' Medici|Ferdinando de' Medici]], for whose private theatre near [[Florence]] he composed operas, and of [[Cardinal Ottoboni]], who made him his ''maestro di cappella'', and procured him a similar post at the [[Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore]] in Rome in 1703.

After visiting [[Venice]] and [[Urbino]] in 1707, Scarlatti took up his duties in Naples again in 1708, and remained there until 1717. By this time Naples seems to have become tired of his music; the Romans, however, appreciated it better, and it was at the [[Teatro Capranica]] in Rome that he produced some of his finest operas (''[[Telemaco (Scarlatti)|Telemaco]]'', 1718; ''Marco Attilio Regolò'', 1719; ''[[Griselda (A. Scarlatti)|La Griselda]]'', 1721), as well as some noble specimens of church music, including a ''[[Messa di Santa Cecilia]]'' for chorus and orchestra, composed in honor of [[Saint Cecilia]] for Cardinal [[Francesco Acquaviva]] in 1721. His last work on a large scale appears to have been the unfinished ''[[Erminia (Scarlatti)|Erminia]]'' [[serenata]] for the marriage of the prince of [[Stigliano]] in 1723. He died in Naples in 1725 and is entombed there at the church of [[Santa Maria di Montesanto, Naples|Santa Maria di Montesanto]].

==Music==
[[File:Alessandro Scarlatti 2.png|thumb|Scarlatti as a young man, attributed to [[Lorenzo Vaccaro]] (c1770)<ref>Portrait of Alessandro Scarlatti, attributed to Lorenzo Vaccaro (c1770). ''Grove Music Online.'' Retrieved 19 Nov. 2023, from https://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo-9781561592630-e-8000923029 .</ref>]]

Scarlatti's music forms an important link between the early [[Baroque music|Baroque]] Italian vocal styles of the 17th century, with their centers in Florence, Venice and [[Rome]], and the classical school of the 18th century. Scarlatti's style, however, is more than a transitional element in Western music; like most of his Naples colleagues he shows an almost modern understanding of the psychology of modulation and also frequently makes use of the ever-changing phrase lengths so typical of the Napoli school.

His early operas—''Gli equivoci nel sembiante'' 1679; ''[[L'honestà negli amori]]'' 1680, containing the famous aria "Già il sole dal Gange"; ''[[Il Pompeo]]'' 1683, containing the well-known airs "O cessate di piagarmi" and "Toglietemi la vita ancor," and others down to about 1685—retain the older cadences in their [[recitatives]], and a considerable variety of neatly constructed forms in their charming little arias, accompanied sometimes by the string quartet, treated with careful elaboration, sometimes with the continuo alone. By 1686, he had definitely established the "Italian overture" form (second edition of ''Dal male il bene''), and had abandoned the [[ostinato|ground bass]] and the [[binary form]] air in two stanzas in favour of the [[ternary form]] or [[da capo]] type of air. His best operas of this period are ''La Rosaura'' (1690, printed by the [[Gesellschaft für Musikforschung]]), and ''Pirro e Demetrio'' (1694), in which occur the arias "Le Violette", and "Ben ti sta, traditor".

From about 1697 onwards (''La caduta del Decemviri''), influenced partly perhaps by the style of [[Giovanni Bononcini]] and probably more by the taste of the viceregal court, his opera arias become more conventional and commonplace in rhythm, while his scoring is hasty and crude, yet not without brilliance (''L'Eraclea'', 1700), the [[oboe]]s and [[trumpet]]s being frequently used, and the [[violin]]s often playing in unison. The operas composed for Ferdinando de' Medici are lost; they might have given a more favourable idea of his style as his correspondence with the prince shows that they were composed with a very sincere sense of inspiration.

[[File:Alessandro Scarlatti - Griselda. (BL Add MS 14168 f. 5r) crop.jpg|thumb|left|An autograph manuscript of Scarlatti's ''[[Griselda (Scarlatti)|Griselda]]'']]

''[[Mitridate Eupatore]]'', accounted his masterpiece, composed for Venice in 1707, contains music far in advance of anything that Scarlatti had written for Naples, both in technique and in intellectual power. The later Neapolitan operas (''L'amor volubile e tiranno'' 1709; ''La principessa fedele'' 1710; ''Tigrane'', 1714, &c.) are showy and effective rather than profoundly emotional; the instrumentation marks a great advance on previous work, since the main duty of accompanying the voice is thrown upon the string quartet, the harpsichord being reserved exclusively for the noisy instrumental [[ritornello|''ritornelli'']]. In his opera ''Teodora'' (1697) he originated the use of the orchestral ''ritornello''.

His last group of operas, composed for Rome, exhibit a deeper poetic feeling, a broad and dignified style of melody, a strong dramatic sense, especially in accompanied recitatives, a device which he himself had been the first to use as early as 1686 (''Olimpia vendicata'') and a much more modern style of orchestration, the horns appearing for the first time, and being treated with striking effect.

{{listen|filename=Scarlatti - Toccata 3.ogg|title=Toccata 3|description=Performed by Sylvia Kind on a harpsichord of the type made in the early 20th century|format=[[ogg]]}}

Besides the operas, [[oratorio]]s (''Agar et Ismaele esiliati'', 1684; ''La Maddalena'', 1685; ''La Giuditta'', 1693; ''Humanita e Lucifero'', 1704; ''Christmas Oratorio'', c. 1705; ''Cain'', 1707; ''S. Filippo Neri'', 1714; and others) and serenatas, which all exhibit a similar style, Scarlatti composed upwards of five hundred chamber-cantatas for 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 manuscript, since a careful study of them is indispensable to anyone who wishes to form an adequate idea of Scarlatti's development.

His few remaining Masses and church music in general are comparatively unimportant, except the great ''[[Messa di Santa Cecilia|Saint Cecilia Mass]]'' (1721), which is one of the first attempts at the style which reached its height in the great Masses of [[Johann Sebastian Bach]] and [[Ludwig van Beethoven]]. His instrumental music, though not without interest, is curiously antiquated as compared with his vocal works.

==Operas==
{{main|List of operas by Alessandro Scarlatti}}

==Recordings==
*Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, [[Nicholas McGegan]]. (2016). ''La Gloria di Primavera''. [[Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra]]. Diana Moore, Suzana Ograjensek, [[Nicholas Phan]], Clint van der Linde, Douglas Williams, Philharmonia Chorale.
*Akademie für alte Musik Berlin, [[René Jacobs]]. (2007). ''Griselda''. Harmonia Mundi HMC 901805.07. [[Dorothea Röschmann]], [[Lawrence Zazzo]], [[Veronica Cangemi]], [[Bernarda Fink]], [[Silvia Tro Santafé]], [[Kobie van Rensburg]].
*Le Consert de l'Hostel Dieu. (2006). ''Il martirio di Sant'Orsola''. Ligia digital: 0202176–07
*Le parlement de musique. (2005). ''La Giuditta''. Ambronay editions: AMY004
*Ensemble Europa Galante. (2004). ''Oratorio per la Santissima Trinità''. Virgin Classics: 5 45666 2
*Academia Bizantina. (2004). ''Il Giardino di Rose''. [[Decca Records|Decca]]: 470 650-2 DSA.
*Orqestra barocca di Sevilla . (2003). ''Colpa, Pentimento e Grazia''. Harmonia Mundi: HMI 987045.46
*Seattle Baroque. (2001). ''Agar et Ismaele Esiliati''. Centaur: CRC 2664
*''Sedecia, re di Gerusalemme''. 2000 . [[Gérard Lesne]], [[Philippe Jaroussky]], Virginie Pouchon, Mark Padmore, Peter Harvey, Il Seminario musicale. Virgin veritas, Erato
*Capella Palatina. (2000). ''Davidis pugna et victoria''. Agora: AG 249.1
*Akademie für alte Musik Berlin, [[René Jacobs]]. (1998). ''Il Primo Omicidio''. Harmonia Mundi Fr. [[Dorothea Röschmann]], [[Graciela Oddone]], [[Richard Croft (tenor)|Richard Croft]], [[René Jacobs]], [[Bernarda Fink]], [[Antonio Abete]]
*Ensemble Europa Galante. (1995). ''Humanita e Lucifero''. Opus 111: OPS 30–129
*Ensemble Europa Galante. (1993). ''La Maddalena''. Opus 111: OPS 30–96
*Allesandro Stradella Consort. (1992). Cantata natalizia ''Abramo, il tuo sembiante''. Nuova era: 7117
*[[I Musici]]. (1991). ''Concerto Grosso''. Philips Classics Productions: 434 160–2
*[[I Musici]]. [[William Bennett (flautist)|William Bennett]] (Flute), [[Lenore Smith (flautist)|Lenore Smith]] (Flute), [[Bernard Soustrot]] (Trumpet), [[Hans Elhorst]] (Oboe). (1961). ''12 [[Sinfonie di concerto grosso]]'' Philips Box 6769 066 [9500 959 & 9500 960 – 2 vinyl discs]
*[[Emma Kirkby]], soprano and Daniel Taylor, countertenor, with the Theatre of Early Music. (2005). ''[[Stabat Mater (Scarlatti)|Stabat Mater]]''. [[ATMA Classique]]: ACD2 2237
*Francis Colpron, recorder, with Les Boréades. (2007). ''Concertos for flute''. ATMA Classique: ACD2 2521
*Nederlands Kamerkoor, with [[Harry van der Kamp]], conductor. (2008). ''Vespro della Beata Vergine'' for 5 voices and continuo. ATMA Classique: ACD2 2533

== See also ==
* ''[[Messa di Santa Cecilia]]''
* ''[[Il Martirio di Santa Cecilia]]''

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
{{commons}}
{{EB1911 poster|Scarlatti, Alessandro}}
* [http://www.domenicoscarlatti.it Associazione Domenico Scarlatti]. Italian language (some material in English).
* [[scores:Category:Scarlatti, Alessandro|Free scores by Alessandro Scarlatti]] at the [[International Music Score Library Project]]
* {{ChoralWiki}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20150927221629/http://ias.umn.edu/2009/02/12/carissimi-harness/ The Madrigals of Alessandro Scarlatti]: A lecture/recital by Garrick Comeaux and Consortium Carissimi, with Kelley Harness, 12 February 2009. University of Minnesota Institute for Advanced Studies. Audio and video available.
* [https://partimentiscarlatti.blogspot.com/ The partimenti of Alessandro Scarlatti (D-Hs M/A 251)]

{{Alessandro Scarlatti}}
{{Neapolitan School}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Scarlatti, Alessandro}}
[[Category:1660 births]]
[[Category:1725 deaths]]
[[Category:17th-century Italian educators]]
[[Category:18th-century Italian educators]]
[[Category:18th-century Italian male musicians]]
[[Category:Catholic liturgical composers]]
[[Category:Italian classical composers of church music]]
[[Category:Italian Baroque composers]]
[[Category:Italian opera composers]]
[[Category:Italian classical musicians]]
[[Category:Italian male opera composers]]
[[Category:Neapolitan school composers]]
[[Category:Italian string quartet composers]]
[[Category:17th-century Italian composers]]
[[Category:18th-century Italian composers]]
[[Category:Composers from Sicily]]
[[Category:Musicians from Palermo]]
[[Category:Pupils of Alessandro Scarlatti| 01]]
[[Category:17th-century Italian male musicians]]
[[Category:Scarlatti family|Alessandro]]