Alessandro Scarlatti - Forgotten Books

A L E S S A N D OR

S C A R L A T T I :

H IS L IFE AND WO R K S

E D W A R D‘ J .

FELLOW op KING'

S COLLEGE , CAMBRIDGE

WITH PORTRAIT

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CH A R LE S H A R FO RD LL O YDM.A. , MUS .DOC PRECENTOR OF ETON COLLEGE

TH IS B OOK

IS GRATEFULLY AND AFFECTIONATELY

D E D I C AT E D

BY ONE OF HIS EARLIEST

ETON PUPILS

PR E F A C E

CONSIDERING the celebrity which Alessandro Scarlattienjoyed during his l ifetime , and the important positionwhich he occupies in the h istory Of music, it is strangethat so l ittle attention has been paid to him . This ispartly due to the fact that the modern period Of carefulresearch in matters Of musical history which producedSpitta ’s Bach , Chrysander

'

s Handel,Jahn’s Mozart, and

Thayer’s Beethoven , was also marked by a decided re

action aga inst that enthusiasm for I tal ian music whichflourished in the days o f Santini , K iesewetter, W interfeld,and Fét is . There are, however , signs Of a revival Ofinterest at the present day ; the labours Of Dr. Emi lVogel, Dr. Hugo Goldschmidt, M . Romain Rolland ,Professor Kretschmar

,and S ir Hubert Parry have done

much fo r the history Of the I tal ian music o f the seventeenth century .

But Alessandro Scarlatti , though he has by no meansbeen forgotten by them

,has not been treated in any great

deta i l ; and I hope that th is biography , if i t does notsucceed in expla ining more fully his relation to the musicthat preceded and fol lowed him , may at least serve as a

usefu l foundation fo r future workers in the same field .

TO give a l ist Of books consulted seems superfluous ;for the general history Of I tal ian music in the seventeenthand eighteenth centuries several bibl iographies have re

cently been printed , and fo r Alessandro Scarlatti there areno special authorities . Grove ’s D ictionary of M usic and

M us icians gives practically all the information that previousbiographers have recorded . The difficulty o f collectingand sifting the large mass of scattered biographical materialno doubt goes far to account fo r the incompleteness notonly o f Florimo, Vi llarosa, and Gennaro Grossi , but also Of

VI!

vii i PREFACE

Burney and Hawkins ; but i t has been greatly lightenedby modern I tal ian historians Of the musical drama, suchas Signor A. Ademo llo (I teatr i di Roma not sccolo x vi i ,

Rome , Professor Benedetto Croce (I teatr i di

N apol i nei secol i x v.—x vi i i . , Naples, Professor

Corrado Ricci (1 tea tr i a'

i B ologna nei secati x vi i . e

x vi i i . , Bologna, and Cav. Taddeo W iel (I teatr ioenczzani ncl sccoi o x vi i i ,

Venice, to whose laboursI am much indebted . Wherever possible, however, Ihave consulted original documents, and have given exactreferences to them throughout the book. 1 have alsoderived valuable assistance (though less directly) fromVernon Lee ’s S tudies of ”co E ig/ztcent/z Centu ry in Italy ,

and Professor Corrado R icc i’s Vita B ar occa (M ilan ,The catalogue wi l l g ive some idea of the large number

o f S carlatti ’s composit ions that exist in manuscript . Autographs are comparat ively rare ; but contemporary copiesare very numerous, made fo r the most part by three orfour copyists who seem to have been regularly employedby S carlatti , and whose work is extreme ly accurate. Of

modern copies the most numerous and the most importantare those made by Fo rtunate Santin i . The originals Ofmany o f these , either autographs o r contemporary Copies,are still accessible, but fo r much Of the church music weare obl iged to accept S ant inI s copies for want Of anythingbetter, until it becomes less difficult for the foreigner and

the heretic to Obta in admission to I tal ian ecclesiastica ll ibraries.‘ They are not very accurate , either in the notesthemselves o r in the headings and t itles , which are sometimes Of great value in determining the date o f a composition . Moreover, Santin i , l ike other librarians o f histime

, has a tendency to ascribe to Scarlatti any anonymous composition Of his period

,and to give the title Of

canta ta to a lmost any secular vocal composition. Other1 Th is does not apply to the Vatican o r to Montecassino , where every

faci l i ty is o ffered for research.

PREFACE

modern manuscripts are comparatively rare and nearlyalways traceable to more authoritative originals .The identification Of l ibretti and Of detached a irs from

Operas has presented some difficulty . The a i rs seldombear the name Of the opera from which they are taken , andfrom 1 6 79 to 1 709 the l ibretti of Scarlatti

’s Operas (and byno means on ly Of Scarlatti ’s) hardly ever bear his name .

We may expect to find the names o f the impr esar io,the ballet-master, the scene-pa inter, and ( less often) thepoet ; but i t is extremely rare to find the name of thecomposer Of the music . However

,with the help Of the

admirably arranged col lections of the libretti at Naples

(R. Conservatorio di Musica) , Bologna (Liceo Musica le) ,and Brussels (Conservatoire) , together with M . AlfredWo tquenne

’

s invaluable Cata log ue des l ivrets i tal iens clu

x vi i ‘ s iecle (Brussels, and an a lphabetica l index Of

first l ines of arias from a l l Scarlatti ’s extant Operas , whichI prepared myself, but which there is not room to printhere, a certa in amount Of identification has been done butsevera l hundred a i rs stil l rema in that I have not been ableto assign to their proper dates and places.I t only remains fo r me to express my sincerest thanks

to the l ibrarians Of the various l ibraries in which I haveworked , a l ist o f which precedes the catalogue , no t for

getting the much valued kindness shown to me in somelibraries— notably at Florence , Bologna ,

and Naples—bysubordinate members Of the l ibrary staff. TO Mr . BarclaySquire (British Museum) and M . Alfred Wo tquenne

(Brussels Conservatoire) I am exceptional ly indebted fo rcontinued kind assistance , as wel l as generous contributiono f important material . My thanks are a lso due to Dr . H .

P . Allen (Oxford ) , Mgr. Azzocchi (Prefetto a’el la musica

at S . Maria Maggiore, Rome) , Mgr . Bartolini (CustodeGenerate cl

’

A rcacl ia , Rome) , Mgr. Beccaria (Palermo ),Cav. Antonio D’

Al i (Trapani ) , Miss Dent, Col . H . A.

Douglas (Rome) , M r. F . G . Edwards, Mgr. Frattao

PREFACE

(Ferrara ) , Mr. H . D. Grissell (Rome ) , Comm . AlessandroKraus (Florence ) , Cav . Giacomo Leo (Naples) , Prof.Alessandro Longo (Naples) , Comm . Carlo Lozz i (Rome) ,Comm . G. Moricon i ( Rome ) , Miss Paget (Florence) , SirWa lter Parratt, Prof. A. S contrino (Florence ) , and Dr .

Voltz (Darmstadt) , fo r courteous assistance Of variouskinds , as wel l as to Messrs . B reitkopf and Haerte l fo rkindly giving me permission to reprint (with some correetions ) the list Of S carlatti

’s operas, which appeared firstin the S ammeloana

'a'er [nter nati ona len M uszégesel lsc/zaf t

fo r November 1 90 2 .

By the kindness Of Mr. J . S . Shedlock, I was recentlyallowed to inspect the manuscript volume Of S carlatti ’sharpsichord and organ music described by him in theS ammeloana

'der Internationa len M usclégesel lsc/za/ t fo r

November 1 904 ; but the print ing o f this book was thenso far advanced that i t was too late fo r me to ask permission to discuss i t. Fo r the textua l criticism Of thisdepartment of S carlatti ’s work it is undoubtedly the mostimportant and authoritat ive manuscript that I have seen ;nevertheless , except for the organ music , which showsus S carlatti in a hitherto unknown capacity , the historicaland musica l value Of the pieces pecul iar to it wouldnot have much affected my account Of Scarlatt i as a

compo ser of instrumenta l music.The portra i t Of Alessandro S carlatt i which forms the

frontispiece o f th is boOk is reproduced from the engravingin the B iog rafi a ( leg /i Uom ini i l lustr i a

’el Regno a

'i N apol i

(Naples Th is engraving seems to have been takenfrom an Oil pa inting attributed to Francesco S olimena , nowin the possession o f the R. Conservatorio di Musica at

Naples, fo r the direct reproduction Of which I regret tosay that I was unable to Obta in permission. I t is also theSource Of various unimportant l ithographed and engravedportra i ts which all exhibit the mannerisms o f their dayrather than fidel ity to the origina l.

C O N T E N T S

CHAPTER I

EARLY YEARS ; ROME, 1 6 79- 1 684

CHAPTER I I

NAPLES , 1 684—1 70 2

CHAPTER I I I

FLORENCE, 1 70 2 ; ROME, 1 703

—1 706 ; VENICE, 1 707

CHAPTER IV

URBINO,1 707 ; NAPLES , 1 708

—1 7 1 8

CHAPTER V

ROME, 1 7 1 8—1 7 2 1 ; NAPLES , 1 7 2 2

- 1 7 2 5

APPEND IX

THE SCARLATTI FAM ILY

CATALOGUE OF THE EXTANT WORKS OF

A. SCARLATTI

INDEX

ALESSANDRO SCARLATTI

CHAPTER I

EARLY YEARS ROME , 1 6 79-16 84

THE Rena issance o f Music is a name Often given tothat change Of style which spread over the art towards theend of the sixteenth century. If we consider the movement i n its in itial phase only, the title is sufficiently repre

sentative Of the truth. The change was essentially a

return to nature, and was intended to be a return to themusical ideals o f ancient Greece . That the new spiritshould not have dominated the art Of music, even in I taly,until the other arts had submitted to its influence fo r a

hundred years and more , need not surprise us. The tendencies Of the Rena issance may indeed be traced dimlyeven through the polyphonic music o f the age o f Pa lestrina ;but the fact that the Church had a practical monopoly ofscientific music is sufficient to explain the lack Of enterprisein a definitely secular direction. Musicians who had beenbrought up to devote thei r skil l to the service o f the Churchwere not l ikely to be much affected by the trend o f generalculture in the direction of Hellen ism . Almost alwaysecclesiastics themselves , their learning was natural ly confined to the narrow channel o f the i r own trade, and theywould be the less l ikely to attempt radical innovationswhen they were in possession of an art which had justreached a stage o f technique that Offered an apparentlyunlimited vista o f possible development. Pa inters and

sculptors could hardly help being influenced by the new

learn ing ; pa inting and sculpture required subjects to

A


illustrate,and the t ruth to nature o f their representations

could in most cases be judged by the eyes o f all. Music ,which even with all the resources o f the twentieth centurycannot definitely represent any visible object whatever,could hardly make an appreciable appeal to its audience inthat d irection at the time when one Of the principal meansOf serious expression seems to have been the making o f

puns on the Guidonian syllables .The first decisive step, therefore , was made not by the

learned contrapuntists,but by a body of amateurs. The

noble Florentines to whom we owe the birth Of the musicalRena issance brought very little technica l ability to bear ontheir experiments ; but they brought what perhaps onlynoble Florentine amateurs could have brought—a pureand lofty idea l moulded by the Hellenistic influences Of

contemporary l iterature, and entirely free from ecclesiast ical prejudice. Yet in studying the history o f music fromthis point onwards, we must beware o f letting Ourselves bemisled by the idea that the Rena issance of music followeda course exactly parallel to that Of the Rena issance Of theplastic arts . Peri ’s Euridice may be sa id to exhibit thetechnical abil ity of a G iotto applied to the expressive intention Of a Botticell i ; with the spread Of the new music ” toMantua, Rome , and Venice fresh influences made themselves felt, and caused the art to develop in a directionvery different from that which Bardi and his friends hadimagined .

“ Dafne and “ Euridice ” were li terary ex

periments addressed only to cultured audiences ; Monteverdi and Caval li seized on the musical and spectacularelements which they presented, and transformed a resusci

tated Greek tragedy into I tal ian opera , a new creation full o fi ts own natural l ife and energy . Freed from the restra in inginfluence of Florentine Hellen ists, encouraged either bysplendour-loving courts or by a pleasure-seeking populace,to whom spectacular effect counted fo r a good deal morethan l iterary elegance, th is second generation Of composerscatered frankly for the taste of their time, and in an age

notorious fo r extravagance in every direction were deter:

EARLY YEARS

mined no t to be left behind by the exponents Of the sisterarts. I ndeed , so successful were their efforts that towardsthe latter part Of the seventeenth century music had notonly overtaken , but to some extent o utdistanced its rivalsin importance and popularity.

For the whole Of the seventeenth century the historyo f I tal ian music is the history Of the opera . Other formswere cultivated , but to a comparatively sl ight extent, andthey were in almost all cases merely tributaries to the ma instream of progress. This importance o f the musical dramaaccounts largely fo r the strange way in which I tal ian musicdeveloped from “ Euridice ” to “ Don G iovanni .” Theopera brought music into immediate contact with dramaticpoetry and the plastic arts, united for theatrical purpo sesunder the leadership Of arch itecture. We have only toglance at the build ing Of the age to see the sort Of in

fluences to which music was being submitted. Florencest ill preserved some remnant o f her ancient traditions Ofpurity of style, but Ven ice and Rome, followed by thesmaller capitals, were rioting in all that exuberance of thebaroque which we associate w ith the names o f Longhenaand Bernini

,Guido Reni and Luca G iordano. Some

courage is required to defend the baroque style Of architecture at the present day. I t was so essentially theexpression o f the pomps and vanities Of its own time thatthe modern spectator, unable to enter into the deta ils Of

i ts environment, can see nothing but the dismal wreck Of

its mannerisms and affectat ions in its faded ceil ings, i tsc rumbling stucco

,and its muti lated marbles. But churches

and palaces are only a smal l part o f the life Of the seventeenth century, and though to us they are its most conspicuous monuments , they are in rea l ity not the mostrepresentative. The true moving spirit of the baroquemust be looked fo r in the social l ife, in the literature, thed rama, and the music of the period . This is not the placeto treat in deta i l of the social history Of “ that strange andsavage century in which all was baroque, from its pa i ntingto i ts passions , from its manners to i ts crimes, from its

4 ALESSANDRO SCARLATTI

feastings to its funerals, from its heroes to its cowards ,which has recently been depicted ! by Professor CorradoRicci ,

lnot only with his customary learning, but also with

an i l luminating sense of the grotesque that throws all i tscharacteristic lights and shadows into the sharpest possiblerelief. For us the opera sums up in brief all the mosttypical features o f the baroque. When Venice possessedseventeen opera-houses, when Bologna was so insanelydevoted to music that the despa iring Cardinal Legate wasdriven to issue an edict ( in 1 6 86 ) forbidding any woman ,whatever her age o r condit ion , the nuns included , to receiveinstruction in music from any man, however closely hemight be related to her, when Dukes Of Modena and

Doges o f Venice were quarrell ing in public over the affec

tions o f a prima donna , there can be no doubt about theopera being the most important art-form , and the mostcharacteristic expression of the ideas Of the period .

And this is only the natural result Of the fact that o fal l art-forms the opera afforded the most ample scope forthe real ization o f those ideas. TO the minds Of most ofus the baroque is represented by the typical church facadeOf the seventeenth century , on which the “ pious orgieso f sa ints and angels as well as Of pillars and pedimentsare petrified fo r all t ime in the decent convulsions Of

a symmetrical earthquake . But if i t offends us , the faultis less Often that o f the design than Of the l imitationsimposed by the material °

and we are Ourselves frequentlyto blame fo r no t regard i ng it with the necessary eye fo rthe grotesque. We are brought a step nearer towardsthe baroque ideal by such a work as Fum iani

’

s famousceil ing in the church of S . Pantaleone at Venice . Thearchitect who carried ou t his designs in sol id stoneand marble was necessari ly l im i ted by the tiresome con

sideration that they had to be made to stand firm somehowo r other. The decorator o f ceil ings might freely disregardthe laws of gravity ; but even his advantages were sl ightcompared with those Of the theatrica l scene-pa inter. We

1 Vi ta Barocca . M ilan, 1904.

EARLY YEARS

need only turn to the illustrations that adorn the moresumptuous l ibretti Of the day, or, sti ll better, to the originaldesigns to be found in many public collections , to see whatpossibilities were Offered by the stage to the unrestra inedimagination o f the architect. Pa int and canvas could ra iseto an appearance of sol idity infinite perspectives o fgal leriesand colonnades magnificent beyond the most ambitiousdreams of the Pope himself. The statues that adornedthem could come to l ife and descend from their pedestalsto take part in a ballet ; and before the Open-mouthedspectators had had time to weary o f it , the scene couldvanish , to be succeeded by another and yet another, each ifpossible more surprising than its predecessor in its formaleccentricity Of splendour.How important the scenery was to the baroque opera

is clear a lso from the names Of the scene-pa inters, amongwhom we Often find such distinguished artists as B ibbienaand Antonio Canale ; and i t may be noted that their namesare Often given in l ibretti that make no mention whateverOf the composer Of the music . And though our imaginations may find it difficult to real ize the enthusiasmwhich their wonderfu l erections aroused , yet they are

sufficiently important to us to require consideration insome detai l on account Of their int imate connexion withthe music of the period . The passion for building whichhad been characteristic of the best period o f the Renaissance was still strong ; the characteristic tendency of thebaroque was the strange attempt to inspire the essentialsol idity and repose Of architecture with the restlessanimation and unrestrained extravagance that markedthe whole life of the century . The ideal creation wouldhave been an architecture not only of unl im ited magnificence, but al ive w ith perpetual movement in everypart, a transformation-scene that should include the wholeof time and space, a long with the whole range Of

human passions and emotions, not forgetting the anticsof Arlecch ino , Brighella,

and the Dottor Graz iano.

I t is hardly necessary to point out to the modern‘

reader

6 ALESSANDRO SCARLATT I

that what could never be real ized fo r the eye mightat any rate be brought considerably nearer real izationfo r the ear . The primitive state of musical techniqueat the beginning of the seventeenth century naturallymade it impossible at first fo r music to atta in the samelevel of impressiveness as the other arts ; but progresswas rapid , and after a hundred years music had so faradvanced as to be fully recognized as the art whichmost completely satisfied the needs of the time. Goethe’

s

well-known comparison of architecture to frozen music,apt enough in his own day, though less intelligible tomodern concert-goers, was still truer Of the music and

of the architecture that preceded him by two o r threegenerations. While arch itecture, on the stage, was adopting every expedient to produce an i llusive sense Of

motion , music , which if i t cease to move, ceases toexist, was passing through a phase almost aggressivelyarchitectura l in the severe symmetry Of i ts forms . The

baroque opera is , i n fact , the bridge by which the

artistic emotions Of I taly passed finally from arch itectureas a ch ief means Of expression to music , thus call inginto ex istence the classica l school Of the early eighteenthcentury in which Haydn , Mozart , and Beethoven wereto learn the first principles of the sonata and the symphony. And th is early structural development Of music ,although, l ike al l such movements , i t was the work of

many hands,owed its ch ief greatness to Alessandro

Scarlatti . Architectural in principle with a more thanPal ladian severity, yet always vigorous in outl ine and

luxuriant in decorat ive deta i l , he represents the baroquestyle at i ts best

, and his working life of nearly fiftyyears, during which he never fai led to ma inta in an

astonishing fertil ity Of production as well as a highstandard of style , covers the extremely interesting periodOf transition from the earlier Rena issance Of music to

the decorous classicism o f the eighteenth century.

I t has been general ly asserted that Alessandro Scarlattiwas born in 1 6 5 9 , at Trapani in S ici ly. NO record of his

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On the other hand, those l ibretti that mention his nameinvariably print it, as he invariably signed it himself,S car latti . I t is conceivable that he came of a Tuscanstock but this is a mere conjecture. I t may be noted thathe hardly ever set to music words in the dialect of Napleshis one comic opera is all in I tal ian , though composedafter a long residence in Naples, fo r a theatre which forsome years had made a special ity o f comic operas inNeapolitan . Moreover, his early life appears to havebeen spent mostly in Northern I taly .

Before 1 6 79 we have no definite information abouthim . Various statements have been made with regardto his teachers , but none are supported by trustworthyevidence. The tradition which finds most credence isthat he was a pupil o f Cariss imi , and i t probably repre

sents the truth , though it must not be forgotten thatCarissim i d ied at an advanced age when Scarlatti was onlyfifteen . That he should have been a pupi l o f G iovanniSalvatore and Francesco Provenzale at Naples was a

natural conjecture fo r those biographers who bel ievedNaples to have been his birthplace. But there is noreason to suppose that he had any connexion w ith Naplesbefore 1 6 84 ; indeed i t wi ll be shown later that he was

regarded as a stranger there when he received his appointment as Maestro di Cappella. Besides , the musical l ife ofNaples was at this period so far behind that Of Rome andNorthern I taly that i t is inconceivable that S carlatti shouldhave found opportunit ies there fo r developing his talentsas he did . The first operatic performance in Naples seemsto have been that o fMonteverdi ’s Nerone , given in 1 6 5 1

by the Feoi A rmonici , a company o fVenetian singers whocontinued their representations Of Venetian operas untilNaples was able to start a school o f its own under the leadof Francesco Provenzale. H is Teseo appeared in 1 6 58,and his last opera , LO S chiavo di sua Mogl ie ,

” in 1 6 7 1

but both this and “ La S tell idaura Vendicata ” theonly operas o f his that rema in , show him to have been farinferior to his Venetian and Roman contemporaries.

EARLY YEARS 9

The early compositions o f Alessandro Scarlatti po intclearly to the influence of the Roman master Carissimi ,and to that o f Caval l i , Cesti , and Legrenzi , who may

legitimately be classed as Venetians. He was also muchinfluenced by Stradella ,

whose work seems to have beendone mostly in Rome and Northern I taly. If we lookat any o f the contemporary manuscript collections thatinclude early chamber-cantatas by Scarlatti , we shal l besure to find him in S tradella’s company, along with othernorth I tal ian composers, such as Alessandro Melani , Pert i ,Gasparini , and P ier Simone Agostin i. And no sooner hadhe made a success in Rome with his first opera, “ Gl i

Equivoci nel Sembiante , than his work was immediatelyin demand at Bologna and Modena, besides smaller placesin Northern I taly, probably including the private theatreof the Contarin i family at P iazzola near Venice.I t is impossible to arrive at the exact chronology of

Scarlatti’s early Roman works . Writing to Ferdinand de’

Medici in 1 705 , he says that he has composed eighty-eightoperas in less than twenty-three years ; 1 but o f those eightyeight only thirty-five have survived , and no t all of themcomplete. This would place his first opera soon after1 6 82 , when he was twenty-three years Old ; but there isno doubt that “ Gl i Equivoci ” was produced as far backas 1 6 79 . I t is indeed possible that “ Gl i Equivoci ” wasno t his first Opera ; i t is, however, the earl iest that hassurvived , and seems to have been the first that broughthim fame .

I n any case we may be fai rly certa in that some of thechamber-cantatas date from still earlier years , and theseare of such importance as to cal l fo r treatment in somedetai l . The immense popularity o f the chamber-cantataduring the whole of the seventeenth and the early part o fthe eighteenth century is a phenomenon for which musicalhistorians seem to have had some difficulty in accounting.

Even Sir Hubert Parry 2 finds it “ a strange puzzle that a1 Not thirty-three, as erroneously printed by Pul iti.Ox ford H istory of Music,

”vo l . i i i. p. 393 .


form o f art which is so undeniably long-winded shouldhave been so popular. But the puzzle is not quite so

strange when we consider the remarks which immediatelyfollow.

“ I t would appear to have been the ma in stapleof domestic vocal music for many generations , and i t iscerta inly creditable to the taste of the prosperous classesthat a branch of art which had such distinguished qual i tiesshould have been so much in demand ; fo r the standardo f style, notwithstanding obvious defects , is always high .

I t may seem ridiculous at the present day to ma inta in thatmusic which is acknowledged to be good is therefore sureto be popular ; but we must remember that music in theseventeenth century occupied a d ifferent position to thatwhich i t occupies in the twentieth . The music o f the

people in seventeenth-century I ta ly is practical ly unknownto us ; the music that has survived has been preserved inthe l ibraries of princes and nobles, or in those o f churches.Students o f seventeenth-century I tal ian music know howrare it is to find more than a single manuscript copy ofany given composition ; and we may safely assume thatthe chamber-cantata was cultivated only by those who wereready to bring serious enthusiasm to bear on any musicthat they could get. That the cantata a ooce sola shouldhave been the favourite musical form is by no meansstrange . To understand the music of the seventeenthcentury, we must bear in mind , above all things , that thesupreme executive artist of the time was the S inger. No t

only was the technique o f vocal ization by far the mostadvanced , but a very much higher intellectual standardwas expected and atta ined than modern composers evenhOpe fo r. J ustly indignant if a singer presume to embellishWagner or Brahms with extemporary graces, we find i tinconceivable that Scarlatt i and

.his contemporaries should

have expected such additions as a matter o f course ; andwe can hardly real ize that in elaborating his written melodiesin performance with such exquis ite ornaments as Geminianirecords, Corell i was only fol lowing the example of the

great s ingers of his generation . Before Corell i and his

EARLY YEARS 1 1

school had shown that from a purely musical point o f viewthe violin could do as much as the voice and a good dealmore, there cou ld have been no instrumental competitionaga inst the singers. The cemoalo had no susta in ing power ;the large organ , besides being unwieldy, was confined tothe churches

, and the resources o f the smal l regals and

organi a'i legno were very l imited ; of wind instruments the

trumpet alone had an advanced technique , but its imperfectscale necessari ly caused it to take a subordinate position .

The voice was the only instrument fo r which chambermusic o f a really advanced type could be written it was theonly instrument which combined a finished technique withthe greatest variety of beautiful tone-colour, and which i nthe majority o f cases was governed by minds of a highorder Of intelligence . Besides , the spirit o f the Rena issance had no t yet died ou t, and the ancient Greek principle,that the funct ion o f music is to express the words of a poet ,was st ill fresh in the minds Of composers.

Under these circumstances i t need not surprise us tofind that at the end of the seventeenth century thechamber-cantata was at the cl imax o f its excellence and

popularity among serious lovers o f music in I taly ; indeed ,i t is to the seventeenth century what the viol in-sonatais to the nineteenth . Alessandro Scarlatti is at once itsgreates t and i ts most ferti le exponent. H is extant canta tas number over five hundred , and every phase o f hisartist ic development is reflected in them . They are of

very special importance , because they always representthe composer in earnest. S ome are dull , but not one

is triv ial or vulgar ; many are o f great beauty , and themajority of them are deeply interesting as studies incomposition .

The earl iest dated cantata belongs to 1 6 88 , but thereare many which are undoubtedly some ten or twelve yearsearlier. At th is time the cantata had not received a

sharply defined form . I t was origina lly narrative ; Vincenzo Ga l i le i ’s setting Of the story of Conte Ugolino isthe first example of the style, although according to


Burney the term cantata was first used by BenedettoFerrari in 1 6 38. But the lyrical element very soon camein , and by Scarlatti

's time it was the more important parto f the composition . Stil l there is nearly always a pretenceat a narrative, or else the poem takes the form o f a dramat icmonologue put into the mouth of some classical personage .

Some o f Scarlatti ’s early cantatas , such as l l GermanicoGiaa

’i tr ionfi onusto

”

) and Il Coriolano (“ L a for tuna

a’

i Roma are l i ttle more than lectures on Roman h istoryset to recitative with an occasional aria. On the otherhand , we get a few in which four o r five arias or ar zoszsucceed each other d i rectly, with only a short recitativeat the beginning o r end . This irregularity o f form is oneOf the distinguishing characteristics of Scarlatti ’s earlycantatas : by about 1 6 90 , or even earl ier, he had adopteda regular alternation o f reci tative and formal aria fromwhich he very rarely diverged . To this early periodalso belong airs in binary forms, ai rs on a ground bass,and all ai rs, in whatever form , that have two stanzas ; andthere are other characteristics of the early style that areeasily recognized .

The cantata Angel/in sospena'i i vanni is a good

specimen Of this period . I t opens with a l ittle a ir o f twostanzas in 3 time in C minor ; th is modulates first to Gminor, then by a sequence to B flat major and B flat minor,and returns to C minor by a repetit ion o f the two previousphrases in G minor and C minor respectively , end ing witha coa

'etta . The melody is decidedly awkward and angular,

with frequent imitations between the voice and the bass.The recitative which follows soon drops into an ar ioso

in 3 time , and here the struggle with technical difficultiesis very obvious. The composer is unable to get a clearidea of a key, and hovers undecidedly between tonic and

dominant, repeating his stiff l i ttle phrase first in C minorand G minor, then in G minor and D minor, and finallyreturning to C minor only to end at once in G minor.Next comes what he definitely marks as

“ar ia —two

stanzas in C minor on a ground bass. Another recitative

EARLY YEARS 1 3

follows, aga in dropping into ar i oso with the same sort ofangular imitations , this t ime dividing the key betweentonic and subdominant. After this the first aria

,

“A ugel l in

sospena’i, is repeated : then after a recitative, comes an

other ar ia o f two stanzas In B flat in a stil l more curiousform . I t begins with a short section in common time ,evolved bar by bar with some difficulty, which runs oninto a longer section in it the first part of th is is on a

ground bass, ending in the dominant, after which thefigure is abandoned, and a new one, more freely treated ,takes its place. Finally, after a recitative leading toanother awkward ar i oso, the first a ir is again repeated ,and the cantata ends with a l ittle contrapuntal r i tornel lofor two viol ins and bass. 1

S carlatti’s want of fluency in the early cantatas isvery curious, the more so since in his later works h issupply of melody is inexhaustible. I t must, of course ,

'

be remembered that at th is time the vocabulary of monodicmusic was very l imited. I t was left fo r Scarlatti himself toinvent many of those conventional turns of phrase whichbecame the common property of later composers. Theground bass was no doubt considered a valuable aid

to composition. The history of the form is more complexthan is generally imagined. As used by the seventeenthcentury I tal ians in vocal music it has very l i ttle in commonwith the cnaconnes and passecai l les of Bach and Handel .Probably the instrumental

‘movements of Monteverd i , builtup on sequentially recurring figures ,

2are the real ancestors

o f the ground basses of Legrenzi and S carlatti . Thec/zaconne is simply a set of variations, each clearly definedthough forming a continuous movement ; Legrenzi andScarlatti , on the other hand, often conceal the symmetry;of their foundations by arranging their superstructure

I In the autograph at Berl in the n’

tornec'

c'

o has been sketched first for two

vio l ins, vio la and bass . No o ther manuscript has this movement, and the

vio lins are not employed at all before.

3 For a fu l l analysis of these see“D ie Instrumenta l s-tuck dos 07720, by

Dr. Alfred Heuss (S ammeloand der Intm zatz'

onalen M usikgesel lsclzafl , Jahr

gang iv.


on different rhythmical principles. I t is obvious thatsuch basses as these

Cantata, Augel lz’

n sospena'

z'

i fl aunt.

Cantata, AugzIIx'

n sospend i i vannz'

.

Agar et Ismaele es i l iati

Agar et Ismaele esi l iati

taken from early works of S carlatti , could not be treatedin the spirit of a c/zaconne, stil l less so when the bassis seldom repeated more than twice consecutively inthe same key . Thus the. bass in Ex. 1 is given ou t

four times in the tonic , twice in the dominant, twice inthe relative major, and finally three times in the tonic .The first statement Of i t is introductory, the third isdue to the habitual repetition of the first vocal phrase ,and the las t forms a coda. The treatment of Ex. 3 ismore elaborate . After a single introductory statementby the continuo alone, the bass is given out twice inthe tonic and twice in the dominant ; two entries in therelative major form a strongly contrasting second section ,



to compos i tion . Besides , it subord inated the voice to

the instruments, a state of th ings at all times undesirable

(being detrimental to the highest effects, both musicaland dramatic) , and especial ly so in an age when instrumental technique was very immature . He thereforeabandoned it in favour of thematic development, whichis exh ibited to advantage in all his chamber-music , and

to a less ex tent in his work for the stage .

The influence of Carissimi and Caval l i is apparentin h is early recitative and also in h is contrapuntal senseof harmony. If his arias are sometimes awkward, hisrecitative is generally most expressive from the veryoutset

, as will be seen from the following illustration , fromone of his earl iest cantatas.

Cantata, Lagn‘

me dolorose.”

La-grime do 10 t o -se, dagl’oc-chi

ve ni te, ve ni te, con dop-pio

H is coloratura is for the most part restra ined, thoroughlyvocal and in good taste . He never commits such extravagances as are found in the cantatas of Stradel la , who

EARLY YEARS 1 7

often g ives the voice figures obviously derived from thecembalo, such as th is from L

’

Ariana

Ex . 8. S tradella, L’Ariana.

Scarlatti shows a very keen sense of harmony as a

means to dramatic express ion , and it is interesting to watchthe development of this sense in his later work. The

feel ing for harmonic expression rema ins, but the methodsemployed undergo a considerable modification. In hisearly work he sti l l adopts the att itude of his predecessors, whose harmonic combinations resu lted from the contrapuntal movement o f parts . Another example from

B

1 8 ALESSANDRO SCARLATT I

Stradella will show a progress ion which was now commonproperty

E x . 9.

Se do l -cc e’l suo Ian gui re, vi ta é’l suo mo

r i re, si,

si,

ch’io sem pre sof fri -to.

Scarlatti uses it at first l ike every one e lse, and sometimes goes a good deal farther in the same direct ion . The

early motet fo r two sopranos, Vex i l la Regi s ,”

has a

characteristic example

E x . 10. get cm

Vex -i l-la, vex i l -la Re-gis pro-de-unt, ful-get cru cis

, cru

c is ful get cis mys -te um,

and it appears in an even more curious form in the cantata

EARLY YEARS I9

Lag r ime dolorose, the second time rendered additionallyharsh by inversion o f the parts.

Ex . 1 1 .

Contz'

nuo.

These asperities are for the most part confined to the

chamber-cantatas . I n opera they were not appropriate,and since Opera was for the next twenty years the field inwhich Scarlatti did most work, they soon disappear fromhis music entirely. They are , however, not without theirinterest. I t is in connection with them and with therecitatives that we must consider the early ar i osi ,

which often present harmonic treatment of great dramaticvalue. The ar i oso is most frequent in the early cantatas .In the very earliest i t is singular ly awkward , but thecomposer soon finds a surer footing, and the next fewyears bring us many beautiful specimens, such as the

fol lowing

Ex . 13.

mentre bra-ma-i dis-c ior quel-lo ca te-ne in cui men


vi-vo, vuo-le l’em-piamia sor-te Che ri novi i l

la mia mor

la mia mor

na

Che ri

EARLY YEARS 2 1

This example illustrates several characteristics : the

broad sweeping line of the melody , the co-ordinate arrangement of phrases , as well as the keen sense of contrastbetween the major and m inor modes . That eternal difl

'

i

Culty of the student of musical aesthetics, the melancho lyeffect of the minor mode, will probably have some l ightthrown upon it when i t is inves tigated from a historicalpoint o f view. Scarlatti aflords important material forsuch investigation, being probably the first composer whosharply defined the emotional difference which all latercomposers have almo st invariably adopted .

I t is these ar iosi , more than the arias themselves , whichforeshadow the style o f Scarlatti ’s maturity. The arias inthe early cantatas are for the most part long and straggling, and in curious forms , which , l ike the ground bass,he abandoned later. Although ternary form is as Old as

Monteverdi , i t was a long time before composers real izedthe subtler applications o f i ts principle. I n the cantatasof Luigi Rossi, Carissimi , Stradella, and Scarlatti we mayfind the separate movements arranged in the scheme of

a rondo, either obviously , as in Scarlatti ’s “ Angel/in

sospena’

i i oanni ,” or disguised, as is often the case with

Rossi , by the recurrence, not o f the same movement, butof a movement o f the same character, an exact paral lel inkey and time, sometimes even buil t upon an identical ba

‘ ss .Scarlatti ’s motet, Vex i l la Regi s, furn ishes a specimenof th is. But within a s ingle movement the alternation of

subjects is rare. There are comparatively few a irs whichconform even to the simplest ternary type (A B A) thosethat are more organized are in binary forms, in whichdifferent subjects may be sharply defined, but do notalternate. The formu la Al B

,is a convenient repre

sentation of the type, the letters representing subjectsand the figures keys. Variat ions, such as A

1A2B2B,and

are derived from the first. The curious th ingis that the types and are conspicu

ously rare. Probably the natural desire for al ternationwas felt to be satisfied by the immediate repetition of the


whole scheme sung to a second stanza of the poetry. Thisis the more l ikely, since the second stanza disappears moreor less s imultaneously with the a ir in binary form . Ternaryform also admitted of greater musica l expansion , whichwould have been too long-winded if each a ir were sungtwice . This long-windedness is often seen in Stradella,who carries repetition o f phrase to excess, and rarely usesternary forms.Scarlatti ’s early devotion to the opera is undoubted ly

an important factor in his development. The chamberstyle

,as has been shown , admitted and even encouraged

a certa in d iffuseness , but the necessity of stage effect forcedhim to be concise, and to pack his material into small andclearly organized forms . Moreover the large number o fa irs required fo r a single Opera stimulated his invention ,and taught him to economize material . We shall see laterthat it also led him to write a great deal that had no

permanent value ; but the practice and facility so gainedwere doubtless o f great importance to him

,and also to his

fo llowers, who turned his musical commonplaces to goodaccount .

Opera was being carried on in Rome with some difficulty .

The first Roman Opera-house had been opened in 1 6 7 1 ,

before which year operas had been given frequently , butonly in private houses . This theatre , at the To r di Nona,had been built by a certa in Count D’

Alibert before 1 6 60,

and he now obtained a concession from Pope Clement X .

that whenever musical enterta inments were al lowed to begiven, open to the public on payment, they were to takeplace only in this building. The count was a Frenchmanin attendance on Queen Christina of S weden, who hadmade Rome her residence after her abdication and conversion to the Catholic fai th . A woman of strong inde

pendent character, thoroughly rel igious, yet tolerating nointerference even from the Pope himself, she was a l iberal

patron of l iterature and art , and her original personal ityex erted its influence as much here as in the world of

po l it ics . Her profession of Cathol icism at I nnsbruck ”

in


ALESSANDRO SCARLATT I

Continz, as he is called in the Avvisi di Roma . The

young composer was evidently in high favour with Christina , judging from the Am

’

si . Her Majesty, who wasso much pleased on Sunday by Cont ini ’s comedy, that shedesired to hear it at the Collegio C lementino, desired to

hear it these last two evenings also ; and s ince the Pope ’sSwiss guard, who were keeping the door from the tumultof the people, would no t admit the lackeys o f CardinalColonna, who was in attendance on her Majesty, hisEminence ordered them to enter, wh ich they did , withmany blows to the Swiss guard . I t is commonly knownthat the composer of the music of the sa id comedy, a

Sicil ian , is in very bad odour with the Court of the V icaron account of the secret marriage o f his sister with an

ecclesiastic. But the Queen sent one of her own carriagesto fetch him, that he might play in the orchestra, evenwhen the Cardinal Vicar was h imself in attendance on herMajesty.

”

Gl i Equivoci nel Sembiante is on quite a smal l scale,as was suitable to a private performance . It is a veryinnocent l ittle drama, conta in ing four characters only.

Clor i is in love with B ur i l lo and B ur i l lo with Clor i ; butthe unexpected arrival o f A rmina

'o, E ur i l lo

’

s exactdouble,

” produces confusion, further complicated by the

jealousy o f L isetta , and i t is only after three acts of sighsand recriminations that matters are cleared up. There isnot much scope for variety , though the distribution of

voices ( two sopranos and‘ two tenors) was decidedly un

usual at a time when the castrato reigned supreme ; butScarlatti at least provided a good many pretty little a i rs ,and even attempted character-drawing to an extent whichhe himself seldom equalled for some time afterwards.Clor i and L zsetta are as distinct as Agatlce and Aennclzen

in Der Freischtitz indeed Clor i is an even more insipidinge

‘nue than the heroine o f K ind ’s drama, and L isetta can

only be described as a spiteful little cat.The a irs are never very remarkable, though always

pleasant. One recognizes the individua l Scarlatti style at

EARLY YEARS 2 5

once, especially in melod ies of a curious half pathetic, halfplayful type , which for a long time rema ined very characteristic o f him. Perhaps the contemporary hearer did notfeel them to be as pathetic as we do, for it cannot bedoubted that the prevalence o f minor keys in the music ofth is t ime was the result of modal survivals rather than of

melancholy temperaments. The best numbers are the

l ittle duet in Act I S i , si , ti vog l io amar ,” which com

bines clever characterization with great neatness o f form ;E ur i l lo

’

s air, S e lzo d’

amar ,”

a pleasing example of the

typical Scar latti style, as is also the air for A rmindo, Cara

sempl icitd” in Act I I I .

, and Clor i’

s beau tiful melody,Dormi pur e sogni intanto. The third act has also an

air for Clor i , Vag/zi r io i ,” which although binary and in

two stanzas has florid colora tura and elaborate string partsthat seem to forecast the style of the nex t century.

“ Gli Equivoci was followed in 1 6 80 by L'

Honesta

negl i Amo ri ." The opera is interesting from the gl impsewhich i t gives of the composer’s personal ity. The l ibrettoof Gl i Equivoci , l ike many libretti of Scarlatti

’s operas ,makes no mention whatever of the composer o f the mus ic ;that o f L

’

H onesta is, however, unusually ful l of informa

t ion. The Aw isa al Lettore informs us that the musicis the composition of Signor Alessandro Scarlatti , cal ledthe S icil ian , Maestro di Cappella to the Queen of Sweden ,a vi r tuoso who at other times has deserved your applause,and fo r whose pra ise i t wil l suffice to say that in the

springtime of his years he has begun where many of hisprofession would be proud to end .

” 1

But there is a more curious allusion to Scarlatt i in the

opera i tself. I n the th ird act there is a scene for the two

comic characters, B acucco, an old servant , and S aldino, a

page, in which they comment on the events of the preceding scenes, B acucco saying that i t is a tragedy rather than a

1 La composi ti one del la M usi ca 2 del S ig. A lessandro S car latti , detto i l

S ici l iano, Maestro di Cappel la delta Reg ina di S vetia , Vi rtuoso, cfie altre voi le5 d mer i tato i tuoi applaud , per lode del quale basterd i l di re, che nel la Prinzauera del ta sua etd hé cominciato, dove moIti del ta sua professi on si prep ared»


comedy that they are acting. S a la’ino takes up the wo rd

comedia , and adds “ ’

tis a Sicil ian has set it to music ” ;B acucco continues

Ah yes,’tis that young fellow—softly now

This is the same that wrote a year agoThat opera which is go ing everywhere.

The songs are charming, new, o f sundry kindsThey tell me he has broughtFrom the far end of Christendom i tselfA who le sack full of airs.

” 1

From this it is clear that Gl i Equivoc i was regardedas a great success, and that the composer was a veryyoung man, the ev idence of the tombstone as to the yearo f his birth being thus corroborated. I t also seems toimply that Gli Equivoci " was his first Opera, and indeedthe first work of his to bring him into publ ic notice .

L’

H onesta is a good deal stronger than Gl i

Equivoci.” I t is on a larger scale, being of the typedescribed as opera semi-ser ia . I t has several a irs on a

ground bass , the best Of which is E l isa’

s l o per g ioco oz

mi ra i ,"analysed earl ier in th is chapter (Ex . and an

other very interesting a ir in a form derived from the groundbass—“ S cog l i vo i cne I t is accompanied bythe str ings in five real parts from beginning to end except fora single bar’s rest—a most unusual style o f treatment. The

gloomy opening phrase (see Ex .

14 opposi te) is repeated at Oncein the relative major, but witha different bass figure (Ex . 1 5 )

and modified so as to end in C sharp minor. The cadence

Ex . 1 5 .

1 S a ldino. E in musica l’ha posta un S ici l iano .

Bacucco . Ah si , quel Giovino tto oh piano , piano ,Questo equel , che compose uh anno fa

Quel l’ opera che tanto intom o va.

S on le canzone bel le, nove e varieM i d icon, che haportato

S in dal confin del la ChristianitaUn sacco pieno d ’ Arie.

”

Scarlatt i omitted these l ines in setting the libretto to music.

EARLY YEARS

che v’in du

2 8 ALESSANDRO SCARLATTI

is no sooner made than the music modulates at once to D

major, with a repetition of the same vocal subject on the newbass figure, end ing in F sharp minor, the tonic. Here a newsubject appears, more or leSs derived from the first, modulat ing strangely to E minor ; and i t is immediately repeateda tone lower, to end in the tonic by an audacious changeof key. The little coda finishes the movement neatly.

The construction of th is last section presents an i nteresting parallel to the opening of Brahms’ viol in sonata in

A major, where an analogous device is used.

Ex . 16 .

e non po ter, e non po ter mo ri

Per der la vi ta e non po

EARLY YEARS 2 9

e non po ter mo-ri

e non po ter mo rI

Apart from the tragic feel ing of the song and its

strange sense of oppression , of groping in darkness , thestructure is very noteworthy. I n regular ternary formsScarlatti is almost always sure o f h is key at this time butin his a irs on a ground he modulates on different principlesand covers a wider area. Here, working on the l ines o f

a ground but no t observing it strictly, he seems to havelost his way and only extricated himself by sudden modulat ions, as beautiful as they were unexpected .

Of Scarlatti ’s characteristic charm and del icacy of treatment no better example could be given than the l ittle duet ,“D ite amanti ,

” perfect in finish , with a wistful expressionthat culminates just before the Da Capo in the followingbeautiful phrase

E x . 17 .


cer per-che tor men D i-te a man-ti

ALI Tenor .) Di-te a-man tI

Pompeo ( 1 6 83 ) was probably Scarlatti 9 first attemptat opera ser ia . I t conta ins a few good a irs, but on the

whole i t is stiff and tedious. A r i oso is fo r the most partavoided , though it would have rel ieved the monotony o f

the recitative, the composer not yet having developedthat fine declamatory style which served as a model toall succeeding generations. The l ibretto is poor. The

l ibrettists of this period are , as a rule, either ignored or

ridiculed by modern crit ics,and their contemporar ies speak

l ittle better of them . Quadrio,‘although he devotes considerable space to them , and finds some worthy of highpraise , begins his chapter with a good description of theirstyle

He who would justly describe what a Musica l Dramai s

,should say that it is a strange work made up of Poetry

and Music , in which the Poet and the Composer,each

alternately the slave of the other, wear out their bra ins tomake a bad Opera ; but in which the superior is servant tothe inferior , and in which the Poe t occupies the position o fa Fiddler that plays fo r Dancing. Wherefore trulynever did Poetry give her name to absurdities moreridiculous or more unendurable than these ; nor could anyperson of sense tolerate their improprieties, if he were notenchanted by the Musicians, the proof of which is suffi

ciently seen in the fact that in most cases the recollectiono f such compositions perishes with their sound .

”

Nevertheless some of the librett i were at least adequatefo r their purpose , either in the pastoral or the heroic style.“ Pompeo ”

aims at the heroic ; but in the second act itlapses into a stupid intrigue of mistaken identity in the

Del la S tor ia e del la Rag ione d’ogm

’

Poesia, vol . ii i . p. 434.



interminably straggling. Yet he had certa in characteristicswhich Legrenzi had not, and which Scarlatt i was quick toseize. I t is from Stradella that S carlatti gets his characteristic charm of melody, though he soon surpassed hispredecessor. Stradella’s best melod ies are Often verybeautiful, and full o f that sunny tenderness of expressionwhich is very typical o f S carlatti ; but they are always soextremely simple that a whole opera in this style strikesthe reader as almost childishly naive , all the more owingto the composer’s habit o f stating nearly every phrasetwice in succession , if not oftener. S carlatti gets rid of

much o f th is repetition, thus simplifying the organizationof his tunes , and also shows a greater fertil ity of inventionas well as a deeper poetic feeling in the melodic themesthemselves. Stradella is also greatly superior to Legrenziin the movement o f h is basses. Legrenz i , though hemade frequent use o f the ground bass, seldom shows muchcharacter in th is most important part of his music. Hisbasses are at all times quite uninteresting. Stradellaseldom uses the ground bass ; but h is basses are generallyfull o f l ife and individual ity , and here his passion for thedevelopment o f small figures shows to the greatest possibleadvantage. He seems to have been al together more of an

instrumental composer than Legrenzi , using his viol ins andtrumpets very effectively, though , of course, not at all in

a modern spirit. H is feeling for bass movement showsitself again in h is recitatives, wh ich are often founded onthoroughly logical successions of chords, besides being as

a rule wel l declaimed . I ndeed the general style of hisoperatic recitatives is rather different to Legren2 1 s, and

seems to have served as Scarlatti ’s model ; though here,as in everything else , the younger composer soon improvedupon it. This improvement, however, can hardly be saidto have taken place altogether until after S carlatti leftRome. His early Operas show the germs of his greatgenius, but they also show the immaturity of youth ; and

considered as a whole , Stradella’s Floridoro is a much

better opera than any of Scarlatti 5 first three.

EARLY YEARS 3 3

The strong influence o f both Stradel la and Legrenzi

on the young Scarlatti suggests that in his earl ier years hemay have had some connection with Modena . The B ibl ioteca Estense , which is pecul iarly rich i n manuscripts Of

Stradel la ’s works, also possesses many Of Scarlatti 's earlycompositions , including the autograph parts of the motetVex i l la Reg is , as well as two Operas o f Legrenzi , whichwere performed at the court theatre . Information aboutStradel la’s l ife is so scanty that it can be at best no morethan a plausible conjecture that the two composers may

have met under the protection o f Duke Francis it isequally possible that Rome may have offered similar oppo rtunit ies. But in any case the direct influence o f S tradella,

l ike that of Legrenz i , though strong at first, did no t lastvery long. Scarlatti ’s own individual i ty matured rapidly ,and with the transference of his sphere o f activi ty to

Naples a new phase began which led to a change o f stylethat is o f considerable importance in the history o f h isartistic development .

CHAPTER I I

NAPL E S , 1 6 8 4,-1 7 0 2

NAPLES had already made the acqua intance of Scarlatt i smusic with Gl i Equivoci ” in 1 6 80 , and in February 1 6 84

Pompeo ”was performed at the Royal Palace. The

l ibretto describes Scarlatti as Maestro di Cappella to

Queen Christina,but it was his last appearance in that

capacity,for in the same month his services were secured

to the Court of Naples. 1 On February 1 7 , 1 6 84 , he wasappointed Maestro di Cappel la on the retirement Of

P ietro Andrea Z iani, and on the same day his brotherFrancesco was appointed a viol inist Of the royal chapel .The career of Francesco Scarlatti is even harder to tracethan that of Alessandro, and such deta i ls o f i t as havebeen recorded may conveniently be given here. H is

S tipend from the roya l chapel, l ike his brother's , was pa id

him for a year only, and the next we hear o f him is that in1 6 99 his oratorio Agnus Occisus ab Origine Mundi was

performed at the Vatican . I n 1 7 1 5 he turned up in

V ienna, and appl ied fo r the post o f V ice-Kapellmeister.Fux was favourably impressed with him “ felt findediesen S uppl icanten wegen seiner o ir tic ona

'sonst oeywoneten

gutten A igensclcaf ten selzr taugl iclc,” he reported to the

Emperor ; Francesco, however, did not get the appointment, although he urged that his sympathies with Austriahad lost him his post as Maestro di Cappella at Palermoafter twenty-six years

’ service.2 This, however, was poss ibly an invention on his ‘ part ; the archives at Palermomake no mention of him , and Mongitore

’

s diary expressly1 Naples, R. Archivio d i S tato Sm

'

uania di Razione e Ruota de’ Conti ,

vo l . i i i . fo l . 82 verso.

L. von Kfichel , j . Fat , Hofcomposi tor und Ho/kafiel lmezster . Vienna,1872 , p. 378.

NAPLES 3 5

names one G iuseppe Dia as Maestro d i Cappella there in1 703 . He then seems to have returned to Naples , as hewas on the staff o f the royal chapel in 1 7 1 9 ; but hewas not there long, as he gave a concert in London onSeptember 1 , 1 7 2 0 ,

“ the greatest part of his own compos ition.

” He advertised h imself as brother to the famousAl lessandro [s ic] Scarlatt i ,

”

and no doubt was encouragedby the presence o f Domenico in London fo r the product ion o f “ Narciso at the Haymarket in 1 7 1 9 . He issupposed to have resided later at Venice.

The circumstances under which the two Scarlattisreceived their appointments were peculiar. The Neapol i tan diarist , Domenico Conforto, tells the story thus

“ At the beginning of November [16 84] the Viceroydeprived o f their offices and disgraced the Secretary o f

J ustice , by name Don G iovanni de Leone, Don Emmanuel [si c] the Chamberla in

,who was also Governor

o f Pozzuol i , and a favourite page, for holding close and

i ll icit intercourse with certa in actresses, one of whom was

called the S carlati [sic], whose brother was by this Viceroymade Maestro di Cappella o f the Palace , though therecompeted other w r tuos i who were of th is country. Forthey had formed a triumvirate to dispose as they pleasedof such posts and offices as were to be distributed , gettingthem fi lled by .those who Offered and gave them the bestprice, and doing other unlawful acts to make money and toplease their actresses (g radi re al le loro Puttane

Commea’ianti ), and th is without the knowledge o f theViceroy , who , being made aware of everything, deprivedthem

,as has been sa id, o f the ir ofli ces and disgraced them

and he had orders given to the S carlat i and her companionsthat they should either leave this city or else go into a

convent ; and in obedience to th is order they entered the

convent of S . Antoniello,near the V icaria.

” 1

We have a lready seen what sort of a reputation AnnaMaria Scarlatti had at Rome i n 1 6 79 . I n the followingyear she was singing in Venice at the Teatro S . G iovanni1 Giornal i del S ig . Domenico Confor to (MS . in the Bibl . Nazionale, Naples) .


C risostomo ,1 and in the same company was G iovanni Francesco Grossi , cal led S iface , who sang the part of M i tr idatei n her brother 's opera , Pompeo ,

”

at Naples. The SpanishV iceroy, Don Gasparo d ’

Haro y Guzman , was only addinghypocrisy to his other vices when he vented his righteousindignation on the protectors o f “ La S carlat i

”

and herfriends . All over I taly , Muratori tel ls us,” opera in themost sumptuous style was the fashionable enterta inmento f the day. The courts o f Modena and Mantua vied w i theach other in the extravagance of their productions and

in the acquisition o f the most celebrated singers , fo r whom ,

by a strange irony , vi r tuoso and vi r tuosa became the recognized t itle . The court o f Naples , at this time more thanever the “ ci ty of pleasures ,

” though it had not yet attractedcomposers o f any great dis tinction , had at any rate as greata reputation as any fo r i ts l iberal appreciation o f profes

s ional virtue.” I t was the fashion to have opera-singersas mistresses , and the Viceroy set the example on the scalethat became his position .

”

The exact history o f the affai r can only be conjectured.

We may be fai rly certa in that Anna Maria Scarlatt i depended less upon her musica l abil ity than on her personalattractions as a means of l ivelihood . She could not havebeen singing in opera at Rome in 1 6 79 , as no womenwere allowed to appear o n the S tage. Her part in Il

Ratto delle Sabine at Venice was only a smal l one, and

there is no record o f her having sung in any other opera .

Even in her brother’s “ Pompeo she did not take part,

unless it were in the chorus o r the bal let . And i t i s s ignificant that when given her choice either o f leaving Napleso r o f entering a convent there , she preferred the lattera lternative, probably having little chance of Obta in ing a

serious musical engagement elsewhere .

There can, however, be no doubt that Pompeo was

1 In l l Ratto delle Sab ine,” of Pietro S imone Agostini. (A. Wotquenne,Cata logue des l ivrets i tal iens da XV11

¢ sti ele. )1 Anna l i d

”Ital ia, anno 1690 .

1 Benedetto Croce, 1 teatr i di Napol i nei secol i X K-XVIII. Naples, 189 1.

NAPLES 37

a great success at Naples , and that its success was largelydue to the singing o fG iovanni Francesco Grossi . He wasthe most celebrated singer o f his time, and had probablyhad plenty o f experience o f S carlatti

’

s

'

style when singingin Rome under the protection o f Queen Christina . He

was in the service o f the Duke of Modena,but much in

demand everywhere else, in spite o f h is rather capriciousmanners. For us he has a special i nterest , as having beensent by the duke to his sister Mary Of Modena , wife Of

James I I . He was only five months in England (January1 8 to J une 1 6 , and suffered considerably from the

cl imate ; but he had t ime to acquire some considerablecelebrity there, and may very l ikely have helped to introduce S carlatti 's music to Engl ish audiences .

Don Gasparo d ’

Haro y Guzman made every effort toreta in S iface fo r the opera at Naples. He made himwrite to the Duke o f Modena , and wrote to the dukehimself as wel l , begging him to al low S iface to stay, bothletters being dated from Naples on February 1 9 , two daysafter the appointment of the two Scarlattis. How far

the Viceroy approved o f the appointment cannot be sa id ;probably he was persona lly inclined towards it, in view o f

the success o f Pompeo ,”

and was carefully persuaded toratify it by the “ triumvirate of whom Conforto tells us

,

in spite o f the dissatisfaction which seems to have arisen ,according to Conforto, from the post being given to onewho was not a Neapolitan. I n any case Anna MariaS carlatti deserves to be remembered , since , had i t not beenfo r her, Alessandro might not have rema ined at Naples tobe for eighteen years the leading composer of operasthere. And these eighteen years, though they do no t

represent the best period of Scarlatti ’s production , are of

the greatest importance for his own career and fo r the

history of music generally , since the‘

encouragement thathe received at Naples, in spi te o f obvious d isadvantages ,enabled him to develop his style steadily in one directionin a way that he could never have done under othercircumstance s .

3 s ALESSANDRO SCARLATT I

I t was probably on the strength o f this appointmentthat Alessandro Scarlatt i married a certain AntoniaAnzalone, by whom he had three children

, o f whomGiuseppe Domenico, born October 2 6 , was thee ldest. He apparently received no stipend after February1 6 8 5 , but he stayed on in Naples and retained his titleuntil 1 70 2 , hardly a year passing in wh ich he did notcompose at least two operas, most o f which were producede i ther at the royal palace or at the roya l theatre o f S .

Bartolomeo.

We can hardly be surprised that , under such circumstances , he soon took to modell ing his work on fixedpatterns, from which he hard ly ever departed . But thesystem had i ts advantages as well as i ts drawbacks . I tl imited the composer’s sphere of action , but it gave himleisure to develop this style to the utmost within thelimits imposed . Thus this period

,which

,more than any

other, marks the first step to the final decadence of oldfashioned I tal ian opera , is of the greatest importance inthe history o f pure music , and i t is ma inly from this pointo f view that i t will be treated in this chapter.I t is not easy fo r the modern reader to form a clear

conception of what an operatic performance was l ike at

th is time. The modern romantic opera, to say nothingof the modern music-drama , seems to have nothingtangible in common with the opera of Scarlatti . The

1 Parocclzia di S . Liboria del la Car i td CIu'

esa di M ontesanto) fo l . 6 5D ie p

mo9mbre 1685 . l o sud° curato (D. Gius° So rrentino ) ho batt° uno

figl iuo lo nato a 2 6 del caduto figl io del S igr Alessandro S carlati e S ig“Antonia

Anzalone coniugi hebbe nome Gius° Dom°° fu tenuto al sacro fonte dal la S ig1mD . E leonora del Carpio Principessa d i Co lobrano , e dal S igr D . Domenico

Martio Carafa Duca di Maddaloni .Fo l . 97 . Catarina E leono ra Em i l ia 2 9 1690 f

‘di Alessand ro e AntoniaScarlati Padr ini D . Marino Caracc io lo Ppe di Avel lino e D. E leono ra CardinesPS

’

S’ a d i Co lobrano come proc“ del la S ig

“ D. Emi l ia Carafa Duchessa d i

Maddaloni.Fo l . 107 . A 1 2 Maggio 1692 Carlo Francesco Giacomo figl io del S igr

Alessandro S carlati et la S ignora Antonia Ansalone [sic] coniug i, nato a 5 d°

fu battezzato pme D . Nico la Cuoci sacrista et economo l i Padrini l i S ig“EccmlD . N ico la Gaetano 5 procura in nome del S ig

” D . Carlo Caraccio lo Duca d ’

Ayrola, et la S ig“11 D. Aurora Sanseverino .



from the pilgrim,reveal ing himself to be B i reno in dis

guise and professing his love fo r her. It being apparentlyone o f “E r si l la

’

s” duties to read A l ina'a ’

s love-letters aloudto her , and write the answers at her dictation , Ol impia i sthus made aware of the situation , and determines to avengeherself. B i reno sees her and recognizes her. He attemptsto expla in his rather awkward position she cuts sho rt

l

his

apologies and protests that she is not Ol impia but E rsi l la .

Bel ieving himself to have been mistaken , he proposes toelope with A l ina'a , who says she will give him an answerby letter. She dictates a refusal to Ol imp ia , but immed iately tears it up , and the act ends with her aga in refusingOsmi ro . In Act I I I . Ol impia tells b

’i reno that A l indaloves Osmi ro, and i nvites him to surprise them togetherand kill h is rival . B i reno comes at the appointed hour,and Ol impia prepares him supper. As she has druggedthe wine he falls asleep , and she is just on the point ofmurdering him , when she is prevented by A tino

’u . S he

then revea ls herself and tells the story of her desertion ;B i reno is cas t into prison , Ol impia marries Oberto , and

A l inda consoles herself with Osmi ro.

I t is obvious that the compl ication o f the plot leavesvery l ittle opportunity fo r the study of character . Whetherthe dramatis per sonae are princes and princesses of mediaeval Holland or of ancient Greece , they act and talk and

sing in precisely the same way, just as they no doubtwore the same sort Of costumes in front o f the same sort ofscenery ; indeed everything, including the turgid languageof the l ibretti , to which no translation could do justice ,belongs to no other age than the last twenty years o f the

seventeenth century.

Scarlatti was not by temperament a reformer or an

Iconoclast. He took th ings as he found them, and did the

bes t that could be done on the l ines of his predecessors .The libretti of his day offered him any quantity Of heroicsentiments , which he set to a dignified recitative , as wel las stra ightforward obvious emotions

,which he could express

i n a neat aria at the end of each scene . He soon found

NAPLES 4 1

that the best type of aria fo r his purpose was the ternaryform. I t satisfied the natural aesthetic need of contrast andrecognition in the clearest possible way, and the Da Capo

gave the singer a favourable opportunity o f exhibiting hisskil l in extemporizing variations , as was expected o f himby both audience and composer. Writing every air (andeach opera would conta in some fifty or sixty) in the sameform , Scarlatt i atta ined a wonderful mastery over h ismaterial

,and besides displaying an infinite variety of style

with in the given l imits,he gradually developed the form to

a very high degree of emotional and structural organization .

Outside the aria ,there was hardly any formal music in the

opera. There was the overture , the evolution o f whichwill be discussed in deta il later on , and there were

!

occasional dances and marches. The marches and pageantmusic are al l wri tten by Scarlatti himself, but the balletsare frequently absent from the score. From the indications

given in the l ibretti they seem to have been almost alwaysof a comic nature

,and sometimes they are directly

associated with the comic characters . It seems probablethat they were not regarded as an integral part of theopera, and that the bal let music, l ike the ballet-master , wasgeneral ly imported from France.The descriptive symphonies which are so important in

the earl ier Venetian operas find no place in Scarlatti .Musical scene-pa inting is real ly a modern growth . In“ Der Fre ischii tz

”and “ Der Fliegende Hol lander the

orchestra i s us ed to stimulate emotions which the stagecarpenter cannot awaken. The music throws our nervesinto a state of abnormal excitement, in which our ownimaginat ion can easily complete the i llus ion which thescenery has suggested. The emotional aspect of landscape is essentially a characteristic of the nineteenthcentury , and in connection with th is we must also takeinto account that owing to al tered circumstances of

theatrica l management, scenic arrangements in Weber’sand Wagner’s days were not so elaborate as in the seventeenth century, when Opera was the playth ing of princes.


I n Scarlatti ’s time the theatrical archi tect was technicallyfar ahead o f the dramatic composer, whose work was confined to the Objective expression of personal and individualemotion. The subjective expression , or rather suggestion ,o f the collective emotions of the audience is a differentthing

,and is certainly not older than G luck . I t is very

easy to th ink that i t existed already in Peri , Monteverd i ,and Caval l i , but we must beware Of letting our modernromanticism run away with us. I t is not reasonable tosuppose that because Monteverdi o r Purcell happenedaccidentally on a device , be it structural o r harmonic, thatto our cars is characteristic o f Wagner or Tcha ikovsky,they or their audiences necessari ly attached the sameemotional impression to it that we do. I n studying thedramatic music o f the first half o f the seventeenth centurywe must always remember that , however anxious composers might be in theory to get away from polyphony

,

vocal or instrumental , they were obl iged to fal l back uponi t in practice, because i t was a material which they wereaccustomed to handl ing , and which their audiences wouldunderstand without effort . There is no direct connectionbetween the choruses and descriptive symphonies o f

Monteverdi and those o fWeber, except by the circu itousroute that traverses the stony asperities of French Opera .

The chorus and the descriptive symphony disappear simulItaneously from I tal ian opera as soon as composers had. acquired sufficient mastery over the new style to put allthey wanted into the solo parts, and it was only when

‘ instrumental technique progressed in advance Of vocaltechnique that the orchestra began to be used fo r independent dramatic effects. Scarlatti ’s work covers ex actly the

( period when concerted instrumental music was beginn ingto be recognized as a possible rival to the voice, and i t isinteresting to trace the gradual development o f instru

mental music in the work o f a composer whose naturalsympath ies were all with the singers , but who was qui ck totake advantage o f any other means that facil i tated theexpression o f his t hought .

NAPLES

There are many places in S carlattIs operas where therecitative is interrupted fo r an appreciable time by somesort o f action , such as the wrestl ing match and the lotteryextraction in “ Ol impia Vendicata , and numberless duelsand battles, o r by an elaborate change o f scene such as

takes place in Massimo Puppieno .

”

But S carlatti neverseems to think it necessary to fill up this gap W l tl’l descript ive instrumenta l music, unless we suppose that he extemporized it himself at the cemoalo. That is conceivable ,fo r we do sometimes find a battle scene accompanied by a

direction fo r a trumpet fanfare , which is very rarely writtenout in full . But he more probably real ized tha t such musicwas impracticable, owing to the great difficulty o f makingit synchronize exactly with the action on the stage , and

also owing to the noise that would be made by the energeticmovements o f combatants or scene-shifters, to say nothingo f the buzz of conversa tion among the audience. But if

the stage be qu iet , and i t be desirable to produce somesort o f i llusion o f mystery, he is ready w i th his band.

Thus in Massimo Puppieno ,

” when M ass im ino the Africanking, after fighting outside , staggers in mortally woundedto die on the stage , the few bars played by the stringsmust have invested the action with a simple dignity thatwould l ift the audience fo r a moment into a higheremotiona l plane .

Ex . 19 .

The great advantage o f music o f this kind is that i tfals ifies our sense o f t ime . The Intermezzo in CavalleriaRusticana ”

taklzs some three or four minutes in performance. S uppose that i n Caval leria Rusticana ” there


were no intermezzo, the curta in fal l ing between the twoscenes the break would be intolerable. The drama is soexciting that we want to go straight on ; yet a certa inamount o f time must elapse while the people are supposedto be in church. We cannot really wa it all that time,whether the curtain be up or down ; and i f there was a

long silence, and no fall o f the curta in, the audience would

resume their talk—i i indeed they had ever interruptedi t—and lose their interest. But by putting in the intermezzo our attention is held ; we are able to keep up therel igious feel ing of the previous scene , and at the end weare quite will ing to bel ieve that thi rty minutes haveelapsed instead o f three. Another example o f the samething occurs i n Fidel io, where Florestan fa lls asleep afterhis solo, and the orchestra makes us forget how short ani nterva l actually elapses before Rocco and Leonora enter .Scarlatti s Ol impia Vendicata " is interesting as showingus the first germs o f this idea in a way that makes itimpossible to mistake the principle which guided him .

When the curtain rises, Ol impia is d iscovered asleep onher desert island , and speaks a few unconscious wordsbefore she awakes .

l

Ex . 20.

Continuo.

1 The original has two flats in the signature ; but it is evidently a copyist’s

error, s ince the E flat is always marked as an acc idental wherever it isrequired .

NAPLES 4 5

Do l-cc a-mor, do l-ce a-mor,

pur ti strin

As soon as she awakes , the viol ins leave o ff, and shesoliloquizes in reci tatioo secco . The example quoted ismore an ar ioso than a recitative ; but in the third act

the device is employed again , when B i reno falls asleepafter having been drugged by Ol impia ; and here wehave an unmistakable recitatioo stromentato, the earliest

( 1 6 86 ) that I have been able to find .


Ex . 2 1 .

Ma qual pos-sen-te o bl i o

men l’i do lo

le pu pil lo m’ ingombra?


4 s ALESSANDRO SCARLATT I

o/z l ieto g iorno .

’ “ L’

Honesté” ends with an a ir for the

heroine ; “ Clearco in N egroponte with a recitative.Ol impia Vendicata ends with a quartet o f some length ;but it has no dramatic importance , nor is i t developed evento a purely musica l cl imax . I t i s to the final scenes o f thefirst two acts that we must look fo r the first tendenciestowards a dramatic ensembl e.

The invention of the concerted finale is generallyascribed to Logro scino . Logroscino certa inly treated i twith a sense o f humour peculiarly his own ; but it hadbeen Often used by Leo and Vinci several yearsbefore . I t was only in comic Opera that the form couldreceive any vigour o f treatment , fo r in opera ser i a i t wasregarded as a gross impropriety that one personage shouldinterrupt another. A duet was only possible when thecharacters taking part in it were supposed to be inharmo ny o f sentiment . But S carlatti does not seem tohave accepted this convention enti rely. The concertedmovements o f his later Operas wi l l be discussed in deta i lin a subsequent chapter : here it need only be sa id thatthough he had a very much more vivid feel ing for ensemolethan his immediate successors in serious opera, he hardlyever places a serious ensemble at the end o f an act.

The reason o f th is is simple . Comic opera , as a

separate form , o f the type of Leo and Logrosc ino ,had not

yet come into being, and the serious opera or dramma permus ica s till kept up its par ti oufl

'

e. S carlatti is the lastcomposer with whom the comic characters are essential tothe opera i tself. But although they have their part in thedevelopment of the play they are already sufficiently convent ional ized to be given a regular scene to themselves ineach act. l This scene comes at the end Of the first twoacts, and just before the end o f the th ird . The finaletherefore o f the first two acts was in their hands

,and th is

accounts fo r the history o f i ts development.I t is not necessary to trace here the history of the

1 In some operas, e.g . La Caduta-dei Decemviri,” the comic characters

have two scenes in each act.

NAPLES 49

com ic characters from the traditional comedy o f masksthrough Vecchi and Banchieri to the Roman and Venetianoperas of the seventeenth century. In S carlatti ’s earlyOperas they are general ly an Old woman and a page ; butthe o ld man is also found . The souorette was impossiblein the early Roman operas , because women were no t

al lowed to appear on the stage. The tragic female partswere sung by castrati , and from all accounts i t was fa i rlysatisfactory ; but a soubrette

’

s part could Obviously be takenonly by a woman .

The Old woman was , of course, always sung by a tenor.She is generally the heroine ’s nurse—sometimes a ladyin-wait ing, in which character her grotesque humour and

her invariably very outspoken desire fo r matrimony musthave been startl ingly incongruous . But I tal ian audiencesseem to have enjoyed a touch of the grotesque at the

most tragic moments, perhaps real iz ing that the tragedywas thus made all the more true to real l ife. So in Il

Figlio delle Selve,when Teramene, the dethroned king

in disguise, asks fo r news o f his queen A rsina

'a , who is

supposed to have been drowned , though real ly wanderingabout disguised as a man, Goor ina , her former ma id-Ofhonour , replies

Fu detto, e mi n'

ncresce,

Cite andasse a for da cena api t) d’unpesce.

Th is juxtaposition of serious and grotesque is by nomeans confined to the opera o f the period. The Fer rag osto

o f Zappi and Crescimbeni , to which reference will be madelater, i s a good example o f its l i terary treatment. I npa inting we can trace it back as far as Paolo Veronese,and it reaches i ts height in Tiepolo. The frescoes o f the

Palazzo Labia Show exactly the operatic arrangement—a

large serious composition in the centre, with popular typesin narrow panels at either side, so designed as to be yetcontinuous with the ma in picture ; and in the frescoes

1 “It was said, and I regret it, that she went to make a supper for more

than one fish.


from the l ife of Abraham in the archbishop’s palace at

Udine we may see a perfect paral lel to Scarlatti’s grotesque

o ld women and pert l i ttle pages in the figures o f Sarah ,attired as a fine lady o f the seventeenth century , her toothless mouth convulsed w ith hideous laughter, and the verydebona i r young angel who hitches up his ga i ly-patternedskirt and appears to be almost as much amused at the

situation as she is .The most amusing Of Scarlatt i 5 old women is F i locla ,

in Clearco.

” There is no other comic character in the

Opera , and she fl its across the stage at Odd t imes, absurdunder all circumstances. At the end of the second act

A ster ia , the heroine , has an air in which she invokes thehorrid spectres o f Cocytus F i locla immediately follows

w i th a parody Of i t, after which there is an elaborate comicballet. A pavil ion rises from a trap during the aria, andF i locla, bel ieving it to be occupied by a young man on

whom she has fixed her affections, goes to open thepavil ion , from which comes forth a phantom , and Pitaela

wishing to escape from one o f the wings, there appearsa Moor, and the same thing follows at the others [i .e. shetries to escape at each exit in turn , and on each o ccasionanother Moor appears] . Finally , she h ides in the pavi lion ,whence she peeps ou t , while the sa id Moors dance with thephantom . F i locla , after the dance is finished

,thinks that

they have gone away , and comes out. The phantom ,who

is hidden , takes hold o f her by her dress ; she tries toescape, leaves her dress beh ind , and runs away. Thephantom follows her. There is no t a note o f music to all

this, nor to the ballet at the end of the first act, which isind icated in the stage directions.At Naples there were no restrictions on female singers ,

but the souorette does not appear fo r some time . Theusua l types are the old man and the Old woman , bass andtenor respectively. I n La Caduta de’ Decemviri ( 1 6 9 7 )the old nurse S ervi l ia is a soprano, but the first real soubretteappears to be Lesoina in “ Odoardo I n La

Caduta de ’ Decemviri the comic characters are very pro

NAPLES 5 1

minent, and are both closely concerned w i th the abduction

o f Vi rgi nia . Flacco, the servant o fAppio, who is ratherl ikeLeporel lo, has an amusing air in Act I . with a colascione,

which he thrums at intervals during the recitative“ Theinstrument was a kind of lute with two strings tuned a

fifth apart, and be ing popular in South I taly, often appearsin later comic operas . Scarlatti gives it a characteristic 1

figureEx . 2 2 .

There is a good scene in Act I I I . , where F lacco, disguised as a woman , is discovered asleep by S erm

'

l ia. The

song which he sings before fall ing asleep is a very clever L

s tudy of a yawn.

Ex . 2 3.

Ft scco .

M i sti sba d i

mor

to di son -no , di son

HARVARD UNIVERSITY


mor to di son no .

As a contrast to this, there is the duet “N on ti vogl io,

in Tiberio imperatore d’

Oriente” with a page of

brea thless “ patter worthy o f Sull ivan.

Ex . 24.

The close connection of theparti (Inf o with the balletmay be seen in Odoardo, where a duet between L esoina

and Adolfo is continual ly interrupted by a troop o f crippledbeggars. On the exit o f Lesoina and Adolfo the cripplesdance to a rather stupid l ittle tune in time, after whichLesoina returns dressed as an old beggar woman , and the

dance is repeated , Lesoina refus ing to give the othersanything. Adolfo returns and s ings a ciacona, which is al ively movement in on a free ground bass, after sur

prising the cripples in their dance and giving them a

beating. Even if they are not associated with a regularbal let, the comic characters often dance themselves , as

in “ Tito Sempronio Gracco.

”

There being never more than two comic characters ina serious opera, it is obv ious that the nearest Scarlatti

NAPLES 5 3

could get to a concerted finale was a duet. But in theseduets there is never any dramatic

.

development. I n the

finales o f Mozart the drama is stil l in progress ; the

situation at the end is not what it was at the beginning.

I n the finales of Leo and Logro scino , wh ich are in one

movement only, this was hardly possible , yet we can

see that they were dimly working towards i t. But inScar latti ’s comic duets we must be content to find the

tendency indicated only by a confl ict o f interests. H is

characters quarrel , but he does not go so far as tolet either win . This confl ict of interests may easily beil lustrated by contrasting a serious duet such as th isfrom “ Eraclea "

Ex . 2 5 .

Mo—rirper te de-si o,

w i th a duet such as th is from La Teodora Augusta,which is one of the earl iest of its kind

Ex . 2 6 .

Tu troppo m’of-fendi , troppo m

’of-fen-di , Da me che pre

Continuo.


ten di , da me che pre ten di , Sap pia-mo-lo, di , sap pia mo-lo ,

Va det to co-si , va det to co si , hai ra-gio ne,

Oh tu vuoi ch’io ti can-ti la so l -

.

fa, ti can-ti la

Se t’ar -ri -vo , se t

’ar



Ex . 2 7.

Che ma-es-th l che bri -o ! che brio che lu-mi

DECIO.

Non mi tra-d ir, ben mi

A ma-mi, ser vi ta

DAMIRO.

Quan to, quan-to, quan-to, cormio,mi pia

Ser-vi , e ta

che bri-o l

DECIO.

beu mi -o l


DAMIRO.

Quan to mi pia-ci

Che vaghe la-bra l Che lu-miIRENE.

Che dol ci

In-gan-na-tri-cc I

ERACLEA.

E ta ci .

There is nothing in any previous opera of Scarlatt i s thati n the least leads up to this. I t was hardly the sort of

th ing to please a Neapo l i tan audience , except by itsnovelty, and the composer did not repeat the experimentuntil nearly twenty years later. We cannot regard it asbe ing a direct ancestor of the concerted finale , but it was

NAPLES 5 9

at any rate an interesting contribution to the technique o f

ensemole writing.

It was during this period o f S carlattIS activity that hedefinitely settled the form of the I ta l ian overture. Duringthe seventeenth century the opera overture had beengradually developed and extended, ma inly by the Venetians but the struggle between counterpoint and harmonywas st i l l undecided by the time that Scarlatti began hiscareer. If the use o f free imitation in a fugal style was a

convenient aid to the composition of vocal chamber mus ic ,it was sti ll more so in writing fo r the orchestra alone. It

was natural, therefore, that when composers began to writequick movements as introductions to Operas they shouldmake use of contrapunta l forms . But the I tal ians soonfound that i t was quite sufficient to start a movementcontrapuntally and then abandon counterpo int as soon as

all the voices had entered. I t is easy to sneer at them , as

Gounod has been sneered at, for“ setting out with a

pompous fugue ex position and discarding counterpoint atthe moment when its diffi culties begin .

" But in dramaticmusic, where a parade o f learning is out of place, and a

compo ser is bound to do his best to get the maximum o f

effective contrast with the minimum o f labour, Cavall i didquite right to remember that the fewer the parts are in a

contrapuntal movement, the more “ contrapunta l " i t wi llsound , and that when all the instruments are playing theirloudest together

,pla in harmonic successions will produce

the most imposing result. With Cava ll i and his immediatefollowers there is no regular plan fo r the connex ion o f

different movements in an overture . The fragmentaryslow movements sti ll survived, but the scheme of the overture as a whole was not clearly organized . The tendency,if any, was to the French form , though the f ugato betweentwo slow movements, as written by Cavall i and Agostini , issti ll far removed in spirit from the pompous Lull ian type.1

1 For a more detailed treatment of the subject see“Die Venetianischen

Opern-S infonien,” by Dr. Alfred Heuss, in the S ammeloand der Internationa le) :

M usikgesel lsckafl , Jahrg. iv. 3 .


Scarlatt i 3 early overtures are still ex perimental. Gl i

Equivoci has a slow introduction , not stiflly rhythmical,l ike Lullt s , but built up o f organ-l ike suspensions in theregular I ta l ian manner, followed by a qu ick movement int ime in a rough ternary form somewhat obscured by itsvagueness o f tonal ity after this comes a ba l letto. Thisfinal dance movement is the essential characteristic o f allScarlatti ’s opera overtures from Gl i Equivoci to Gri

selda.

” I t appears in various forms—minuet, march orgigue—and occurs in some o f the oratorio overtures as

well , though in these it generally wears the more sobergu ise of an allemande. The distinguish ing features o f themovement are i ts clear division into two parts , each t e

peated, and i ts vigorously rhythmical character.The bal letto, which occurs several times in S carlattI5

early works, is a dance o f quite definite character, as thisex ample from Gl i Equivoci wil l show

Ex . 2 8.

I ts characteristic feature is the double knock at the

beginning, and the fact of th is being the first type of

dance tune selected by S carlatti to conclude h is overtures,

shows how much importance he attached to the insertionin this place of a sharply rhythmic movement.

Pompeo begins with a g rave of fifteen bars in a

definitely binary form, followed by two dance movements,a oal letto and a cor rente, though neither is expressly so

called .

“ La Ro smene”

( 1 6 88) ex hibits a similar form .

This type of overture is found also in some of the earlychamber cantatas with instrumental accompaniment ; inthese a sol id al leg ro i n the grand manner would have beenout o f place. The oratorio Agar et I smaele ( 1 683 )

NAPLES 6 1

brings us nearer to the “ I ta l ian overture type. It

begins with a g rave in a very clearly binary formthen comes a presto in the Venetian

style,start ing contrapuntally , but continu ing on a

harmonic basis . A largo , which is purely transit ional ,leads into a square-cut movement in two repeated sections,followed by a curious l ittle coda in a different tempo. Th istype o f coda never occurs in the opera overtures, but i nmost of the oratorios and serenatas there is some sort ofattempt to make the overture run stra ight on into the

work itself. I t is no t so much a ta i l-piece to what precedesas an introduction to what fol lows, and seems to have beendesigned to provide a new nervous stimulus to the audienceto make up fo r the loss of the one which they would havereceived in the theatre on the rising of the curtain . Wefind much the same form in La Rosaura ”

an

analysis o f which is given in the “ Oxford H istory o f

Music, vol. i i i . Two serenatas of 1 6 96 (“ Genio di

Partenope and “ Venere, Adone , Amore give us a

quick movement in clear binary form , both preceded byan introduction o f slow suspensions and followed by a

dance movement ; in the second this is separated from the

presto by fifteen bars o f tremolo passing through variouschromatic chords from the relative minor to the tonic .This overture marks the transition to the new style . The

first example of i t is the overture written abo ut 1 6 96 fo rthe revival o f Dal Male il Bene .” The slow introduction drops out altogether, the overture beginning at oncewith a quick movement in no very definite form, thoughmore or less ternary as regards key distribution . A g rave

of eight bars leads from the relative minor to its dominantthrough various suspensions, and the overture ends with aminuet in two repeated sections. From this date the overture form is fixed , and hardly ever varies. The firstmovement gradually deve lops into a more organized struc

ture ; the second fluctuates between a mere chromatictransition passage and a definite slow movement ; the thirdexhibits all varieties of rhythm—but the ma in idea


remains the same . I t took some time, however , to arriveat a clear alternating binary form in the firstmovement . In La Caduta de’ Decemviri Scarlatti stillreta ins the old-fash ioned arrangement in whichthe subjects do not a lternate.

“ Il Prigioniero Fo rtunato 1

provides no more than a series of antiphona l trumpetflourishes ; the Opportunity fo r colour effects provided bythe use o f four trumpets seems to have distracted thecomposer ’s attention. I n Eraclea ” there is more definiteorganization , though the type is more that of a rondo.

The first subject is given out by the trumpets

Ex . 2 9.

Continuo.

and immediately repeated by the flutes and obo es, thetrumpets continuing an independent part, from which wemay infer that the two groups balanced in tone , though wecerta inly should not expect them to do so now if playing

f orte. This is followed by a second subject

Ex . 30.

after which the first reappears in the viol ins, in its originalkey. The second subject is then developed in variouskeys, as far as the trumpets will permit , and final ly thefirst subject reappears imitated at half a bar’s distance byflutes and oboes in unison , viol ins, and trumpets in turn ,

1 Ex tracts are to be found in Grove’s D ictionary of M usi c and M usi ci ans,vol . ii i. p. 62 0.



—al l are quite clearly individual ized. There are no comicscenes ; Per into is the only approach to a par te ouf a , and

he has very l ittle to do ; but all through there runs a l ittlevein of humour, as in the l ibretto of Scarlatti

’s later operaT igrane, which rather seems to suggest that the author,in the true spirit of the baroque, caught the grotesqueaspect of his own creations. The a irs are fo r the mostpart strikingly good , and the opera is also very interest ingfrom its employment of reci tati oo stromentato. As wehave already seen , the device had been used by Scarlatti before, 1 but in “ La S tatira i t is employed withgreat dramatic effect , both on the first rising of the curta in ,when Oronte is discovered on guard with the Persian armyin the moonlight, and later in the introduction to h is fineair “ Re trafi tto Crudo cielo, empio in whichScarlatti makes use of a more vigorous and broken style ofaccompaniment than he had hitherto attempted . Thewhole opera has that sense Of brill iant effect that characterizes the gorgeous frescoes with which the school o f

Guido Reni decorated the palaces of Rome o r Bologna.

P irro e Demetrio ( 1 6 94) is perhaps the best of theearl ier Neapol itan operas. I ts a irs show us Scarlatt i inhis first maturity, after he had definitely shaken off thetraditions o f Stradella and Legrenzi , and begun to developa style that may be considered as really his own . The

Opera had a great success , and even reached England ;i t was performed in London in an English version in1 708, and no doubt contributed much to the popularizationof I tal ian opera in this country. Unfortunately it was the

only one o f Scarlatti ’s operas that was ever given inLondon as a whole . With the advent o f I tal ian singerscame the custom of polyglot opera ,

” which has surviveddown to our own time, though we have fo r the most partgot rid o f the “

pasticci o as the favourite type of operatic

1 In the reprint of La Rosaura pub l ished by the Gesel lscltaft fur M usik

forsclzung , Professor E itner stated that the rea'

tativo stromenta to in Act III.

was the earliest known. It canno t, however, be even anterio r to that in La

S tatira ,”as it is found only in the manuscript representing a later revival of

the Opera.

NAPLES 6 5

enterta inment . Some o f the a i rs in P irro e Demetrioare well known sti l l Rug iadose, odor ose, and “ B en ti

sta,traditor

,

” both reprinted fa i rly recently, are typicalexamples Of Scarlatti ’s style during this period .

But w i th La Caduta dei Decemviri ” ( 1 6 97 ) and Il

Prigioniero fortunato ( 1 6 98) there appears a new element .Here S carlatt i ei ther languishes to cloying a irs in 133 time,all charming, and all exactly al ike , 1 or else s tampS

—

acrossthe boards to music o f that stra ightforward , square-cutcharacter that one would natura lly describe as Han

del ian .

” They remind one o f nothing so much as S ull ivan ’sfamous parody in “ Princess Ida.

” Need less to say, thestyle did no t originate with Handel

,and judging from

Handel ’s early I tal ian compositions, i t does not seeml ikely that Handel got it altogether from Scarlatti . I tsinventor was probably G iovanni Bononcini , o f whom it isvery characteristic. H is Opera ,

“ Il Trionfo d i Cami l la , performed at Naples in 1 6 9 7 , is full of vigorous, incisive rhythmsOf this type ; and some' readers will perhaps recollect theonce very popular a i rs in a similar style, L

’

esperto nocc/zi

ero and Vado éen spesso , both from his opera“Astarto .

I t was the kind o f tune to which even a viceregal footcould quite eas ily beat time

,and no doubt Scarlatti re

ce ived an intimation from high quarters that he would dowell to apply his talents in that direction . He did, andbetween 1 6 9 7 and 1 70 2 provided the viceroy with as muchrubbish as the most exalted patron o f the fine arts coulddesire to encourage . Nothing could be more tedious thanto wade through such operas as

“ Odoardo ,” “ Tiberio

Imperatore d’ Oriente,

and the first version o f “ TitoSempronio Gracco.

” They were evidently written in a

great hurry, with the thinnest possible scoring, and seldomconta in anything worth remembering except now and then

1 Pot/era Pettegn‘

na”(from Il Prigioniero reprinted in Les

Gloi res de 1’1ta1i e, is an eas i ly accessib le ex ample.

1 Vado ben spesso” has sometimes been erroneously ascribed to Salvator

Rosa. Il Trionfo di Cami l la ” is attributed in M . Wotquenne’s cata logue of

l ibretti to M . A. Bononcini ; but a sco re at Munster, dated 1697 (Naples ,Teatro S . Barto lomeo ) , bears the name of h is bro ther.


a comic scene o f some humour. They seem , however , tohave been successful , as many a irs have survived in manuscript stil l we may note that whereas of the earl ier operaswe often find complete scores

,sometimes wri tten out in

the most beautiful handwritings, and elaborately bound ,these later Neapolitan operas are hard ly ever to be foundcomplete. Of most of them we possess only col lections ofa i rs, without any recitatives to connect them w i th an in

telligible story , except in the comic scenes ; often the

instrumental parts are om i tted with the exception of the

bass, and the handwrit ing is that of the ordinary copyistof the music-trade. Eraclea ” is the best and the mostcharacteristic of the type ; Laodicea e Berenice ( 170 1 )seems also to have been a great favourite , no doubt onaccount of the jerkily pompous style of most o f i ts a irs.Not only at the theatres of the palace and of S . Bar

tolomeo was S carlat ti ’s work in demand , but also fo r the

celebration Of court functions and the enterta inments o f

the nobil ity. On these occasions the form taken by themusic was the Serenata , a dramatic cantata fo r from two

to five singers accompanied by the orchestra. As i n the

operas , the chorus hardly ever appears at a l l. The usualserenata consists simply of a number of a i rs and duetsstrung together on a fl imsy thread of recitative. The

subjects are pastoral o r mythologica l ; but, as with the

operas, the subjects are of l ittle importance. Arcadianlove-making at the beginning, vers ified politics at the

end—one could scarcely imagine anything less inspiring.

Conforto has many very vivid descriptions Of the kind of

entertainment for which it was evidently the proper th ingto secure the serv ices o f the royal Maestro d i Cappella ,

and the following account, though it certainly tells us l i ttleabout the actual music, gives us a characteristic glimpseo f the social surroundings in which S carlatti was obligedto work

“ There is no lack of change to be seen in this city, thevanity and folly of both the nobles and the people havingreached its highest ; nor do they care if they reduce

NAPLES 6 7

themselves to poverty to satisfy their tastes. ScipioneG iavo [obl i teration in MS . ] posthumous son of

S cipione [obliteration in MS .] not wishing to do lessthan his elder brother

,who wasted all his inheritance (and

that a very rich one) in va in ex travagance (wherefore heis reduced to l iving in some stra itness on noth ing butthe dowry of his wife , daughter o f Capta in Peppo Pepe) ,determined that he too would ape the Other

’s ways wherefore , having Obta ined at great expense from the CountPalatine o f the Rhine

, Duke of Neuburg , the title Of

Marquis of Landskron , Of which he took possession at thePa lace in order to enter the Chamber of Nobles; he , tothis same end, gave an enterta inment, lasting several days,in a house o f his near the founta in o f Mont’ Ol iveto, in themost sumptuous style , inviting ladies and gentlemen o f

the first rank , and spending indeed some thousands of

ducats . Among other things, on Monday of last week,the eighth of this month [October he held at hishouse a most l ively assembly, with the choicest music,consisting of ten instruments and four of the best voices ofth is city, directed by the Maestro di Cappella , AlessandroS carlat i [s ic] ; and to the large crowd o f ti tled persons,gentlemen , and lad ies that attended , he caused to beoffered continuously an unspeakable quantity of meats anddrinks of all kinds, with various fruits both fresh and

candied , as he did also fo r the large number of servantsin attendance on them . His palace was all most noblydecorated , and all l it with wax torches as far as the courtyard ; the sideboard consisted of two long tables of silverfai rly and symmetrically disposed, and there was vis iblein the distance a most beautiful founta in, also of si lver,which fo r seven continuous hours spouted perfumed water,about which fluttered a large number of l ive birds. Therewas also a pavi l ion of crimson damask, under which werefourteen superb tr i onfi

1of fru it both fresh and candied , as

well as other curious inventions. The which enterta in

1 A tr ionfo was an erection in sugar, &c ., rather after the manner of a

modern wedding-cake.

6 8 ALESSANDRO SCARLA TT I

ment lasted some time after m idnight, the ladies and

gentlemen , according to their usual habit, after havingfi l led their bel l ies and their bosoms with sweetmeats ,

land

having had every pleasure o f sight , taste , and hearing ,no t fa i l ing to scoff and make a mock of the solemn follyo f the last new marquis .”

Evidently the music was quite the least importantfeature o f these enterta inments , and private persons merelyimitated the extravagances o f the Spanish court. Yet,considering the occasions fo r which they were written ,Scarlatti

'

s earlier Neapol itan serenatas are fa irly good .

The most charming o f all his youthful works in this form ,

D iana ed End imione , was probably written before heleft Rome , as i t is in the careful manner of his earliestOperas , with a irs on the smal lest possible sca le , and ac

companiments finished with a del icacy fo r which he hadno time at Naples. The best of the Neapolitan serenatasis one composed in 1 6 96 fo r the birthday Of the viceroy

’swife , in which she is saluted by three allegorical representat ives o f Naples, the Genius of Par t/tenope, the Del zg/zt

of M ergel l ina ,and the Glory of S ebeto

? Here Scarlattiseizes such advantages as the form presented. No t beingrepresented on the stage , there was more scope fo r purelymusical treatment, and the composer could approximatemore nearly to the chamber style ; at the same time thevery best singers were ava i lable . The result is somethinghalf-way between the chamber and the stage , and th isparticular example contains some very good music , the

most attractive number being an a ir,“ Venticel l i lenti , lenti ,

accompanied by the concer to g rosso and two concer tini , oneat a distance , producing the effect of two sets o f echoes.The final air, Godi e spera ,

” in which the Glor ia del

1 Doppi o d’lzarxersi empi to i l ventre et i t seno di candi ti —Conforto seems

to mean either that they stuffed sweetmw ts into the bosoms of their dresses totake home w ith them ,

o r perhaps more probab ly that, being greedy and in a

hurry, they spi lt ha lf o f what they tried to eat.

11 The Mergell ina (the ex treme part o f the R iviera d i Ch iaja, befo re the

ascent towards Posi ll ipo ) and the r iver Sebeto are the western and eastern

boundaries o f the city.

NAPLES 6 9

S eéeto expresses the hope that the viceroy ’s wife willshortly give birth to a son and heir, is also extremelybeautiful.I ndeed , in writing music o f th is kind S carlatti seems to

have been less quickly influenced by the style of Bononcinithan in the opera . Even the serenata ,

“ Clori , Dorino ,Amore , composed fo r the visit of Phil ip V. of Spa in to

Naples in 1 70 2 , and sung while the king was at supper,though it conta ins nothing very striking, is still goodon the whole . It is no t until we reach “ 11 G iard inod ’ Amore ” that we find Scarlatti descending to positivevulgarity. The date o f this serenata cannot be definitelyfixed , nor can we be ce rta in whether it was written forRome or Naples ; but it is more probably Neapolitan ,owing to the inclusion of an a ir with a florid violin solo ,which also occurs in Laodicea e Berenice,

” produced at

Naples in 1 70 1 .

But although the chamber style st i l l afforded Scarlattian opportunity of writing serious music , as will be shownin the next chapter, yet Naples was becoming more and

more irksome to him . He was probably in financial difficulties , s ince in February 1 6 99 he had written to compla ino f his stipend being four months in arrear, adding that hewas urgently in need of payment owing to the large familywhich he had to support .

1 He no doubt earned a certa inamount by his operas and serenatas , but we may be surethat the kind of patrons whose reckless extravaganceConforto describes were not very likely to have beenregular in payment of their debts. The political d isturbances of the kingdom of Naples may very well havebeen an additiona l reason fo r his deciding to leave the

capita l and find a home elsewhere . The struggles fo rthe S panish succession had been troubl ing the peace o f

Europe for some l ittle time, and i n 1 703 the Austrian

1 Naples, R. Archivio di S tato, Mandati dei Vi cere, vo l . 3 13 , fo l. 138. From

the registers of the church of Montesanto , quoted on page 38, it would appea rthat his “

numerosa j an l ia ”consisted of three chi ldren only : but perhaps

o thers had been born to him, and baptized elsewhere.


cla imant, the Archduke Charles , formally assumed thet i tle of K ing of Spain as Charles I I I . On May 5 , 1 705 ,

he was procla imed king at Madrid , and on July 7 , 1 70 7,Count Daun marched into Naples at the head o f theAustrian troops

,being appointed viceroy very soon

afterwards ; not , however, fo r long, as in Ju ly 1 708 he

was sent to P iedmont on active service , and was succeededby Card inal Grimani , a Venetian . We sha ll see later howfavourable a reception Scarlatti obta ined when he yieldedto the cardinal ’s persuasions , and returned in 1 709 ; i ttherefore seems reasonable to connect h is departure fromNaples in some way with pol itics, although there is nomeans of knowing whether he himself took any active partin them .



Scarlatt i 5 early connection with Ferdinand is not easyto determine. Probably his first appearance on theTuscan stage was in 1 6 88 , when “ Pompeo ”

was givenat Leghorn . The same year , however, he produced I ]F iglio delle S elve at Florence in the Teatro del la Pergola,

rebuilt at the prince 's direction and newly opened on theoccasion Of his wedding. This was not a new opera,

having been given at Rome in 1 6 87 , and possibly earl ier .I t is a

“

favola boscareccia , and , though rather absurd ,contains some good music, in a style that points to a fairlyearly date o f composition . Another Opera , of which the

title is not known , came out at Pratol ino in 1 6 90 ,and

in 1 6 98“ L

’

Anacreonte Tiranno , which had appearedin Naples nine years before. Bu t although these firstoperas o f S carlatti performed at Pratol ino were not entirelynew , they were probably much rewritten . The sixteenai rs which survive of the version of Flavio Cunibertogiven at Pratol ino, are not to be found in e i ther scoreor libretti representing earl ier performances ; indeed , themanuscript describes the opera as nuooamente pasta in

musica .

" I t was probably fo r this performance thatScarlatti went to Florence in 1 70 2 . Once safely out o f

Naples, he had no intention of returning. He appearsto have stayed on at Florence fo r the product ion o f“ Arminio ” in the following year, but he probably foundthat Ferdinand was not incl ined to give him a permanentappointment , as he went to Rome at the end o f the year.H e nevertheless continued to write operas fo r Pratol ino, andduring the next few years carried on a considerable correspondence with the prince, evidently in the hope o f obta ining some more satisfactory position than he held in Rome .On the recommendation o f Card inal P ietro O ttoboni,

Archpriest o f S . Maria Maggiore (B asi l ica L i ber iana ) at

Rome, the chapter o f that church had on December 3 1 ,1 703 , appointed him ass istant Maestro di Cappella to

Anton io Foggia .

l The appo intment cannot have been a

1 Archives of S . Maria Maggiore. Th is is the only occasion on whichS carlatti’s name occurs there.

FLORENCE , ROME ,VENICE 7 3

very lucrative one compared to that which he had held atNaples, at least i f his salary had been paid him , and thesubordinate posit ion in a purely ecclesiastical establishment must have been additional ly irksome to him . Naplesindeed seems still to have held out some hope o f h is returning, as his post there was not official ly declared vacantuntil October 2 5 ,

How unsatisfactory both places were to him may beseen from his letters to Ferdinand de’ Medici . He writesto h im from Rome on May 30 , 1 70 5 , presenting his sonDomenico , whom he has sent on a musical tour withN ico lino , the singer

“ I have removed him [Domenico] by force fromNaples, where his talent had room indeed , but i t was notthe sort o f talent for that place (dove benc/ceavesse luogo i lsuo talento , non era ta lento per quel luogo) . I send himaway from Rome also , since Rome has no roof to shelterMusic , that l ives here in beggary .

” 2

Writing agai n (J uly 18 , 1 70 5 ) about his opera,

“ LucioManlio , which was to be produced at Pratolino, hesays

May your Roya l H ighness deign to regard the Operaas your vassal ; and as a wandering ma iden who, with nohome to shelter her from the mocking blows o f fortune ,kneels at the feet of your Royal H ighness , and invokesas a suppliant the mighty shield o f your high protectionand assistance , as in a safe harbour where she may res twithout having to fear the violence of the tempest.” 3

This flowery language appears to mean that neither inNaples nor in Rome could Scarlatti find an opera-house toproduce his works ; and this was very probably the case,owing to political disturbances at Naples, and at Romeowing to clerical hostil ity. Pope I nnocent XL, as wehave seen, did al l he could to suppress operatic performances , although they were carried on with some success

1 Naples, R. Archivio di S tato , Mandati dei Vicere, vo l. 3 19, fo l . 20 .

11 Archivio Med iceo , F i l m589 1 , No . 502 .

3 Ibid. , Fi lza 5903, No. 16 5 .


by various noble impresar i under the pretence of privateenterta inments . The short pontificate of Alexander VIII.

(Ottoboni ) , who, being a Venetian , was known as Papa

Panta lone, as h is M ilanese predecessor was cal led PapaIll inga ,

lwas more favourable to opera, especially as h is

great-nephew P ie tro, whom he raised to the purple i n1 690 , cherished ambitions as a dramatic composer. Theyoung cardinal ’s opera, “ Colombo,

” which was performedat Rome in 1 6 9 2 , was not very successful—an amusingsatire on it is quoted by M . Wo tquenne in his catalogueof I ta lian l ibretti—but he was certainly a sincere and

enthusiastic lover of music , and will always be rememberedgrateful ly in the history o f the art fo r the generous encouragement which he gave to Corell i , Alessandro and

Domenico Scarlatti , Handel , and many other musicians .Alessandro ’s friendly relations with him probably datedfrom 1 6 90 , when he set his libretto of “ La S tat ira and

also composed La Rosaura " fo r festiv ities at the FrenchEmbassy in honour of the marriages o f Marco Ottoboniwith Tarquinia Colonna and o f Urbano Barberin i withCornel ia Ottoboni. Conforto also tel ls us that when thecardinal and his father, Prince Anton io Ottoboni , a generalo f the papal army, came to Naples in 1 6 94 , a lmost thefirst thing they did was to go and hear the opera at

S . Bartolomeo, the opera being Scarlatti’s “ P irro e

Demetrio.

” I t is not until 1 707 that we have definiteevidence o f Scarlatti ’s being his Maestro di Cappella ,

2

but he probably received the appointment immediatelyon his return to Rome in 1 703 or 1 704 . The cardina lseems to have had a considerable connexion with theFrench government , as he became Protetto re del la Corona

d i Francia at the papal court in 1 7 10 ,contrary to the

will o f the Venetian Senate, who for this offence struckhis name o ff the l ist o f the Venetian nobi l i ty and deprivedhim o f his patrimony ; and i t may have been partlythrough his interest that Lu llns “ Armida was per

1 M inga is a M i lanese form of the negative.

1 He is so described in the l ibretto of Mitridate E upatore.

FLORENCE,ROME,

VENICE 7 5

formed at Rome in I tal ian in 1 6 90 . I nnocent X I I . , whobecame Pope in 1 6 9 1 , was not favourable to opera, butencouraged oratorio ; and Alessandro Scarlatti , thoughprincipal ly occupied at Naples , composed a ChristmasOratorio fo r him in 1 6 9 5 . There were also a few operaperformances during his reign , includ ing Scarlatt i

’s “ La

Teodora Augusta " ( 1 6 9 3 ) and his “ Cerone T i ranno diS iracusa which does no t appear to have beenvery successful . Bu t in 1 6 9 7 the Pope ordered the destruction o f the To rd inona theatre on grounds o f publ icmorality— the wits o f Rome quoting the psalm ,

“ M ari us

tuae fecerunt me et s ic repente praecipi tas me —sincethe same theatre had been almost entirely rebuil t earl ierin his reign . The performances were also forbidden at

the Teatro Capranica , which was the property o f CountD

’

Alibert , who had built it at considerable expense . Evenafter the death of I nnocent X I I . things were l ittle better

,

there being no performances Of operas that year on accountof publ ic mourning. During the next two years ( 1 70 1 and

1 70 2 ) there were some private performances, but in 1 703the earthquake aga in put a stop to opera

,and no records

of further operatic productions in Rome are forthcomingunti l 1 709 , when the Queen o f Poland (Marie Casimir)took Domenico Scarlatti into her service .

Under such circumstances Alessandro , as long as herema ined in Rome, was inevitably reduced to confininghis talents to the chamber and the church . FortunatelyCard ina l Ottoboni was as devoted to chamber-music as tothe opera, and i t was at his weekly music meetings thatScarlatti ’s cantatas were in the greatest demand . An

exceptionally large number Of them date from this period ,beginn ing indeed as early as 1 70 1 , and i t is interesting tosee that whi le Scarlatt i was obl iged to write h is operasdown to the level of the taste o f the Neapol i tan court , hefound in the chamber-music an outlet fo r the truer utterances o f his genius . At Rome these were better appreciated , and the more genu inely musical atmosphere of theplace , as well as the influence of such musicians as Corell i


and Francischiello the violoncell ist soon made itself apparent in the steady improvement o f his work from both thepoetical and the technical point o f view .

The charming cantata S arei troppo f elzce’

is one o f

the most interesti ng of those written before he left Naples.I t 15 rather more elaborate In form than most, and showsthe way in which Scarlatti was constantly using the cantata

as a field for experiment . I t begins with a very characteristic arioso ,

E x . 3 1 .

Sa re i trop-po fe

l i cc, S’io po

-tes si dar leg ge al mio pen-sic

ro . Sa rei trop-po fe l i cc, trop

-po trop-po fe

1 The autograph bears the date 30 Apri l 170 2 .

FLORENCE,ROME ,

VENICE 7 7

S’io po tes si dar leg ge a l m io pen-s ie

S ’io po-tes-si dar leg ge al mio pen sie

the main idea o f which is repeated several t imes in thecourse o f the cantata. These repetitions come at the closeof the recitatives, and are all much curtai led except thefina l one, which forms the conclusion o f the cantata .

Here Scarlatti treats the theme at greater length . I quotethe recitat ive in its entirety, so that the scheme of keyrelationship may be understood . The preceding ar ia is inG minor.

Ex . 32 .


ce ro in ca te-ni i l pen-sier, se v

’é ca-te -na c’humanpen

s’io po tes s i dar



devices in Bach and Handel that it may be hard toreal ize how gradual is their adoption by Scarlatt i . But

i t should be Observed that both of them , together withvarious other rhetorica l devices, receive their full valueonly when used in conjunction with modern tonal i ty. Wehave already seen in S carlatt i ’s early work how theinfluence o f the modes was stil l comparatively strongin I taly after German and English composers had almostentirely shaken it off. The more rapid progress of

Germany and England in this direction is due ma inlyto the healthy influence o f the Reformation and theconsequent increase o f serious interest in the squarelyrhythmical tunes o f the people. Northern composers ,too, have always had more sense o f harmony than o f

melody, and it wil l easi ly be seen how the study o f

harmony , in connexion with simple rhythmical tunes l ikeGerman chorales, led to the concise organization Of

harmonic principles on a sharply defined rhythmic basis .The a ir from a wedding cantata o f Pache lbel , quoted inthe “ Oxford H istory of Music , vol. i i i . p. 44 1 , is a

convenient i llustration o f this . I t is to some extent underI tal ian influence : but i t is thoroughly German in theforcible logic Of Its harmonic progressions taken in con

junction with its stra ightforward Obviousness o f rhythm.

The blunt directness o f its style could never have beenacquired by composers who , both during their earlytra ining and in later l ife , were obl iged, owing to thetraditions o f the Cathol ic Church , to devote themselvesto elaborate contrapuntal studies on the pulseless and

drawling rhythms of the ecclesiastical canto fermo, thatl ike

the serpent sly

Insinuating, wove with Gord ian twineH is braided train, and of his fatal guileGave proof unheeded .

”

I t was only when both composers and audienceswere absolutely certa in of the principle o f tonic relationsthat even the easy modulation to the subdominant could

FLORENCE, ROME,

VEN ICE 8 1

be employed with a sense o f security as a necessarybalance to the influence o f the dominant

,to say nothing

o f modulation to keys more remote.Returning to the cantata S arei troppofel ice, the arias

o ffer interesting material for the study o f structuraldevelopment. The first, in B flat

,is in a developed

binary form , w i th no Da Capo. This is quite ex ceptionalin the cantatas of this period, and indeed the structureo f the -whole cantata i s abnormal ; but its variety o f

forms and the beauty o f i ts material make it useful fo ranalysis here . The words o f the a ir consist o f fourshort l ines

Tat sepremo sentiero odorato,D ara spina clzepunge i l mio core

Va dicendo costarzte dolore

Aon aim menofra i vezzi del prato.

The norma l pract ice is to divide such a stanza in half,setting the third and fourth l ines as a second section , afterwhich the first two are repeated . I n this case , however ,such treatment was impossible , owing to the sense no t

following the metre ; and the same thing has happened inthe Second aria . thus compell ing Scarlatti to abandon theDa Capo form in both cases . This is no doubt the reasonwhy he has seized on the poet ’s repetition of the lineS arei troppo fel ice s

’

io potessi dar legge a l mio pens iero

in the recitat ives , and extended it into an ar ioso of

sufficient musical importance to make up by its returnfo r the want o f the Da Capo in the first two arias. Thethird aria su its the conventional plan admirably, and theternary form is therefore adopted : but the fact that the

poet has suppl ied two stanzas has aga in gu ided thecomposer to a particular treatment o f structural detai ls.

As in almost all cases , the first two l ines are sung twicet o form the first section. Now , if a compo ser sets thesame words twice over in one continuous section o f a

composition , he may treat them , rough ly speaking, inthree different ways . Excluding the case i n which themusic is exactly repeated , under which circumstances

F


the composer cannot real ly be sa id to have set the

words twice , he may make his second setting correspond to the first in rh

'y'

thm, but not in melody ; he may

make it correspond in both melody and rhythm ,vary ing

only in key, or he may make it definitely contrast inrhythm as well as i n melody and tonal ity . I n the ariabefore us, Scarlatt i adopts the th ird plan . I t i s obviousthat if, i n the formula

'

ABA, A can be represented as

o r some such group, the repetition will beintolerable when the original formula ABA is itselfimmediately repeated in its entirety . If A is to be

heard four times, we can afford to put more materialinto it, and make its organization more subtle . S carlatt itherefore uti lizes the continuo as a means o f unification .

Its introduction

E x . 33.

l? 4 3 U

is made up o f two figures , which accompany the first andsecond statements of the words respectively,

E x . 34 (a ) .

E x . 34 (o).

FLORENCE , ROME,VENICE 83

both being developed a li ttle beyond the quo tat ions given .

The second phrase natural ly is made to end in G minor,and, as usua l, a l i ttle coda follows . The vocal materia l isnew, but the bass is not

EX 3 50

no i l con ti

and the continua adds yet another coda on the same subjectafter the voice leaves Off. The form cannot in any way beclassed as a ground-bass, but there is a certa in analogy withthe a ir “Ioper g ioco o i mira i analysed in Chapter I . The

second section (B) must be studied in connex ion with thefirst. Just as there were three types fo r section A,

so forsection B we may apply much the same system of class ifi

cation . B may be as complete a contrast to A as possibleboth in melody and rhythm ( its tonal ity is always contrasting as a matter o f course) ; it may reproduce A more or

less in rhythm or melody, or both o r i t may combine bothschemes, as i t does here. As a whole

,it forms a complete

contrast in deta i l i t is almost entirely made up o ffragmentso f A worked up into someth ing like a regular moderndevelopment sect ion .

”

This is complicated but thecomplication is justified because the poet’s two stanzascause the whole movement to be heard twice.Let us now turn back to the first aria—“Ta l sepremo.

Here there is only one stanza, and no Da Capo. Scarlatti


can therefore treat his words at rather greater length, andin th is way is better able to organ ize the aria in such a wayas to combine elaboration with lucidi ty.

E x . 36 .

A tempo g iusto .

Ta! se

pre-mo sen -t ie ro o -do ta -to , du -ra spi na

,

du ra spi na che pun-ge il mio co re va di

CO -I’

C V8

FLORENCE , ROME,VENICE 85

Tal se pre-mo sen

du ra spi na che punge i l mio

d i cen-do, co stan-te, co stan te do

4 3 6 6 6 6


7 6 6 6 7 6

I have quoted the aria at length in order that thevariety o f deta i l and the relation of the parts may be fullyappreciated. The four lines o f verse are cut up into s ix

groups o f words, each o f which is quite sharply defined,though together they form a melodious whole of singularbeauty . Lines one and four provide what we may cal ldefinite first and second subjects of strongly contrastingcharacter, and the subsidiary figures taken from lines threeand four are useful fo r purposes of modulat ion , and notwithout an individual ity o f thei r own . The ingenuity o f theconstruction is further enhanced by the vocal coda derivedfrom the second subject, and the instrumental coda derivedfrom the first but modified so as to bal las t the whole ar iawith a powerful subdominant i nfluence. At the sametime it should be noted, in connexion with what has beensa id about the use o f the subdominant and modern tonal ity ,that the aria contains no example whatever o f a deceptivecadence.

The second aria is less important. It is shorter thanthe first

,but is definitely organized in a scheme based on

the formula AABB . The fi rst stra in A ends on the

dominant ; the second starts aga in on the ton ic , and doesnot modulate . The first stra in B is in the relativeminor ; the second , which is rather extended , starts in the



E x 39

The refinement of viol in technique in Corelli’s time wasdue

-

to the desire to emulate the example of the singers ,and no doubt the violoncello felt the same influence . Butas early as 1 70 2 the influence of the instrumentalists wasbeginn ing to react in the converse direction, as we seefrom the following extracts.

Ex . 40.

ha, non ha mai pa cc.

FLORENCE, ROME ,VENICE 89

Here we can stil l say that the influence is fo r good ;the figure is as apt to the voice as to the v ioloncel lo .

This development of instrumenta l style is important also inits relation to structure. The arias in almost every cantatabegin with an introduction fo r the continua alone . In mostof the earl ier cantatas and in some o f the later ones thisintroduction is derived from the open ing vocal phrase , andan audience would no doubt watch with interest to see howthe accompanist would treat as a bass what in the majorityof cases seems more adapted to harmonization from below.

But when in the later cantatas the voice is accompanied onits entry by a contrasting and clearly individual ized instrumenta l figure, it is this figure that forms the introduction ,and it Often becomes easy fo r the composer to use itthroughout, independently o f the formal scheme o f the

voice-part. I n theory a mere figure of accompaniment, itgains additional thematic importance in practice from thefact that the whole is conceived in two-part harmony ;

l theex amples a lready given , as well as those to follow ,

willsufficiently illustrate its value as a structural element .

On April 2 6 , 1 706 , Corelli , Alessandro Scarlatti , andBernardo Pasquini (then organist of S . Maria Maggiore)were admitted members o f the Arcadian Academy underthe pastoral names of A rcimelo , Terpana

'

ro, and Protico.

”

1 The bass wou ld, of course, be harmonized on the cemoalo, but i ts th in

metall ic sound wou ld give the chords a j ing ling e lusiveness that we can hard lyreal ize on a modern pianoforte. For us it is better to treat the accompanimentpo lyphonically, but no t in more than three parts and indeed Scarlatti’s own

po lyphony is so complete that it is often difficult enough to add a single partin a wo rthy style.

1 The entry in the original MS . catal ogue runs as fo llowsRag unanza LXXX

CItiamata Generate

A l x ° di Targel ione stante l’anno 1 ° del Ol i rnp . DCXX1 ob A .j . Gl imp. IV.

An. IV. gi orno l ieto

la 7 erra di Pol i teia in Acaia

A lessandro S car latti Palermi tano


Crescimbeni gives us picturesque gl impses o f their musicalperformances in his curiously “ precious,

” records o f theearly Arcadian meetings . We see them on one occasiontaking part in a concert at the house ofM etaureo—AbateDomenico Riviera .

l I t was arranged by Scarlatti , and

there was a considerable band of strings and wind. Firstcame a S inf onia o f Corell i then two cantatas o f Pasquinito words by G ian Battista Fel ice Zappi (Ti r si ) . Afterthis came a duet by Scarlatti , a lso to words by Zappi ,followed by an instrumenta l piece o f some sort. S carlattiwas at the harpsichord , but managed at the same time toobserve that Zappi was in process o f thinking out a newpo em. He begged Zappi to produce’ ; it ; Zappi agreedto do so on condition that Scarlatti set i t to music at once .

S carlatti assented,and

“ no sooner had Ti rs i finished hisrecital than Terpandro , with a truly stupendous promptness, began to transcribe the verses recited , w ith the musicthereto ; and when these had been sung, the sou ls o f thosepresent received of them so great de l ight , tha t they noton ly obliged the singer to repeat the song aga in and aga in ,but also urged both poet and musician to display their ski l lafresh . After some pressing, Zappi and Scarlatti repeatedtheir impromptu performance , and “ meanwhile every onewas astonished to see how two such excel lent Masters, theone of poetry and the other o f music, did contend ; andtheir contention was so close that scarce had the one

finished repeat ing the last l ine of the new air than theother ended the last stave o f his music. ”

Prince Ruspol i was another great Arcadian and patronof Scarlatti . For him were written some o f the serenatas,a form of composition fo r which S carlatti was much inrequest at Rome. They were probably sung at enterta inments , as at Naples, rarely as serenades beneath a lady ’swindow

,though there are a few solo cantatas with some

direction indicating the latter purpose. I n such cases thereis nearly always some characteristic style o f treatment

, as

in the cantata H or c/ze di Fel o ascos i”

fo r soprano and two1 Crescimbeni, Arcad ia , Lib . vi i . Pro sa v.



d ivided into concer togrosso and concer tino ,which in the Operasis unusual . I t is moreover in these serenatas that the influence of Corell i i s most apparent. To what extent Scarlattiand Corelli were personal friends it is difficu lt to say.

According to Burney, whose information, coming fromGeminiani , ought to be trustworthy, Scarlatti had no verygreat Opinion of Corell i as a composer

,though he admired

his playing and his direction o f the orchestra . I t can

hardly be doubted that Corell i d id quite as much fororchestral playing as for solo playing or composition .

H ow great h is reputation as a leader was is seen fromthe qua int description of him in the Fer ragosto of Zappiand Crescimbeni

Or vedi lu i , c/z’

al Coro a lmo genti le

Sovrasta, epar la destra armi di penne ?

£i aa se solo, e a null’

altro simi le.

.Degl i Angel ici Spir ti ci girl sostenne

Le melodic poscia a l eare i l suolo,

Lascio i l celeste Coro, e a noi sen venue

E seco trasse dal suo cbiaro Polo

L’

unisonanza nonpi t} in Terra udita

0nde crediam cento stromenti nu solo.

” 1

To his influence we may safely attribute the developqment of that definitely orchestral style which made i tsappearance in Scarlatti ’s operas after his second return to

Rome ; and however li ttle Scarlatti may have professedto admire his compo sitions, he at any rate did not disda into imitate them . I ndeed the l i l t of Co rell i’s gigues seizedhim l ike a S t . Vitus’ dance , and turns up everywhere,sometimes in the most unexpected places .

Geminiani ’s well-known story (recorded by Burney) o fCo relli

’

s break-down in a compos i tion o fS carlatti’s at Naples

1 Seest thou that gentle soul that leads the qu ire,Bearing as

’twere a feather in h is hand ?

Like to none o ther but himself alone,Once of the angels’ ho ly songs he boreThe tuneful burden then to bles s the earth ,

Left the celestia l quire and ca me to us

And with h im brought from his bright heavenly homeThat pure concent ne

’er heard on earth before,

By wh ich a hundred instruments seem one.

”

FLORENCE, ROME ,VEN ICE 93

is hard to understand . Corell i , as we know,was never a

great executant, but S carlatti is hard ly likely to have writtendifficult passages for him after being so much under his influence. I ndeed in the whole o f S carlatti ’s extant works thereis only one passage o f viol in music which seems intendedfo r a display o f virtuosity—the introduction to the a ir Ti

r endo ancor la pa lma” in Laodicea e Berenice. ” Fét is

supposed it to have been wri tten for Corelli ; but as

Laodicea came out at Naples in 1 70 1 , and Corell i nevervisited Naples ti ll about 1 708, this does no t seem veryplausible. The passage is not at all in Co relli ’s style , and

goes a good dea l higher than he was accustomed to, besidesinclud ing a trying passage across two strings in a highposition ; but i t i s curious that Scarlatt i should have transplanted the entire a ir, solo and all , into the serenata l l

G iardino d’

Amore,” especial ly as i t was quite contrary to

his custom to dish up a composition a second time.

I t was hardly possible fo r a composer to l ive in Rome,especially under the patronage o f a cardinal , withoutwriting a certa in amount o f music fo r the church . I t wassti ll the tradition to write masses “

al la Palestr ina , and

Scarlatti accordingly produced the Missa Clementina I .in 1 703 , and in 1 706 a mass fo r Card inal Ottoboni . Thefirst is wel l written and conta ins many canons , but a lthough ,judging from the number of copies to be found , i t seemsto have excited the admiration of professional contra

punt is ts , l ike the Mass in F , which is all in canon , i t isextremely dry. Of the ecstati c feel ing of Palestrina thereis not the least trace. The Ottoboni Mass 1 is ratherbetter ; i t has a sense of modern tonal ity and a certa i namount of feel ing. But Scarlatti was not by nature a

church-composer, least o f all at th is period of his l ife.1 The autograph is in the Vatican l ibrary . It is a huge fo l io , with the music

not in score but in separate parts so arranged that al l the singers cou ld singfrom the same book , the notes being very large. The who le manuscript is sobeautifu l a specimen o f musical cal igraphy that one could hardly bel ieve it tobe the autograph of a great compo ser were i t no t for the wo rds

“propr ia

manu scrzpsi t A lex ander S car lattus”on the ti tle-page. It is unfortunate ly in a

very bad state, the ink having eaten through the paper so that the pages are

literal ly dropping to pieces.


In his motets and oratorios he is often picturesque and

sometimes quite beautiful but he is too classical in spirit,too much o f a poet, to write such music as is usually cons idered to be devotional. Of the early oratorios “ Agaret I smaele ( 1 6 83 ) is the best ; l ike the early operas, itis carefully written , with great attention to poetic expression . Il Mart irio di S . Teodosia ”

( 1 6 85 ) is of interestonly for the fine fugal chorus which concludes it. Ap

parently, however , it was not to the taste of the audience ,as nothing of the kind occurs in the later oratorios.The Concer ti S acr i published by Etienne Roger at

Amsterdam probably date from somewhere about 1 700.

These are a series o f ten motets fo r from one to four voices ,accompanied by two viol ins and continuo. They consistmostly of Da Capo a i rs and recitatives, with an occasionalar ioso or ground-bass ; there is l ittle four-part wri ting.

The style is generally florid , and suggests the gaydecorat ions o f the I tal ian J esuit churches. S ometimesit is positively ludicrous in its baroque bri ll iance ; and

when one comes across a passage like th isEx . 43.

0 0 0 0 0 0W

quItrI-bu-It m i-hI In-tel lec

Vi ol ins .

Continuo.

intel lec



Infirmata vulne

114 “6 6 6 £62

1

With such music as this to be heard in the churches,i t

is smal l wonder that Benedict XIV. was obl iged to orderthat the consecrated elements should be kept in a sidechapel, because the congregations habitually tu rned theirbacks on the high a ltar to l isten to the singers placed inthe western gal lery !1

The papal taste, however, does not seem to have beentoo severe, at any rate in Scarlatti

’s time . He producedseveral oratorios and sacred cantatas while in Rome

,

mostly for performance at the Vatican,but there is very

l i ttle serious music in them . They are general ly eitherdull or frivolous. Il S edecia

” conta ins a beautiful duet,

1 Grétry, Al l /names .

FLORENCE,ROME ,

VEN ICE 97

Col tuo velo,” 1 but the greater part o f the oratorio is

ex tremely tedious, and it is curious that it should have been

so much admired as the number Of ex tant copies, bothcontemporary and modern,

would seem to attest. TheAnnunciation Oratorio is rather better ; the a ir Verg inel la

for tunata,” in which the angel del ivers his message, is pure

and dignified in style , and the Virgin has a very beautifulair, S tesa a p ie del tronco amar o,

” in which she contemplates her future sorrows with a fine expression of

exalted feeling. The work is also interesting from a

curious arrangement o f the introductory S infonia whichrecalls Mendelssohn’s E l ijah ” indeed , the displacementof the movements is made from an analogous motive . Theoverture begins with an a l leg ro o f fifteen bars in G minorending in the dominant ; this is immediately followed bythe Virgin ’s air , S ommo D io

,

” which is in a ca lm and

serious style . The rest o f the overture is then played ; ashort passage of slow-moving suspensions and an a l leg ro

in binary form , no t a definite dance-movement, but, as i susual in the oratorios

,strongly rhythmical , and fulfi ll ing

the same aesthetic purpose . This movement , however , isnm in the key of the first, but in F major, and is at oncefollowed by the angel ’s a ir i n the same key ; Scarlattiseems to have wished to efl

'

ect a compromise between theconventional overture-form and a descriptive symphonysuggesting the angel’s arrival.As a ru le the libretti of the oratorios are not very

inspiring. They read like inferior opera-books, and

indeed , ex cept that the operas are in three acts and the

oratorios in two, the only difierence is in the absence of

professedly comic characters , and o f the formal statementin which the author protests that the words Fato, D i o,Deitd, &c are only sclzerz i poetici and imply nothingcontrary to the Cathol ic Fa i th . I ndeed, when in theFer ragosto Of Zappi and Crescimbeni A lfes ioeo can thus

1 Pubhshed (not without some touching up) in Carl Banck’s Duette A lter

Mei ster .


ex pla in to Ti rsi the shaven polls and ha irless faces of thepapal singers

Servono al sommo Pan quei , cite vedesti

Sensa le clziome, e son cantor’del tempio,

Adorni di pensier saggi e modesti ,1

i t seems almost curious that an analogous protest was notrequired for the oratorios from the point of v iew of

Olympus.S carlatti , as usual , makes the best of a bad job.

Humanita e Lucifero is rubbish from beginn ing to end ,but in the Rosary ” oratorio he probably del ighted hisaudience by giving Peni tence an air S taro nel mio

oosclcetto qual dolce rosignuolo —accompanied by twoV iolas and a nightingale , the latter being treated in thetoy-symphony style

, at the player’s discretion ; and the

Assumption Oratorio ends with a duet fo r the heavenlyBride and Bridegroom ,

the fascinating grace of whichcould only be paralleled in the frescoes of Correggio .

Ex . 45 .

Continuo.

l They serve great Pan whom here thou dost beho ldWith hair and heard close shorn chaste are their thoughtsAnd wise, for In the temple rites they sing.

”



Sen ti l

FLORENCE, ROME,VEN ICE 10 1

gl’an gio-l i van can

Compositions of this kind were always performed at theVatican on Christmas Eve after vespers , before the Popeand the cardinals sat down to a banquet decorated withtr ionfi , representing the Nativity.

1Co rell i

’

s once verypopular Pastoral Concerto was , no doubt, composed for a

s imilar occasion. The question has been much discussedas to whether the Pastoral Symphony in “The Messiah ” isan original compos i tion o f Handel ’s or not , and I believethat the word “Pifa

” with which he headed it has beensometimes accepted as definite proof o f its being an

actual folk-tune . I t seems much more reasonable toconsider the movement simply as an imitation of the tradit ional style . To recover the precise melodies o f thezampognar i o f Handel

’s Roman days is impossible ; mostprobably they played then as they do now, tunelessmelodies, picturesque enough in rhythm and colour tomake the passing stranger stop and l isten fo r a moment,

1 Adami, Osservaz ioni per ben regolare i t Coro dei Cantori del la Cappel la

Pontxj ia'

a. Rome, 17 1 1 .


but not sufli ciently definite in character fo r a composer tou til ize without modification . The variety in similaritydisplayed by the numerous specimens in Scarlatti ’s worksshould be enough to prove that they were not derivedfrom any one particular traditional tune . The most wecan say of Handel ’s Pastoral Symphony is that it wasvery probably modelled on this particu lar a ir of Scarlatti ,certa inly the most a ttractive o f al l his pastoral movements.

Rome was not S carlatti ’s only field o f activi ty at thisperiod. H is dramatic talent found scope at Pratol ino,though it may be doubted whether his work there wasentirely satisfactory to him . An “ Arminio ”

was performed at Pratolino in 1 703 , but there is not sufficientevidence to identify it with Scarlatti ’s opera of that namegiven at Naples in 1 7 14. But i t is fa irly certa in thatTurno Aricino was the drama of Stampiglia whichScarlatti ’s letters prove him to have set to music in 1 704,

although fo r the later revival at Rome it must have beenalmost entirely composed afresh . There can be no doubtas to Lucio Manl io l’Imperioso ( 1 70 5 ) and Il GranTamerlano The music to al l four Operas , exceptfragments Of the revised version Of Turno Aricino ,

”

has

entirely disappeared, a loss the more to be regretted sinceS carlatti evidently took a great deal o f trouble over boththe last two, and seems to have considered them as the

best that he had produced up to that time.H is correspondence with Ferdinand throws an in

terest ing l ight on his ideas and his methods. The operaperformances at Pratol ino took place in September ;accordingly Ferdinand sends Scarlatti the first act of S ilvioS tampigl ia

’

s drama ,

“ Lucio Manl io, on J une 9 , 1 70 5 ,

S carlatti acknowledges the receipt o f i t on J une 1 3 , withhis usua l compliments

,and a fortn ight later sends Ferdi

nand the music. “ I have pa id more attention, he writes,“ to the mixed character of the audience, than to the naturalimpu lses of my own insipid pen, precisely as the authoro f the drama seems to desire and perhaps the music wil lbe able to give more pleasure to those who like to take



mand that was la id upon me. Nevertheless, I may havedeceived myse lf ; perhaps from the vehemence o f mydesire to fulfil it in that form which should best succeed inmeeting with that most gracious compassion which thenoble and heroic mind o f your Royal H ighness hasdeigned to grant me , i f only from excess o f the in imi tableclemency which there occupies its rightful throne. Havingcomplete confidence in the same , I take the l iberty of

o flering, i n the semblance o f a holocaust, a brief epitome ofmy intentions in composing the music o f this opera , al

though as regards the two preceding acts, I can say l ittle,no t having them by me ; although I have given preciseinstructions with all possible clearness to the author of thewords saying that where the music is marked g rave, I donot mean it to be melancholy ; where marked andante, notfast , but with a feeling o fmelody . Where al leg r o, no t at aheadlong rate where a l leg r iss imo , no t in such a style as todrive the singer to despa ir, or to drown the words. Whereandante lento, in a style that should not be pathetic , butrather tender and charming, so as not to lose the sense ofmelody ; and in all these a irs there should be no melancholy.

l I have always made i t my a im , in composing forthe thea tre, to make the first act resemble a child thattakes its first steps but feebly ; the second a youth thatwalks erect and sure and the th ird should be l ike a youngman, swift and strong, ho ld of undertaking and successfulin all that he undertakes. This I have done in LucioManl io,

’

an opera which completes the number of eightyeight dramatic works composed in less than twenty-threeyears, and to which I should have wished to give a crownas being the queen o f all the others . If I have no t hadthe abil ity to make it such I have at least been boldenough to attempt to do so .

1 Dove 2segnatograve, non intendo malenconi co dove andante,nonpresto,

ma ar i oso. Dove al legr o, non precipi toso dove al legr o, tale che non af anni i lCantante, ne afi g lti laparole. Dove andante lento , in forma, clie esclude i l

pateti co, md sia nu amoroso vago, cke non perda l ’ariosa ed in tutte le ar ie

nessuna ma lenconica.

”

1 Archivio Med iceo , F i ls a 5903, No . 16 5 .

FLORENCE ,ROME,

VEN ICE 1 9 5

This lengthy letter, o f wh ich the rest has already beenquoted earl ier in this chapter, is o f i nterest as showing us

something of Scarlatti ’s methods. He seems to imply thatcomposition was almost a mechanica l process fo r him , and

that the function o f the imagination was no t to d irect butto critic ize . And indeed the process, strange as it mayseem to a generation that has no t yet been able to shakeoff the false sentiment of the romantic movement , was yetlegitimate and natural enough to a composer who belongsto the severest period o f classicism , when beauty and purityo f style ' were still considered as more important thanoriginal ity and V iolence of expression .

The directions given as to style,as well as several

passages in other letters , show that Scarlatti was any

thing but indifferent as to the proper interpretation o f hismusic. I have been carefu l to give the original I tal ianas wel l as a translation, since it is difficult to find adequateequ ivalents in Engl ish for some o f Scarlatt i ’s expressions.The composer’s meaning becomes rather clearer if we remember the extent to which singers were accustomed to

vary the melody o f an a ir. Audiences o f S carlatti ’s daymust have been sufficiently fami l iar with this habit to beable , perhaps half unconsciously , to decipher the origina lmelody

'

under the variations o f the singer, o r at any rateto form an idea o f the principles o f its construction thatwould suffice to give them a logical understanding of theperformance . I t is however Obvious that a singer whowas not a good music ian might not merely extemporizebad variat ions, but might even so far ignore the originalmelody as to entirely stultify the faculty o f the audiencefor the appreciation of musical form. Thus the wordar i oso, which we now use conveniently and not illogical lyto denote a kind o f music between recitative and air,

was used by S carlatti not as the title of a form , but asa direction to the singer to be careful to preserve themelodic sense in music wh ich at first s ight might seemto demand the declamatory S tyle o f recitative ; and i t wasequal ly natural that he shou ld use it in a case where a

1o ALESSANDRO SCARLATT I

singer might have been tempted to take too many l ibertieswith the time or to indulge in an excess o f extemporarycoloratura. H is insistence on avoiding the “

patetico and

ma lenconico shows us that even the age o f oel canto was

no t free from singers who made a speciali ty of the tearfu land mawkish style.

Lucio Manlio was S carlatti ’s eighty-eighth Opera :

1] Gran Tamerlano,” which was written fo r Pratol ino

the following year, he describes in a letter as his ninetieth .

What was the eighty-ninth , and fo r what theatre was i twritten ? NO trace o f i t is to be found , unless we supposeScarlatt i to have counted as an opera the few a i rs whichhe added to a pasticcio cal led “ La Pastorella,

” composedby Cesar ini, G iannino (G iovanni del V iolone P) , and

Bononcini , that was represented by marionettes— the rea lsingers singing behind the scenes—at the Palazzo Venez iain 1 70 5 .

Il Gran Tamerlano seems to have given S carlattisome trouble . The part Of B assane, composed original lyfo r a contralto who had sung the previous year, had tobe rewritten fo r Signora Tilla ,

who was a soprano ; and

in spite o f all efforts , “ Lucio Manl io ”

appears to havebeen too serious

,as Ferdinand wrote to Scarlatt i on

April 2 , 1 706 :“ I shal l be very much pleased if you wi l l

make the music [of Il Gran Tamerlano ’

] rather moreeasy, and noble in style ; and if, in such places as is permissible, you will make it rather more cheerful .

” 1S carlatti

was very much pleased with the l ibretto (by G . A. Salvi ) .“ I have read the th ird act of ‘Tamerlano ’

and find it allthat it ought to be , and an excellent end to i ts admirablebeginning and continuation , the proof o f which is that inthe whole course o f this beautiful work I find the plotso strong, so Charming, so new and so spirited , that thestrength and qua l ity Of the recitative ( in which the scenicaction is represented) prevents me from wishing fo r thea irs, as is genera lly the case .

” 2The opera was finished

1 Archivio Med iceo,Fi lsa 5903, No . 497 .

Ibid .

,F i lea 5903, No. 208 .



to the throne. Her son M itr idate E upatore, the rightfulheir

,has disappeared, and his sister Laodice has been

married t o a shepherd to get her out o f the way. At thebeginning of the opera S tratonica and Farnace, fearing thereturn o f E upatore, Offer a reward fo r his head . Two

strangers undertake to bring it needless to say one o f thetwo is E upatore in disguise, and the other is his wifeIssicratea i n male attire . The brother and sister have a

recognition-scene in the classical manner, and the Operaends with the death of Bar uace and E upatore

’

s return tohis kingdom .

Scarlatti seems to have done his best to produce a

masterpiece worthy o f the glorious traditions Of VenetianOpera . The style o f Eraclea ” is not altogether abandoned , but the airs are mostly broader and more dignified ,besides having more materia l put into them . The characterization too is very good. E upatore himself is perhapsa rather conventional pr imo uomo, but the tyrant Farnace,cynical and cowardly , is well drawn . S ti ll finer creationsare the two women . S tratonica is an eighteenth-centuryOr tr ud—the pol i tical woman , ready to commit any crime tograt ify her ambition . Laodice, however, is far removedfrom the type o f E lsa or any other namby-pamhy heroineof early German romanticism hers is the classic grandeurof Leonora , Donna Anna , and [pl ugénia I t is curiousthat in this Opera, perhaps the finest that Scarlatti everwrote , there should be no love scenes. The most passionateemotional outburst is that o f Laodice, when she lamentsthe supposed death o f her beloved brother . NO love-songo f Scarlatti ’s, beautiful as his love-songs often are , can

rival the intense sincerity w ith which he has pa inted a

s ister’s affection ; i s it too fantastic to suppose that wehave here a touch o f autobiography , and that he remembered Anna Maria in the convent o f S ant’ Antoniello at

Naples—Anna Maria, who, nearly th irty years ago , was

singing on the stage of this very theatre ?The fourth act, in which this occurs , Opens with a

solemn march , during which the procession starts that isto carry E upatore

’

s head to the usurpers . Two muted

FLORENCE ,ROME ,

VENICE 1 9 9

trumpets and drums lead off, echoed by two trumpets1and

drums from the ship at the back Of the stageEx 47 .

Due Trombenel l ’ Orckestra

after which the strings effect modulations to the dominantand the relative m inor, ending with a few bars o f coda in abrisker tempo. Handel seems to have remembered thiswhen he wrote “ Saul ,

”fo r if he did not actually hear it

performed, he may very likely have seen the score , beingthrown much with the Scarlattis at this t ime.

Laodice enters. She takes the funeral urn fromE upatore

’

s reluctant hands, and pours out her lamentat ions on i t in a magnificent recitative, too long to quotehere entire.

Ex . 48.

O M i-tri -da -te mio per na-tu ra German, mio Re per

341 It is hard ly conceivable that the Tromoe mar ine, as they are called in

the score , were the stringed instruments of that name, although the parts mighthave been played on them. The instrument was almost entirely obso lete in1 707, and at the height of i ts popularity was practically confined to Germanyand France.


gra -do , Per cu ta,

Ex . 49.

In sin-ghie-ta,

per e ta per a-mor, Pi -gl io !

fu nes ta, em-pia al-le-grez-za ! Da chi pIu



del mio d i let

The recognition takes place directly after this, and‘

brother and sister join in a duet that strangely expressestheir half-frightened joy ; but after a good scene betweenLaodice and S tratonica the act loses in interest. The lastact is most d i sappointing ; Scarlatti makes nothing of thefine dramatic situation where E upatore presents S tratonicawith the head, not of her son, but of her lover. Still ,although Cara tomoa

” stands head and shou lders aboveall the rest, and indeed above any other air i n any otherOpera

,o f Scarlatti , Mitridate Eupatore conta ins a great

many very fine movements , in spite o f its inequal it ies .But it appears to have been rather beyond the appreciationo f the audience, fo r his second Venetian Opera , l l Trionfodella L iberta

,

”as far as we can judge from the fragments

that rema in , was far inferior to i ts splendid predecessor.

CHAPTER IV

URBINO, 1 707 ; NAPLES , 1 708- 1 7 18

IT can hardly be doubted that S carlatti went himself toVenice to direct his operas it was the general custom for

composers to preside at the harpsichord , at any rate for a

firs t production, and Scarlatti is no t l ikely to have beenabsent on so important an occasion as this. If furtherevidence be needed , there is the cantata in Venetian d ialect“ Dove x estu , cor mio ?

” which he is not l ikely to havewritten anywhere else. He probably rema ined at Veniceup to the end o f the Carnival, or perhaps no t so long. Wehear o f him next at Urbino , and i t is no t unlikely that hewent there from Venice by way o f Ferrara. Two M i sereres

for five voices and strings were Copied by Santin i at

Ferrara in 1 8 2 4, apparently from the l ibrary o f the cathedral . One is dated 1 70 5 , and another copy by S antin i o fthe same composition is dated 1 7 14 . The latter date isqui te a possible one as far as the music itself is concerned ,but Scarlatti seems to have been firmly established at

Naples then ; 1 70 5 is an equal ly unlikely date, as hiscorrespondence with Ferdinand de ’ Medici shows him tohave been at Rome during Lent o f that year. I t is only in1 707 that there is a decided probabil ity o f h is havingpassed through Ferrara . No trace, however, Of theoriginal manuscript is now to be found in the library o f

the cathedral , and i t is not even mentioned in a catalogueo f the eighteenth century. Why he should have visitedUrbino is no t very clea r, though as the reigning Pope

(G iovanni Francesco Albani) was a native o f Urbino, atthat time no longer an independent duchy but incorporatedw ith the Papa l States , there may have been some specialreason fo r Scarlatti ’s rema in ing there from April to Sep

1 13 H


tember. The length o f his stay at Urbino is proved by a

manuscript o f the beautiful duet-cantata Questo si lenzio

omoroso” dated “ In Ur l ino

,1 7 7

1" Anothercharming duet-cantata,

“Abi cite sarci di me, was writtenon September 2 , no doubt fo r the same singers.Scarlatt i seems to have been in financial d ifficulties

aga in , as far as can be deduced from his correspondencewith Ferdinand . He wrote to the prince from Urbino inApril , sending his good wishes for Easter and hintingobscurely at misfortunes Of some kind. The etiquette o fthe day apparently considered it indecent to allude franklyto money matters in corresponding with royalty ; but wegather that he was without occupation and unable to supporthis family.

1 Ferdinand,however

,must have been convinced

by this time that Scarlatti ’s operatic style was too learnedfor the autumn diversions Of Pratol ino , and had no i ntentiono f appointing him permanently as Maestro di Cappella.

I ndeed he was now entirely taken up with Perti , who wrotethe next four operas fo r Pratol ino, and who , to judge fromhis epistolary style, was more incl ined to write music according to Ferdinand’s taste and less given to long-windedex planations. Ferdinand ’s answer to Scarlatti , written onApril 2 3 from Florence , is conventionally pol ite, but no tencouraging ; he contents himself with saying that heis sure that Scarlatti will always meet with the due rewardof his merit

,and that he may count upon his sympathy and

his prayers .Scarlatti was probably back at Rome for Christmas,

since it was fo r th is occasion that he wrote the first Of histwo masses in A with orchestral accompaniment. Thework is interesting as being one o f the earl iest o f its kindbut it is very evidently a first attempt in a new style and

no t al together successful. The second , which will be d iscussed later on, i s very much better.Few works can be ascribed to 1 708. Of the opera

L’

Humanita nelle Fere ,” which was probably a revival

of an earl ier work under a new title,the music is lost,

1 Archivio Mediceo , F i lza 5903, No . 2 87 .


1 1 6 ALESSANDRO SCARLATT I

until in 1 7 1 1 his last l ingering illness put a final stop tothe operatic performances at Pratol ino.

According to Ba ini 1 Scarlatti resigned his post at S .

Maria Maggiore in 1 709 ,having succeeded Antonio Foggia

as principal Maestro in May 1 707 . But i t seems moreprobable that he left Rome towards the end o f 1 708, sincethe Gazzetta di Napol i , mentioning his opera Teodosioproduced at the Teatro S . Bartolomeo on January 2 8 ,

1 709 , says that he “was persuaded by H is Eminence

during the last few months to retu rn here from Rome tothe service of th is royal chapel .” H is Eminence was of

course Cardinal Vincenzo Grimani , then Austrian Viceroyof Naples.Scarlatt i s precise position at the Neapol itan court is a

l ittle difficult to determine. After the leave o f absencegranted him in 1 70 2 had expired without his returning, acerta in Gaetano Veneziano was appointed to the vacantpost on October 2 5 , Gaetano Venez iano was

succeeded on December 5 , 1 70 7 , by Francesco Mancin i .“

On December I, 1 708 , Cardinal Grimani ordered that

Alessandro Scarlatti , having been obl iged to give up hispost after near ly twenty years ’ service, should aga in beadmitted to the service of the royal chapel to act as deputyfirst organist in the absence or illness o f other music ians.‘

I t was only natural that Scarlatti should feel suchfavours as humil iating ; and he probably refused to acceptthem , since on January 9 , 1 709 ,

the cardinal gave instructions that Scarlatti should be restored to his original offi ceof Maestro di Cappella, and that his stipend shou ld beincreased from thirty to forty-two ducats a month (about

36 84 a year) , Mancin i being consoled with the title of ViceMaestro, and be ing a llowed to reta in his original stipendo f thirty ducats a month (about If60 a year) , with the duty

1 Memor ie stor i co m’

ticlte del la vi ta e del le opere di Giovanni Pier luzgi daPalestri na. Rome, 182 8.

1 Naples, R. Archivio di S tato, M anda ti dei Vi cere, vo l . 3 19, fo l . 20.

1 Ibid . , M andati dei Vicere, vo l. 32 2 , fo l . 16.

Ib id ., Mandati dei Vi cere, vo l . 324, fo l. 2 8 verso.

URBINO, NAPLES 1 1 7

o f acting as S carlattIs deputy in his absence or i llness , andthe right of eventually succeeding to his post. 1

Scarlatt i certa inly returned to Naples, and seems tohave been well received by the court, since in addition toTeodosio (the music o f which has disappeared) be produced an oratorio for the feast o f S t. Joseph , Il Trionfodel Valore ” (also lost) , at the palace in May appearedthe opera L

’

Amo r Volubile e T i ranno, and on August 2 8a cantata fo r four voices for the birthday o f the queenE l izabeth, wife o f Charles I I I . But it seems doubtfulwhether he was definitely reinstated as Maestro d i Cappella ,

o r at any rate whether he accepted the position , since in1 7 1 3 (May 2 7) the new viceroy, Count Daun

,repeated the

orders given by the late Cardinal Grimani on December 1 ,1 708, and January 9 , 1709 , with regard to Scarlatt i ’s reinstatement and increase of salary .

1 This time he must haveaccepted the post defini tely, since on J uly 2 2 , 1 7 1 3 , theviceroy allowed h im an additional five ducats a month forthe servant whose duty it was to call the musicians o f thechapel together fo r the ceremonies in which they took part .I t is possible that Scarlatti did not establish himsel f

definitely at Naples. He is described as .Il aestro del la

Rea l Cappel la i n the libretto o f “ L’

Amo r Volubile eTiranno” ( 1707) and

“ La Principessa Fedele ” butduring the next three years he does not seem to havewr i tten anything fo r Naples. I n 1 7 1 2 he produced

“ l lCiro at Rome, having composed it in the previous autumn ,and i n 1 7 1 3 his oratorio S . Fil ippo Neri was performedat Fol igno, whether fo r the first time may be doubted.

But the confirmation o f his appointment by Count Daunseems to have been definite , and fo r the next few years ,at any rate, Scarlatti remained at Naples.

“L’

AmorVolubile e Tiranno” is a retrogression towardsthe style o f “ Eraclea ”

; no doubt Scarlatti thought thatNeapolitan taste would be no better now than it was tenyears before. But with La Principessa Fedele he enters

1 Naples , R. Arch ivio d i S tato , Mandati dei Vicere, vo l . 3 24, fo l . 39-40.

1 Ibid. , Manda ti di Vi cere, vo l . 33 1 , fo l. 1 verso and 2 .


definitely upon the new phase to which M itridatelooked forward . None o f the operas o f this period rise tothe height o f M i tridate , but they Show a continuousprogress in technical development. One o f the mostnoticeable features is the treatment o f accompaniments .I n the early operas the cemoa lo i s almost a lways theprincipa l accompanying instrument, the V iol ins being usedon ly in occasional a i rs, and then as a rule only fo r coloureffects, l ike the trumpets it is very rarely indeed that theysupport the main burden o f the harmony. But as V iol inplaying improved Scarlatti made more use o f the strings ,sometimes even trying experiments in dividing them .

These, however, are less modern than would appear at

first sight ; fo r the object o f S carlatti ’s d iv ision o f thevioli ns into four parts is not to get four-part harmony fromthem , but to obta in two orchestras which play antiphonal ly,as fo r instance in Appia

’

s a ir,“M a i l m io oen c/cefa , a

’

ov é .9

in the first act o f La Caduta dei Decemviri .” I n most ofthe a irs in Eraclea ”

and the other operas o f this timewe find the strings accompanying al l through , as wel l asthe cemoalo. The noise must often have been considerable , but it perhaps suited the cast-iron style o f the tunes.I n M i tridate

,however

,there is a tendency to get rid

o f the cemoa lo, and during this further period it becomesScarlatti’s frequent practice to accompany the voice withvioli ns , violas , and violoncel los alone— sometimes, indeed,without violoncellos , or even V iolas—letting the cemoalo

and double-basses enter in the r itornel l i only .

The a irs, too , conta in much more material than before.Then , the only contrast was between the first part and thesecond , and that a sl ight one at the best ; now , by en

larging the scheme, Scarlatti gets quite strongly contrastedmaterial into both parts, as well as a sharp contrast betweenthe parts themselves . The theatrical style o f the thirdperiod is sti ll kept up

,and considerably developed

,but

though his work has gained in vigour and i ncisiveness o f

expression, i t has lost much o f i ts old tenderness and

charm . He uses coloratu ra very freely— Sometimes, i t



which is not vi rtuoso music at all, and was most probablysungpianissimo in a tender, dreamy style. The idea is carriedout by the recitative in which she tells the story of the song,quite in the manner of a chamber-cantata . But it is rare

to find such lux uriant coloratu ra used in this way ; forlater compo sers i t was no t showy enough , though there isjust a touch of i t in Leo’s “ S . Elena al Calvario. We

shal l find a truer paral le l i n the C/toralvorspzele fo r the

organ of Buxtehude and J . S . Bach .

Il C iro, begun in October 1 7 1 1 , and produced inRome fo r the Carnival o f 1 7 1 2 , i s notable for its ballets.Whether they are all Scarlatti ’s cannot be sa id, since theautograph score has been much altered for a later revival .But some are undoubtedly his, being in his own handwriting. They are fo r the most part curious l i ttle scrapso f music, so short, even with the repeats, that the dancecould hardly have got well started before i t was all over.The dances of Furies at the end ofAct I I . are typica l o fthe style.

URBINO ,NAPLES 1 2 1

un’a ltro ,purepresto in menuet.


Such qua int l ittle movements are in themselves sufl‘icient

proof that the ballet in I tal ian opera was still regardedas necessarily grotesque. The heading of the second“presto in menuet

” is curious. There are plenty o f minuetsin Scarlatti ’s operas, and i t is clear that they must havebeen danced much quicker than the menuet de la cour

”

as

we know it in Don G iovanni. I ndeed Rousseau in hisdictionary tells us that the minuet was always danced fasteron the stage. But we can hardly conceive Ex . 54

being played as fast as the other minuets seem to require ,although its rhythms do not seem very suitable to thestate ly movements of the classica l dance. I t must, however,be borne in mind that in S carlatti

’s day there was alwaysless difference between fast and slow tempi than there isnow. We have a lready seen how he protests aga inst anextreme interpretation o f his tempo-marks, although hewishes careful attent ion to be paid to them . As M . Sa int



Although called “ bal lo, i t can hardly have been anyth ing less stately than a march. I t is fol lowed by a hymn ,sung by E lcino and repea ted in chorus

,which seems to

anticipate the similar scenes in “ Alceste,” I phigenie en

Tauride,”and Die ZauberflOte.

T igrane ( 1 7 1 5 ) is the most famous o f all S carlattIsoperas, and though no doubt it owes much o f its d ict ionaryreputat ion to its being his hundred and si x th work fo r thestage , it certainly is the best representative o f this particularperiod . I t has the great advantage of a clear and welldesigned plot , which in addition to its regular parti oufi

'

e

has a vein o f subtle humour runn ing all through Tomi r i

makes fun of her lovers as she plays off one aga inst theother, and her rival M er oe in the disguise o f a gipsyfortune-teller makes fun of everybody.

‘ But from a musicalpoint o f V iew the opera is no t equal to its reputation. It

produces a general impression o f brill iance and magnificence ; but examples o f real ly deep feeling or exaltedmusica l beauty are rare. This is characteristic o f the

whole of th is period . The characters are striking,the

music is striking ; variety o f expression , brill iant colora turaand melodic beauty contribute to make everything as

URBINO,NAPLES 1 2 5

showy and effective as possible ; but there is no gettingaway from the utter unreal i ty o f the whole business. The

outrageous incongruities of the comic scenes are a positiverel ief ; crazy as their characters are

,they are very much

more human and natural than the heroes and heroinesof the conventional tragedy.

The comic scenesf

o f Tigrane are d istinctly good,

and are a lso notable as being among the very few wheredialect is employed ; not Neapol itan , however, butBolognese, and that only for a few sentences, mixed withthe absurd Latin of Or cone as a Dottor Graz iano, and

B ar i l la’

s still more absurd attempts at German.

1The

final scene o f Act I . deserves mention , as i t shows a

certa in sense of musica l parody in the use o f pompousrecitativo stromentato fo r comic purposes. I n the previousscene M eroe has arranged a simulated evocation of her ownghost for Tigrane, who believes her dead ; the part o f thewizard is played by her servant Orcone. During theserious interview between Tigrane and the supposed ghostof M eroe, he has gone to sleep, but wakes up after theyare gone and is discovered by Dor i/la. She of course seesthrough his disguise , and wishing to have some fun withhim, requests h im to ra ise her a ghost ; he somewhatreluctantly proceeds to perform an incantation , stammeringwith fear lest it should rea lly take effect. The stammeringi s a rather trite form of humour, but contrasted with the

solemn movements o f the orchestra it becomes absurdlyludicrous.

E x . 56 .

Continuo.

1 Dari lla fortunately supplies an Italian trans lation herself of her air,l o bin lzpaoer , i c l ioe, li teelse,

”which turns out to represent Ich binLiebhaber,

ich Iiebe, liebe Du,” ia sono amante, ia amo, ama tu .

”


ORCONE .

Dai cu, cu, cu, dai cu -pi vor -ti -ci ,

dai cu-pi vor-ti-ci del l’ ombre or-ri b i l i .

Tigrane i s also interesting as being the first o fScarlatti ’s operas that shows a tendency towards modernorchestral writing. I t conta ins a good many little dancesand marches , but these are general ly scored thinly , al l theupper instruments playing in unison , o r at most in twoparts. But Tzgrane has an a ir in Act I . accompanied bytwo horns, concer to di ououoe

” 1

( i .e. oboes and bassoons in1 The spell ing “

ououoe,”which is regularly used by S carlatti and h is con

tempo raries, is as ex act a representation as is possible in Italian of the French“Izautoois,

”as it was pronounced at that time.



l iterary I tal ian. Being a success , the experiment wasrepeated, and a style was developed that depended fo r itsinterest on the l ively presentation of popular types of

character, with an occasional parody of the turgid style o fopera ser ia. In the early comic operas all the characterstalk Neapolitan except those who are held up to ridiculeas Romans o r Florentines ; later the number of dialectcharacters is reduced . Scarlatti ’s opera presents a verycurious exception , since not one o f the characters talksNeapoli tan or any o ther dialect.The plot has a remarkable resemblance to that ofDon G iovanni ,

” except that the hero repents at the end,without supernatural interference . The scene is la id at

P isa,and the time was probably the present day or any

period that happened to suit the costumier’

s convenience.R iccardo, a young profl igate from Leghorn, while visitinghis uncle Flam inio, arranges to elope with Dora l ice, nieceof Cornel ia , an old lady whom F laminio is anxious tomarry on account of her wealth. The elopement is frustrated by Leonora, whom R iccardo has deserted , and herbrother E rminio, who is in love with Doral ice. Leonora

and E rminio are no t unlike Donna E lvi ra and Don Ottavi o,

but Doral ice certa inly has nothing in common with Donna

Anna, being quite ready to run away with R iccardo .

Rodimar te and Rosina , the servants of R iccardo and

Cornel ia respectively, are ordinary par ti ouj e, but withmore part in the genera l action than usual ; we see inthem the prototypes of L eporel lo and Zer l ina. Musicallythey look as far forward as Rossini ; even Mozart hardlyarrived at such exuberant humour as we find in theirduets Or via damegg ia ,

” with its absurd parodies o fgrandopera, and

“Ferma , ferma , o cospettaccio ,”a string o f short

chattering, giggling phrases, evidently intended to bespoken rather than sung, unified by a short v iolin-figure,with now and then a real musica l phrase to round off

a cadence.

RODIMARTE.

Oboes Viol ins

unis.

Continno.

URBINO,NAPLES

E x . 57 .

RoslNA (Contral to) .

1 2 9

che cos’ e? che cos’ (1 ?

S cu-si, scu-si l’er

no , no , no , no , non voques to l


go da pur d i quest’0 no re, lei lo pren

-da, 10

No, no

,non eo -ne -sta l Vi -a !

lei si ser-va, s i ser-va !

Of the rest it is di fficul t to pick out single a irs as

i l lustrations. The music is always full o f l ife and humour,sometimes in the orchestra

,as when Cornel ia scolds Fla

minio for making love to her servant Rosina , sometimes inthe voice-part i tself, as in some of R iccardo

’

s a irs. Thispart, which is fo r a soprano, was sung by a woman , no tby a castrato, and its florid phrases well suggest the hero

'svanity and profl igate cynicism.

Rosina’

s a ir A vete nel volto has a very arch effect ofapos iopesis which is o f interest from a technical point o fV iew, besides exhibiting the characteristic charm of Scarlatti’s l ight and playful style.



we end with the usual chorus o f jubilation . The music iso f l i ttle interest.The other serenata was composed in 1 7 1 6 fo r the birth

o f the Archduke Leopold , who , however, died the sameyear. I t is on a very large scale , having parts for fivevoices (the four seasons and J upiter) and being scored fo rwhat was then a large orchestra. With regard to the score,however, there is some confusion , as the manuscripts exhibit divergencies . Each part is preceded by a sinf onia ,

the second having only the last two movements o f the

conventiona l form . The whole composition wel l il lustratesthe serenata style , which was intended to combine thebrill iance of the stage with the elaboration o f the chamberbut although it sometimes atta ins to a remarkable beauty ,i t is very Often extremely tedious, especially at this periodwhen Scarlatti ’s “ bri ll iant ” manner was occasional ly inclinedto superficiality. Spr i ng has an attractive a ir, Canta dolce

i l Roszgnuolo," in the S ici l iana style , the flute representing

the n ightingale with an unusual s impl icity and restra int ,and A utumn (contra lto) has an a ir in the first part , Fuor

del l’

urna le bel le ona’

e, with a very careful ly writtenaccompaniment fo r viol ins in unison , two violas , and two

violonce llos . But the part o fA utumn seems to have beensung by a singer who made a special ity o f

“ rippl ing ” effects,and by the end o f the serenata they become most wearisome. The work is brought to a conclusion by a quintetin rondo-form ; some o f its themes are graceful—it washardly possible no t to be graceful in 183 time—but generallyit exhibits S carlatti ’s curious inabi l ity to grasp the possibilities of choral effect.The birth of the Archduke was also celebrated with an

opera, La VirtiITrionfante dell’ Odio e dell ’ Amore,” pre

ceded by a special prologue also by Scarlatti ; and i t wasprobably in connexion with this that he received the

honour o f knighthood , as he is called Caval iere fo r the firsttime in the l ibretto o f “ Carlo Re d ’

Allemagna , producedat the Carnival o f 1 7 1 6 . I t has been suggested that hewas made a knight o f the Golden S pur by the Pope, at the

URBINO ,NAPLES 1 33

request o f Card inal Ottoboni. If this were the case, i t iscurious that he should no t have been kn ighted earl ier whenhe was l iv ing in Rome as Cardina l Ottoboni ’s Maestro d iCappella . I n any case the order was no great honour, fo rZedler 1 tells us that by 1 6 77 i t was sufficiently commonfo r the Venetian ambassador to be not a li ttle surprisedat receiving it , while in later years it fell sti l l lower invalue , being scattered broadcast by all Papa l nuncios andmany other dignitaries o f the Church. The Maltese crosso n S carlatti ’s tombstone suggests that he was a knight o fMalta , but no documentary evidence in support of th ishas yet come to l ight.Two oratorios , “ S an Filippo Neri ( 1 7 1 3 ) and theTrinity Oratorio present a curious contrast that

seems to illustrate wel l S carlatti ’s attitude towards sacredmusic. The l ibretto o f the latter work is a discussion onthe nature o f the Trinity between Fai l /c, D ivine Love

(soprano) , T/ceology (alto) , Unoelzef (tenor), and Time

(bass ) . Whether the arguments on either s ide are

particularly convincing is not a question fo r the musica lhistorian ; but however sound the doctrines may be ,the operatic stanza is hardly a convenient l iterary formfo r their presentation , nor does the subject seem at all

appropriate to musical treatment. S carlatti has , if po ss ible

,surpassed his poet in dryness.S an Filippo Neri ,

” on the other hand , is one o f

his best oratorios. There is a rea l feel ing o f sincerityabout it, though no t all o f i t is in accordance withmodern taste . The simi le o f a ship on a prosperousvoyage leads S t. Philip into vocal rippl ings which are

pretty,but rather out o f place , and in the air “ S on come

destr iero the pawing and champing of bo th voice and

viol ins throw Handel ’s frogs qu i te into the shade . But

where genuine human feeling comes in S carlatt i rises tothe occasion . There is something seraphic in the brill ianceo f C/za r i ty

’

s high soprano a i rs ; Fa i tlz speaks with a largeHandelian dignity, and the pathetic reci tativo stromentato

1 Universal-Lex i con , Hal le and Leipzig, 1744.


in which the sufferings of the crucified Chr ist are

describedEx . 59.

Guard .

Con mo -ri -bun-do ci gl io e-gl i in



spiri t is shown in the well-known Laetatus sum, for fourvoices

,

1 which is as vigorous as any work of Leo. I t wasprobably composed as a study in counterpoint , as the onlycontemporary manuscript has no words , and is headedM odu latio sex ti toni tres cog itationes unaque A rmonia ,

referring to the three subjects , exhibited first separatelyand fina lly all together. The Requiem is in a style similarto that of the other masses, and may perhaps be ascribedto this period. I t is not known for what occasion it waswritten ; possibly fo r the death o f C lement X I . in 1 7 2 1 ,

though the mass fo r the accession of his successor, I nnocent X I I I . , was merely dished up from o ld work ; and at

so late a date we should expect a stil l more modern style .

The Requ iem is rather unequal, and seems to vary in

qual ity with the character o f the words. Where they aremerely l i turgical , Scarlatti is du ll ; where they touch somegenuine human emotion , as in the Requ iem aeternam theS anctus and Osanna , Scarlatti i s genu inely poetical . TheD ies i rae is nOt set, being sung to the tradi tional plain-song.

The same poetical touch is seen in the two M isereresfo r five voices , strings, and organ in E minor ( 1 7 1 5 ) andC minor These , l ike many other settings ofpsalms, are rather loose in tonal i ty , but this is due as muchto looseness o f form as to modal survivals . I ndeed , formappears only in a free balancing of rhythmic sections andi n the recurrence every now and then of fragmentaryphrases which make for a vague unification of the whole,the idea be ing to express the words just as they come, as inVerdi ’s S taoat M ater , though there the strophic charactero f the poem necessari ly gave a more symmetrical d ispositionto the music within the l imits of single sections .The other psalms are for the most part unsatisfactory.

They have some beau tiful moments, but are very un

equal. Generally they include some treatment of an

ecclesiastica l canto fermo, so that the tra i l of the modes

1 Printed in Proske’s M usica D ivina .

1 It is possible that these were written some ten years earl ier, as suggestedat the beginning o f th is chapter.

URBINO,NAPLES 1 3 7

is sti ll over their harmony , and though the style of

Palestrina is definitely abandoned , the new techniqueof harmonic counterpoint is no t yet quite perfected.

Leo has a complete mastery over it, but Scarlattidoes not always real ize the necessi ty o f individual iz inghis parts in a polyphonic chora l movement. I t cannothave been due to lack o f skill , fo r his two-part writingin the chamber-cantatas is not surpassed by J . S . Bachhimself, and the M issa Clementina II. shows that hesaw in what d irection choral music had to go

—indeed ,the final chorus o f “ S . Teodosia ” pointed th ither as

early as 1 6 85 . But in much o f his chora l writing theparts cross and recross so often , and contrast so l ittlewith each other, that the l istener is quite unable to pursuethe development of a part icu lar subject. The best of thepsalms is the Laudate puer i Dom inum for five voices and

organ . I t begins with a bass solo in E minor,practica lly

in un ison with the continuo , varied by coloratura . I t isnot in the style of an aria , but has the character of a fuguesubject , and immediately gives a rough suggestion of a

fugal answer by repeating itself i n the subdominant ; i tthen returns to a second repetition in the tonic , extendedby a coda. The other voices enter at S i t nomen Dom ini ,

sung by the second soprano to the fourth tone as a canto

fermo, the other voices having free imitations. Thismovement is also in E minor. A sol is or tu and Laud

aoi le nomen are set fo r soprano , al to, and tenor only , thefirst theme being repeated at the end of nine bars, afterwhich the second is developed fo r twenty-five bars more.

The movement is gentle and melancholy in character, andthe A sol is or tu has a despa iring expression strangelyout o f place in so cheerful a psalm o f praise .

Ex . 6 1 .A 5 04 13 or tu us que ad oc-ca sum.

A so-l is or tu us que ad oc-ca sum.


The E x celsus super omnes forms a welcome contras t,being in five-part harmony in C major, and the nextsection , et super coelos,

” though mostly in minor keys, isfa irly vigorous and massive . I t ends in C major, afterwhich comes a duet , Qu is sicat Dominus ,

”

fo r sopranoand alto in the imitative manner o f the chamber-duets.S uscitans a ter ra is set as a florid soprano solo , treatedin a fugal spirit, l ike the opening bass solo, if one can

conceive of a f ugato for one voice. The continuo neverimitates i t at all .

E x . 6 2 .

citans a ter in o

I t is followed by a well-developedf ugato on ut col locet

cam for all five voices,E x . 63.

ut co l-lo-cet cum cum prIn ci pi-bus po

-pu l i su i

cet e um cumprin

contrasted with which is Qu i ltaoitare feci t, a longmovement in full harmony, fall ing into definite rhythmicalperiods . The Glor ia is given out by the first sopranoalone in a sort of ar ioso ;

“sicat erat

”

is sung to imitations on the canto j ermo. The tonal i ty of the motet isfirm throughout, in spite of the use o f an ecclesiasticalcantofermo, so that it evidently belongs to a late period ;



that stimulated him to such ex traord inary studies in ad

vanced harmony as the chamber-cantatas ex emplify. I twas in 1 7 1 2 that he made the celebrated exchange o f

cantatas with Francesco Gasparini. The deta i ls o f thecorrespondence are not known . Apparently it began byGasparin i sending Scarlatti a setting o f the cantata“Andate o miei sospi r i .

” Scarlatt i replied to th is composition, which is remarkable fo r nothing except itsdryness , by sending two settings of the same words .The first is in G minor, headed “ in idea lzumana ,

”

and

the last a ir has an alternative setting “

per intingolo.

” 1

The other setting is in F sharp minor, in idea in/cumana,2

ma in regolato Cromatico, non eper ogni Prof essore.

”

The “ human ” cantata may fairly be taken to representthe best setting o f the words that Scarlatti could conceive.

The a i rs are melodious, and though their harmoniespresent nothing s tartl ing, they are qu ite modern in feeling. The most interesting movement from a historica lpoint of V iew is the introductory ar ioso and recitat ive.

Ex . 6 5 .

An da an-da

l

1 Scarlatti’s hab it of making an I: that somewhat resemb les an E (fo r a

good facsimi le of his handwriting see the catalogue of the l ibrary of the BrusselsConservato ire, vo l . i. ) led Burney and others to read th is wo rd as taEumana ,which, it was suggested , must have been an academic pseudonym

URBINO,NAPLES 14 1

an-da te, an-da te, an-da te 0 mm sospm 0 mm 5 03

es -so delmio le pe sappia, sappia da vo i

This is comparatively simple, and shows at once thatthe composer has just began to real ize the possibil ities ofthe chord o f the diminished seventh . I t was by no meansa new chord ; but S carlatti is probably the first compo serwho grasped what might be done with it considered as an

absolute chord , not as a suspended discord arrived at by a

contrapuntal process o f preparation. And in the aboveextract there are more diminished sevenths than thosemarked fig the second chord o f the fourth bar may besafely regarded as implying an A flat and not a G. Scarlatti’s figuring is always rather irregular but by comparingbasses with voice-parts it is found to be a fa i rly generalrule, though no t an absolute one , that $2 impl ies the thirdinversion of the minor ninth, while the third inversion ofthe dominant seventh is genera lly figured g, and the discordant second prepared . The last bar o f this example ,however

,suppl ies an exception .


The next step is to go from one diminished seventhstra ight to another by a fa ll o f a semitone. This example

E x . 66 .

Ma fin -ge-ré qual fin ad 0 ra ha fin to

is from the second recitative o f the same cantata . A singlediminished seventh will carry a modulation a fa irly longway without obvious eccentricity o f resolution , but two o rmore together can make the l istener lose his bearingsso completely that he does not know whether the nex tresolution be complicated or simple.

The second cantata was written with the del iberate lntention of puzzl ing Gasparini . I ndeed to the modern readerit is not easily intell igible at fi rst sight

,even allowing for

modern unfamiliarity with the style and the notation so wecan imagine how Gasparini must have been bewildered byits amaz ing successions of chromatic harmonies

,especial ly as

Scarlatt i , with a characteristic sense o f humour, has started

straight o ff with a th ird inversion of the supertonic seventhin the key of F sharp minor, and has left the bass unfigured.

This at any rate was his intention , but either from force o fhabit, o r possibly with deliberate irony

, he has put in a

harmless figure here and there in places where the moste lementary pupil would have had no difficu lty in supplyingthem instinctively.

The first reci tative shows his methods.



a quel bel se

o -gn'

un d i vo i s’

ag-gi ri ; an da te, an

It is at once apparent that the acc identals make themusic look more complicated than it really is. As i t is ,modern notation saves several of these , and three sharpsto the signature would have saved severa l more. The

sudden change to flats in the fourth bar might have beenavoided by writing the second bass note as F doublesharp . Bar 8 shows a curious treatment of a 2 chord , andwe find an analogous case in the second reci tative, whichbegins unmistakably on the second inversion o f the chordofC sharp minor , and resolves it on to a cha in o f diminishedsevenths whose basses descend by sem i tones .

URBINO, NAPLES 14 5

E x . 68.

Ma di che mi ln sin -go i oh Dio l che pen -so i

The diminished seventh is the key to the rest. But

the close of the second recitative presents more s trikingprogressions.

E x . 69.

e in ten de (ma s’in fin ge

The modulation to A flat two bars before the end isextremely ho ld. The explanation must be sought in thewords—though not merely as a piece of eccentricity on theword “ oaroaro.

” The sentence includes a parenthesis“and she understands (but that barbarous heart o f hers

feigns not to do so ) that which ye ask.

” Scarlatti hasingeniously attempted to represent this rhetorical figure in

K


his music , for if we cut out what is in parenthes is, the mus icmakes sense just as the words do, intende cio beingon the same chord. Now probably S carlatt i ’s first instinctwas to get oaroaro on to a diminished seventh , so thatwe should read E natural fo r E flat , and the chord o f Fminor for that o f A flat major. This would be a verycharacteristic progression . But the jump from F minor tothe g on G, wh ich is attractive enough to our ears, wasprobably more than S carlatti could manage . He wouldfeel that the bass must descend to G from A flat. But theleap from E natura l to A flat, whether the latter bears a go r a 6 , was awkward, and to flatten the E was an obviousway out o f the difficulty . Whether the G on the fourth

beat should bear a It; or a b”? I am not certa in the previousG must certa inly bear a 32, and Scarlatti probably contemplated the same chord following the parenthesis but i tis possible that he would have preferred eventual ly tosoften the progression by using an inversion o f his favouritediminished seventh.

Another progression common enough to us bu t unusualfor Scarlatti is the resolution of the Neapolitan sixth on

the first inversion of the supe rtonic minor ninth, on theword “

piacer” in the preceding ex ample. The Neapolitan

six th is, o f course, plentiful in Scarlatti’s work ; indeed

it is so conspicuous a mannerism of his that it may wellhave got i ts name from him. I t appears frequently evenin his earl iest work, although in Stradella and Legrenz i

it is employed very seldom , and even then with sometimidity . The flat supertonic from which it is derived ischaracteristic o f Neapolitan folk-song, as may be seenfrom the canzonette in the comic operas of Vinci and Leo ;

Vinci, Le Ziten Galera

Per met-te-re pa u-ra la S iaAnella,a la S ia A nella,



deed Scarlatti, having once impressed this distortion on

the l istener, shows how it can be ingeniously used to effecta striking modulat ion. Yet even here he has no t introduced it at the end of the air, feel ing that it would no t

give a sufficient impression of final ity. The a ir is so interesting in its melody, harmony, and form that it is worthquoting entire.

E x . 72 .

Bel la, se vuo i per te

URBINO,NAPLES 149

Bel la, appaga i l mio pen-sier, bel la, con un pia

Se vuo i , bel-la, per te, per te, bel-la, se vuo i far

1 5 9 ALESSANDRO SCARLATTI

Bel la, ap o paga il mio se vuoi con un piacer

I have purposely absta ined from fill ing up the har

monies of the accompaniment . Scarlatti ’s figuring is always rather sketchy , and naturally so, since the system was

in theory and in practice one of convenience. Rousseau ’

1 Dictionnai re de M asi gne, art. Accompagnement.



but is never allowed to tyrannize over it, as i t does i nsome of the sti ll later cantatas .

A very beautiful use of chromatic harmony is tobe found in the air Quante pene

”from the canta ta

“ L ontananza crudele such a phrase as thisE x . 73 .

7 6 h6 l7 6 l7 6 6 46

is quite in the spirit of Mozart,and there are many that

remind us of J . S . Bach.

Even in the operas , where clearness was the firstconsideration, we find some new harmonic effect. Strangeprogress ions and complicated modulations were not su itable to the theatre ; but Scarlatti shows in S cipione nelleSpagne what an effect can be made with a cadenza on a

diminished seventh ,

LUCEIO.

nol deg gio dir, nol deg

oh Dio l

URBINO,NAPLES 1 5 3

110] deg gio d ir.

and the chord is made all the more striking by its appearance as the resolution of a deceptive cadence . There is a

somewhat similar case in Il Trionfo dell’ Onore,”

in

R iccardo’

s air, S i , s i , cbc tutto goder mi fard,” where a

single diminished seventh is dwelt upon fo r three bars,and is additionally emphas ized by a pecul iarly insistentrhythmic figure.I t wil l be o bserved that the main characteristic of

Scarlatti ’s new harmonic developments is that he considershis music vertically as well as horizontally . He was , ofcourse , far from being the first compo ser to do so , and heis equally far from be ing among those for whom the

vertica l aspect of composition predominates. But he is

one of the first to apply the vertical principle to chromaticchords

, and especially to chromatic d iscords . There can

be no doubt that he was influenced in this direction bythe development of keyed instruments. The first impulsewas given by the organ , under the hands o f such composers as Frescobald i , and from the organ the styleextended itself to the ceml alo. The invention of recitat ive , as well as the mechanical development of the instrument, must have greatly increased the importance of thecemoalo as an accompaniment to the voice , the lute

gradually retiring into the background . AlessandroScarlatti’s compos itions fo r the cemoalo are o f l ittle im

po rtance and by no means represent him at his best ; butwe can see from his toccatas how he grasped the possibil it ies of the instrument in this direction . The contrapuntalstyle was the normal style of the day, and he therefore


writes mainly in contrapuntal forms ; but h is fugues for theceml alo are mere hollow shells. A subject stands out hereand there, and there is a great deal o f hus tle and fuss, buthe was tes no energy on inner parts which would never beheard clearly whether they were o f contrapunta l value ornot. If his fugues sound more or less l ike fugues, thatis enough fo r him , as it was no doubt enough fo r mostl isteners. And scattered here and there among the quasicontrapuntal passages we come upon s low successions of

thick chords, often chromatic, played quite ad l ioitum,

rattl ing up and down in varied arpeggios from one end o fthe keyboard to the other, or decorated by the right handwith passing-notes in his characteristic dactylic rhythms,

1

whi lst the left hand susta ined the harmony , giving the

audience time to wonder what might come next, and intowhat new key the composer’s carefully frenz ied inspirationmight take him—surely the precise musical equivalent ofthat florid luxuriance o f adulation , expressed in the mostextraordinary jumble o f metaphor, which he pours forthw i thout intermission in his correspondence with Ferdinandde

’ Medici .The Regoleper Pr incipianti ( i .a. in the art o f aecom

panying from a l asso continua) show that S carlatti wasin favour o f a free style o f playing, perhaps more so thanhis contemporaries, as in introducing some o f h is rules hequal ifies them with the words—“

at any rate such is thes tyle o f the present writer.” Most o f the rules are suchas are famil iar to us all, and need not be quoted ; and hisrules for fill ing up a bass that is no t figured amount tol ittle more than would be carried out instinct ively by anymodern player who had a feeling for scholarship. But

there are two rules which are specially interesting , and

which he seems to have considered peculiarly characteristic o f his own style. The second inversion o f the

dominant seventh , figured 6,and theoret ical ly considered

as a concordant second inversion o f the “ imperfect triad ,is always to be given the fourth as well as the th ird in

1 He gives an ex ample in his Regoleper Pm’

nczpianti .


CHAPTER V

ROME, 1 7 1 8-1 7 2 1 ; NAPLES , 1 7 2 2—1 7 2 5

ALTHOUGH Il Trionfo dell ’ Ono re was produced at theTeatro de’ F iorentini in 1 7 1 8, and “ Cambise

”

at theTeatro S . Bartolomeo the following year

,S carlatti seems

during these years to have had more interests in Romethan in Naples. He obta ined leave on October 1 8, 1 7 1 7 ,

to go to Rome fo r the following Carn ival ;1

and he

apparently stayed on there for the next few years, sincehe received no stipend as Maestro di Cappella at Naples,although he reta ined the title—Francesco Mancini actingas Vice-Maestro until Scarlatti ’s death , on wh ich he succeeded by right to the post ofPr imo M aestro.

At Rome Scarlatti produced a very interest ing series o foperas at the S a la deg l i i l lustr i ss imi S ignor i Capranica ,

”

and i t is probable that Prince Ruspoli was also Concerned inthe management, s ince the autograph score o f Griselda,

”

the last of the series—and indeed the las t o f all Scarlatti ’soperas—states that it was written for him . The first o fthe series was Telemaco ,

” produced in 1 7 1 8 , which wasfollowed in 1 7 1 9 by

“ Marco Attil io Regolo.

” “ TitoSempronio Gracco and Turno Aricino were revivedin 1 7 2 0 with so much new mus ic that they may be countedas new operas.

“ Telemaco ” is very unequal . Much o f it is veryted ious, though the comic scenes are among the best thatScarlatti ever wrote. But we see the beginning of a newstyle in Calcjoso

’

s fine opening air, D ia del mar ,” which

1 Naples, R. Arch ivio d i S tato ,Mgmda ti dei Vicere, vo l . 336 , fol . 44.

ROME,NAPLES 1 5 7

has a Mozartian breadth of melody,and still more in the

noble duet for M inerva and N ettuno in the prologue. Thismovement is on a much larger scale than anything thatpreceded it, and was evidently written with a large theatrein V iew. Both melody and harmony are remarkablydignified and simple, and produce a striking effect of

grandeur and serenity—one m ight almost say, an effectof distance. The arrangement of the orchestra is novelfor the time : N ettuno is accompanied genera l ly by thema in body of the strings, and M inerva by a smaller bodyof strings placed on the chariot in which she descendsfrom heaven . There is also a

“concerto di au l ua

and a pa i r o f horns . This is the first time thatScarlatti uses horns, except fo r a single air and a sortof fanfare in Tigrane ,

”

and he turns them to very goodeffect here ; indeed they are the life and soul of themovement.

Concer to di M iner va ( strings) .

1 5 s ALESSANDRO SCARLATTI

Nou t—The horn parts are given in Scarlatti’s notation an octave abovethe no tes actually sounded.



Carthaginians by a feigned death , which even his wifeFausta bel ieves to be genuine. She comes by night toweep over his tombstone, A tti l io himself watch ing her inconcealment , undecided whether to endure her grief insilence or to risk recapture by making himself known toher. The recitative, which is unfortunately much too longfo r quotation entire, and to which extracts would hardlydo justice, well illustrates the importance that was givento declamation in S carlatt i’s day. Over fifty bars inlength, and followed by an aria of which the middlesection is a lso recitativo stromentato, it i llustrates everyvariety o f passion. The accompaniment is very vigorousand full for its period , but the simpl icity of the meansemployed would demand a first-rate actress to make themost o f it.Another interesting feature of the opera is the intro

ducto ry ballet of Carthagin ians accompanied with thenoise of bagpipes and castanets and rattles in the mannero f barbarous nations,

” in which it is evident that Scarlattihas done his best to get something like local colour.

He made a similar attempt in “ Tigrane” with a

ballet of Scythians , but it is not so characteristic as thisexample .

Cartaginesi . Caminoi d pr ima i l l al lo can strepi to di Zampogne e Gnaccaree S i str i al l

’

usa di l ar l are Nas ion

ROME,NAPLES I6 1

Of “ Tito S empronio Gracco and “ Turno Aricino

only fragments remain, so that it is impossible to judge o f

either opera as a whole . But the a irs that have survivedare often singularly beautiful . They have all the masterly

L


technique o f S carlattIs fourth period , al l its brill iance o f

dramatic effect, together with an increased sense of dignityand spaciousness , as well as a sincerity o f expressionthat is often extremely touching. A very characteristicmannerism at this time is the use o f an introductory vocalphrase sung ad l i l i tum ; not, as in the earl ier Operas, a

fragment of the initial phrase of the air, but designedrather as a contrast to what follows, l ike the beautifulOpening o f Beethoven ’s pianoforte sonata in F sharpmajor. Employed i n every air, i t would have beenwearisome in the ex treme ; but Scarlatti has exerciseda wise restra int, and reserves it as a rule for airs o f a

pathetic character .

Ex . 77 . Tito Sempronio Gracco .

Pria d i las ciar ti , pria di las-Ciar ti,

Turno Aricino .

S o -lo , so lo , so

ta mIn

That he was able to count upon singers of high dramatic abil ity is shown by the frequent opportunities thathe gives fo r free declamation or fo r extemporary cadenzas .

The beautiful air Queste son pene” in “ Turno Aricino ”

supplies several ex amples o f th is.Here it is evident that the word lasci (Scarlatti also

writes lasciata”

) means that the music was to be leftas i t was written ; where the voice is marked

“solo

” thesinger was no doubt free to do what she pleased. Thefinal cadence in th is a ir, as i n many others, imperativelydemands an extemporized cadenza o f

‘

some distinction.

The short ex tract given will also serve to show the



S carlatt l s last opera “ Griselda ( 1 7 2 1 ) shows him at

his fullest maturity. The l ibretto was by Apostolo Zeno,and i s fai rly good , though there is not sufficient materialfor three acts. The story o f Patient Grizzel i s in someways effective fo r operat ic t reatment, as i t affo rds welldefined and strongly coloured characters ; but this veryreason is also a drawback . Gua l tiero is so incrediblytyrannical and Gr i selda so incredibly patient that we can

get up l ittle sympathy fo r such obviously stagey figures.Ottone is the blackest possible of vi lla ins ; Rol er to and

Costanza are merely picturesque puppets , and Cor raa'

o

hard ly even that. Scarlatti has made the most of thecharacters, such as they are , Gr iselda and Costanza beingthe most successful . The finest example o f dramaticexpression is Gr iselda ’

s a ir in the second act,“ F igl io I

ti ranno alt D ia 1 when Ottone has threatened to kill herchild before her eyes unless she yields to his des i res. Herethe composer has shown a truly wonderful ingenuity in

making the conventional aria form serve as a vehicle fo r

ROME ,NAPLES 1 6 5

the most passionate appeals of Gr iselda to her son , toOttone and to heaven , the short declamatory phrases beingso arranged as to make up together a perfectly logical andformal movement.

GRISELDA.

Ti-ran-no l oh Dia 1

diteche farposs’ io , che


(al j ig l io) ad Ol lone

oh DIO ! fi-gl io , fi gl io che far po ss In?

Che far po ss'

ad Ottone

T i-ran no , ti ran no ,

( I

da se.

t i-ran-no l (che far po ss'

io Ti-ran no, ti-ran

(tu tti con ceml a lo .) 6

5



S oprano 1mo.

M io be-ne, mio te -so

all four uniting voluptuously on a diminished seventh justbefore the close .

Ex . 82 . (a)-mo, io t’a mo

,

io mo ro,

ti chiamo ,

6 ‘ Tenor

m io .- so

ROME ,NAPLES 1 69

mo ro,

i do -lo mi ti chia

te so

With these operas may be classed the oratorio La

Vergine Addolorata ”

( 1 7 1 7 ) and two serenatas, one for thepeace o f Passarowitz 1 ( 1 7 18) and the other (apparently un

finished) fo r the marriage of the Prince o f Stigl ianoThe oratorio deals with the Passion, as witnessed by thefour inter locutor i , the Vi rgin , St. John , N icodemus, and a

1 The lines[1 Trace agr i col tor

B enpresto plungedCl ie i campi suoi vedrd

Freda delfuoco,”

S i , si , sperar ci gi ovi

Veder l Agu i /e a l tere

Di B i sans io ru l e/la su l /e ravine

Un di fermarsi i l ui

evidently refer to the ex pedition to Thessa lonica, projected by Prince Eugeneand his allies the Venetians to satisfy the zea lous Christians who wished to

see Turkey mo re permanently crippled now that there was so good an op

portunity (Murato ri, Anual i dWal la).

I70 ALE SSANDRO SCA R'

I"

I'

l

Jewish priest . The treatment is interesting fo r comparisonwith other oratorios on the same subject. Scarlatti ’syouthful Latin “ Passion according to S t . John told thestory simply through the mouth o f the Evangel ist ; herewe deduce the story from the meditative utterances o f

some o f the principal characters concerned in it. The twoschemes are seen in combination in the Passions of

J . S . Bach , with the addit ion o f the chorales , which are o f

course peculiar to the Lutheran Church . I ndeed in thislater oratorio o f Scarlatt i there are many places where oneis conscious of a similarity of feeling with the MatthausPassion , especially in the final trio representing the Pieta‘,which corresponds closely in spirit with the chorus Wi r

setzen uns m i t Tlzrc’

inen nieder .

The serenatas are generally good, but their principalinterest l ies in their treatment o f the orchestra , which at

th is period o f Scarlatti ’s career begins ‘ to show somethingo f that importance which has been assigned to i t in moremodern times . As early as L

’

Amo r Generoso we can

see here and there a vague tendency towards modernorchestral writing . I t has already been po inted out

(Chapter I I .) that the Venet ian composers before Scarlattihad made some advance towards treating the orchestra onharmonic rather than contrapuntal principles . S carlatti ’searly opera overtures show that he real ized the effect o fbroken chords played by the strings, as in the extract fromLa Rosaura ” quoted in the Oxford H istory of Music,

”

vol. i i i . ; but after h is return from Rome , where he hadhad the Oppo rtuni ty o f studying Co relli

’

s methods, he

begins to carry this effect sti ll further, by employinggenuine violin-figures , instead o f arpeggios o f a type almostequal ly well suited to any instrument. As the violin stylegets more and more differentiated

,so i t becomes more and

more impossible fo r the trumpets and oboes to play inunison with the strings, and in this way S carlatti begins toreal ise that the contrast o f the style between phrasessuitable fo r wind instruments and phrases suitable for

Strings enhances the contrast o f colour.The overture to “ Griselda ” will i llustrate some of

S carlattI5 methods.



The balance o f instruments is o f course sti l l o ld

fashioned, and we must not forget that there would besome five or six oboes playing . The frequent crossing o f

the parts is a rel ic o f still older t imes it was a habit thatScarlatti scarcely ever shook off, greatly to the disadvantageof his instrumental style. S uch gaps as there are in theharmony would be well filled up by the two ceml a l i , and

though the .movement is not undeserving of Marcello ’ssatire—“ the overture shal l consist o f a Tempof rancese, orprestiss imo o f semiquavers in the major key, wh ich o f coursemust be followed by apiano in the same key, with the minorthird , endIng with a minuet, gavotte , or gigue in the majorkey aga in , avoiding in these forms fugues

,suspensions ,

subjects [i .e. for imitat ion] , &c as being old-fashionedth ings quite out o f modern use

,

” 1 -it shows a keen senseof orchestral effect, and certa inly would get as much noiseout o f the instruments as they could make . If we cannotadmire it much as serious music, i t is at any rate of greatimportance in the development of the symphonic style .

1 11 Teatro a l la M ada , p. 2 3. La S infonia consistera in un TempoFrancese

, o presti ssimo a’

i semi cr ome in Tuano can ters a magg'

i ore, al qualedovra succedere al so l ito un Pi ano del medesimo Tuono in Terza minore,chiudendo finalmente con M inuet/o, Gavotta o Gig/1a, nuovamente in Terramagg i ore, e sfuggendo in tal fo rme Fug/te, Legature, S oggetti , S m, come coseanti cl e fuori afl'atto del moderno costume.

”

ROME,NAPLES 1 7 3

Scarlatti himself must certa inly have felt that th is sort o fwriting was only suitable fo r theatre-music that had tomake itself heard somehow above the noise o f generalconversation , for in his instrumental chamber-music heholds rigidly to the contrapunta l style. H is S onate a

yuattr o , i .e. string quartets , composed some time du ringthe last ten years o f his l ife , are if anything less modernthan Co relli ’s , at least in form . The fugues which formthei r principal movement are more developed than Core lli ’s—sometimes indeed to a very tedious extent—and there is

a certa in modernity in the brisk l ittle minuets that havesomething o f the spirit o f Beethoven ’s sclcerzos ,

l but ingeneral structure they look backward to the old S onata dac/ziesa , not forward to the chamber-music o f the classica lperiod.

The same attitude is to be observed in S carlattIs twelvesymphonies 2 or Concertos fo r orchestra. These interestingworks were begun on J une 1

, 1 7 1 5 ; ove r how long a

period their composition extends cannot be definitelydecided , but it is not l ikely that they cover a period o f

more than twelve months at the outside . The instrumentsemployed are strings, with a few wind instruments ; thefirst has two flutes, the second a trumpet and a flute

,the

third one flute , the fourth a flute and an oboe, the rest oneflute only. In form they come between the quartets and

the Opera-overtures ; the first movement is an al leg ro l ikethose o f the later overtures , spirited and energetic

,but

short and rather formless ; i t general ly ends suddenly on

1 A mo re detai led account of these quartets wi l l be found in the M ont/zlyM usi cal Record for November 1903. They are not of sufi‘icient importance tothe genera l h istory ofmus ic to require a ful l ana lysis here.

1 The autograph manuscript of these interesting compositions was recentlyd iscovered by Mr. W. Ba rclay Squire in the Music Library at BuckinghamPalace. They are headed thus

Cominciate al P0 Giugno 1 7 1 5 D’Alessandro S car latti

S infanta Pr ima, di concerto Grosso can due F lauti .

No other date is g iven throughout the vo lume. Each symphony is numbered

in the handwriting of the compo ser, who s igns h is name with the title Caval iereat the head o f No . 5 and o f Nos . 7- 1 2 Idescribe them here by kind perm is

sion of S ir Walter Parratt.


the dominant. I t is followed by the usual transitionaladag io , general ly in } time , sometimes starting with thecharacter o f a slow movement, but sooner or later re

lapsing into the conventional series o f modulations servingas a framework fo r thematic treatment o f some unimportant figure . The third movement is a fugue , sometimes on two subjects, always developed a t great length ,and showing traces o f a feel ing that is symphonic ratherthan contrapuntal in its episodes , though it never fal ls intowhat might be truly classed as sonata form . I t is followedby a second adagi o , transitional l ike the first and servingmere ly as an introduction to the march or dance movement which concludes the composition . Compared withthe quartets, the symphonies show less sol id ity and severityo f workmanship the style is often hollow, though effective.The slow movements, instead of being definitely contrapunta l

,are more melodious and modern in spirit the final

movements are more elaborate in form , but sometimesalmost rowdy. Indeed , the material i s hardly ever eitherbeautiful o r original , and the interest o f the

‘

wo rk l iesentirely in the skilful development o f themes which are

themselves o f slight intrinsic merit .Scarlatti ’s feel ing fo r orchestral colouring in a modern

sense is best seen in some o f the ar ias, more particularly inthe r itornel l i . I n his middle period he did not get muchbeyond dividing his strings into concer tino and concer to

g rosso , with sometimes nightingales and other birds ad

l i l itum in the manner o f a toy-symphony , and these extravagances are confined to the serenatas and oratorios. I tmay also be pointed out that even where he divides hisstrings in this way, he shows l ittle or no feel ing for thetrue spirit o f the concerto. His object seems merely toget a contrast of piano and for te in a rough way fromplayers who were no t much accustomed to such refine

ments there is hardly ever any attempt to counterbalancethe superior weight of the orchestra by the superioragil ity of the individua l soloist. 1 In the operas, at

1 Compare M r. D. F. Tovey’s interesting essay, The Classical Concerto.



prominence. I n the later Operas they nearly always havepassages of some length to play by themselves un

accompanied , so that their characteristic tone might beheard to the fullest advantage. Probably they were playedby the trumpeters, just as now the cor ang lais is Oftenplayed by one of the oboe-players, since the horns and

trumpets are never used together.The oboes and bassoons seldom have parts o f much

individual ity. We occasionally find an oboe solo sometimes effectively contrasted with a solo flute, as in the

charming duet , Vaga ninfa sampl icetta ,

”

which ends the firstpart of the serenata fo r the Peace o f Passarowitz ; and inthe serenata for the Prince of Stigliano there is a veryamusi ng a ir in which the bassoons imitate the be llowingo f an angry bull. But fo r the most part the

“concer to d i

ou l uaé” seems to have been regarded as a single mass of

sound valued more fo r i ts sonority than for i ts peculiarqual ity of tone . I ndeed

,setting aside the advantages

resulting from later improvements in the mechanism o f theinstrument, the characteristic personal ity o f the oboe couldscarcely be real ized until the advent of its rival , the

clarinet. I t is in the serenata for the Prince of Stigl ianothat Scarlatti approaches nearest to a modern treatment o fwind instruments.The overture, scored fo r trumpets , oboes , and strings ,

is o f l ittle interest , but there is an effective pastoralsymphony played in the distance by wind instrumentsonly—two flutes , two oboes , two horns, and two bassoo ns ,the last being supported by the double-basses as in manyo f Mozart’s compositions fo r wind-bands . This is fol lowedby two pretty little choruses of shepherds , two Sopranos,alto, and tenor, accompanied by the same instruments .

One o f the most interesting pieces of scoring is the o ld

shepherd’s first a ir, M entre quel solco ara i l l ifolco,attract ive also from the cheerful rusticity o f i ts melody ,which quite suggests the “ impatient husbandman ”

of

Haydn ’s “ Seasons. Only flutes and oboes are used inaddition to the strings , though perhaps the bassoons would

ROME,NAPLES

play with the continua but even with these smal l means avery picturesque variety o f colour is ach ieved.

Ex . 85.

Flauti .

PASTORE.

Pur canta e go de sua li-ber-ta.

e go -de sua li -ber ne in

Per


le cam pa gne pas cen do



sempre in d i let sempre in

ROME, NAPLES 1 8 1

One of the most interesting works of S carlattI5 latestperiod

,though contributing l ittle that is remarkable from

an orches tral point of view, is the second Mass in A fo r

soli , chorus, and orchestra. The most authoritative extantmanuscript, a score in the B ibl ioteca Casanatense at Rome,written out by a copyist but with a head ing in Scarlatti

’

s

handwriting, has parts for five voices only, with vaguedirections as to when the music is to be sung by the chorusand when by solo voices. Santin i, however, appears to havebeen in possession of an incomplete set of parts fromwhich he prepared a score , fil l ing up the missing portionsfrom the score in the Bibl ioteca Casanatense , and in thishe ind icates what was probably the correct d istr ibution of

the voices. The mass was composed at Rome in 1 7 2 0

fo r Cardinal Acquaviva for performance on St. Cecil ia’sDay, being coupled with a setting of the Gradual “Audi

fi l ia et incl ina aurem for five voices , oboes and strings .

The complete autograph of this motet is bound up withthe score at Rome. Santin i ’s score of the mass inserts itbetween the Glor ia and the Credo.

The mass cannot be considered a great work ; takenas a whole it wants breadth and dignity, and for success ofeffect is far surpassed by Leo’s compo sitions in the samestyle . But it is of importance as a forerunner not only of

Leo ’s masses, but o f J . S . Bach ’s Mass in B minor. I tshows a much greater mastery over the new style thanScarlatti’s first mass with orchestra, and certa in movementsshow clearly that the composer must have had a fa irlydefinite idea o f the kind of effects that would be mostsuitable to this material. Moreover it exhibits in certa inmovements a poetical seriousness of a type which is not

characteristic of Leo , in spite of all his severity and grandeur ; indeed it is this qual i ty almost as much as any otherthat gives the wo rk its marked affinity to that of Bach.

The first movement does not look very dignified onpaper, but with the suppo rt of the organ it would be verymuch more sol id and the sol i and r ipieni are at any ratela id out so as to make an effective contrast.

1 82

Ex . 87 .

ALESSANDRO SCARLA TTI



Ex . 88.

Viol . 1

sanc

in glo-ri -a De -i Pa-tris A

sanc

Towards the end, when we should ex pect a coda, anew subject is brought in on the word Amen ; but the twosubjects are never worked together. Whether Bach everknew this mass it is impossible to say ; but there is a

decided resemblance to Bach’s style in the tranquillymelodious Crucifi x as, though no t to his setting of those

part icular wo rds

Ex . 89.

Cru-ci-fix -us e ti-am pro no bIs, pro

Cru-ci-fix -us e ti-am pro no

ROME , NAPLES 1 85

bis, pro

bis.

Cru-ci fix us e ti-am pro no

Cru-ci -fix -us e ti-am pro no

and sti ll more so in the Qu i tol l is, as regards bo th themelodic outl ine of the bass solo and the carefully workedsuspensions of the accompaniment.

Viola.


Qui to l



seems to aim almo st pa infully at the ex pression o f the wo rds,never descending to the superficial prettiness o f Pergolesi.The first stanza is a duet full o f strange modulations inlong-drawn phrases ; the Cuj us animam is a soprano solo ,

the style of which is characterist ic of the whole hymn.

4 4

The movements for two vo ices are generally more orless contrapuntal ; the a irs , wh ich are always in binaryform , often have curious experiments in ex pression in the

accompaniment. We see this in the S ancta M ater”

E x . 92 .

ROME ,NAPLES 1 89

tud a

and the beautiful Fac me vere is very remarkable fo rthe persistence with which the syncopations are carried on.

E x . 93 .

Fac me ve re te cum fie-te, Cru -ci

Continuo.

can do

Fac ut por tem and Fac me cruce are set as

recitatives which make a very effective contrast , and thework concludes with a well-developed fugue on Amen.

On the whole the style of the S to l at M ater has moreafl‘inity with the chamber-cantatas than with either theoratorios or the motets. Few chamber-cantatas can beascr ibed with certa inty to Scarlatt i ’s closing years ; internal evidence is no t always a safe guide where thechamber-music is concerned , part icularly in the last fifteen


years o f S carlattIs l ife, after he had pushed harmonicaudacity as far as

“Andate o miei sospim'

. But we can

see that in the work o f his o ld age he had more fullymastered the science of modulation . His harmony movesmo re eas i ly and sounds more genuinely modern , especial lywhen helped by the use o f more modern instrumentalfigures in h is basses. On the other hand, his melodysometimes suffers ; it even comes perilously near be ingunvocal in the Bach-l ike tortuousness o f its coloratura, as

may be seen in the cantata La dove a M ergel l ina

pre-gi o del la bel - ta.



Conservator i i at this time. Hasse’s amiable d ispo sitionseems to have won the old man ’s friendship, as i t did thato f many other musicians in later years , Porpora alwaysexcepted. I t was only after some persuasion on h is partthat Scarlatti could be induced to receive Quantz, then ona visit to Naples. “ My son, he sa id to Hasse , “ youknow that I cannot endure players o f wind-instruments ;for they all blow out o f tune. But he yielded eventual ly,and Quantz gives an account o f the interview , tell ing us ,

however, less about Scarlatt i than about himself. Scarlatti let me hear him on the harpsichord ,

1 which he playedin a learned manner, although he did no t po ssess as muchagil ity of execution as his son. After this he accompanieda solo fo r me. I had the good fortune to ga in his favour,and he composed a couple of flute solos for me.”

I t is sign ificant that al though Quantz makes somerather extraordinary assert ions about Scarlatt i ( i t must beadmitted that he offers them with a touch of incredul ity) ,he never mentions any single one o f his compositions byname. When we read no t only that Scarlatti has writtena vast quantity of operas (

“cine g rosse M enge Opern

but that “ they say he has set the Mass two hundredtimes in addition to Vesper Psalms and other churchmus ic ; and indeed a certa in Neapo l itan gentleman boastedo f possessing four thousand 1 pieces of his compo sit ion ,mostly solo cantatas , to many of which he had written thewords himself,

” it seems fairly clear that the musica lgossips of Naples were not averse to trying how much the

gemz’

tt/cl ic/cer S ac/zse could be made to swal low .

I t must have been in the early part of 1 7 2 5 thatScarlatt i received Quantz. On October 2 4 of the sameyear he died , from what immediate cause is no t known . The

Gazzetta di Napol i3 recorded his death a few days later.

In the course o f last week there died ‘1 the celebrated1 This has been curious ly perverted by later historians into a statement

that S carlatti was a performer on the harp. Quantz’s word Clavicyml el

leaves no room fo r misunderstand ing .

1 No t four hundred , as quoted in Grove’s D ictionary.

1 No . 45 , October 30, 172 5 .1 Rese l anima al S ignora.

ROME , NAPLES 1 93

Caval iere Alessandro Scar latti , to whom music owes muchfo r the numerous works with which he enriched it. ”

I t is the laconic and conventiona l eulogy that is pa id at

his death to a great man who has been forgotten by hisown generation .

He was buried in the church of Montesanto , i n themusicians’ chapel dedicated to St . Cecil ia ; his epitaph ,sa id to have been written by Cardinal Ottoboni , is on themarble slab just under the gate , and runs as follows

B EIC SITUS EST

EQVES ALEXANDER SCARLACTVS

VIR MODERATIONE BENEFICENTIA

PIETATE INSIGNIS

MVS ICES INSTAVRATOR MAXIMVS

QVI SOLIDIS VETERVM NVMERIS

NOVA AC MIRA SVAVITATE

MOLLITIS

ANTIQVITATI GLORIAM POSTERITATI

IMITANDI-SPEM ° ADEMIT

OPTIMATIBVS ‘REGIBVSQAPPRIME GARVS

TANDEM °ANNOS NATVM LXVI EXTINXIT

SVMMO CUM ITALIAE DOLOREIX KAL‘111 NOVEMB1

'31s CIOIOCCXXV

MORS MODIS FLECTI NESCIA

Of S carlattIS persona l character i t is practical ly impossible to form an estimate. Contemporary records are

singularly deficient in anything that can give us an idea o f

him as a man. H is correspondence with Ferdinand de ’

Medici is voluminous, but its elaborately complimentarystyle effectual ly disguises the individual ity of the writer.Such personal recollections of him as were handed downby Quantz and Geminiani have been seized upon byhistorians with avidity , but they really amount to hardlyanything, and their scantiness has given them a fict itiousvalue. Even his attitude towards his art is d ifficult todetermine. No t until a century later did music begin to

be regarded as the intimate expression of the composer’spersonal feel ings ; it was only the romantic period of the

1 94 ALES SANDRO SCARLATT I

nineteenth century that required an autobiographical ex planation o f every bar. Roughly speaking, the intellectualside of music was all that a composer was expected to

provide in S carlatti ’s day ; the appeal to the emotionswas the legitimate province of the singer.To us Scarlatti ’s music often seems conspicuously de

void o f emotional qual i ties , compared with that of his contemporaries , such as Purcell , Handel , and J . S . Bach . But

he certa in ly was very susceptible to emotion through themedium o f poetry , fo r he writes to Ferdinand de

’

. Medic iful l o f enthusiasm fo r S tampigl ia

’

s l ibretto o f l l GranTamerlano

“ It is almost impossible,even merely reading the

drama, not to feel stirred by the various passions whichi t exhibi ts . I confess my weakness ; at some passages ,while I was composing the music for them , I wept.

” 1

And in judging o f his emotional qua l i ties , i t must norbe forgotten that Scarlatti speaks a musical language towhich we are l ittle accustomed . To most lovers o f musicat the present day Schumann , Wagner, and Brahms represent the norma l style o f musical expression. I tal ian musicis out o f fashion , and since Beethoven

’s day the only nonGerman composers who have taken a permanent hold uponthe musical public in England are those who have beenlargely influenced by Teutonic methods. In the eighteenthcentury the converse was the case . The I tal ian influence isthe strongest bond of unity even between non-I tal ian composers such as Purcell , J . S . Bach , Haydn , and Mozart , andwe cannot enter into their music at all deeply without somesympathy with I talian methods o f expression . S carlatti iso f course wholly and entirely I tal ian , and those to whomItalian music is an unfamiliar language wi l l natural ly fa il tounderstand the poetic beauty o f his work.

Yet it must be frankly admitted that it is difficult toform a right judgment of his intrinsic merits as a composer.Though more than half his Operas are lost , the amountthat rema ins is sti ll enormous , and bewildering in its

1 Archivio Med iceo , Fi lza 5903 , No . 204.



side is irregular ; and we can surely find a good proof o fthe loftiness o f his aspiration and atta inment in the greatgulf that separates him from his immediate followers .

Alessandro Scarlatt i is always regarded as the foundero f the school of Naples ; bu t it seems that Neapol itanchauvin ism has somewhat exaggerated his connection withi t. Roughly speaking, he certa inly is the founder o f thestyle which was developed by Leo, Vinci, and the rest and

certa inly Naples would have had l ittle chance o f becominga great musica l centre if Scarlatti had not been induced tosettle there , pract ically to monopol ize the stage of S .

Bartolomeo from 16 84 to 1 70 2 and from to 1 7 19 .

But however considerable his indirect influence must havebeen

,he was never very much in demand as an actua l

teacher. I t is noticeable that the men who have had thegreatest reputat ion as teachers were seldom thought muchof as composers . Gaetano Greco and N icola Fago il

Tarentino,especially the latter , did far more than Scarlatti

for the actual tra ining o f the next generation .

I t is conceivable that S carlatti may have been too exacting a teacher fo r clever boys who would soon realize thatmechanical accuracy in counterpoint was sufficient fo r thechurch and natural facili ty of melody fo r the theatre. Heis sa id to have insisted on not cramping his pupils withru les

,wish ing that they should develop their own ideas

freely. As we have already seen in his Regole per pr in

cipiantz,” his ultimate reason fo r every exceptional pro

gress ion is always perc/ze fa l uon senti re” because it

sounds wel l ; and such a passage as that on page 1 80 of

th is book shows that he was supremely indifferent to convent ional prohibit ions. A man of this temperament is notsuited to be a teacher of beginners, and i t is only a fewenthusiasts who will be content to l isten to his advice afterthey think that they have reached maturity. The early parto f the eighteenth century was no t conducive to the production of such types, least o f all in the kingdom o f Naples.The difference between the later operas o f Scarlatt i

and those of Leo, Vinci , and Pergoles i is very striking.

ROME,NAPLES

Scarlatt i always seems to struggle more or less aga instthe formal ization o f the opera , a lthough to the modernreader this is not very apparent at first sight ; the nextgeneration not only accepted its formal i ties but exaggeratedthem

,until that intolerable state of affa irs was reached

when every a ir had its first part in a developed binaryform

,often full o f a coloratur a i nteresting at most for its

diffi culty, and still further extended by the lengthiest o f

r i tornel l i both at the beginning and in the middle.We see a fa int tendency towards the type in Rol er to

’

s a i rsin “ Griselda but the style had already been pushedfurther by . the younger composers , especially by V inci ,when Scarlatti ’s opera came out, and i t is probable thathe wrote the a irs only as a concession to popular taste.Everything seems to point to the fact that S carlatt i’sinfluence in Naples was practically exhausted by about1 7 1 8.

“ Cambise”

( 1 7 1 9 ) was the last opera which heproduced there, and his works do not appear to havebeen revived there later

,as they were at Rome and

Bologna. The Neapolitan school o f composers whichprofessed to regard Alessandro Scarlatti as their headimitated him only during his second Neapolitan period,o f which T igrane

”

may be taken as the representative opera . Even then his direct influence was sl ighterthan might have been expected. H is music evidentlydid not altogether sui t popular taste , and i t was throughinferior composers l ike Mancini and Sarro , much lessmelodious, but more obviously commonplace in theirrhythms, that the new style was developed to the stage atwhich we find it in Leo and Vinci . Leo ’s serious Operasare his least interesting work ; l ike V inc i and Logroscino ,

he is at his best in opera l uf a , in which all three inherited a good portion o f Scarlatt i ’s sense o f humour.Vinci is on the whole the best o f S carlattIs immediatefollowers in the field of serious opera. H is d ist inguishingqual i ty is a swift, incisive vigour, enhanced by coloratura o f

real brill iancy ; but he very often becomes dry and stagey.

Durante stands rather apart from the rest, as he confined


himself to music fo r the church and chamber. He exhibitsa larger share than any o f the others o f. Scarlatti ’s poetryand tenderness o f style ; and we may trace S carlatt i’sinfluence through him at second-hand in Pergolesi and

Jommell i . Pergo les i’

s nature was not mascul ine enoughfo r him ever to reach anyth ing approach ing the grandeurof Scarlatti , or even his humour ; the best features of his

comic operas are the sentimenta l a irs . But the famous airin L

’

Olimpiade—“ S e cerca

, se dice -has a touch o f

Scarlatt i in the pathetic expression o f its broken phrasesskilfully woven into the textu re of a formal design .

I t is a significant fact that Scarlatti was the last greatwriter of chamber-cantatas. Those o f the next generationare comparatively few, and seldom interesting. Pergo les i

'

s

are on the whole the best, and these are hardly to beclassed as chamber-music , all having accompaniments forstrings , on a much larger scale than S carlatti ’s . Durantearranged a series of twelve duets from Scarlatti ’s latercantatas, taking recitatives and ar iosi and expandingthem in a more or less contrapuntal style. But thesewere intended , as Burney tells us , only as advanced “

studijfor singers , in which the passages being echoed in fugueexci ted emulation in performance

,and furnished an oppo r

tunity o f comparing the rapidity and neatness of theexecution , as the comparative speed o f two coursers is bestknown by their r unning a tr ia l .

”

As the idea l form of chamber-music the cantata diedwith Alessandro S carlatti . Probably the rise o f instrumental music threw it out o f fashion , as well as the increasein the number of amateur players and singers , which was aprominent factor in the development of music for theceml a lo. V illarosa

’

s judgment on S carlatti ’s cantatas,

though dating from a hundred years later, neverthelessprobably represents with fa ir accuracy the opinion o f the

previous centuryBut what music has he left that cou ld be l istened to

to-day ? H is style was great, it is well understood ; buthis taste was always dry , nerve less and scholastic. If i t



is from a cadenza of Chopin . Handel seems to na i l h iscolor atu ra to h is framework ; S carlatti

’s often ga ins a

priceless charm by its wayward independence . Handeloften reminds us o f some prudish nymph of Rubens,clutching her drapery tightly about her, anxious and un

graceful ; Scarlatti recalls T intoretto’s Venus , her loose

transparent girdle fluttering crisply to the breeze , servingits whole purpose in the del i cate contrast that it makeswith the pure firm line o f her perfectly poised and roundedform . Besides S carlatti , two other I tal ian composers ex erc ised an equally strong influence on Handel : the eclecticSteffani , from whom Handel learned to write overturesand dances in what we may call an I tal ian version o f thestyle o f Lull i , and Bononcini , who in spite of his bad repuration among Handel ’s admirers seems to have been thereal originator o f what is commonly described as theHandel ian style. Bononcini even influenced Scarlattihimself, as we have seen , and i t is therefore not surprising that a man o f Handel ’s temperament should haveseized more readily on the sal ient mannerisms o f Bononciniand Steffani than on the more intricate subtleties o f Scarlatti ’s music.

Domenico S carlatt i was to some extent a pupi l o f hisfather , though he also studied with Bernardo Pasquin i andFrancesco Gasparini . At a first glance there seems thestrongest possible contrast between father and son .

Domenico's operas and cantatas are as devoid of char

acter and interest as Alessandro ’s tiresome toccatas fo r theceml alo. But if we compare Alessandro’s arias withDomenico’s sonatas, we shall find that they have muchin common , after el iminating such qual ities as are purelyaccidental to the two personal ities , depending merely onthe form in which their music is cast . We must not expectcanta l i le melodies in the E serciz i per Graviceml alo any .

more than wild leaps and rattl ing arpeggios in the Cantataa voce sola . But i t certa inly could no t have been fromGasparin i or Pasquini that Domenico got his genius fo rneatly organized forms , his extraordinary modu lations, his

ROME, NAPLES 2 0 1

skill in thematic development , his qua int mannerism o f

re i terating a characteristic figure, and above all his

as ton ishing Beethovenish sense of humour.Among Scarlatti ’s pupils Hasse has a peculiar interest

and importance. His later work bears l ittle resemblanceto his master’s, fo r l ike all his contemporaries he too wasobliged to conform to the taste of his generation . Bu t hedoubtless derived from Scarlatti his careful workmanship

,

especial ly with regard to accompaniments, and the beautiful declamation and dramatic feeling o f his recitativo

str omentato. He is moreover the principal connectingl ink between the school o f Naples and the school o f

V ienna , and if he did no more than his fel low-pupils tocarry on the letter o f the Scarlatti tradition , probably nonedid so much fo r the propagation of its spiri t as the devoteddisciple who told Burney “ that the first time Scarlatti sawhim,

he hasti ly conceived such an affection fo r him,that he

ever after treated h im with the kindness o f a father.” 1

Indeed the real importance of Scarlatti l ies not in hisdirect influence on his immediate followers, but in his relation to the whole development o f classica l music. Eraclea ”

may be sa id to divide his work at the meeting of the centuries. Before 1 700 ,

he had gathered up all that was best ofthe tangled materials produced by that age o f transition andexperiment , the seventeenth century , to form out of them a

musical language , vigorous and flexible as I tal ian itself,which has been the foundation o f all music o f the classica lperiod . Lesser composers contributed their part to thisgreat work, but S car latti is so much the most fertile, andmaintains even at his lowest so h igh a standard , that thema in glory o f the achievement is certa inly due to him.

H is best pupil , we may safely say, is Mozart. Almostall those characteristics o f style that we are accustomedloosely to consider as essentially Mozartian , were learnedby Mozart from the I tal ians of the preceding half-century.I ndeed

,Mozart to some extent repeated the work of

Scarlatti , uniting in himself the massive strength of Leo,1 Tli e Present S tate af M usic in Germany , 6 m, vo l. i. p. 348.

2 9 2 ALESSANDRO'

SCARLATTI

the sweetness of Durante and Pergolesi,the swift energy

o f Vinci and the racy humour of Logro scino , together withthat divine beauty o f melody which belonged to Scarlattialone. Nor was this I ta l ian influence confined to h is earlyyears Die ZauberflOte ,

” in some ways the most Germano f his operas , is also the opera i n which he shows the mostmarked affinity to Scarlatti . The Queen of N zg/zt, Tamino ,and Pam ina are all characteristic figures o f the I tal ianstage , treated quite in S carlatti

’s manner ; and Papagenoand Papagena , however typically Viennese they may be

from a psychologica l point o f view , are certainly nothingbut I tal ian par ti l ufi as far as their place in the operais concerned .

‘

The history of the classica l per iod is the h istory o f

musical form from the aggressive symmetry o f Haydn tothe mas terly freedom o f Beethoven . Fo r this developmentS carlatti prepared the ground . Large symphonic formshe never used the a irs and duets o f his later operas and

cantatas represent the widest schemes o f design that hecould conceive fo r single movements. I t is natural tothink that th is was mainly due to his innate sympathy withthe voice and his comparative indifference to instrumentalmusic. This

,however

,is probably not the sole reason . S car

latti , as we have seen , always Cherished the contrapuntaltradition in Serious music

,both vocal and instrumenta l,

al though his counterpoint is seldom in more than two

parts ; hence in his instrumental music the tendencytowards modern symphon ic forms is apparent only in hisdances, marches

, and sim i lar movements. Even in thesehe becomes contrapuntal whenever the occasion demandsa serious style : the last movement of the overture to“ La Vergine Addolorata , composed as late as 1 7 1 7 , is

thoroughly polyphonic , and not in the leas t orchestralin a modern sense, a lthough i ts dance form is as clearlydefined as that o f the march in Il Prigioniero Fo rtunato .

”

In the chamber-cantatas, however, i t was easier to extendhis forms on modern l ines ; and we see clearly from suchexamples as are quoted in Chapter I I I . how much he was



invented it, fo r none of his predecessors or contemporariescan show the same absolute mas tery over it . Monteverdi ,Cavall i , Heinrich S chi i tz and Purcel l may give us singlephrases, even single movements which are often astonishingly modern in their effect ; Scarlatti never. H is musicis either frankly the music of his own time, or else,l ike Mozart’s, it is music for all time. Whenever he doesanything new he does it with the perfect ease o f an

accomplished master even in the chamber-music, where heis openly attacking a problem , he is fully conscious o f hispower to solve it. He is entirely devoid o f the hysterica lromanticism which makes wild experiments in the vaguehope o f expressing the inexpressible musical compositionis for him a science, “ the daughter of Mathemat ics.” 1

Well did Cardina l Ottoboni describe him fo r his own age

when he wrote upon his tombstone mast'

ras z'

nstaum tor

max imus . We , some two centuries later, .tracing the

development o f his art through Haydn , Mozart, Beethoven ,and Brahms along those lines which he was the first clearlyto lay down , may legitimately interpret the words—Fathero f Classical Music.

Letter to Ferdinand de’ Med ici, May I, 1706 . (Archivio Med iceo , Fz'

lza

5903, NO 196 )

APPEND IX

THE SCARLATTI FAM ILY

Anna Maria Alessandro Francesco

m. Antonia Anzalone( 16 59-1 72 5 )

Giuseppe

The B z

’

og rafi a deg /i Uomz'

m'

Il lustn'

del Regno di

Napol i is our only authority fo r the existence o f F laminiaS carlatti , who is sa id to have been a remarkably goodsinger. G iuseppe is described by the same writer as

grandson of Alessandro,but not son of Domenico . As he

worked principally at Venice and Vienna i t has beensuggested that he was son of Alessandro’s brotherFrancesco, thus being nephew o f Alessandro. This isnot incompatible with the statement in the B z

'

ogmfia ,

if we suppose the writer to have heard o f G iuseppe as

nepote dz"

A lessandro ( i .e. nephew o f Alessandro) and tohave misinterpreted the phrase , the word nepote bearingboth meanings. Bu rney, however, makes him nephew of

Domenico, when mentioning him as one o f the distingu ished mus i cians o f Vienna.

1 There was a P ietroScarlatti organist of the roya l chapel at Naples in Alessandro ’s time, and a Tommaso S car latti who, besidesbeing a tenor singer in the royal chapel

,a lso took part

in Alessandro’s comic opera Il Tronfo dell ’ Onore .

Whether either of these two were related to Alessandroit is impossible to say.

Tlze Present S tate of M arie 17: Germany , 6 m, vo l. i . p. 369.

CATALOGUE OF THE EXTANT WORKS

OF ALESSANDRO SCARLATTI

Wi t}: t/ze Librar ies where tbe M SS . are to be found.

‘

B . Berlin, Royal Library.BA. Bo logna , Accademia Filarmonica.

B C. Brussels , Conservato ire Royal deMusique.

BF. Brussels, Royal Library (Fetts co l

lection).BL . Bo logna , Liceo Musicale.

BM London, Bri tish Museum .

B od . Ox ford , Bodleian Library.C. Cambridge, Fitzwi l ltam Museum.

Car . Rome , B iblio teca Casanatense.

Cee. Rome, Bibl io teca S . Ceci l ia.

Clef . Ox ford , Christchurch.

Cor . Rome, B iblio tem Co rsiniana.

D . Dresden, Royal Library.Dar . Darmstadt, Grand-Duca] Library.F. Florence, R. Isti tuto Musicale.

FM Florence, National Library.LA . London, Royal Academy of Music.

LB . London, Buckingham Palace.

I. Opanas .

II. ORATORIOS .

III. Sanauaras AND CANTA‘

I‘

AS FOR Fas'rxvam.

IV. Manni e /us .

V. CHAMBER-CANTATAS FOR Two Vo xcas.

VI. CHAMBER-CANTATAS FOR ONE Vorea.

VII. Massns.

VIII. Mor an‘

s .

IX. Ins'rnuu an'

ru . Musrc.

X. Tnzona'

ncar. Wonx s, &c.

1 This catalogue does not include modern printed editions, or MS . arias from

identified operas.

LC. London, Royal Co llege of Mus ic.

111. Munich , National Li brary.AIC. Montecassino .

M i l . M i lan, R. Conservatorio di Musica.

Mod. Modena, Biblioteca Estense.

N . Naples , R. Conservatorio di Musica.

Pad . Padua, Biblio teca del Santo .

Pal . Palermo , R . Conservatorio d i Musica.

PC. Paris , Conservato ire de Musique.

PN . Paris, Bibl io théque Nationale.

RB . Rome, Biblio teca Barberini .S . Munster in Westphalia , Santim s co l

lection.

Selz. Schwerin, Grand-Ducal Library.V. Venice, Bibl io teca Marciana.

Vat. Rome, Vatican Library .

W'

. Vienna, Imperial Library.Will . Vienna , Gesellschaft der Musik

freunde.


2 08

Gli Equivoc i nel Sembiante ovvero

L’Errore Innocente.

Score : BC. BL . Mod. V.

Libretto : BL. (Rome, 16 79 ;

Bo logna, 1 6 79 ; Ravenna,BC. (Monte Fi lo ttramo ,

Mod. (Rome, Frag

ments : W.

L’Eraclea.

Libretto : N. (Naples,BC. BL. (Parma Frag

ments : BF . D. LB . N. PC.

L’

Errore Innocente. S eeGl i Equ ivo

'

ci nel Sembiante.

I] Figlio delle Selve.

Score : PC. Libretto : BC.

(Rome,Flavio .

Libretto : BL. N. (Naples, S .

Barto lomeo , 6 NovemberIl Flavio Cuniberto .

Score : Chr. Libretto : BC.

(Rome, Teatro Capranica,N. (Rome, FN.

(Prato lino Fragments

S . (Prato lino , 1 702 . These 1 6

airs are not in the Chr . MS . )Ademo llo mentions a perform

ance at Rome (Teatro To rd inona) in 1 695 .

Cerone Tiranno di S iracusa.

Score : Chr. (composed

Fragments : N. It was per

formed at Rome in 1 694 , and

probably produced at Naplesearlier.

1] Gran Tamerlano .

Libretto : FN. (Prato lino ,La Griselda.

Score : B . BC. M . 5 . (“Opera

Libretto : BL. (Rome,T. Capranica, Carnival 1

_

z 1

Fragments : BM. (Acts I . and

I I I . autograph), PC.

L’ Honestanegli Amori.Score : M0d. Libretto : BL.


BC. (Rome, 6 FebruaryFragments : Car. PC.

L’Humanita nelle Fere ovvero Il

Lucullo .

Libretto : BL. (Naples, S . Barto

lomeo, Probably produced before elsewhere, since

the l ibretto mentions additionsby Vigno la.

L’ Infedelta Fedele.

mene.

Gl i Inganni Felici.Libretto BC.N. (Naples, RoyalPalace and S . Barto lomeo ,Fragments : D.

Laod icea e Berenice.

Score : PN. Libretto : Mod.

N. (Naples, S . Barto lomeo ,Fragments : BM . BF.

N. PC.

Lucio Manlio l ’ Imperioso .

Libretto : FN (Prato lino , 1Marco Atti lio Rego lo .

Score : BM . (autograph). Lib

retto : BL. BC. N. (Rome,T. Capranica,Fragments : BC. BM . (withtitle Annibale PC.

Massimo Puppieno .

Score : MC. Libretto : N.

(Naples, 8 . Barto lomeo , 2 6

DecemberIl M itridate Eupatore.

Sco re : B . PC. Libretto : BL.

V. (Venice , Teatro S . GiovanniCrisostomo ,

Le Nozze con 1’ Inimico ovvero

l’Anal inda.

Score : PN. Libretto : BC.

(Naples , S . Barto lomeo ,Fragments : BM . D.

Odoardo .

Libretto : BC. (Naples , S . Bar

to lomeo , Fragments : D.

N. PC.

S ee La Ros

CATALOGUE OF

L’ Olimpia Vend icata.

Sco re : London, in possessiono f F. G. Edwards, Esq . Lib

retto : BC. N. (Naples, S . Barto

lomeo , Fragments BM .

N. PC.

11Pasto r di Corinto .

Score : BF . Libretto : BC.

(Naples, S . Barto lomeo ,Fragments : D. PC.

11Pirro e Demetrio .

Sco re : BF . N. Libretto : N.

(Naples, S . Barto lomeo ,BC. (Rome, Fragments :

BM . Performed in London 1 4

December 1 700 in an Englishadaptation by Swiny and Haym .

Il Pompeo .

Score : BF . Libretto : BC.

(Rome, Teatro Co lonna , 1 6 83 ;Naples , Royal Palace and S .

Barto lomeo , N. BL.

(Leghorn, Fragments :

Bod . PC. 5 . V.

IIPrigioniero Fortunato .

Score : BM . N . Libretto : BL.

BC. (Naples , S . Barto lomeo , 1 4December Fragments

D. PC. 3 . PN.

La Principessa Fedele.

Score : BF . Libretto : BL. N.

(Naples , S . Barto lomeo , Cam ival Fragments : S .

(partly autograph) .La Rosaura . S ee Gl i Equivoci in

Amo re .

La Rosmene ovvero L’ Infedelta

Fedele.

Score : 5 . Libretto : BC.

(Naples, S . Barto lomeo ,Fragments : BM . F .

Scipione nelle Spagne .

Score : BM . BF . Libretto :

N. (Naples, S . Barto lomeo , 2 1

January Fragments

MC. The comic scenes were

EXTANT WORKS 2 09

revived at Bo logna in 1 730 withthe t itle La Dama Spagnuo la

ed il Cavalier Romano .

La S tatira .

Sco re : BM . BC. D . M . Lib

retto : BC. (Rome, Teatro To rdinona, Fragments : N .

S .

Telemaco .

Score : PC. 5 . W. (autograph) .Libretto : BL. BC. (Rome, T .

Capranica, 1 7 1 8 ; OperaFragments : F .

La Teodora Augusta .

Score : Chr . F . Libretto : BC.

(Rome, T. Capranica,Teodosio .

Libretto : N. (Naples, S . Barto

lomeo , The libretto doesno t mention Scarlatti, but the

Gazzetta dr'

Napoli names himas the composer.

Il Tigrane ovvero L’Equal Impegno

d’Amore.

Score : F. N. LB . Libretto :

BL. N. (Naples, 8 . Barto lomeo ,Carnival 1 7 1 5 ; OperaFragments : S .

Tiberio Imperatore d’ Oriente.

Fragments : N. PC. (Naples,Royal Palace, 8 May

Tito Sempronio Gracco .

Libretto : N. (Naples, 8 . Barto

lomeo , 1 702 , and T.

Capranica, BL. BC.

( Rome, Fragments : D.

N. (Naples, PC. 5 .

(Rome,Il Trionfo dell’ Onore.

Score : BM . (“Opera 1 1 0

Libretto : N. (Naples, T. dei

Fiorentini,Il Trionfo della Liberta.

Libretto : BL. N. V. (Venice,S . Giovanni Crisostomo ,Fragments : BF .

2 IO

Turno Aric ino .

Libretto : FN . (Prato lino , 1BC. BL. (Rome, T. Capranica,

Fragments : PC. 5 . B .

(Rome, It is poss iblethat the setting produced at

Prato lino in 1 704 was not Scar

latti’s .


l La V irtir negli Amo ri .Libretto : BL . (Rome, 1 8 NO

vembarLa V irtit Trionfante dell’ Od io e

del l’Amore .

Libretto : BC.N. (Naples , RoyalPalace, 3 May,

OPERAS WarrrEN m COLLABORATION

La Santa Genuinda .

Sco re : BM . M . PC. LibrettoBC. M . (Rome, Act I .

by Giovanni del Vio lone, ActI I . by A. Scarlatti , Act I I I . byC. F. Fo l lato lo .

Giunio Bruto ovvero la Caduta dei

Tarquinij .

Score : W. Act I . by CarloCesarini , Act II . by Antonio

Caldara, Act II I . by A. Scar

latti .

ADDITIONS TO OPERAS av OTHER COMPOSERS

Odoacre (Legrenzi ) .Libretto : N . (Naples, S . Barto

lomeo ,

La Pasto rella (Act I . by Cesarini ,l

Act II. by Giannino , Act I II .by Bononcini) .

Fragments : BM . Represented

by marionettes in the palace o f

the Venetian ambassador at

Rome in 1 705 .

Il Porsenna (Lo tti ) .Fragments : MC. Perfo rmed at

Naples in 1 7 1 3 .

Ai ace, Comodo Antonino, Etio,

M uzioS cevola,andPenelopelaCastawere ascribed by Flo rimo and othersto A. Scarlatti without any apparentdocumentary evidence . The librettiare wi thout any compo ser

’

s name,

and no scores o r fragments by Scarlatti are known.

I! M edo and Rodrigo ( sco res inPC.) have been ascri bed to A . Scar

latt i by modern hands . IIM edo

is certai nly by a much later com

poser, and Rodrigo is identical withan opera by S tradella (Mcalled by Catelani I1 F loridoro .

I I . ORATORIOS

Agar et Ismaele Esiliati.1 6 83 . W.

La SSm Annuntiata (about 1 7 1 0BF .

L’

Assunzione della Beatissima Vergine (about 1 70 5 S . W. S ee

La Spo sa dei Sacri Cantici .S . Casimiro Re d i Po lonia (Vienna,

1 7 1 3 , probably no t first per

formance) . W.

Rome, La Concettione della B .V. (Rome,1 703 , acco rd ing to Flo rimo ).PN.

La Conversione d i Maddalena. S ee

11Trionfo della Gratia.

David is Pugna et Victoria (Rome,Libretto : BL.

San Filippo Neri (Fo ligno , 1 4 May,

1 7 1 3 , pro bably no t first performance) . BF . 5 . Libretto : BL.



Endimione e Cintia (Rome,B . S .

Amo re e Virtit ossia il Trionfodella Virtit scri tta per i l Pri ncipe Ruspol i ,

”Rome,

B . S .

Clori e Zefli ro B . S .

Fi leno , Niso , Doralbo (Rome,5 .

Le Muse Urania e Clio lodano lebellezze di Fi lli S .

Venere, Adone e Amore (Rome ,S .

Venere avendo perduto Amore lo

ritrova fra le Ninfe e Pastori

IV . MADRIGALS

Arsi un Mo ri mi d ici N.

WM . 0 morte agl i altri fosca, a me serena

Cor mio deh non languire WM .

B . BL. BM . (Add . 1 4 1 6 6 ) 0 selce o tigre o ninfaC.M .N. 5 . Also printed in Mar BM . (Add .

tini ’s S aggi o di Contrappzmto . Or cheda temio bene N.

Intenerite vo i lacrime mie Sdegno la hamma estinseBM . (Add . BM . (Add .

V . CHAMBER-CANTATAS FOR TWO VOICES

(Aeeompanied by Continuo alone unless additional instruments arementioned .)

The asterisk deno tes a work of which the authorship is doubtful .A

, bbattaglia, pensieri, a battaglia Clori mia—Dorino caro (Clori e

trumpet, 2 vio lins, Dorino ) S ch

WM . Crudel perche privarmi (SS ). F .

Ahi che saradi me (Floro e Tirsi) Di quel seno al bel candore(SS . ,

2 Sept., C.N. S . 1Di quegli occhi al do lce foco lAmica, hor cheAprile (Filli eClori ) WM .

(SS . ,2 vio lins) . Bod. BM .

*Dimmi crudel e quando(Add. 3 1 488, 3 1 5 06 ) S . WM . BL.

Bel Dorino—amata Clo ri (Clori e Disperate pupille hor si piangeteDo rino ) (S B , 2 vio lins) . S ch. S ch.

Che pi it farai arciero amor (Clori e Dove fuggi o bella Clori (Clori eDo rino S ch. Lid io ) N.

Cleopatra mia Reina (Marc’

antonio Another setting 2 vio lins).e Cleopatra S . S .

dei Sette Co ll i (Rome,B . S .

Pace, Amor, Providenza (Naples,probably 1 7 B .

Primavera, Estate, Autunno , Invernoe Giove (Naples, 1 7 1 6 , for the

birth o f the Archduke Leopo ld ) .BM . M . N.

Filli , Clori, e Tirsi (Naples, 1 7 1 8P) .B . S .

Erminia, Tancredi , Po lidoro , e

Pastore (“Per 1

’ecc

’” S ig’ Prin

cipe di S tigl i ano in occasione de’

suoi Sponsal i ,”Naples,

MC. N. LC.

CATALOGUE OF EXTANT WORKS

*Due co ri a me fan guerra (SS .

perhaps by Lotti ) . N. Pal .

E pur vuo le i l cielo (S A , 1 706 P) .

BL. BM . (Add . C. S .

11 ciel seren, le fresche aurette (LaPrimavera, Clo ri e Lisa)S .

Lasciami sospirar, iOvogl io piangere(Dorindo e Fileno ) PC.

Lisa, del foco mio (Clo ri e Lisa

2 8 Feb.

Mentre s l o aurato (Clori eM irti l l 3”PC. 5 .

*No che lungi da quel vo lto (SAperhaps by Lotti) . N. Pal .

No , non ti voglio no S .

0 come bello con onde chiare(Tirsi e Clori) (SS ) . 5 .

2 1 3

VI. CHAMBER CANTATAS FOR ONE VOICE

( 1 ) ACCOMPANIED av CONT1NUO WITH OTHER INSTRUMENTS

All’hor che stanco il so le (S ., 2

vio lins) . PC.

Alma tu che dal Cielo (S . , 2

vio lins, 1 2 Sept. 1 709, sacred ).BM . (Add.

Amanti anch’ io son preso (S .,

vio lin so lo ) . S .

Appena ch iudo gl i

vio lin) . N. PC.

Appena giunse al forte campo .

(Olofeme) (B .,2 vio lins) . BM .

(Add . 1 4 1 6 6 , incomplete) .Ardo, a. ver, per te d

’amore (S .,

flute) . N. ( incomplete) .Augell in sospendi i vanni (S . , 2

vio lins) . B . (autograph) .

Augellin vago e canoro (S ., 2

flutes, 2 6 June 5 .

Ben mio , quel verme alato (S ., 2

vio lins) . BM . (Add.

Clori mia, Clori bella (S . , flute, 1 8June S .

occhi (S .,

Correa nel seno amato (S .

, 2

vio l ins) . BM . (Add. 3 1 506 )

Da duppl icati oggetti (S . , 2 vio lins,vio la) . N.

Dall’ oscura magion dell’

arsa Dite

(L’ Orfeo ) (S . , 2 vio lins) . PC. 5 .

Dove fuggo , a che pensoP (S.,vio linso lo .) N. PC. 5 .

E con qual core, oh Dio (S .,2

vio lins) . S .

Ebra d’amor fuggia (L

’Arianna)

(S ., 2 vio l ins) . N. PC.

Era l’ oscura no tte (S ., 2 vio lins) .

S .

Ferrna omai fugace e bella (A., 2

vio lins and vio la, Dec.

Rome, Comm. Carlo Lozzi

(autograph)Fida compagna del tuo alato

amante (S .,2 vio lins) . B . N .

PC.

See under Cantatas with continua alone.

Openosa lontananza—o felice lontananza (S B ) . 5 . Sch. W.

Ombre romite e so litarie pianteM .

Or per pieta del mio crudel

dest ino (S . B . (incom

pleteP) .Perche sospm 0 Niso (Do ralba e

Niso ) D.

*Quando un Eroe che s’ama

BL.

Questo silenzio ombroso 1 7

Sept. BM . (Add .

1 4 1 66 , C. N. PC. S .

“San pur care le catene BL.

*Tirs i che fa i l tuo co re (SS . ; per

haps by Lotti) . N. Pal .

V iva, viva mia liberta PC.


Fileno , Oh Dio ! Fileno , di quest’

anima amante (S .,2 vio lins) .

BF .

Fi leno , quel Fileno , tutto fé (S . ,2

vio lins) . S .

Filli che fra gl’o rro ri (S . , 2 vio lins,

S .

Filli, tu sai s’

io t’amo (S . , 2 flutes,

April S .

Hor che di Febo ascosi (S , 2

vio lins, N. Dar. 5 .

Imagini d’

orrore (B ., 2 vio l ins, 1 6

July PC. (autograph).

Lagrime do lo rose dagli occhi miei .(T.

,2 vio lins) . PC.

‘Mentre Clori la bella presso un

ruscel sedea (S . , 2 vio lins) . S .

Mentre Clo ri la bella so tto l’ ombrad’un mirto (S . , 2 flutes) . S .

WM .

Mentre un Zefli ro arguto (S .,

2

vio lins) . S . The same fo r B .

with a different S infonia. S ch.

M i contento cosl (T. , 2 vio lins) . PC.

M ia Dorinda, mia vita (S . , vio l in,S .

Mirtillo anima mia, giache parti .(S ., 2 vio lins) . S .

Nel silentio commune (S . , 2

vio lins, vio la). BM . (Add.

1 4 1 6 3 )Nella stagione appunto (S . , 2

vio lins) . S .

Nella tomba di Gnido (S . , 2

vio lins) . S .

Notte ch’in carro d

’

ombre (S ., 2

vio lins). S . W.

Oh di Betlemme altera (S ., 2

vio lins, vio la , sacred) . BM .

(Add .

Per l’ondoso sentiero (S . , 2

Vi o lins) . PC.

Perche, perche tacete rego laticoncenti (A.

, 2 vio lins) . S .

Perde al vo stro confronto (S .,2

vio lins) . S .

Piangete O mie pupille (S . , 2

vio lins) . PC.

Piango , sospiro e peno (A.,

2

vio lins) . BM . (Add .

Prima d’

esservi infedele (S .,

2

vio lins) . MC.

Qual’ ora io veggo la vezzosa Irene(S .

, 2 vio lins) . N. PC.

Quella pace gradita (S . , flute,vio lin, vio loncello ) . 5 . (auto

graph) .S iete uniti a tormentarmi (A.

,2

vio lins) . D.

S ilentio , aure vo lanti (S . , 2

vio lins) . Bod. S .

So litudini amene, apriche co llinette (S .

, flute) . D .

So tto l’

ombra d’

un faggio (B. , 2

vio lins) . N. PC.

Sotto l’ombra d

’

un faggio (S .,2

vio lins. MC. PC. LA. ( incomplete) .

Sovra carro stellato (S .,2 vio lins) .

N. ( incomplete) .Sul margine d

’un rivo (S . , 2

vio lins) . PC. S .

Sulla sponda del mare (L’Olimpia)

(S ., 2 vio lins , vio la) . W.

Sul l’ora appunto che co l carro

d’

010 (La Fenice) (S ., 2

vio lins) . Dar. S .

Sulle sponde del Tebro (S .,

trumpet, 2 vio lins). BM .

(Add . 3 1 487) S . WM .

Tiranna ingrata, che far dovrb

(B .

,2 vio lins ) . N.

Tirsi pastore amante (S .

,2

vio lins) . PC. S .

Tra speranza e timore (B. , vio lin)BM . (Add .

Tu che una dea rassembri (S ., 2

vio lins) . S .

Tu resti, o mio bel nume (B . , 2

vio lins). N.

Tu sei quella che al nome (A.

, flute,2 vio l ins) . MC. (incomplete) .



Api industri che vo late . M i l . PC.

S ch.

1 Appena chiudo gli occhi . N. PC.

Ardea per Coridone Clori . LC.

Arder per due pupille. M . M i l.

Ardo , ardo d’amo re . BC. BM .

(Add . 1 4 1 6 3 ) LA. M i l . S ch.

Ardo tac ito amante . PC. S .

Arse fel ice un tempo . BM . (Add .

3 1 5 1 2 )Assiso in verde prato . S .

Augelletti sempl icetti . M . ( incom

plete) PC. ( incomplete) S . W.

2 Augell in so spendi i vanni . BC.

PC. S .

Augellino prigioniero , ferma Oh

Dio . S . W.

Aure io son di vo i geloso . Pal .

Barbara e ingrata Fi lle. Pal .

Rome, Comm . Carlo Lozzi

(autograph) , S .

Bei prati freschi rivi. BM . (Add .

3 1 5 1 2 ) LC. M . PC. 5 .

Bei prati verd i co ll i. S .

Bella, dunque n’andrai . BM .

(Add .

Bella, per te d’

amo re . N. N.

(alto ) Pal . (alto ) .Bella quanto crudel, spietata Irene(June LC. S .

Bella Rosa ado rata (Sept.S .

Bella se quella face. PC.

* l lel le pupille care. 5 .

Ben che o sirena bella. BM . (Add .

1 4 2 2 0) N. PC. 5 .

Ben che porti nel vo lto . BF.

Ben che vezzosa Irene. N.

Ben fo lle é chi non parte. BF .

Mod.

B iondi crini che in fronte. S .

Bo schi amati che cingete. PC.

1 S ee under cantatas with continua and o ther instruments .

2 Ibid .

Cara sempre agli occhi miei . BF.

BM . (Add .

*Care selve a vo i ritomo . LC.

Care selve gradite. B . BM . (Add .

3 1 5 09)Caro Fileno mio , quanto mi spiace .

S .

*Caro lacc io , do lce nodo . B .

Cerca nel co r di mille ( 1 0 AugustBA. (autograph) BC.

(alto ) .Cerco , né so trovar belta fedel .Pal .

Ch’

io da te mi d ivida. Pal .

Che fai mio cor. BM . (Add.

3 1 5 1 2 , incomplete) .Che lo do lcezze estreme. LC.

Che mai saradi me. M .

Che piit tardi o Ninfa bella. PC.

*Che pretend i 0 tiranna. S .

Che S isifo infelice ( 2 5 JulyS . (autograph) .

Chi batte al mio co reP PC.

Chi m’ insegna ov

’

e quel bene.

S . W.

Chi vedesse la ferita. PN. S .

Chi vidde mai o chi provb. S .

Chiudetevi per sempre. B . N.

Chiusa tra fosche bende. BM .

(Add.

Cinta dei pii t bei ho ri. N.

*Cinta d i rai splendea. S .

Cleopatra la bella, la Venere

d’

Egitto (Lamento di Cleopatra) . PC.

Clo ri allor ch’io ti vidi ( 1 7 April

S . (autograph) .

Clo ri, bell’ ido l mio , Clo ri mia vita.

PC. S . W.

Clori , Clo ri spietata, mio crudel

teso ro . M i l .

Clori , Clori superba, e come mai .

N. S . (See Cruda Irene su

CATALOGUE OF EXTANT WORKS 2 1 7

perba, of which this is a d ifferent version. )

Clori, mi sento al seno . S .

Clori , mia cara Clo ri , moro . BM .

(Add .

Clori vezzosa e bella (alto ) . BM .

(Add . 1 4 2 1 2 ) F . LC. N.

Clorinda é bella. N.

Co lui che fisso mira (AprilBM . (Add. 1 4 1 6 3 ) S . (alto ) .

Come il fuoco alla sua sfera. S ch.

Come po testi mai. Chr.

Come pub non esser bella ( 1 5 Feb.

S . (autograph) .Come vago augelletto N.

Come vo lubil gira la ruo ta. BM .

(Add. 3 1 5 1 2 ) PC.

Con non inteso affanno . S .

Con trasparente velo ( 13 Dec.

B . (autograph) BM .

(Add. 14 2 2 5 ) S . W.

M ACor di Bruto e che riso lvi .“PC.

Coronate il bel crine. PC.

Cruda Irene superba . M i l . N.

PC. S . (See Clori , Clori su

perba , o f which this appears tobe a co rrupt vers ion.)

Crudelissimo amore. N. ( incom

plete) .Crudo amo r, che vuo i da me.

BL.

D’

un platano frondoso . M .

Da che Tirsi mirai . BM . (Add.

14 2 2 0 ) Pal .*Da l ’ arco d ’

un bel ciglio (alto ) .Pal .

Da qual parte Celeste ( 2 0 Oct.S . (autograph) .

Da quel dl che Matilda. LA.

l ) a quell’ hora fatale LC.

Da sventura a sventura ( 1 690 P) .BL. C. ( incomplete) N. PC.

( incomplete) W. (C. has a

MS . of the first air wi th ac

companiment fo r four strings. )

Da turbini d i pene . LC.

*Da vo i parto amati rai (bass) . B .

Dagl i strali d ’

amo re vivea lieto( 1 3 Sept . S .

Dal bel vo lto d ’ Irene . 8 114 . (Add .

14 1 6 5 ) M i l . N.

Dal co lle al pian d iscesa . BF. M .

Dal crudele Daliso . PN.

Dal dl che amo r m’

accese. N.

Dal dl che l ’ empio fato . LC. N.

Dal grato mormo rio . BM . (Add .

3 1 509 )Dalla fida compagna abbandonata.

PC.

Dalla speme deluso . M od . 5 .

Dalle pene amorose. Rome,Comm. C. Lozzi .

Dalle Tirrene sponde parti Fille.

Dammi amore. Bod.

Deh permerce. BM . (Add. 1 4 1 64 )LC. S .

Deh torna amico sonno ( 2 2 Sept.N . PC. (autographP) .

Del faretrato nume Amor tiranno .

BF .M i l . N . PC. (autographP) .Del lacrimoso lido ( 1 7 JuneBM . (Add . 3 1 487) S . S ch.

Del mio seno la costanza . BM .

(Add .

Del Tebro in 5 11 le sponde. M i l .

N. PC.

Del Tirreno alle sponde. BM .

(Add . 14 2 1 1 ) PC. S . W.

Del Tirreno sul lido (alto ) . S .

Della spietata Irene fur l’ accesepupi lle . S .

Delle patri e contrade . LC.

Dentro un orrido speco . W.

*Di che avete paura P N.

Di cipresso funesto . N. Pal . PN.

Di co lore de’

cieli . Pal .

Di due vaghe pupille nere. PC.

Di me che Sara? V.

Di pensiero in pensier. BM .

(Add .


Died i a Fileno i l core

BM . (Add . 1 4 1 6 5 ) S . S . (alto ) .Dimmi Clo ri superba. 1M. M i l .

PC. S .

Dimmi, mio ben, perche. PN.

Doppo lungo penar (bass) . BM .

(Add .

Dorisbe i miei lamenti. PC.

Do rmono l ’aure estive. BM . (Add .

14 1 6 5 , 3 1 5 08) LC. N. PC. S .

Dove alfin mi traesteP

B . LC. N. M i ’ PC. (auto

graph P)Dov

’

a: Filli, dov’eP Chr. Pal .

Dov’iO ° mi vo lga 0 vada. LC.

M i l .

Dove in grembo . S ee Ove in

grembo .

Dove l’

eneta Dori alla reggia. N.

Dove x estu co r mio P( in Venetiand ialect) . D.

Due nemici tiranni BF .

Dunque ingrato spergiuro . B .

BM . (Add . 1 4 2 1 2 ) .Mi l . N.

PC. WM .

Dunque perche lontano . M.

Dunque sperar non lice. PC.

E come, Oh Dio , lontana. Pal . S .

E come e come, Oh Dio , tacito . M .

E come ohimeposs’io . N. PC.

E’

l gran pena l’amare. LC.

E la speme un desio tormentoso .

S .

E lungi dal mio bene. BM . (Add .

3 1 5 1 2 )E penar deggio ancora. BL .

(a lto ) M . S .

*E pur e pur é vero . BF . S .

E pur Odo e non moro . LC. N.

E pur tenti i l ritomo . LC. MC.

S . (versions vary) .Epure i l gran to rmento . B . (alto )BM . (Add . 3 1 508) LC. PC.

(alto ) S . (alto ) .

E quando ingrata Nice. M i l . N.

PC. W.

E quando io veggio . LC. ( incom

plete) .E quando mai cessate. Pal .

E satio anco r non sei . LC.

E sia pur vero . BM . (Add . 1 4 2 2 9 )N.

E sino a quando , Amor. LC.

E sino a quando , o stelle. Pal .

E viva al d iletto la mia rimembranza . PC.

Ecco che a vo i ri tomo. B . B M.

(Add . 14 2 1 2 , 1 4 2 2 5 , 1 4 2 2 9 )C. N. M i l . PC.

Entro a piit foschi horrori . PC.

Entro romito speco . BM . (Add .

3 1 5 09 ) LC. M i l . N . PC.

(partly autograph) .Era gia l

’alba (Europa rapita) .

PC.

Era giunta quell’

ora ( 2 9 Nov.

S .

Era la no tte e gia sorgea dal mare.

Era l’ oscura no tte. Florence,

Comm. A. Kraus . S .

Euri l la, amata Eurilla. BC. BL.

BM . (Add . 3 1 5 1 8) D. LC. PC.

Eurilla, io parto , add io . Pal .

Euri lla, oh Dio , nel seno palpita.

Pal.

Facile sembra a un core l ’amar. S .

Farfalla che s’

aggira (La Pazzia) .B . BC. BM . (Add . 3 1 5 1 0) N.

M i l . PC. S .

Farfal letta innocente se correndo .

BM . (Add . 3 1 5 1 0 ) S .

Fatto d’amo r seguace. BM . (Add.

3 1 5 1 0) PC.

Fiamma che avvampa. BM . (Add .

3 1 509 ) M i l . N.

Fiero acerbo destin dell’ alma mia.

N. PC.

Fileno , ove ten vai P( 1 705 ) BM .

(Add . 1 4 1 6 5 , 3 1 5 1 0 ) LC. S .


2 2 0 ALE SSANDRO SCARLATT I

In amorosi ardo ri. BM . (Add .

3 1 508)In bel sonno profondo . LC. N.

In che giammai t’

Oflesi . S . (auto

graph) .

In due vaghe pupi lle. BM . (Add.

14 2 1 1 )In placida sembianza. BF.

In so litaria soglia. N.

In traccia del suo bene. PC.

In vano , amor tiranno . N. S .

Ingiustissimo amor. BF. BM .

(Add . 1 4 2 1 5 ) LC. MC.

Io ben so che S iete arciereM i l . PC. S .

Io che ad un tronco . BF. LC.

PC.

*IO che con aurea luce. BF.

IO che dal cor di Fille. BM .

(Add . 14 2 2 0, 3 1 509 ; 1 4 2 1 3 ,

alto ) . M i l . N. PC. (alsoalto ) S .

IO credei che felice. M i l .

IO m’

accendo a poco a poco . Pal .

Io morirei contento . LC. M od .

5 . W.

Io non v’ intendo O stelle. S .

10 per Dori mi struggo . N. W.

(both incomplete) .Io son Neron l’ imperator del

mondo S .

Io son pur 8010 . LC. M i l . N.

*Io t’amerb e nel mio petto . BF .

Irene, ido lo mio . LC.

L’

armi crudel i e fiere. BM . (Add.

2 9 2 49)L

’huom che segue una speranm.

PC.

La belta ch’io sospiro ( 1 6 AugustBM . (Add.

PC. S . (autograph).La cagion delle mie pene. BM .

(Add .

dei sassi Latini. N.

La dell’ Arno sull’onda. BM .

(Add .

Ladove a Mergellina ( 1 7 2 BF .

LC. M i l . MC. N. S .

Ladove al vivo argento . LC.

La face d’m ore ch

’i l co re

m’

arde. BM . (Add .

La fortuna di Roma (IICo rio lano ) .BC. BM . (Add . 2 9 249 , 3 1488)PC. S .

La gran madre d ’amore. PC.

(autograph ?)La grazia, la sembianza ( 2 2 Feb.

BM . (Add . 2 9 249)PC. S .

La liberta perduta ( incomplete) .BF . MC. See Talor per 3 140di letto , Of which this is a fragment.

Lanel bel sen della regal S irena.

BF . BL.

La speranza che lusinga. PC.

La vezzosa Celinda. M i l . N.

Langue Clori vezzosa. N. S .

Lascia di to rmentar BM .

(Add. 2 9 2 49 , 3 1 507) LC.

Lascia piit di tormentarmiPC.

*Lasciami alquanto piangete (MayD.

Lasciate ch’io v

’

adori (OctoberBM . (Add . 14 1 6 5 ,

2 9 2 49) N. S .

Lasciate homai lasc iate. BL. N.

Lasciato havea l’ adultero superbo .

S .

Le vaghe tue pupille. BM . (Add .

2 9 2 49 , 3 1 5 1 2 ) M . PC. S .

Leandro , animamia, Ero t’ attende.

BM . (Add . 2 9 2 49) Pal . S .

(alto ) .Libertadel mio cor. LC.

Lidia, in van mi condanni . BM .

(Add .

Liete placida e belle ( 1BM . (Add . 2 9 2 49 ) LC. N.

S .


Lieti boschi, ombre amiche ( 1 8BM . (Add.

Lontan dalla sua Clori . BM .

(Add . 3 1 5 09) M i l . N.

Lontan dall’ ido l mio . BM . (Add .

2 9 249 , Harl . 1 2 73 ) Bod. Chr.

Pal .

Lontan dal suo tesor. M i l .

Lontan dal tuo bel viso . MC.

Lontananza che fai ( 2 7 Nov.

BM . ( Add . 2 9 2 49, incom

plete) S . (autograph) W.

Lontananza crudele deh perche

(4 Oct . LA.

Lontananza crudele tu mi trafiggi .N. Pal .

Lontananza non risana. Pad.

Lontananza tiranna che da te mi

d ivide. PC.

Luci care al mondo so le. PN. S .

Luci siete pur quelle. BM . (Add .

2 9 2 49)Lumi che in fronte al mio bel so le(4 Dec. BM . (Add.

2 9 2 49 ) M . MC. (incomplete)M i l . PC. S .

Lumi do lenti lumi. B . (alto ) BM .

(Add . 2 92 49 ) C. LC. Pal .

Lunga stagion do lente (z5 AugustBM . (Add. 2 9 2 49 )

N. S . (autograph).Lungi dal ben ch

’

adoro . F .

Lungi dall’ ido l mio. B .

Lungi dalla cagion per cui sospiro .

BM . (Add . 14 1 6 5 , 2 9 2 49)

M’ha d iviso i l cor dal core. B .

BM . (Add.

Mal fondati Sospetti . PC.

Mal sicuro e: i l hor nel prato .

BM . (Add .

Mentre affidan al mar di Cupido .

Mod. S .

Mentre al sonno chiudea. S . W.

Mentre da questo monte. S .

2 2 1

Mentre Burillo fedele ( infelice) .

*Mentre in un do lce oblio . BF .

Mentre un zeffiro altero . LC. N.

PC.

Mesto , lasso e ramingo (June 1

S .

M i nasce un sospetto . LC. PC.

Mi parto , Barilla, add io (alto ) . B .

PC. S .

Mi to rmenta i l pensiero (alto ) .Pal . S . S ch. (also for bass) W.

*Another setting. S .

Mia Chimene adorata

BM . (Add . 14 2 2 5 ) LC. N .

PC.

Mie speranze fallaci . S .

M ira O Filli quella rosa. M .

PC. S .

M itilde, alma mia, se ud iste mai(3 July BF . LC. M .

N. PC.

M iti lde, anima mia, dove seiP M .

M itilde, dove seiP BC. (incom

plete) F .

M iti lde, mio tesoro, e dove sei PS .

M itilde, Oh quanto do lce e lusinghiero . S .

Morirei d isperato . BM . (Add .

1 4 1 64) LC. N . S .

*Mostri deh non temete . S . W .

Nei languidi respiri . BM . (Add .

1 4 2 2 7 ) C.

Nei tuo i lumi, o bella Clori . BM .

(Add . 3 1 5 1 2 ) M . M i l . PC. S .

Nel centro oscuro . F . N . PC.

Nel do lce tempo (2 7 May 1 7 1 2 o r

2 7 Sept . LC. M i l . N .

PC.

Nel mar che bagna al bel Sebeto

(bass) . N.

*Nel pro fondo del mio core. S .

Nel sen degl i antri . N .

Nel suo fido caro nido . S . W .

Nelle arene del Tago ( 2 4 JulyS .

2 2 2

Nice mia, un so lo istante . BM .

(Add . 3 1 5 09 ) S .

Ninfa crudel, deh vieni . BC.

BM . (Add .

Ninfe e pastori che nel cor nutriteN .

No , non deggio , é troppo cara .

LC. N . S .

N0, non lasciar canora e bella( 2 0 Nov. S .

N0, non posso fingere di non amar

BM . (Add .

No , non vo rrei vivere fra le catene .

PC.

Non 2: come s i d ice ( 2 0 August

S . (autograph) W .

Non é fac ile ad un core. B . BM .

(Add . 1 4 1 6 5 ) N. S .

Non han core is no t a cantata, but

from La Rosaura, Act II I . ,Scene 7 . BM . (Add . 3 1488 )F . LC. N.

*Non mi cred i, deh perche ? S .

Non per pioggia del cielo . BF .

( incomplete) .Non pih contrasti (contese) nb (6Oct. B . BF. LC. Ill .

N. PC. S .

Non posso gia né voglio .

Non temo disastri. PC.

l! 0tte cara a un cor che langueBM. (Add . 1 4 1 6 5 )

S .

Notte cara, ombre beate. BM .

(Add . 1 4 1 6 4, incomplete) N.

Pal. W.

Notte placida e lieta. LC.

LA.

0 che mostro , o che furia ( 2 0 JulyBM . (Add. N.

( incomplete) .Oh che pena ela mia BM .

(Add. 3 1 5 1 2 ) M . PC. S .

O Clori , ahi bella Clori . S .

O de’ pastori diletto stuo lo .

(Add .

0 de’

regni d i Dite Eumenidi. BC.

BM .


0 di fere e d’

augelli cheti ricetti.BF. S .

0 di lucida no tte inclita imago .

PC.

Oh Dio , che viene amore. N.

O do lce servitit . Florence, Comm.

A. Kraus.

O Flora, anima mia. BM . (Add .

1 4 1 90)Oh M iti lde, fosti meco tiranna

BC. LC.

Oh M itilde, Oh del co re (9 Dec .

S .

O pace del mio co r. BF. LC. M i l .

MC. N. PC. S . WM .

0 pace del mio cor (another set

ting) . B . C.

O sol degli occhi miei .(Add. LC. N.

O sventurata Olimpia. N.

O vo i di queste selve habitatrici

BM . (Add. 14 2 2 0,

BM .

14 2 2 9 , 3 1 5 09 ) LA. (alto )M i l . N. PC. WM .

Occhi miei ch’ 111 pianto avvezzi(alto ) . B .

Omai dal cielo al pih sublimepunto . PC.

Or che a me ritomasti . N.

Or che barbara sorte. PC.

01 che di te son privo . BM .

(Add. 14 2 1 5 ) PC.

Or che di Teti in seno . LC. PC.

*01 che grad iti o rrori . 5 .

Or che grad iti o rrori (a d ifferentcantata) . LC. S .

01 che in petto d’

Eurilla . M .

PC. S .

01 che lungi son io . BM . (Add .

M . M i l . N. PC.

(versions vary) .Or che su legno aurato . N.

Ove al Sebeto in riva . LC. N.

Ove fuor del mio seno . BM .

(Add . 3 1 5 1 2 ) M . PC. S .

WM .


2 2 4

Quale al gelo s’

adugge. BM .

(Add . 14 1 6 5 ) S .

Qual’ o r 1’ egre pupille. M .

Qual’ o r miro la bella. N. S .

Quando amo r vuo l ferirmi .( incomplete) N. S .

Quando che t l vedrb. Pal .

Quando credeva i l co re ( 1 6 Oct.1 70 1 ) Pal . S . (autograph)

*Quando Lid ia amorosa. N.

Quando l’umide ninfe. LC.

Quando satia sarai. S .

Quando stanche dal pianto .

(Add .

Quando veggio un gelsomino .

BM . (Add .

Quante le grazie son (4 JuneW.

Quanti affanni ad un core. B .

BM . (Add. 3 1 487, 3 1 5 1 8) N.

Pal . RB . PC. S ch.

Quanto io v’

ami . N.

Quanto , o Filli , t’ inganni 1 0 May

S .

Quanto place agli occhi miei . LC.

N. PC. (versions vary) .Quanto vezzosa e quanto .

(Add .

Quel co r che a te gia diede.

S ch.

Quel piacer che nell’amarti . LC.

Quel ruscelletto o Clori. B . LC.

Quell ’ augello che vo la d’ intorno .

S .

Questa , questa e la selva. N. PC.

Queste torbide e meste onde

BM . (Add. 1 42 1 5 )LC.N. PC.

Questo di be i giacinti serto . BM .

(Add . 3 1 5 1 2 ) LC.

Qui dove a pie d’

un co lle . N.

PC. S .

Qu i dove alfin m’

assido (Il rossignuo lo ) . BC. BM . (Add . 1 4 2 2 0)LC. N. PC. (versions vary) .

Qui dove aure ed augelli . LC.

BA.

BM .

BM .


Se mai Clori gentile. LC. M i l . N.

PC. S .

Se per amor quest’

alma. MC.

Qui vieni ingrata Fille. BM .

(Add . 14 2 2 9 ) LC. M i l . N.

*Reggie paludi, add io . N.

Reggie soglie, alte mo l i ( 18 Oct .

LC. M . N . PC.

R itardati momenti , egre dimore .

PN.

Rond inella torna al lidoN.

Rond inella to rna al nido . S ch.

S’

io t’

amo , s’

io t’

adoro (JuneS .

Sanno , O Fi lli adorata ( 2 4 AugustN.

Sarapur vero , o stel leP LC.

Sarei troppo felice (30 April 1S . (autograph) .

Saresti ben tiranna (fragment) .BF . MC.

Sazio di piit so ffrire. S .

Sc io lgo in lacrime amare. LC.

N. PC.

Scio lta da fredd i amplessi (Mari tovecchio , spo sa giovane) . M .

PC. S .

Scompagnata tortorella . LC. M .

PC. S .

Scorgo i l hume (La Primavera) .BM . (Add . 1 4 16 5 , 3 1 5 1 2 ) N.

PC. S . (alto ) .*Sdegno hero ed amore. BM .

(Add .

Se a goder torna i l mio core. S .

Se a quel hero do lor. B .V .

(Add . 3 1 5 1 2 ) LA. M i l .

PC. S .

Se amass i da dovere. LC.

Se amor con un contento . BM .

(Add. 3 1 5 1 2 ) 5 .

1"‘Se credete all’

amo r mio . N.

*Se dalla cruda Irene. LC.

Se d’Elisa spietata i l bel sembiante.


Se tu parti iO morirbPC. (autographP) .

Se vagheggio nel mattinoLC. S .

Sedea Rut i llo nu giorno . LC.

Pal .

Senti , bella crudele. LC. PC.

Senti , bell’ ido l mio BM .

(Add. 1 4 1 6 5 ) S .

Sentite, o tronchi , o sassi . Bod.

Pad.

Sento nel co re certo do lore. BM .

(Add . 3 1 5 1 2 ) M . M i l . (alto )PC. S . .

Senz’alma , senza cor. S .

Serba i l mio co r costante. PC.

S’accinge Burillo al canto . BM .

(Add .

Si , conosco , O M iti lde. B . N.

Si, t’

amo , O mio Daliso . BF .

( incomplete) .S i, t

’

intendo , t’ intendo , tu vuo i .

B . (alto ) M . M i l . PC. S .

S iamo in contesa la bellezza ed 10

So litud ini amene. LC. PC.

So litud ini care in vo i spera. BM .

(Add . 1 4 2 1 3 , 3 1 509 ) M i l . N.

PC. Rome, Comm . C. Lozzi . S .

Son contenta di so ffrire . S .

Son io , barbara donna. BM .

(Add . 1 4 2 1 3 ) S .

Son le nere pupi llette ( 1 2 March

1 702 ) Pad. PC. S .

Son pur care quel le pene. LC.

Son quest’ ultimi momenti . BM .

(Add . 142 1 1 ) Bod. PC. S .

Sono amante e m’

arde i l core. S .

Sono un alma tormentata. N.

Sopra le verd i sponde. N. Pal .

Sopra le verd i sponde ( 1 1 Feb.

1 7 1 2—a d ifferent setting) . LC.

Sorge l’alba. MC.

Sorta fin dalle piume (8 Jan. 1 70 2 )S .

Sovra il margine erboso . S .

2 2 5

Spero che avrb la pace. BM .

(Add .

Spesso mo ] 1’

alma mia. Pal .

Spiega l’ali i l mio pensiero ( 1 70 2

or M . M i l . PC. S .

Splendeano in bel sembiante (bass) .PC.

S ta presente il mio teso ro . BM .

(Add .

S tanco di pih sofl'

rire. LC.

S travagante é l’amo r . LC. PC.

Stravagantenone l’amor . N . PC.

S tral i, facelle, Amore . BM . (Add .

Su bel seggio di fiori . S .

Sul margine d’.un rio . Mod .

Sul margine fiorito d’un tumido

ruscello ( 1 3 Dec . BM .

(Add . 1 4 2 2 5 ) S .

Sulla sponda fiorita d’un rio pargo

leggiante BM .

(Add . 1 4 1 64 ) BL . PC. (auto

graphP) .*Sulla sponda horita d i limpido

ruscello ( 2 0 August, 1 7 BM .

(Add . 1 4 2 1 5 ) N .

Sulle ho rite sponde . F . LC.

Sulle sponde d’Abbido (Il Leandro )N . PC.

Sulle sponde del Reno . BM .

(Add .

Taccio e tacendo io moro . S . W .

Taci , taci, infedele ( infelice) amoreLC. N. PC.

Talor per suo diletto . BF . LC. S .

Tanti afl'

anni e tante pene . S .

Tanto strano e l ’ amo r mio (April1 69 S .

Temo d ’amarti poco . S .

Tenebrose foreste . N . PC.

The beauteous Melissa . BM .

(printed in London about

Ti vo rrei credere speranza . BM .

(Add .

Tiranna d i mia fé . V.


*Tirsi mentr’ io dormiva . M .

Tormentatemi pur, furie d’amore .

BM . (Add .

Toma al sen do lce mia pace . V.

*Tra l’ ombre pih secrete . BF .

Tra le pompe fiorite . S .

Tra queste ombrose piaggieLC.

Tra so litarie balze. F .

Tra verdi piante ombrose. M i l .

PC.

Troppo care, troppo belle . M . PC.

S . WTroppo ingrata Amaranta . LC.

M i l . N .

Troppo Oppresso dal sonno . LC.

Tu mi chied i 5 ’ io t’ amo . LC.

Tu mi lasc iasti, O bella (AprilPal . PC. S .

Tu part i, ido lo amato . N .

Tu parti, ido lo amato (ano ther setting M i l . (alto ) N .

S . (alto ) .Tu resti, o miO bel nume ( 2 2 April

S .

Tutto acceso d’amore. BM .

(Add . 1 4 1 6 3 ) Pal.Udite, o selve, O fiumi. N.

Un cervello frenetico ch’

amb.

PC.

‘

Un giomo Amor la benda S i

discio lse LC.

Un’ incredu la speranza. LC.

Un Sospiro d’un amante (La Luc

cio letta) . BM . (Add.

Un so l guardo di Clori . BM .

(Add.

Un spietato destino . Pal .

Un Tantalo assetato . LC. N .

Una beltach’ eguale. BM . (Add .

3 1 50 7 ) PC. S ch.

Va pur lungi da me. BM . (Add .

3 1 5 0 7 )Vaga Elisa, la tua rimembranza(June BM . (Add .

3 1 5 07)Vaghe selve beate . BL.

Vaghe tende adorate. PN. S .

Vaghi fonti di luce . BM . (Add .

3 1 5 0 7) M . PC. S .

Vago i l c iel non saria. S .

Vedi , Fille, quel sasso . B . BF.

M i l . N. PC. S .

Veggio l’

ido lo mio . BM . (Add.

Venite, amici , e con ghirlande.

BM . (Add .

Venne ad Amo r desio . BM . (Add .

Vi comanda un cenno so lo . BM .

(Add .

Viddi un giomo un fiumicello . PC.

V ieni, vieni, O caro Mirti llo (JuneBM . (Add .

Vo i ben sapete. BM . (Add.

3 1 50 7)Vo i giungeste o vaghi fiori ( I Fio ri) .BM . (Add. 3 1 5 0 7) M . PC. S .

Vorrei, Fill i adorata, farti palese( 2 1 Nov. B . (alto ) BM .

(Add . 3 1 507) PC.

Vorre1 ma non posso amarti . N.

Vuo i ch’ iO spiri , tra i so spiri ( 2 0Sept. PC. S . S ch. W.

Vuo i piit Fill i crudele . N. (alto ) .Zefli retto che indrizzi i l tuo vo lo( 14 Dec. B . (autograph)BM . (Add . 3 1 5 0 7 ) LC. S . W.



5 . M issa Clementina II .

Ex 99 .

Ky e - le

B . M . (copy from N M i l . N. (Kyrie, Gloria, Credo and fragment

of Sanctus) , Vat.

6 . Mass, composed for Innocent XIII.

Ex . 100 .

- e e - le

PC. copied from a MS . in Ccc. not to be found there now. Frag

ments : BL. BM . (Add . 1 4 1 6 6—dated 1 7 1 0) M i l . N. Probably Scarlattiused up o ld material fo r this.

7 . Requiem Mass,

Ex . 10 1 .

Re qui em ae -ter nam, se

BC. M . PC. S .

Printed in Liick’

s Sammlung Ausgewahlter Kompo sitionen fur die

K irche,” and Choron’s Cho ix de Musique Religieuse.

”

8. Mass, and organ in E minor“ in IV. tono .

E x . 102 .

Ky- ri -e, Ky

- ri -e e

CATALOGUE OF EXTANT WORKS 2 2 9

( 2 ) W1T11 OTHER INSTRUMENTS

9 . Mass, two vio lins and continuo in A ( 1 70 7for Christmas) . S .

E x . 103 .

Ky- ri - e, Ky - ri -e e ' le

1 0 . Mass, (so l i) , (ripieni) , two vio lins, vio laand continuo in A. Cas. (partly autograph S .

E x .

Credo , (so li and chorus), 2 oboes, 2 horns, strings and

organ in B flat. N.

VI II . MOTETS

Adorna Thalamum tuum S ion . words Co l laudabunt multi sa(January BM . pientiam

(Add. MS . 34054—autograph Audi filia et incl ina aurem (Gradual

parts) , S . (also a copy to the for S . Cecilia’s day),

2 30 ALESSANDRO

2 vio lins, vio la, oboes , and

organ (October Cas .

(autograph) S .

Ave Maris S tella, and

continuo . N. B .

Ave Regina Coelorum, SS . and

continuo N .

Beatus vir qui timet Dominum,

and organ. S .

Bened icta et venerabilis es,

2 vio lins, vio la,and

'

continuo (4 JulyS .

Cantantibus organis Cec ilia (antiphon for St. Cecilia

’s Day) , S .

,

Oboe, 2 vio lins, vio la and con

tinuo . S . ( incomplete) .Concerti S acri , printed in separate

parts by E . Roger at Amster

I. Rorate coeli, Canto solo con

11. per ogni S anta.

I I . Jam so le clarior, Canto solo

con o . per Santa S acer

dote.!

I I I . Infirmata vulnerata. Alto

solo can 11. 11. per i l S anti ssimo e per ogni tempo .

IV . Totus amore languens . Alto

solo con o. per ogni

S anta e per i l S anti ss.

V . Mortales non auditis . A 2

Canto ed Alto con o. perla Beata Vergine.

VI. Quae est ista . A 3 C. A. T.

can v. v.

’

eOrgano per ogni

Festivi td della Nativi td .

VII. Diligam te. A 3 C. A. T.

con v. 11. per i l S S . e per

V II I . Properate fideles. A 4 C.A.

T. B . con o . per i l S an

IX. Est d ies . A 4 C. A . T. B .

con 11. per ogni S anta e

Santa.

SCARLATT I

X. SalveRegina. A4 C. A. T. B .

con

BF . Cas . (wants 2 nd vio lin part) .MS . parts Of I., I I ., and fragments Of others are inLC and

MS . sco res of X . in BF . and

M

Confitebor tibi Domine,and organ. S .

Constitues eos principes, S .A.B .

and organ S .

De tenebroso lacu , A., 2 vio lins,vio la, and continuo . BM .

(Add . MS .

Dex tera Domini fec it virtutem,

S .S .B . and organ S .

Diffusa est gratin, SS . and organ .

S

Dix it Dominus, andorgan. D. S .

(Another setting) . S .

Dix it vio lins,vio la, oboes, and continuo .

Cas . (incomplete) S . (incom

plete) .Domine refugium factus es nobis,

M . S . W .

Ex ultate Deo adjutori nostro ,

M . S . W .

Iste est panis, S . (incomplete) .

Jesu corona Virginum (Inna per5 . Ceci l ia), 2 vio lins ,vio la, and continuo (October

Pal . (autograph) , Cec.

S . (incomplete) .Laetatus sum, BM .

(Add . MS . 1 4 1 66 ) M . W .

(Another setting) . Cas . (incom

plete) .

Laetatus sum, 2 vio lins,vio la, and continua August

B . (autograph) S . in

complete, part ly autograph) .Lauda Jerusalem Dominum,

and organ. S .


2 3 2 ALESSANDRO SCARLATTl

certos fo r strings. C. BM .

(printed parts , and fragments

in Add . MS .

Suite for flute and cembalo in F

( 1 6 June 5 .

Su ite for flute and cembalo in G(June S .

Sonata for 2 flutes, 2 vio lins and

continuo in A. S .

Sonata for flute, 2 vio lins and

continuo in F. S

X. THEORETICAL WORKS, &C.

Fifteen fugues in two parts .

Canon fo r two vo ices. BM . (Add .

1 4 1 66 )S tud io a quattro sulla no ta ferma .

BM . (Add.

Varie partite obligate al basso .

MC.

Sonata fo r 3 flutes and continuoin F. S .

Twelve Symphonies for Orchestra(begun 1 June LB .

(autograph) .*Sonata fo r flute, 2 vio lins and

continuo‘

in D. BL.

*S ix Preludes and Fugues fo r cem

balo . MC.

‘S ix Concertos for cembalo . BM .

(Add .

Rego le per principianti . BM .

(Add . 1 4 2 44, 3 1 5 1 7 ) MC.

Discorso Sopra un caso partico lare.

Printed in Kimberger’

s Kunst

des reinen S atzes.

IND E X

ACQUAVIVA, Cardinal , 18 1 .Adami, Andrea, 10 1 n .

Ademo l lo , A., 2 3 n.

Adorna thalamum, 1 1 5 .

Agar et Ismaele esi l iati , ” 13, 60 , 94 .

Ago stini, Pier S imone, 9, 36 , 59 .

Albani , G. F. See Clement XL, Pope.

Alex ander VIII. , Pope, 74.

“Amo r Generoso , 170.

Amo r Vo lubi le e Tiranno , L’

, 1 17 .

Anacreonte Ti ranno 72 .

Andate o miei sospi r i , 140, 190.

Annunciat i on Orato rio , 97.Anza lone, Antonia, 38, 205 .

Arcadian Academy, 7 , 89 . See also Cresc imbeni and Zappi .

Arch itecture, influence of on Opera, 3 , 49 .

S ee a lso Baroque Art.

Ar ioso, 1 2 , 19 , 45 , 76 , 79 , 81 , 94 , 104, 140.

Arminio, 72 , 102 .

Arteaga, 47.

Assumption Oratorio , 98.

“And i /i l ia et incl ina , 18 1Angel l in sospendi 1 vannz,Ave Mar ia, 19 1 .

Aw is i d i Roma , 2 3 .

12 , 14, 2 1 .

BACH, J . S ., 13 , 80 , 1 1 1 , 1 20, 1 37, 1 5 1 ,1 5 2 . 1 70. 175 . 18 1 . 184. 190. 194. 199

Baini , 1 16 .

Bal let, 5 , 4 1 , 50, 5 2 , 1 20, 1 2 6 , 160 .

B al letto, 60.

Banchieri , 49 .

Bardi , 2 .

Baroque art, 3 , 6 3, 64, 94.

Beethoven, 6 , 16 2 , 1 73 , 19 1 , 194 , 20 1 , 202 ,204 .

Benedict XIV ., Pope, 96 .

Bernini , 3 .

Bibbiena, 5 .

Bo logna, music at, 4, 9 , 12 7, 19 7 .

Bononcini , G. B ., 6 5 , 69 , 106 , 2 00 .

M . A 6 5 n.

Bo tticel l i , 2 .

Brahms, 10, 28, 19 1 , 194, 204.

B r ighel la , 5 .

Burney, 12 , 92 , 140 n, 198, 201 , 2 05 .

Bux tehude, 120.

Cadenza, 16 2 .

“ Caduta dei Decemviri, La,

Cambise, 156 , 197 .

Canale, Antonio , 5 .

Cantata. the chamber 9 , 60 , 69, 75 , 90,1 2 0

,137, 139 , 163 , 189 , 198 , 202 .

Cantofermo , 136 , 138.

Canzonette, 146 .

Capranica Theatre (Rome) , 75 , 1 56 .

48, 50, 6 2 ,

D’

ALtEERT, Count, 2 2 , 75 .

Dafne, La, 2 .

Dal Male il Bene, 6 1 .

Dama Spagnuo la ed i l Caval ier Romano ,La,

”12 7.

Daun, Count, 70 , 1 17 .

Dia , Giuseppe, 34.

D ialect , Bo lognese , 1 2 5 .

Neapo l i tan, 1 2 5 , 1 2 7.

D iana el End imione,”68.

Diminished Seventh, 14 1 , 15 2 , 168 .

“ Don Giovanni ,"3 , 1 2 2 , 1 28.

Donna eancora fedele, La," 147.

Dottor Graziano, 5 , 1 2 5 .

Dave x estre, cor m ia 1 13.

Durante, Francesco , 197, 198, 202 .

Carissimi , 8, 16 , 2 1 .

Gastrea'

. 2 3. 24. 49 . 1 30

Caval iere, S carlatti 's ti tle o f, 7 , 1 32 , 173 .

“Caval leria Rusticana, 43.

Cavall i , 2 , 9 , 16 , 42 , 59 , 204.

Cembalo,1 1 , 1 18, 15 3 , 172 , 198, 203.

Cesarini , Carlo , 106 .

Cesti , 9 .

Charonne, 13.

Chamber-music , instrumental , 173 .

Charles VI. Empero r, 70, 13 1 .

Chopin, 200.

Chorus, Scarlatti 5 treatment of the,94 : 134. 137

Christina , ueen o f Sweden, 2 2 , 2 5 , 34, 37 .

Christmas rato rio , 99.

Ci ro , II, 1 17 , 120 .

Clearco in Negroponte, 48, 50.

Clement X.,Pope, 2 2 .

XL, Pope,

Clo ri , Dorino , Amo re,’6

Colasci one, 5 1

Co lonna , Card inal , 2 4.

Coloratura , 16 , 94 , 105 , 1 18, 12 4, 1 30,1 37» 16 7. 175 2 1972 1902 199

Comic characters, 4 1 , 97 , 1 2 4, 1 2 7,1 5 6 , 202 .

opera, 48, 1 2 7 , 146 , 197.

Composi tion, Scarlatti ’s methods o f, 105 ,1 5 32 19 1 2 193

Concerto di Onbuoé, 1 2 6 , 1 5 7 , 176 .

Concerto gr osso, 68 , 92 , 1 73 , 174 .

Confo rto , Domenico , 7 , 35 , 56 , 69 , 74.

Conservator i i at Naples, 192 .

Conservator io dei Pover i di GesieCr i sto , 139.

Contarini , 9.

Contini , Abbé, 2 3 , 107.

Co rel l i , 10, 74 , 75 , 92 ,Correggio , 98.

Crescimbeni , G. M . , 49 , 90 , 92 , 97 .

Cristo fo ri , Barto lomeo , 7 1 .

Croce, Benedetto , 36 n .

2 34

E1TNER, Prof. Robert, 64 n .

E lizabeth , Queen ofNaples , 1 17 .

End tmione e Cintia,”

9 1 .E nsemble, 48, 59 , 167 .

Epi taph, Scarlatti ’s , 193 .

Equ ivoci nel S embiante, Gl i , 9 , 2 3 , 3 1 ,34. 47. 60. 6 3Eraclea, 53 , 5 5 , 6 2 , 66 , 108, 1 17 , 1 18,167, 20 1 .

Errore Innocente , See “ Equivoci

nel Sembiante, G li .Eugene , Prince , 169 n .

Eurid ice, 2 , 3 .

Euripides, 107.

FAGO, Nico la , i l Tarentino, 196 .

Far/01a boscareccia, 72 , 1 2 7 .

Febi Afmanici , 8.

Fm aewto. 11. 49 . 92 . 97Ferrara , 1 13 .

Ferrari , Benedetto , 12 .

Feti s , 7 .

F1del i0 , 44.

Figl io delle Selve, II, 49 , 72 , 12 7 .

Fi ll i , Clori , Tirsi. S ee Passarowi tz,Serenata fo r the Peace o f.

F1nale, 47 , 53, 107, 167 .

Flavio Cuniberto ,

"72 .

Flo rence , music at, 2 , 7 1 .Flo rimo , 7 .

Foggia, Antonio , 72 , 1 16 .

Fo l igno , 1 17.

Fo lk-song, influence o f,10 1 , 147 .

Form in music, 6 , 1 2 , 2 1 , 2 6 , 3 1 , 4 1 , 59 ,76 , 8 1 , 97 , 105 , 1 18, 136 , 148, 159 , 16 2 ,172 , 173, 197 , 200 , 202 .

Francischrel lo, 76 , 87 .

French music, 4 1 42 , 59 .

Frescobaldi , 15 3.

Fuller-Maitland , Mr. J . A. , 147 .

Fumiani , 4.

Fux , J . J . , 34.

GALtLE1 Vincenzo , 1 1 .

Gasparint , 9 , 140, 142 , 2 00 .

Gaszetta di Napo l i , 1 16 , 192 .

Cel l ins, Aulus, 39 .

Geminiani , 10, 87 , 9 2 , 193 .

Genio d i Parteno 6 1 , 68

Gerone Tiranno i S iracusa , 75 .

Gesel lschaftfu r Al usi tforsehung , 63 , 64 n.

Giannino , 106 .

Giardino d’

Amo re , II,"69 , 93 .

Gio rdano , Luca, 3 .

Giotto , 2 .

Giovanni del Vio lone, 106 .

Gluck , 42 , 1 24 , 199 , 203Goethe, 6 .

Go lden S pur, 132 .

Gouno d, 59 .

Greco , Gaetano , 196 .

Gretry, 96 n .

Grimani , Cardinal , 70, 1 16 .

Griselda , La, ” 60, 1 56 , 164 , 1 70, 197.

Grossi , Giovanni Francesco , 36 .

Gro tesque, the, 4, 49 , 1 2 2 .

Ground bass, 1 2 , 2 6 , 3 2 , 83 , 94.

INDEX

HANOEL, 13 , 6 5 , 74. 80 , 101 , 109 , 1 2 7 ,133 1 1 5 1 2 175 1 199

Harmony, Scarlatti ’s treatment of, 16 , 28 ,79 2 9 5 » x34. I3S. 140 1 5 1 2 IS4. 1 57. 19°Haro y Guzman, Don Gasparo d ’

, 35 .

Hasse , 1 1 5 , 19 1 , 20 1 .

Haydn, 6 , 176 , 2 02 , 204.

Hemichen, 19 1 .

Heuss , Dr. Alfred , 13 n , 59 n .

“ Honesta negli Amo ri , L48.

[for che di Febo ascosi , 90.

Horns, 1 2 7 , 1 5 7. 1 75 .

Humanitd e Luci fero , 98.

Humani tanel le Fere, 1 14.

142 2 5 2 3 1 .

INNOCENT XL , Pope, 2 3 , 73 .

Innocent XII. , Pope , 75 .

Innocent XIII. , Pope, 136 , 19 1 .

Intermezzo , 1 2 7.

Ita l ian influence on non-Italian composers,194 2 199. 20 !

Ital ian language, influence o f, on mus ic,203 .

AMES IL, King o f England, 37 .

erome , Mr., 39.“

j esn corona mrginnm , 187.

Jommel li , 198.

La dove a Al ergel l ina , 190.

Labia , Palazzo , 49 .

Laetatus sum (4 vo ices) , 136 .

( 5 vo ices and o rchestra ), 187 .

La'

me dolorose 16 , 19 .

Ia ntIS’

lt’

ron, Marquis of, 67 .

Laodicea e Berenice,”66 , 69 , 93 .

Laudatepaer i Dominum, 137 .

Legrenzi , 9 , 13 , 3 1 , 64 , 146 .

Leo . 48. 53. 1 37. 146 . 18 1 .201 .

Leo po ld , Archduke, 13 2 .

Libretti , 30, 97, 106 .

Liszt, 199 .

Loca l co lour, 160.

Logroscino , 48, 53 , 197, 202 .

Lo ndon,music in, 35 , 64.

Longhena, 3 .

Lontananza cr udele,”1 5 2 .

Lucio Manlio , ” 73, 102 , 106 , 195 .

Lull i , 59, 74, 200.

Lute,1 2 7 , 1 53 .

Magn ifi cat, 187 .

Malta , Scarlatti a knight OfP133.Mancini , Francesco , 1 16 , 156 , 197.Mantua, mus ic at. 2 , 36 .

Marau o l i , Marco , 47 n .

Marcel lo , 172 .

Marco Attrl io Rego lO, 1 56 , 1 59 , 167 .

Mane Cas imir, Queen o f Po land , 75 .

Marpurg, 19 1 n .

Marti rio d i S . Teodos ia, l l , 94 , 137 .

Masses , S carlatti’sM issa Clementina I. , 93 .

Mass fo r Card inal Ottoboni , 93 .


qwS . CEc 1L1A’S DAv, music fo r, 18 1 , 187 .

S . Fi l ip Neri ,"1 17 , 133 .

S . Maria aggio re (Rome) , 72 , 89 , 1 16 .

S . Pantaleone (Venice ) , 4.

Saint-Saens , M . , 1 2 2 .

Salvato re, Giovanni , 8.

Salvi , G. A., 106 .

Santini , Fortunato , 1 13 , 18 1 .

Sarei troppofel i ce,”

76 , 8 1 .

Sarro , Domenico , 197 .

Scarlatti , origin o f the name, 7 .

Anna Maria , 2 4 , 35 , 108, 205 .

Antonia. S ee Anza lone , Antonia .

Carlo Francesco , 38 n, 205 .

Caterina Eleono ra. 38 n, 2 05 .

Domenico , 3 5 , 38 , 7 1 , 73 , 74, 75 .199 , 200, 204.

Flaminia,2 05 .

Francesco . 34 , 205 .

Giuseppe, 205 .

Pietro , 205 .

Tommaso , 205 .

Scenery Of Operas, 5 , 39 , 4 1 , 1 59.

S chumann, 79, 194 .

Schil tz, Heinrich, 204.

“ Scipione nelle Spagne, 1 2 7 , 1 5 2 .

Seasons ,‘

The, 13 1 .

S ebeto , 68 n.

Sedecra , l l , 96 .

Selvaggi , Gaspare, 7 .

Serenatas , 6 1 , 66 , 90 , 13 1 .

separate ti tle1.S ici liana , 147.

S i face. S ee Grossi , G. F.

S ingers , influence o f, on music, 10 , 105 ,16 2 .

S onata, 6 . See a lso Form .

S onate d quattro , 1 73.

S oubrette parts , 49 , 50.

Spanish succession, war o f the, 69 .

S tabat l il ater , 187 .

S tampigl ia , S i lvio , 102 , 194.

S tati ra , La ,

"63 , 74.

S tefl'

ani , 200.

S ttgl iano , S erenata for the Prince Of, 169 ,

S tradella , 9, 16 , 2 1 , 31 , 64 , 146 .

S ul l ivan, 52 .

Symphony, 6 . 4 1 , 97 , 172 , 173, 202 . S ee

also Fo rm, Overture.

S ee also under

TAMERLANO , 1] Gran,19

Teac er, S carlatti as a , 196 .

“Telemaco ,” 1 5 6 , 16 7 .

Tempo-marks, interpretation o f, 104, 1 2 2 .

“ Teodo ra Augusta, La ,”5 3 , 75 .

Teodosio , 1 16 .

T esi-Tramont ini , V i tto ria, 1 75 .

‘

hematic development, 16 , 3 2 , 5 3 , 83, 174 ,2 0 1 .

102 , 106,194 ,

INDEX

Tiberio Imperatore d'

Oriente,”

5 2 , 6 5 .

Tt’

e

rpo lo , G. B . , 49.

igrane , II,"1 24 , 1 57, 175 , 197.

Ti lla, S igno ra, 106 .

Tinto retto , 200.

Ti to S empron io Gracco 5 2 , 6 5 .1 56 , 16 1 , 167 .

Toccatas fo r cembalo, 1 5 3 , 200.

To rdmona theatre (Rome), 75 .

Tovey, Mr. D. F., 174 n.

Toy-Symphony style , 98, 174.

Trapani , 6 .

Trini ty Orato rio , 133 .

Trionfo del Valo re, II, 1 1 7 .

Trionfo del l ’ Ono re, Il ,” 1 2 7, 1 56 , 167,2 05 .

Trionfo del la Liberta, Il ,Tromba mar i na , 109 .

Trumpet , 1 1 , 32 , 43 , 6 2 , 109 , 1 18, 1 59, 170,1 75 .

Tu es Petrus , 139.

Turno Aricino , 102 , 1 56 , 16 1, 167 .

UnrNE, 50.

Una beltd ch’eg

'

uale,Urbino , 1 13 .

147.

VARtAT 1ONS , 105 .

Vecchi , Orazio . 49 .

Venere, Adone , Amore , 6 1 .

Veneziano , Gaetano , 1 16 .

Venice, archi tecture at , 3, 4.

music at , 2 , 4, 35 , 36 , 107.

Verd i , 136 .

Vergi l , Po lydo re, 39 .

Vergine Addo lo rata, La,Veronese , Pao lo , 49 .

Vex i l la Regi s ,”18, 2 1 , 33 .

Vienna, music at, .34.

schoo l Of, 20 1 .

Vigno la, 1 2 7.

Vi l laro sa, 198.

Vinci , 48, 1 2 7 , 146 , 196 , 202 .

Vio l in, 1 1 , 3 2 , 69 , 93, 1 18, 170.

Vio loncel lo , 87, 203 .

VirtirTrionfante del l ' Od io e dell ’ Amo re,La,

”1 3 2 .

Volo , Pater ,

“S ws mm

1 39

WAGNER, 10, 4 1 , 194 .

Weber , 4 1 .

Wo tquenne, M . Alfred , 6 5 n , 74.

Zampognar i , 10 1 .

Zappi , G . B . F., 49 , 90, 92 . 97.

“ Zauberflo te, Die,"202 .

Zed ler , 13 3.Zeno , Aposto lo , 164.

Ziani , P ietro Andrea , 34.

Printed by BALLAN‘

I‘

YNR, HANSON Co .

Ed inburgh b ' London

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Alessandro Scarlatti - Forgotten Books